Our Quarry

Our quarry is a fish with attitude - the King Mackerel. It is a coastal pelagic species, meaning when it migrates, it remains in proximity to the coastline. This means on a journey from Florida to Mexico, the Kingfish will pass through the waters of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas as opposed to cutting straight across the gulf.

Off the coast of upper Texas, they arrive on our shelf when the water temperature reaches about 70 degrees. Check your local water temperature at NOAA. They start arriving in April, and depart in the fall around October.

Also, known as the Horse Mackerel, they can grow to sizes reaching 100 pounds. And they aggressively hit both natural and artificial baits. As you can see on Our Gear page, we use a wide variety of baits, and make all of our own leaders. Even though we make our own leaders, there are several good manufactured leaders available.

Kingfish have teeth - lots and lots of razor-sharp teeth. On a fish which can sometimes easily weigh 40 pounds, it's important to be sure you are aware of where your fingers are. When we catch an eating sized fish we wish to keep, we gaff it, club it with a fish billy, cut the skin around the tail to bleed it, and put it in the cooler. There's no time to play around with 10 pounds of muscle and teeth, fighting for it's life. Be organized, and efficient, your trips will be more successful.

On larger fish, we don't cut our fish, and are sure to keep them covered to avoid dehydration. Every ounce counts at the weigh-in.

Kingfish prefer lively large bait. Favorite baitfish include menhaden (also known as pogies and shad), and blue runners. During the summer, menhaden can be a bit skittish, but usually can be cast netted. They are extremely difficult to keep alive in the live well, but they make wonderful chum for many kinds of offshore species, including Tarpon. They have a high oil content, and after chumming with them, you can often see an oily sheen on top of the water.

Home of the Lil' Kruizer Kingfish team!

Lil' Kruizer fishing team is proudly sponsored by Southwest Cyber Systems, NET-WORKING.