While the live baits do their thing, anglers can probe the bottom with deep-jigs, or work the surface with lures.

The strikes on topwater were a visual treat. On a light, 7-foot spinning outfit, I threw a 1/2-ounce chrome Gag's Grabber Schoolie Popper. There are dozens of lure styles that would work for chummed-up kings, but those with chrome or reflective patterns-and durable bodies-would likely have an edge. Kings took my popper two different ways, depending on the retrieve.

If I let the plug sit still, bobbing in the waves, and then moved it with short, splashy strokes, I would get a skyrocketing strike. One memorable fish vaulted at least 10 feet in the air, with the plug grasped tightly between its jaws.

Drag the lure faster through the water, and a fish would line up and slice across the surface to grab it. A king we estimated at maybe 30 pounds fell for this tactic, but the fight ended prematurely with pulled hooks. In the end, I boated a 5-pound Spanish mackerel and about a 10-pound king, and had loads of fun tugging on a half-dozen other kings.

If you have a buddy like Joe who can simultaneously fish, munch a sandwich, pitch baits and prognosticate about grouper bites, you're in business: have him throw a half dozen pilchards out into your chumslick, then follow those baits with your plug.

I was experimenting with a new brand of braided Spectra line. That kind of no-stretch line is dynamite for bottom fishing, as it alerts you to subtle bites and allows you to put instant pressure on a snapper or grouper. But, for topwater plugging I found myself missing the stretch of mono. Kings are anything but subtle. I lost several near the boat due to pulled hooks, and my guess is that aside from operator error, the unrelenting pull of the braided line may have worked the trebles loose. When a king starts shaking its head near the end of the fight, you need some give. Of course I didn't fret, as we were planning to release most of our catches anyhow. Replacing trebles with a single hook at the rear may have upped my odds. For large, aggressive fish such as tarpon, jacks and tunas, I've noticed the typically narrow gap and light wire of a stock treble doesn't get as sure a bite as, say, a 5/0 single hook attached to the rear of the plug.

The action on the live pilchards was incredible-double hookups, triples, even a quad for a few seconds. We kept scaling down tackle until we were fishing 10-pound, and of course that's when the fish of the day struck. Kevin Alexander, who does some offshore guiding back home, watched helplessly as a fish fled with 100 yards of line and began zigzagging through lobster trap lines.

Jack has a contingency plan for smoker kings: He ties a surgeon's loop in his anchor line, fits a stainless ring through it, clips it off to an anchor-retrieval buoy, then dumps the whole works and frees the boat.

This accomplished, the skipper powered up and sent Kevin to the bow. After a few minutes of chase, Kevin had his line back and soon hauled a 25-pound king to the gaff.

None of us had the foresight to bring a fly rod, but there's no doubt a flashy streamer or popper with a trace of wire tippet would've been crushed by a kingfish behind our boat. The fish made strafing runs through our chumslick in cycles, each time pulling away into the green waters to reassemble formation.

I got the majority of strikes on my topwater plug when the kings were actively hunting our live-chummers. When I'd see a foamy bust, I'd launch my lure into the area; fly fishers would be advised to do the same.

By day's end we'd boated six kings and released another dozen or more. Mashing down barbs on hooks, or cutting one or two points off trebles helped facilitate quick releases. Those that made it to the icebox were destined for the smoker at City Fish in Marathon-perfect party food to remind us of the fun we had catching them.

Go light, go lures, go have a blast!

Running across miles of open water in the Gulf of Mexico made me wonder why Monroe County doesn't have a better artificial reef program. Most of the bottom in this area, local skipper Jack Carlson explained, is flat and featureless. Those spots known to the charter fleet, such as shrimpboat wrecks, lobster trap piles and downed airplanes, are jeal-ously guarded (sometimes they're traded like baseball cards, and occasionally a few wind up on fishing charts). State records www.marinefisheries.org/ar/ar-monroe.htm show quite a bit of public reef development in Monroe County in the late 1980s, but very little in recent years.

Meanwhile, other counties around the state, such as Citrus County in Florida's Big Bend region, featured in the December issue of FS, have aggressively pursued placement of artificial reefs, giving GPS numbers to the public and greatly expanding recreational fishing and diving opportunities. A recent study in Palm Beach County, for example, showed that local reefs generated $500 million in retail sales, and nearly $200 million in income with over 6,000 associated jobs.

Think of all the hotels, bait and tackle shops, marinas that could benefit in Monroe County. And think of all the exciting days of fishing. "It would be nice to have reefs on the backside where people in small boats can get to, especially in winter when it's windy," said Neal Greek at World Class Angler tackle shop in Marathon.

Sadly, it seems the opposite is occurring. Greek reports that the Coast Guard has embarked on a mission to pull up "illegal" reef materials placed by Keys fishermen over the years. "If they catch you putting out debris, even cinder blocks, they'll nail you," he said.

Permitted reefs that have been sunk in recent years have mostly been in deep waters on the Atlantic side of the Keys. Local initiative-and not a tightly organized county agency-has been instrumental. But even these projects have had to go through a gauntlet of bureaucracy. Spencer Slate, a dive shop operator who's devoted six years to the Spiegal Grove reef effort in Key Largo, said the 510-foot ship set to be sunk in Atlantic waters this spring had to pass rigorous environmental codes.

Clearly there is the need for more efficient reef building in Keys waters, especially in the flat, sandy shallows of the Gulf of Mexico.