Bait for King Mackerel

There are several kinds of baiting then fishing for King mackerel.  Silvery live baits, such pilchards, threadfin herring, menhaden, mullet and blue runners, are preferred by some anglers. However, since live bait is not always easily obtained, frozen baits, like cigar minnows, ribbonfish and Spanish mackerel, are also used.

A wire leader works well with live baits, but keep anglers need to keep it short and as light as possible.  When trolling, you will get far more bites with heavy monofilament than wire and won’t lose many fish as the fast moving trolled lure keeps the mackerel teeth’s from the monofilament line.