There are many ways to go after kings. If your looking to have a little fun and catch a few fish and not care about the size then live bait drifting around the buoys and mass will be your best bet.

With all this rain, we've had the past few weeks the kings have moved out offshore, now there are still some in close, but not like it was 2 weeks ago.

Back to your question. Is trolling better than live bait.

 Yes and No, you should be doing both when king fishing.

 Drift a while to see if any kings will take your offering and if so then you don't need to troll. When drifting I use a few different techniques. I keep one bait on top free-lined out and another bait rigged with a small 2oz trolling weight to get it down a little while drifting.

If I'm drifting then I usually only have 2 - 3 lines out at a time. Now when I'm trolling I have 4 rods outs. One with a Mann's stretch either the 25 or the  15 in Bonita color or sliver and Black, I also like the cabo sunset. On the other 3 rods I will have one bait with a small steel head blue and silver tormenter lure rigged with a live or dead cigar minnow. The other two rods are rigged with out skirts and one is trolled on top and the other with the trolling weight. This combo of rods have produced me some quality catches. Sometimes they hit the same rod over and over, but sometimes it's a mixture so I always keep a few different choices out there to keep all my basis covered.

Now back to the best place to catch kings. If the buoys aren't producing well and you want to catch kings, head to the wreck 7 - 10 miles out. The water is a little cleaner and while you are drifting or trolling this area you can also drift the wreck from time to time for a limit of snapper.

Sorry this is so winded, hope this helps. Good luck. Tight Lines...