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I have a 20' KeyWest and a son that I would LOVE to take amberjack.
Where and when are sure-fire ways to catch amberjack?
What's a good bait?
OBX locations?
Wilmington locations?
Atlantic Beach area locations?
Thanks!
Best way to catch amberjack is to go out with me fishing for GROUPER!!
Wrecks and hardbottom toward FPT have been covered up with them lately.
Wait for some really good weather in a 20' boat.
If they are there they will hit live or dead bait.
Most of the wrecks off Oregon Inlet in the summer will hold them but some of the nearshore sites get hammered so they can thin out quick and you may have to search around. Also the towers (65, 70 and 102 degree) hold them as well. We catch bait first thing in the morning, preferably bluefish (and they can't be too big!), somewhere behind the break or in the inlet, fill the well, then head to a likely spot. Gorilla live bait hook, 6' of 60-80 lb seaguar flourocarbon leader, weighted or not (can depend on where the fish are holding and current), close to free spool w/clicker on, then hold on. I use TLD15 and 20's w/20 and 30 lb line on 5 1/2' stand-up rods (Penn Mariner). We also catch them with spinner reels (Penn 650 and 750 ss) throwing JC jigs w/curly tail grubs or tipped with bait, especially when they are/come up top. Reef Donkeys will wear your ass out!! Best one boated so far was 65" forked length, 35" girth, on 20lb TLD 15 outfit, one hour and ten minute fight time, about seven miles from the beach on a good producing area of bottom structure, estimate 80 - 90 lbs. Needless to say, that was the last one of the day for my buddy and he ain't a small guy! Metal jigs, croakers, spot and pinfish also work but I swear by bluefish. Even if they aren't snapp'in real good they seem to like to kill bluefish. I have bee out there many times when the other boats weren't doing sh_t and we drop some blues over and watch out!! Hope this helps.
I remember going on the Winner Queen charter boat for an overnight trip, and the Amberjacks were smoking our reals every time we tried to pull a b-liner up. Very Exciting is all I can say.
David
__________________ Boat in progress: 1972 Boston Whaler Cohasset (In the restoration process).
Pretty much any of the artificial reefs off of SE NC coast beyond say 15 miles. Best time is mid to late summer. If you slow troll or drift you can usually see them follow your boat. Try catching live bait and send it down with a light trolling sinker to a depth of about 35 feet or so and wait; usually not for long. Use a stout rod and some strong line and see if you can keep them off the bottom. Best way to catch them is to try for something else.
If you fish the 102 tower out of Oregon Inlet I would suggest live bait. The towers here get pounded pretty hard in the summer and by mid summer the aj's tend to be picky. Not saying you can't catch them on lures but it is almost a guarantee when you have live bait. Like gill'em said, bluefish work really well and are easy to catch. You better fill your live well with them because you will lose plenty of them at the tower. Some to break offs when the aj takes your line and wraps it in the tower. The other reason you will lose quite a few is because on Kong. Kong is a huge 5 to 6' barracuda that has been hanging around the 102 tower for years. He is easy to spot by all the wire, hooks, and leaders hanging out of both sides of his mouth. One day last year we lost about five baits to him before we could one in a jacks mouth. After that it was game on!! You will have to pick your days in a 20' cc but you can make the run. I would recommend fishing the 65 degree tower over the 102 if you are just targeting aj's because it is a shorter run and less pressure will have been put on the fish. I prefer to fish the 102 because you never know what you hook into at that tower. We have caught a lot of different species(tuna,dolphin,sailfish,king mackeral,cobia,ect). Good luck!!
While we're on the subject of AJ- When I lived in Texas, we spearfished for them all the time on the rigs, and they made great table fare....When I moved to NC a few years back, several people kind of turned their nose up when I mentioned Amberjack, saying they were wormy or just generally not good to eat. What is yall's take on that?
While we're on the subject of AJ- When I lived in Texas, we spearfished for them all the time on the rigs, and they made great table fare....When I moved to NC a few years back, several people kind of turned their nose up when I mentioned Amberjack, saying they were wormy or just generally not good to eat. What is yall's take on that?
My take is AJ's have worms in the filets towards the tail section....
And, we have a large selection of better tasting fish to eat........
AJ can be chummed up to top & them throw large cheap topwaters - chugger style & hang on......
You can troll, jig, live bait, dead bait & topwater all work on AJ's. - Seen some pictures as big as 100 #........ICM
ICM- I definitely agree that we have much better fish to eat here....I was just curious. I haven't bothered w/ AJ since I've been here because of it. In the TX gulf, you have to go a long ways for Mahi & Wahoo which is what I love to catch, and I didn't have the boat for it then and I've never seen worms in AJ there....now you have me wondering if it's a difference in habitat, or I was just eating it without seeing it (yuk) Also, in that part of the gulf chumming them to the surface wasn't even possible that I am aware of. They were mostly at 140-160' deep and pretty picky about bait. (though that didn't concern me much because I was mostly catching them on a Riffe speargun)
Amberjack fishing in NC 
