Holy Mackerel

Professional king mackerel fishing. A veteran reveals exactly what it takes to be a winner.

Competing in the Southern Kingfish Association Tournament Trail, Team Fountain/Cabela's is always the boat to look out for. The outstanding crew is comprised of three top offshore fishermen and one leading lady. Team captain, Mark Maus, resides out of Sarasota, Florida. Joining Mark on deck are Jason Hodge and Tripp Fletcher, both from Jacksonville. Jason and Tripp are two of the leading kingfish anglers in the entire southeast with numerous wins throughout their lengthy careers.

Kim Fletcher, Tripp’s spouse, completes the team and pursues the top lady angler slot. Combined, the four have accumulated more than 50 years competing in this prestigious tour. It’s no wonder industry leading manufactures such as Cabela's, Mercury Racing, Simrad Marine Electronics, Fountain Powerboats, Shakespeare, and Plano, trust Mark and his team to proudly represent and showcase their products. With a National Championship, 75 top 5 finishes, and over 150 top 10 finishes, it’s been a winning combination. We asked Capt. Mark if he would be kind enough to provide us the details on exactly what it takes to be a winner.

For starters, competing in the largest saltwater tournament trail in the South involves a huge investment in both time and money. Each year, our team travels from Venice, LA., to Morehead City, NC. Without support from our major sponsors, we would be broke. Man cannot live on kingfish alone.

To really be competitive in the prestigious events that are offered today, most teams need help, and help comes in the form of sponsorship. Like with all major sports teams, obtaining sponsorship requires you provide a return for the manufacturer’s investment. The return they are looking for is exposure for their products or services aimed directly at their demographic market. It requires years of hard work and solid point standings to solidify the relationships required for obtaining top sponsors. Once established, there are contingences that have to be met in order to maintain the relationships.

More than a decade ago, we were the first team to vinyl wrap our entire boat in an effort to provide our title sponsors with maximum exposure. Nowadays, more than 30% of the boats competing are wrapped. Considering the SKA Tournament Trail is televised in multiple states across the country, the brand name recognition directly in front of the consumer provides the manufacturer with an obvious benefit

“Competition requires preparation”

As the date draws near for our next major event, often hundreds of miles away, preparations have already been long underway. We started more than a week ago by attending to our tackle. The last leg of the SKA Tournament Trail took place in the upper Gulf, where 30lb. line is needed to subdue the giant smokers prowling those waters. To match the fish we anticipate encountering in the Atlantic, a set of six outfits are loaded with 15lb. and another set with 20lb. line. With the two sets rigged and ready, we can alter our approach to meet existing conditions such as downsizing if the bite is really slow or the water super clear. On the other hand, if we find bigger fish than we expected, we can bump it up a notch to the heavier gear. Any event can bring either, so top teams always come prepared.

Terminal gear needs to be attended to. We’ll tie close to 100 rigs to get us through pre-fishing and the two day event. Rigs are designed to match the bait because we prefer not to have excess wire protruding outside the bodyline. This may detour an already shy king from skyrocketing on our bait.

In the upper Gulf of Mexico where we usually encounter our biggest kingfish of the year, we’ll tie rigs with #7 wire and 4X strong #1 hooks, though we still loose a fish here and there from crushed hooks. Daiichi recently introduced 6X super-strong hooks that should take the bite out of that problem. When fishing the Atlantic side, #4 wire is usually sufficient.

After we’ve inspected, cleaned and prepared all of our tackle, next on our agenda is the boat and all of her accessories. Prior to every event every single item is checked and rechecked, including our Cannon down-riggers. You don’t stand a chance at a top ten finish without being able to present baits deep in the water column. We’ve installed the electric type which provides the ability to clear lines faster than with a hand crank.

“Time to hit the highway”

When every item on our to-do list is checked, double checked, and triple checked, we’re ready to hit the highway. We trailer our Fountain from location to location with a custom Freightliner hauler. Our Freightliner is equipped with the added benefit of 16 feet of living space. It’s not the Hyatt, but the bunks, miniature galley, lavatory, and lounge area make the 60,000 miles we travel each tournament season easier to cope with. With the benefit of the glorified ‘camper’ we always have the option of crashing in the truck if a hotel isn’t available. Regardless, the big rig sure helps during 14-hour road trips.

Once we arrive at the tournament location, which may be in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, or of course Florida, we prepare to pre-fish. Each leg of the five tournament trail is always held in the same general location at about the same time, so it makes sense for us to investigate specific areas where previous tournament winning fish have been caught. We also gather intel from local anglers who we’ve met over the years, while water temperature and color (preferably kingfish green), structure, and bait will all be considering factors on where we end up..

Our Fountain/Cabela’s boat makes up one of an overall eight boat Mercury/Fountain team. Clear communication between fellow boats provides the distinct advantage of having a real-time understanding of the activity taking place for more than 100 miles in each direction. Our 34’ Fountain is powered by triple 250XS Mercury’s with 480 gallon of fuel, allowing us the ability to travel up to 600 miles in a single day. Conditions will often drive the fish north or south so to really be competitive against the best kingfish anglers in the world, you need a boat that is fast and can run wide-open in all conditions.

