There are many reasons why the pursuit of trophy king mackerel ranks high on the list of saltwater-fishing addictions. There's the blistering run -- big kings are called "smokers" because they can empty 100 yards of monofilament from a reel in a matter of seconds. There's the acrobatics -- picture a 5-foot-long silver rocket engulfing your live bait in the prop wash as the predator leaps from the water, arcing gracefully in the summer sun before diving headfirst back into the green water.

But mostly, anglers love the challenge of outsmarting these finicky fish. Catching "snakes" or "teenagers," as the smaller kings are called, is everybody's game. Consistently catching big fish of 30 to 40-plus pounds requires the right equipment, skill, teamwork, steady nerves, and a healthy dose of luck.

In the 1970s, fishing clubs up and down the Atlantic Coast began holding annual king mackerel tournaments to capitalize on the allure of this speedster. By the 1980s, many of these club tournaments grew to extravagant affairs, offering prizes valued at five figures.

Today, the Southern Kingfish Association (SKA), founded in 1989 at St. Simons Island, annually sanctions dozens of local tournaments and hosts a professional trail that is nationally televised. Competitors not only fish to win individual tournaments, they amass points toward national ranking and qualification for championship events.

Georgia's kingfish experts have claimed their share of SKA tournament glory with two angler-of-the-year titles, three national championships, and a multitude of wins and top-10 finishes in sanctioned events. Let's look into their playbook for some tips on catching summertime smokers.

RETURN OF THE KING
The rebound of once overfished king mackerel populations is a fishery management success story. Tournaments helped speed the recovery by changing from aggregate to single-fish formats and by returning some or all of their proceeds to conservation activities like artificial-reef construction. According to many veteran anglers, king mackerel fishing in the new millennium is a return to the good old days.

King mackerel are considered a sub-tropical species given their preference for water temperatures between the mid-60s and upper 80s. Although some fish can be found on the edge of the Gulf Stream throughout the year, most of the Atlantic Coast population spends the winter off South Florida and the Florida Keys.

As the waters of the continental shelf begin to warm in the spring, kings and the baitfish they depend on for food start moving. The Gulf Stream fish head to the west and the South Florida fish to the north. By July, both groups have converged off Georgia, making late summer the peak time to catch a smoker.

In the world of kingfish tournaments, the name Capt. Rick Smith is synonymous with big fish and big prizes. Smith claimed the SKA Angler of the Year title in 1996 and won the 2003 National Championship. So where does Smith, now an SKA Hall of Fame member, look for kingfish during July and August?

"Kingfish are creatures of habit. I expect to find them in the same areas each year unless we've had abnormal weather or sea temperatures," he explained. "During late summer, our offshore reefs, especially the ones in the 70-foot depth zone -- CCA-JL, JY, DRH, HLHA -- hold lots of small to medium kings, with a few big fish mixed in."