The northern kingfish Menticirrhus saxatilis is a member of the drum family and is often found in the trough adjacent to the swash zone of the beach and on sand bottoms in the bays and channels. And range from Chesapeake Bay to New York usually but can be found outside of this range to a much lesser degree.
They frequently go by other names such as channel mullet, sea mullet, Virginia mullet and whiting. These fish aren’t large with the max size at 3 or 4 pounds with most being less than 2 pounds. But what they lack in size they make up for when they reach the table. When you fish for channel mullet you are fishing for the table. They are usually caught by fishing dead bait on the bottom.