King fishing from a Pier

We are fortunate to have three ocean fishing piers on Topsail Island. Like many boys in the area, it is where I learned to saltwater fish growing up. I still have fond memories of fishing all day and half the night, filling coolers, and eating burgers in the pier house among others.

While bottom fishing is the mainstay of the pier fishing crowd, targeting king mackerel from the end of the pier has always been very popular too. It does require more equipment and preparation however.

Here’s a quick overview of one of the most popular techniques for catching kings from a pier.

You will need two rods and reels for live bait king fishing. One rod is used to cast your anchor line. The anchor rod is typically a 10-15 foot surf type rod, using 20 pound test to sling a 4-8 ounce anchor.

The bait is attached to the end of the fighting rod which is a medium to heavy action, 6-7’ foot with 4/0-9/0 reel and using on average 30 pound test.

Make the leader for the fighting/bait rod out of 6-foot of 100 pound mono attached to two feet of 90 pound seven strand wire and two #4 treble.

Take your anchor rod and sling the anchor out and secure it to the bottom. Then you will attach your baited fighting line to the anchor line. This rig consists of a loop clip, a weight and clothes pen. The loop clip, usually something like a shower curtain clip with weight goes on your anchor line and the clothes pen attaches to the bait line. An alternative is store bought release clip.

Now lower your bait down to the water on the anchor line. You can adjust the depth of your bait in the water by how far up the bait line you attach the clothes pen. Most fishermen keep the baits down about 3-4 feet, but it’s not uncommon to see baits on top or as far deep as 6 feet.

The force of a strike will release the bait line from the clothes pen. Take multiple clothespin/release clips – that way you don’t need to pull up the anchor line every time the fighting line releases from the clip.

Live baits of choice vary-but almost always consist of what is available from the pier at the time. Bluefish, pogies, spots, pinfish and even lizard fish are used as baits.

You will need a grapnel type gaff that is lowered by rope to gaff the fish and then hauled on deck. It looks very similar to the anchor weight, except bigger and heavier.

Now you are ready to catch kings from the pier!

Catching report

The puppy drum can be found under the docks in the waterway around low tide. Try fishing for them around the marsh grass during high tide using top water lures. The flounder bite has been somewhat slow with many undersize fish being caught. Around the inlets seem to be producing some keepers size fish.

There have been some nice pompano caught from the surf and piers. Large red drum have started to show up in the surf, especially around the north end of Lea Island. There also have been some reports the tarpon have arrived. Try live baits around the inlets for this hard hitting, fun to catch fish. Remember to release that tarpon alive, they aren’t good to eat but are fun to catch.

The king mackerel bite near shore has slowed down some these past few weeks but plenty of kings are being caught near the ledges in the 8-15 mile range. Lots of dolphin and a few sail fish too. Keeper size grouper are being caught in the 20 mile range with some other nice bottom fish in the mix as well.

Tight lines to all!