Anybody fish for them anymore? Man we used to slay em back in the 80's and 90's. Dad sold our gulf boat 25 years ago and haven't been since. Have noticed inshore charters have grown in popularity and bottom fishing has always been a mainstay of the charter fleet but seems not many fish kings anymore. Probably because they are full of mercury. Maybe numbers are lower?

Man I used to be able to make a frozen cig swim like a live fish trolling stinger rigs. Never fished dusters as they got mostly smaller fish. Would run one on a flyline swimming on top kind of like a teaser and then a couple wieghted ones and a couple on planers. Later got into live baiting them and on our best day got a 50, 48 and 38 pounders out of Ft. Morgan. Really miss it, the most fun fishing I have ever had.

Those are some pigs. I run with a guy out of Destin that usually does pretty well long lining for kings.

Once I figured out you have to smoke the fish rather than grill it I completely changed my attitude on them.

Plenty of people still do, but not as big as it was in the 90's and early 2000's as far as the big tournaments.

Back in th' 60's and 70's when the only folks who had decent Electronics were the party boats.....a LOT of the Smaller Charters and Individuals trolled for Kings. That was my first experience with Saltwater Fishing at the age of 6. I started doing it on my own 19' Carolina Skiff beginning in '95 just South of Phillips Inlet, Fla. In '05 I got the 28' Diesel Boat I've got now along with some GOOD Feruno Electronics.....been bottom fishing since then. I'll put a line out sometimes when I'm coming in if somebody wants to catch a couple. Reef Fish just taste BETTER!!

I caught them regularly up until about 25 years ago. Lots of excitement on that first run. Tried cooking them every way I could find. Never found a recipe that made them fit to eat for me.

I fished for them out of my kayak when I lived in Corpus Christi, TX during flight school. We would catch ribbon (cutlass) fish in the canals over the lights in the wee hours of the morning, then launch from the beach. I ran a regular hook through the nose and 2-3 stinger hooks along the back side of the bait. Those Kingfish thought ribbon fish were candy. I even caught a few sharks doing this. I'll never forget a smoker that I played all the way up to the kayak and then he took off and spooled a Shimano 4500 Bait Runner. Some good memories.

As far a cooking. I had a smoked King dip that was OK. After I left CC, TX I fished for them exactly 2 more times in P'cola and never again.

I do. Love catching kings. I fish for them a lot, live bait only. If it’s too rough to go offshore I’m trolling from the pass to several miles out.

Don’t catch as many true smokers out of pcb as they do to the west. The rigs hold a lot more bait and fish. Big fish.

Biggest one ever hit a xlarge wahoo hi speeder coming in at 18 knots. Had to be 50-60#. Stretched all the way across the beam from side to side. Slid it back in alive.

All large ones get released now but some smaller ones get smoked and dipped. Made some last wkend. Delicious.

Fresh king is good cooked just like anything else, especially fried. We call it Silver Snapper. Most folks can’t tell the difference.

I've had fresh king (fried) that was mighty dang good. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Weve caughtem an eatem big an small..we ustah snobble cigar minners or a live ly an catchem purty good on the state pier..ive caught some good sized ones..my brother caught a 46lber awhile back..we upgraded to a 22ft wellcraft an now hes got a 33ft gradywhite..we ustah fish for kings all the time, now its more tryin to catch a buncha chicken dolphin an a few wahoo..hes caught several sailfish the past couple years an i think thats put the king fish on the back burner even more..my favorite way to fishem was chumin on a wreck an pitchin a yoyo or somethin live..we grew up on freshwater..so old habits die hard..we had a couple crappie rods with sabiki rigs early on..probly the worst bait setup ever an i dont know how much lead i lost..but it was enough to start usin nuts an washers as weights..🤷🏻But i stuck a piano wire leader on one of them iltra lights one day…after we had stired up a buncha snakes on a small reef in about 20ft of water..they was snappers an little critters all over..i figured the biggest of the bunch was one id see scoot by ever now an again..he looked like a 6-8lber..i pitched me a ly out there off the bow of a panga..i ont know were it come frome but about a 25lber grabbed that thing headed to cuba..little old abu garcia cardinal with 6lb test sounded like one of them 2 stroke rc cars..line broke after about 20 seconds…but my my my..that was impessive…think i through that little reel away after that..it didnt act right after that.

fried king balls are pretty good. I've never cared for it grilled

smoke them and turn it into fish dip

The top three in the rodeo this past weekend were all in the fifty’s. A few people still fish for them, but not like thirty years ago. Too many better eating fish that are now easier to catch due to technically.

Operation Idle Iron really put a nail in the king fishing coffin for a lot of folks around here. So many productive rigs were taken away from the sea floor up.

Yep, they’re on fire south of Mobile Bay right now. I prefer to boil the meat in crab boil and make West Indies salad out of em.

Not nearly the numbers of big kings close to the beach these days. Those were the fun ones for me because they had nowhere to run but away from the boat, a LONG way from the boat.

Same here. Fry it! And I’ve grilled it and smoked it but it’s best fried.

Fresh only. And by fresh I mean fillet it, cut out the bloodline, immediately roll it in corn meal and drop it in the oil. Don’t think about it if it’s been frozen

I fish for the them along with anything else I can catch while trolling. Mexico Beach Reef Association has a tournament every year. It's coming up in about 10 days.

Nothing better than seeing a 40lb king, with a 2+lb hardtail, sideways in his mouth, like a dog holding a bone, sky 6-8 foot out of the water 30 yards off the transom when he explodes on it.

Yeah! Had the same thing happen a couple times, incredible. Once had a big king blow out of the water after chopping the bait in half and as soon as he hit back down in the water the reel starts screaming as he nailed the other half. We had one nail about a 5 pound red snapper on the way up to the boat, thought it was a cuda but was a huge king. Didn't get that one but it convinced us to use huge live baits. Biggest one we ever caught was on about a 5 pound live bait. I remember laughing at my brother when he rigged it up but one nailed it about a minute after it hit the water.