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You knew I had to lead off with something that might make you smile. But the gas I'm talking about is 87 octane, and without it you'll be doing a lot less boating. More and more I am talking to friends who tell me they simply can't afford to go offshore more than a couple of times.

The problem is that gas at a marina is way more expensive than at a regular roadside gas station. For example, if you pay $3.90 a gallon at the gas station for regular gas, a marina charges around $4.40 a gallon. And diesel, at the time I wrote this article, was around $5.50 a gallon at the marinas. I have never quite figured out why, but that's the way it has been for as long as I can remember.

Continuing on with my math lesson, an average 24-foot boat with twin engines holds around 70-100 gallons and bigger boats, like a 45- to 60-foot sportfisherman, can have fuel tanks that hold 600-700 gallons. So you can see why fewer and fewer folks are heading offshore, and when they get home, each fish caught is probably worth $60 a pound. The experience is the only thing that is priceless.

So how can you burn less fuel and still have a good time? I predict that more and more folks are going to fish for king mackerel this year. It wasn't all that long ago when it seemed everyone fished for kings but after they learned that king mackerel have a relatively high mercury content, that pretty much put a damper on that type of fishing. From then on it was cobia, cobia and more cobia, with some tarpon fishing in between.

Even though king mackerel got a respite, they are a great game fish. They are fast as lightning and there is hardly a fish around that is as exciting as a king when it hits a bait. And the best thing about king fishing is you don't have to go far to catch them. They are in the Savannah Ship Channel, the Port Royal Channel, the Middle Grounds (just south of Gaskin Banks) and on all the artificial reefs. And in my opinion, a small king is not going to kill you -- or I would have been dead long ago.

Almost any old-timer around here has eaten a whole long of king mackerel in their lives. Cubed up and fried, they really are quite tasty. It is the king mackerel over around 30 pounds that carry the largest mercury content. The small "snakes" (14-20 pounds) won't hurt you if you don't eat them every night.

They are best caught "bump" trolling with live menhaden or anchored up chumming like mad with live baits in your chum slick. Kings, especially the big ones, can smoke a reel. Use a medium-heavy action rod, a reel loaded with 20-pound test and a short wire leader rigged with one or two hooks, depending on whether you want to fish a solitary bait or run two at a time, which mimics a school of menhaden.

To hook a menhaden, come through its mouth up through the upper lip. When bump trolling, you can run four lines staggered at different depths from the surface on down to just off the bottom and "bump" the boat in and out of gear just fast enough to keep the lines straight behind the boat.

Look for schools of bait or Spanish mackerel and work the edges. Don't go right through the schools, rather swing the baits along the fringes and more than likely, a kingfish is hanging around. If by chance a Spanish hits a bait, reel him in, leaving it in the water, and hook him right in front of his dorsal fin and use it for live bait. They might be cousins, but I wouldn't want a cousin like that because a king will snarf up a Spanish in a heartbeat.

Other good baits are bluefish, which can be caught using small Clarke spoons; dead ribbonfish; croakers; spots; and mullet.

So now that I have given you a type of fishing that is economically sound, get out there and try it. You will need to know how to throw a cast net, have a live well or troll using Drone spoons or ballyhoo. King mackerel are a hoot to catch and instead of $60 dollars a pound, you are looking at $10 to $15 a pound when you factor in fuel prices.

I'm afraid it isn't going to get any better for awhile so now is the time to look for alternative ways to fish, have fun and not spend a fortune. King mackerel are a sure bet on all counts.