Perhaps no place is better suited to trolling for saltwater species than the southeastern coast off Oak Island.

Now you might be lucky enough to find a school of “pogies” (menhaden) with kings working them (some veteran anglers follow shrimp trawls, which seem to attract gamefish). But the best bet probably will be to pick an artificial reef.

There are basically two approaches to king mackerel fishing in North Carolina: 1) anglers try to find menhaden schools and drag their baits through them, or 2) they head for artificial reefs.

Thirty-nine artificial reefs are scattered along the N.C. coast and are set at varying distances and depths offshore.

In the mid-1980s, the Long Bay Reef Association was created to work with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ artificial reefs program, hoping to concentrate game fish — and anglers — off the southeastern coast and give the Hatteras area some competition.

“AR 425 (the Yaupon Beach Reef) is a real good place for kings,” said Capt. John Quattlebaum, a 46-year-old Savannah, Ga., native who has been living at Oak Island since 1971. “It’s fairly close to shore (4.4 nautical miles from the Cape River sea buoy, Loran number 45354.7/59169.6 in the 7980 chain; GPS reading 33.53.03/078.06.34) and only a couple miles off Yaupon Beach.“

“(The Long Bay Reef Association, the Oak Island Fishing Club and Brunswick County Fishing Club) help maintain the reefs,” said Quattlebaum of Get Fresh Sportfishing Charters (910-617-6929 or 910-278-9097). “They’re also putting reef balls ($129 per ball) around the (new) pilings while they rebuild Long Beach Pier.”

Yaupon Beach Reef was started in 1987 with 600 tons of concrete rubble, added 100 pieces of bridge railing (1989), 240 pieces of concrete pipe and manhole sections (1992) and more concrete pipe in 1993-94.

A large spherical buoy — as there are at each of N.C.’s artificial reefs — marks the GPS coordinates of AR 425.

The advantage of reef fishing is that many species gather around these structures, particular baitfish that game fish love to eat. Besides king mackerel, other sportfish that will attack a slow-trolled lure include cobia and Spanish mackerel. Unfortunately, pesky sharks — blacktips, sand and hammerheads — sometimes can be a nuisance.

“(The National Marine Fisheries Service) put a limit on sharks several years ago after so many people starting catching them,” Quattlebaum said. “The limit’s one per boat per day now.”

At reefs there are two main ways of fishing — anchored or trolling.

Trolling is more popular because it keeps a boat on the move. But the speed (as slow as possible) enables the captain to save fuel. In many instances, only a half tank of gas per day may be used by trollers, especially if they are making a short run offshore to spots like Yaupon Beach Reef.

“You can’t run (the motor) fast when you’re trolling pogies, or you’ll drown the baits,” said Quattlebaum, a four-time Southern Kingfish Association national finals qualifier. “Kings, like most other big-game fish, prefer ‘live’ bait.

“A lot of times, with a stiff wind I’ll drop a sea anchor (underwater parachute) to slow down (the boat). You need to check your baits every so often because they’ll drown anyway. And sometimes they’ll take a hit, and you won’t know it. That’ll do ’em in, too.”

Quattlebaum has a 30-foot offshore yacht with Mariner Twin 225s he uses for most charters and for the Marine Mart Fishing Team (third in SKA’s Division 2 last year). But he also has access to a
21-foot McKee Craft with a Yamaha 200-hp engine, a boat he shares with Long Beach resident Dick Hatch.

The center-console T-roof McKee Craft is as capable of making runs to the reefs off Oak Island as any 30-footer and has plenty of room for maneuvering, as well as an easily accessible bait well.

Quattlebaum’s setup for king mackerel is basic: four Penn 545 reels spooled with
20-pound-test Suffolk line, 25 feet of flourocarbon leaders attached to 20 inches of No. 4 wire and Penn Power Stick rods set in holders on the port and starboard sides of the boat. He also uses a down-rigger on the port gunwale, pulling a pogey about 20-feet deep (10 feet off the bottom).

As terminal tackle on all rods, he chooses No. 6 hooks, a single hook run horizontally through a pogey’s nostrils with 6 inches of wire attached to that hook with a “stinger“ treble at the end. Quattlebaum likes to run one of the treble hook’s prongs through the back of the pogey’s dorsal fin instead of letting it dangle.

“If they dangle, sometimes a king will miss the back hook,” he said. “I want to get both hooks in him when he strikes. That way there’s fewer pulled hooks.”

King mackerel are notorious for tearing free during their initial run or during a surge when they first see the boat. Often a big king may strip off 200 to 225 yards of line, then the angler must use his skill to work the fish back to the boat.

“N.C. guys invented light-line fishing for kings,” Quattlebaum said. “We won a lot of tournaments up and down the (East) coast, and other states’ anglers started copying us.”

Quattlebaum sets his reel drags as loosely as possible so when a king jumps a bait, it will not break the line.

