Not being able to tell the difference can be VERY expen$ive. Not knowing the regulations can be too 

It's easy to see the large black 'sail' dorsal fin on the spanish mackerel (top fish).
And note the lateral line 'dip' and the grey colored dorsal fin on the king (bottom fish).

BTW, here's a chart of king mackerel weight to length comparison (averages) that may help judge the legality of small kings.
You can see that over 4 pounds is about the average for a legal (24" fork length) king mackerel.

At our last ACFA tournament a member caught similar sized spanish and king mackerel (5# +)
Both were legal so I took a couple of pictures for comparison.  Thanks Mike & Austin Lee!

Hope this helps!

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When is the state of Alabama going to finish the rebuild of our fishing pier? Will the opening be delayed beyond March 1, 2009? Still waiting to hear...

Jeff

68ft Viking "Green Machine"

30ft Donzi "Hot Stuff"

23ft Mako "Midnight Run"

~Linda

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(850)375-2757