Catchin AJ's

McRed · Post by **McRed** » May 25th, 2004, 8:12 am

Hey Guys,
I was wandering where and how to go after AJ's? Never tried to go after them before, and have family in that want to land some decent fish. I've heard you guys talk about K-Tower, is this a good place to go?

Any info (bait, location, techniques, etc...) on going after AJ's would be very appreciated.

I'm guessing that going out of Lanark and getting bait off DIR would be a decent start. Do you cast net the bait or just fish for bait? Do you guys troll or just free line the bait?

Again, wanting to try something new and hopefully have a great time on the water.

Post by **Tom Keels** » May 25th, 2004, 8:23 am

Most folks use sabiki's to catch bait around the marker bouys on the ends of the islands or around the towers. The absolute A+, #1 bait for AJ's is a blue runner aka hardtail. Pinfish work as well, but nothing will get them running like a blue runner.

Any artificial reef or structure (like the towers) in greater than 50 feet of water will hold good numbers of AJ's. You can free line them or drop them down on a regular grouper setup. Just be aware that there are many undersize fish around and AJ's have to be 28" at the fork to keep. It is very hard to turn back a 10-12 pound AJ because he's short but it happens.

Wil · Post by **Wil** » May 25th, 2004, 8:30 am

And if you want to boat a bunch of them quick, a speargun is the ticket. They have no fear of people underwater. They're pretty much always there (k-tower, o-tower, yamaha), but they just don't bite (quickly enough) sometimes. We're going out this afternoon to feed them some steel.

Post by **Atticus** » May 25th, 2004, 12:42 pm

A BIG white jig will work if there is no live bait to be had

Work it fast with big, sharp jerks on the rod while bringing it up through the water column

ALso try to tip that BIG white jig with a BIG white grub for a better effect, you are trying to make the thing look like a squid

Littoral · Post by **Littoral** » May 25th, 2004, 12:53 pm

Or toss smaller baits at them after they come up, get in a frenzy, and then throw the big topwater. That's pure thrill.
I'm literally sore right now. We caught them (30-40lbs) Sunday at K-Tower. It's really too easy. Like stopping at the grocery store. Tom's right on it with the blue runners. They were easy to pick up with a Sabiki at the markers on the way out.
We also found a lot of snapper in 85 feet.