By Steve Waters
Anglers looking for a fight will have their hands full trying to reel in an amberjack.
The big, tough fish are concentrated around deep artificial reefs off South Florida now through May, which makes hooking an AJ, as the species is commonly referred to, relatively easy.
Landing one is the real challenge.
After taking a bait or lure, amberjacks tend to head straight for the wreck. If they make it, that’s pretty much the end of the fight, because it’s next to impossible to pull them out or the fishing line will break on the wreck.
The key for anglers is to reel furiously as soon as they set the hook in an AJ to get the fish safely away from the wreck. Even then, though, the powerful fish can take line as if the reel’s in free spool, so it’s critical for anglers to keep pressure on an AJ and keep it coming to the boat.
That’s even more essential when jigging with metal or butterfly jigs, which can cost from $7 to $25. A good day jigging wrecks for AJs can cost you $100 in lures.
The best thing about butterfly or flutter jigging, as opposed to dropping live baits around wrecks, is that you can fish more efficiently.
Capt. Corey McBride likes to lower a jig just above a wreck, then quickly jig it back up.
“Just lift up the rod and reel down as fast as you can,” said McBride, who fishes wrecks in 150-300 feet. “You can never go too fast.”
If an AJ doesn’t bite and the boat is still above the wreck, drop the jig back down and try again. Be advised that the technique can wear out an angler after a dozen drops, which is usually when a 50-pound or bigger amberjack hits the jig.
The jigs can be fished on conventional and spinning outfits, preferably with 50- to 65-pound braided line. And they don’t just catch amberjacks. McBride has caught almaco jacks, cobias, groupers, blackfin tunas and kingfish while jigging wrecks.
GPS coordinates and maps of artificial reefs — typically large boats deliberately sunk offshore to create habitat on sandy bottom where none exists — are available at myfwc.com/conservation/saltwater/artificial-reefs.
Among the best wrecks for amberjacks are many of the more than two dozen artificial reefs sunk off Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach by the old Pompano Beach Fishing Rodeo. There are a handful of scattered reefs off Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
On a wreck-fishing trip out of Boca Raton Inlet, Capt. Rick Redeker said that deeper wrecks often are better than shallower wrecks because they receive less fishing pressure. So if you start shallow and fishing is slow, don’t hesitate to fish farther offshore.
“If you can’t catch an amberjack on one wreck, move to another until you find them,” Redeker said.“There’s so many wrecks out there.”
His favorite bait for amberjacks is a small live bonito, which he catches by trolling a string of small jigs and spoons. Live blue runners and goggle-eyes also are effective, and grunts and pinfish will usually work.
We used 50-pound outfits with 200-pound braided line with a three-way swivel. The swivel was tied to a 10- to 20-foot leader of 80- to 130-pound monofilament with a big circle hook and a short piece of 40- or 50-pound monofilament attached to a lead sinker of 8 to 16 ounces, the weight depending on the strength of the current.
Redeker positioned his boat so the bait dropped to the bottom on the edge of the wreck instead of in the wreck. That way, when an AJ was hooked, Redeker could drive away from the wreck to improve the odds of getting the fish to the boat.
If you want to keep an amberjack, the daily bag limit in the Atlantic Ocean is one per person and the size limit is 28 inches from the tip of the nose to the fork of the tail. The season is open all year except for the month of April, when it’s closed.
Outdoors writer Steve Waters can be reached at steve33324@aol.com.
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