“Success is about strategy”

Each leg of the SKA also brings a different approach to big kings. Unlike fun fishing, when competing in the SKA Tournament Trail you’re looking for that one trophy size smoker each day, so you must position yourself in an area that is conducive to producing the largest fish. And keep in mind with big money and major recognition literally on the line, from the moment you hook up to the time the fish is boated a single mistake can be disastrous.

During the two days of competition, we start light on both line size and rig size. Our philosophy is simple; if you don’t get strikes because your terminal gear is too heavy, you’ll never have an opportunity to catch that winning fish. If we get bit off, we start upsizing to detour loosing the next fish.

Your supply of bait is also a major key to success in any kingfish tournament. We change baits every 15 to 30 minutes. Our goal is to put ourselves in a prime position for that one big strike. We may even go back to the beach to reload our bait supply two or three times on any given day, just so we can fish the healthiest bait possible. It’s all the little things like this which add up to provide an edge over the stiff competition. The most popular kingfish baits are big hardtails, pogies, bluefish and ribbonfish, though we’ve also had excellent success pulling rigged Spanish mackerel. Giant kings love them. If we’re lucky, we can catch a few and put them right back out.

The addition of a colorful skirt in front of our bait adds another layer of enticement. You will find that hot pink works great from Daytona north and blue/white is the hot combo in the mid-Atlantic. Different combinations produce best in certain areas so we’re constantly experimenting to find the winning blend.

Our preferred tactic is to split the water column in thirds. If we’re slow trolling in a depth of 100’, we’ll run baits on the surface, at 33’, and at 66’. As the day progresses we’ll fine tune our approach according to what we see on our sounder. The tactic allows us to consistently present baits in the optimum strike zone where big kings may be feeding.

Bait placement is extremely critical for success. Along with our down-rigger baits our four flat-lines are staggered at different lengths to achieve maximum coverage with minimal maintenance. The shot-gun bait is set way back at more than two hundred yards. The next one is half that length, the third at 50 yards, and lastly, the fourth bait is set right in the prop wash. We’re talking 5 yards behind the boat. This is the most effective bait. It will get hit 80% of the time. We’ve actually watched big kings chase our bait right up between the motors and wait till it swims out. Don’t be fooled by the misconception that engine noise bothers these fish. The prop wash is one of the best spots in the spread for big kings. Trolling speed is a factor that changes based on conditions. We pull our baits as slow as possible, yet fast enough to keep them from tangling.

We always use chum. We’ve found the most effective to be Tournament Master 1/4” grind with the addition of Menhaden Milk. Menhaden Milk is one of the best products on the market today. It’s emulsified, so the milk like substance creates a slick throughout the entire water column that seems to last for hours. Our catch ratio has undoubtedly increased since we introduced the product into our program.

When it comes to drag settings, light is the way to go. During competition we never set a drag over 4 pounds. Light drags accommodate big kingfish’s characteristic smoking runs. I have seen them peel off 300 yards in less than a minute. That first, blistering run usually burns them out. Consecutive runs will be less intense until the fish is near the boat where you can expect another short dash. Once we see the fish circling below, we take our time to raise the fish to within gaffing range. This is where patience comes into play. You can pull those hooks out with little to no pressure.

“Care for your catch”

Once you landed the tournament winning fish, care must be given to preserve every precious ounce. We pack fish intended for the scale in an insulated fish bag with 100 pounds of ice, adding more ice as necessary. It would be a shame to go through all that effort only to loss by mere ounces because you didn’t care for your catch. I’ve actually seen a team miss the National Championship by 8 tenths of an ounce. That’s how much a very little can make a big difference.

I’d like to finish things off by saying that competing in the Southern Kingfish Association Tournament Trail requires a tremendous amount of dedication, time, effort and financial backing. Although all of the competitors agree the rewards far outweigh the investment. Friendships are forged that will last a lifetime and memories are etched in your mind forever. Hope to see you on the trail…Capt. Mark Maus

The Southern Kingfish Association, founded in 1991, has grown into the premiere saltwater fishing organization in the country, and produces the world’s finest offshore tournament trail—The Mercury Tournament Trail.

The Mercury Tournament Trail consists of twelve geographic divisions with three to five events per division. Anglers compete in divisions to earn points to qualify for the National Championship held in November, one of the most prestigious events in saltwater angling. Close to $500,000 in cash and prizes are awarded including several boat, motor and trailer packages, not to mention the notoriety that goes with the territory and sponsorship possibilities.

For anglers who possess better-than-average skills, there’s the SKA Yamaha Pro Tour, a special five event trail that has all the competition any angler could expect and then some. You must qualify out of divisional competition to be invited to fish the Yamaha Pro Tour. The best of the best fish for CASH and a chance to win the Southern Kingfish Association’s “Top Angler of the Year”, awarded to the team who accumulates the most points based on seven fish out of the ten eligible fish caught during the five Pro events.

www.FishSKA.com