King Mackerel Sunset Trolley Rigging Blues

Upon reaching the end of the pier, Edwin and I attached a four-ounce trolley weight to the end of our 12 beach spinning outfit and heaved it out as far as I could. Pointing the rod tip straight down towards the water below the pier, I slowly started racking the bottom by twitching the rod tip in a jerking action as to catch the anchor weight into the bottom. Weight caught and now it was time to attach my PVC six-foot pipe to the rails with bungee cord as a home for the trolley. For our king rod, we decided to use my a Daiwa Beef Stick and an older reel; the Penn Mariner with 1000 yards of twenty pound test and thirty feet of fifty pound shock leader. Rigging it; 38 pound American Wire and a number seven Owner hook with a number four treble, as a stinger, I was ready to catch some bait but not before attaching the rig to the trolley with a quick release clip.

As you looked out across the pier you could see Venice Pier Anglers scurrying everywhere in a mad attic to catch some bait and be the first one in the water with their trolleys. One small Jack Carvel was landed and like ants to a bread crumb everybody was at that spot, crisis crossing lines in an attempt to catch bait also! Though the Jacks were small, they appeared too large for catching Kings but when it’s all you’ve got, just do it! The single hook attached just shy of the fish’s head and the stinger attached under its anal fin, this fish was ready for someone’s lunch. Off this fish went, on the ride down the trolley, to swim in circles, as we now settled down to catch more bait fish, hopefully some Lady Fish, mullet or some King Candy; the Blue Runner. Runners were like playing the Florida Lottery; one to none. We ended up with a couple of Ladies, Bluefish, and a couple of lucky finger mullet.

Wham, Bam! Our Trolley bounced as the reel let out a low groaning in a high-pitched fashion; this Penn spinning reel was smoke’n! The fish had first come in and nudged the Jack. Then it ripped across the surface and took a passing glance to the Jack. This fish was bleeding and coloring crystal clear water an off brown to red. Before you could say “Jack”, the Smoker homed in and engulfed the bait while shooting the pier, across the wave tops like a torpedo blast. The King wire was no match for this five foot bolt of lightning. He sliced through that wire like a knife in butter, while stealing that hard to come by first bait.

The entire afternoon went like this; fish on, fish off; playing light switch with our baits and loosing plenty of tackle in the process. Overall, it was a great day, with lots of action but very, very slow. Even though the water temperature had dropped and was back to 83 degrees, someone forgot to send an invite to our guest, the big Kings, as only the schoolies were ever so present, mixed and matched with a few cobias and Spanish. By now, we all had either mullet or ladies dangling from our trolleys, in hopes a King would show.


As the wind up above played tag with the clouds down below the made love to the horizon and to that we called it a night until well maybe tomorrow…maybe…
“FISH ON!”