Amberjack fishing in Fort Lauderdale

There are numerous types of Jacks available to us here in South Florida. Jacks or “Jackfish” as they are often affectionately called come in all shapes and sizes here and many other temperate tropical climates. We have Jack Crevalle, Lesser Amberjacks, Rudderfish, Almico and others that often top ten pounds. Then we have the littler guys who are known as Rainbow Runners, Blue Runners, Dork Jacks, Yellow Jacks who are usually a bit smaller….. the list goes on and on. All great fun fish in their own right and strong fighters pound for pound (or ounce for ounce for the smallest members) and willing on most days to readily take your bait, a nice habit of theirs. But the granddaddy of all our Atlantic Jacks is the Greater Amberjack.

AJs, Rubber Lips, Reef Donkey. All nicknames for a very strong fighting and aggressive fish. Often above 50 # Amberjacks can pull hard, really hard. There is no doubt that an AJ could pull a King Salmon backwards, and for a ways, if tied tail to tail. Don’t get me wrong. I love fishing for King Salmon and do so every year because I do so love it and that fish, but old “Reef Donkey” didn’t come by his nickname by chance. He is a locomotive with fins.

Amberjacks love structure, any kind of structure, as long as it holds some bait. We catch them in 40 feet and we catch them in 400 feet. Our best producing spots are usually in the vicinity of 200 feet. Our fort Lauderdale fishing area offers us dozens of such spots. By far the best bait for an Amberjack is a nice frisky live bait. Our favorite is a small Bonito, followed next by a Tinker Mackaeral, then a Speedo, Blue Runner, and then it’s: What do we have in the live well? A Goggle Eye, a Pinfish, how about a Grunt ,Snapper, Mullett, how about a Moonfish or Shad? Send it down there and be ready for a real bite, not a tap, tap, tap.

For leader material we choose monofilament. No big teeth here so no need for a wire leader trace, and they eat a bait whole, head first. We prefer clear line here on Marlin My Darlin. For Greater Amberjacks we don’t really go to Florocarbon , but you wouldn’t go wrong if you tied a piece on there. Don’t be shy, we sometimes use 120 # test on the bigger baits and seldom drop below 60#. On these bruisers you often need as large a leader as you are comfortable with to protect yourself from terminal tackle failure as they will take off against your reel’s drag and chafe you off on whatever structure you are positioned over. Half the fun is hammering down and getting them away from that structure and coming your way (not necessarily “up”).

We catch a good number of AJs on jigs. Occasionally a jig will even out fish a live bait, but here a live bait typically gets the most attention on a Fort Lauderdale fishing trip. When the bite is on (fast and furious) a jig is a blast as the bite is really a big bang and the rod is wrenched downward: right now. A jig also has the advantage of a quick turnover time as little or no re-rigging is required and most times and you can get the jig over the side and back down into the bite zone quickly for another back wrenching strike.

Our favorite jig is a Butterfly jig and all major tackle manufacturers produce then. We like a purple and silver Williamson, but a old reliable bullet headed jig with a rubber worm (as in Largemouth Bass) will get you there also. Adjust your jig weight so that you can get it down there without a lot of scope. Better to go too heavy than watch your jig swept astern due to heavy current because you don’t have enough lead to express it down into the bite zone. We also catch an occasional Amberjack while trolling, often by a wreck (but not necessarily) and then slowing down and turning hard to allow a bait fished on a deep line to get down even deeper.

Typically a smaller one, but not necessarily. And then every once and a while one piles on there when we least expect it as we are essentially miles from vertical structure other than an inshore reef. These are great game fish and will test your stamina again and again.

Tight lines, Capt Rick Brady of Marlin My Darlin Sportfishing