The old tried and true King mackerel rigs consisting of a duster and tandem J hooks with a frozen cigar minnow will always produce fish, BUT, as the waters warm and the live bait gets more plentiful,,,CHANGE TACTICS
The live bait pods of threadfins, hardtails, cigar minnows and bluerunners get thick as the water temps hit 86-88. Rig a spinning reel with a sabiki multi-hook and 2-3 ozs of weight, drop it straight below a sea bouy or cast to the surface bait pods and jig it back. Its easy to catch 2-3 at a time and get them into the baitwell quickly. Avoid handling the bait, use a small wire de-hooker to flip them into the well, and don't overcrowd the well.
After getting the live bait, assess the currents and wind, I position the boat where I can bump into and out of gear and keep the baits behind the boat and swimming naturally, except for the hook in the nose, and move across the bait pods. The bait with the hook appears different from the other 1000 or so swimmers in the pod and presents a weak target for a pelagic.
The live bait rig I prefer is a 2 ft coated multi-strand wire with tandem 1/0 3x treble hooks about 2-3 inches apart, the 1st hook goes through the nostrils or up through the lip and the 2nd dangles alongside the bait. This doesn't inhibit the movement much but does create some weakness from the rest of the pod. The multi strand wire allows knots to be tied in lieu of barrel wraps used in single strand wire, placing the pressure on the hook shank instead of the hook eye.
We use medium action spinning gear with a live bait reel and plenty of line capacity, 20 lb test mono is plenty heavy and allows 200-300 yds of line on most reels. I double the last 2 ft of line using a "spider hitch" or "bimini twist" and attach the live bait rig directly to the double line with a "bristol" knot....this is a direct line to line set up and eliminates swivels allowing a more stealthy approach.
Basic bait recycling is a fun way to involve Kids in the boat, they have fun catching the bait, and watching a 20 lb King explode on a swimming surface bait is exciting!!