He said light line and flourocarbon leaders seem to draw more strikes with slow-trolled live bait.

Touching a reel’s spool when a king makes his initial run is a guarantee for burned and blistered fingers. Anglers may pick up a rod while a fish strips off line, but they don’t touch the reel handle or spool until the run stops.

Then it’s a matter of pumping up and reeling down, all the while maintaining some tension on the line, the time-honored technique for landing a big fish.

Sometimes a slight drag adjustment can be made in order to gain line, but the best method is to retain a light touch.

Quattlebaum uses pogies almost exclusively for slow-trolling, although some anglers prefer cigar minnows, especially in the fall (Sept.-Oct.). He gets his pogies with an 8-foot (16-foot-diameter) cast net.

The best way to find a school of pogies is to watch for pelicans or gulls diving into the water.

Quattlebaum netted about four dozen “slab” pogies (about the size of a 3/4-pound crappie) with a couple tosses of his net off Long Beach, a popular spot for king anglers.

The Yaupon Reef usually is a terrific king mackerel spot. According to Southern Kingfish Association officials, about $500,000 in prize money has been won there, more than any other spot on the N.C. coast.

But Renee Hahn of New Bern, on her first saltwater fishing trip, caught several sharks at the Yaupon Beach Reef, so Quattlebaum decided to try the Tom McGlammery Reef (AR-420, Loran setting 45347.9/5918.8, GPS coordinates 33.50.24/078.07.14), about three miles farther out from the Yaupon reef.

The McGlammery reef, begun in 1986 with the sinking of the 104-foot YSD barge, was named for a popular Southport angler who was killed during an accident while working in the cargo hold of a ship.

In '87 the HT-85 barge was sunk 200 feet south of the YSD. A 230-foot bridge span was added later that year, then 60 pieces of concrete pipe and manhole sections were dropped in 1992.

Quattlebaum’s basic trolling technique is to circle reef buoys. Five other boats also were at the buoy, some trolling and some anchored.

A couple of kings struck the trolled pogies at the McGlammery reef but missed the hooks. Then one of the reels screamed.

After a tussle in which Hahn gained line only to lose it several times, Quattlebaum gaffed a “citation” 6.1-pound Spanish mackerel.

Guide Chuck Gambino on the Fish Finder landed a 6.8- and 7.2-pound Spanish mackerel at McGlammery later that day.

Other excellent fishing spots off Oak Island include the “Boss Hawg Rock” (2.5 miles out of Lockwood Folly Inlet), the Brunswick County Fishing Club Reef (AR-440, 4.5 miles from the Lockwood Folly Inlet sea buoy, 169 degrees magnetic), the “10-mile rock” (AR 445, 9.3 nautical miles, 185 degrees magnetic from Lockwood Folly Inlet), the “18-mile Rock” (where the sandy bottom changes to coral formations), AR 455 (7 miles from the Shallotte Inlet sea buoy, 156 degrees magnetic), and AR 460 (3 miles from the Shallotte buoy, 183 degrees magnetic).

The “Boss Hawg” rock was named for the late actor Sorrell Booke, who played that character on the Dukes of Hazzard television show and often fished at the spot (180 degrees from Lockwood Folly Inlet, 2.5 miles out).

“It’s a small but good blackfish rock,” McDowell said, “that holds big kings at certain times of the year for some reason.”

Boss Hawg’s rock, known mostly to locals, isn’t marked by a buoy.

The “18-Mile Rock” (176 degrees magnetic from Lockwood Folly) is actually a stretch of bottom from 15 to 18 miles offshore.

“It has different coral formations,” McDowell said. “We were going to put (an artificial reef) out there, but there’s so much live bottom, there wasn’t any need to.”

Another good spot (headed toward the 18-Mile Rock) known to local anglers is the “Shark Hole,” Quattlebaum said.

“It’s at Loran 45320/59330. A lot of winning fish have been caught there,” he said. “The bottom changes from 10 to 12 fathoms at that spot (14.1 miles from Lockwood Folly Inlet).”

Deeper into summer, kings sometimes seek break lines, such as those found at the Frying Pan Tower and an area called “The Steeples.”

Frying Pan is 120 degrees magnetic from Lockwood Folly Inlet and about 38-39 miles out, while The Steeples are 165 degrees magnetic and 50 miles from Lockwood Folly.

“The Steeples are 15 to 20 miles east of the (Frying Pan) tower,” McDowell said. “It’s where the Gulf Stream starts, and the bottom breaks from 140 to 180 feet and three different currents come together. When you run across it with your fish-finder, the bottom comes up like church steeples.

“It’s a great area for kings and other fish.”

No matter where you head offshore in the Long Bay area, there will be fish in July. But if finding free-swimming bait pods isn’t your forte, you might try a reef.

The baits — and your quarry — should be waiting for you.