Lesser Verses Greater AJs

wxguy · Post by **wxguy** » February 17th, 2002, 4:22 pm

Hey fellas, hope everyone snuck in the offshore angling on Saturday! It was a great morning/early afternoon. I tried out the new light rod/reel penn 209w/25 lb test long whippy pole and a jig...it was fun plus the back of the boat had my Dad(who is a two rod fisherman), brother, and Boat Cap. My Dad was intense as he has been on the honey do's for three weeks and I gave him room as when he's intense he typically gets on'm...he landed four legal gags a monster released snapper and an amberjack. Boat Cap. caught a grouper on his second rod while the old man was busy w/ the AJ...I caught 12 short grouper on the jig with the majority being red gpr. Also landed an AJ which was screaming fun. On the AJ note I am wondering if there is an easy way to differentiate between the lesser/greater AJs..boat Cap identified ours as lesser. I've looked at lots of "drawings" on the net but it still seems really difficult..any input would be appreciated....Thanks!

By the way..anyone have any numbers down at Jupiter inlet? I'm on a Mahi trip in March but would like to do some bottom time as well.

CapeHorn · Post by **CapeHorn** » February 18th, 2002, 11:14 am

Check out this site for a description of both Lesser and Greater AJ's. The Lesser rarely exceed 12" and the horizontal stripe on the Lesser also ends more noticeably before the eye.

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/fish_species/jacks.htm#10

wxguy · Post by **wxguy** » February 18th, 2002, 12:50 pm

[ This Message was edited by: wxguy on 2002-02-21 1:47 pm ]

dewyafish · Post by **dewyafish** » February 18th, 2002, 4:00 pm

Skippers in Destin call them amberlines. we usually catch a few of them every time we go in late spring. I can't tell the difference between them and juvenile Greater amberjack.

wxguy · Post by **wxguy** » February 19th, 2002, 10:10 am

Half asleep last night I realized a strange discrepancy about these Lesser(yes I eat sleep and dream fish)...if they dont get over 12" why is the Florida slot sized 14-27"? Something is weird here! Wish I could see two pictures of REAL fish side by side! I have a picture of the lesser but need a jeuvy amberjack to compare! The fish we caught had a yellow tint to their anal fins, the line above the eye seemed to stop short of dorsal, and the stripe along the lateral line was deep yellow. Don't want to get in trouble with short Greaters but man these lesser were tasty and worth figuring out! oh yeh, to complicate matters further I am getting info. saying that banded rudderfish are lesser amberjack! Hep me hep me!

[ This Message was edited by: wxguy on 2002-02-19 2:11 pm ]

[ This Message was edited by: wxguy on 2002-02-19 2:18 pm ]

wayne · Post by **wayne** » March 28th, 2002, 1:44 am

I can't find it right now, but I believe it's on the fishing regs poster you can get where you get your license. The greater has 7 spines in the dorsal fin and the lesser has 8. That is the most definitive way to tell them apart. The eye bands are also a useful discriminator. I have caught lessers around 20" in the Tortugas.