It’s right time to catch kingfish off Key West
If you’ve ever wanted to catch a truly big kingfish, you need to go fishing in Key West.
“This time of the year, there’s just some pigs down there,” says Capt. Ron Mitchell, who started competing in, and winning, kingfish tournaments in Key West in the early 1990s. “I think they get pushed down with the cold weather this time of year. They seem to migrate down and then they’ll get into the Gulf of Mexico.”
And the fishing’s only gotten better over the past 30 years.
“Back in the day a 40pounder was a monster down there, a 50-pounder was a monster. Now they’re getting 70-pounders, almost 80-pounders.”
Mitchell added that the Key West tournamentrecord kingfish, caught in 2015 by Chris and Charles Cone, weighed 78.66 pounds.
Raised in Jupiter and now living in Loxahatchee, Mitchell fished the old Hog’s Breath kingfish tournament for 20 years and also competes in Southern Kingfish Association tournaments throughout Florida as well as in the Gulf and along the mid-Atlantic coast. He and his Bandit Fishing Team were the first to win two SKA Angler of the Year titles, and Mitchell was inducted into the SKA Hall of Fame during the 2019-2020 season.
“The tournament thing was really what got the kingfish thing going down there. I mean really. Why would you go catch a kingfish when you can go get a dolphin or a grouper or a yellowtail snapper, especially if you’re going to get something to eat?” he says. “The Hog’s Breath tournament and the SKA kind of put big kingfishing on the map down there. No one really talked about kingfishing down there until that happened.”
Among Mitchell’s keys for getting a shot at hooking a trophy kingfish is “finding great bait.” He and his team visit wrecks on the Gulf side of Key West to catch big blue runners and bluefish — a 2- to 3-pounder is an ideal bait — which they slowtroll. Speedos also are good, and Mitchell noted that the 78.66-pounder ate a live goggle-eye.
Another key is to fish in good water.
“This time of year, unfortunately it’s a doubleedged sword. It can be brutal conditions, some of the worst you’ll ever be in in a center-console,” says Mitchell, explaining that approaching winter cold fronts, which are often accompanied by high winds and big waves, can turn on the kingfish bite.
“When the fronts come in and it gets really rough, it pushes you away from Key West toward the Dry Tortugas [70 miles west] where that cleaner water will come in. A couple of years ago we had to run 100 miles just to get that clean, blue water. We were almost in Cuba.”
Given his years of experience, Mitchell has hundreds of kingfish spots that he’s saved on his Raymarine bottom machine. Some of his favorites include the Rocket, the Critter and the current hot spot, the Banana Bar, which is about 50 miles from Key West.
It helps that he runs a 39 SeaVeeZ powered by four 400-horsepower
Mercury outboard motors that does 80 mph. That allows him to quickly and safely cover a lot of ground until he finds clean water. And he uses his electronics to make sure the spot he chooses has plenty of bait.
“You need some kind of structure on the bottom, a drop-off or relief, something holding blue runners or speedos or yellowtails. Kingfish love yellowtails,” Mitchell says.
“There’s probably thousands of places that hold big fish. And you don’t have to run a long way to get the big ones. The kingfish tournament has been won right in the channel when it’s been rough as could be and the guy couldn’t go out because he had a small boat.”
Having quality tackle is another key to Mitchell’s success. As he noted, you won’t stop a 70-pound kingfish if you’re using cheap or poorly maintained tackle.
Mitchell fishes highspeed Okuma Alijos conventional reels that he spools with about 500 yards of 20-pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid line. He adds a 20-foot piece of 30-pound fluorocarbon leader, attaches a 50-pound Spro swivel and connects it to a 3-foot piece of 60-pound AFW bare 1x7 stainless steel leader that has three hooks snelled in it.
“I’m very big on scaling down as much as I can,” says Mitchell. “I would rather lose a fish because my tackle’s a little bit too small than never have a strike.”
When that big kingfish does strike, Mitchell and his crew chase down the fish to get it into the boat as quickly as possible. And then they try to scare up an even bigger monster.