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Saltywater Tackle

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Day 1, 24th September

Met up with Captain Mike of Liveline Charters at 0530 sharp, weather was amazing in fact I’ve never seen North Carolina this flat.
Raymond, Sherman, Ben and myself hopped on the 31ft Contender and we started making our way to the AJ’s ground.
As usual the bean bags made everyone  slept like a baby on the way out. Halfway through the destination a sailfish started its acrobatic display of jumping and chasing baitfish on the surface about 400yds from the boat.
I decided to give a few cast with poppers but no takers…
We dropped our jigs  when Mike gave us the signal and as soon as we lift the jigs up from the bottom… all the reels started screaming from the stern to the bow.
Yes, that was just the 1st drift and I was thinking to myself, it’s gonna be a painful day…and a painful day it was… every drift we made was a fish on, the quantity made up for the size with all the fish averaging 35lb – 70lb.
For the next couple of hours we were landing fish after fish with a blackfin and false albie mixed in. we ended the day with a nice Mahi. What a day it was.

Day 2 25th September

Today the wind felt like blowing...it was a bumpy ride out and we went South (correct if I’m wrong Mike)  in search of the mama reef donkeys.
When we got to the Mecca of AJ’s we were greeted by storm clouds and nasty swells. All of us drop our jigs anyway, Mike was telling us “they should be here” as he squint his eyes on his Raymarine screen.
And hell yeah he was right. First drift and a 60inch followed by a 64inch (probably the biggest fish on Mike’s boat this year) and a high 50s inch fish came to the boat for some quick photos and release.
The current was ripping and we were drifting fast. Another 63inch fish was landed and released followed by another 60inch and numerous 50s.
It was mayhem when some of the fish decided to swim round everyone’s lines and we were all going merry go round up and under trying our best not to cut each other’s lines.
We called it a day after 4 hours of fishing and headed back to the dock with smiles on everyone’s face.
I could see from the smiles, everyone was thinking to themselves “Yes! I broke my personnel best!”
Me, I was smiling to myself…”Ray, Ben…you guys thrashed my best!” I’ll be back…
Till the next trip, thank you Captain Mike Jackson as always you never fail to amaze me.
To the guys, “thank you for making the trip happen” I’ll see you guys on the water soon.

Tackle use,
Rods – MC Works 538XX and 516SS, Valley Hill EXP55XXB and EXP56XB, Smith 52EX, Fisherman 5121
Reels – Studio Ocean Mark L120 Lo, Shimano Talica 12II, Shimano Torsa 20, Shimano Stella 20000SW, 10000SW, 8000SW(SOM No Limits 16000 spool) Daiwa Certate 3500, Accurate Boss Extreme 500,
Jigs – Shout, Deepliner, Smith, Komo jigs.

Cheers,
Paul.

Saltywater Tackle

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Day 2....

Mark Harris

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Very impressive. Paul, have you ever tried top water fishing for Amberjack down there and are they deep reef only?

Saltywater Tackle

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Yup, they do take topwater but not as big though averaging 20 - 70lbs...there is a wreck about 20-30 miles offshore with a depth of approximately 70ft.
We wake them up from the deep with poppers or we'll just make big splashes on the surface with a stick or spray water on the surface.
You will see them slowly ascending to the surface on the fish finder, pretty amazing!

Cheers,
Paul.

Sam Conacher

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cool,   seem's like it was a good trip and all on board enjoyed them self's and had a good time.



Paul,


just wondering the Valley Hill Rods,  what are they like to jig with and how did they perform on this trip and with and in regards to working the jigs and fighting the fish?



also just wondering to,   what have you found the release rate like on the big AJ'S?

Saltywater Tackle

  • Dogtooth Tuna
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cool,   seem's like it was a good trip and all on board enjoyed them self's and had a good time.



Paul,


just wondering the Valley Hill Rods,  what are they like to jig with and how did they perform on this trip and with and in regards to working the jigs and fighting the fish?



also just wondering to,   what have you found the release rate like on the big AJ'S?
Hi Sam,

We were using 250 - 400g jigs and the Valleyhill rod worked flawlessly, very easy to jig with nice tip action.
Fighting those big fish is easy as the rods has a very nice recovery action.
All our AJ's are deflated prior to release and they swam away as soon as they hit the water.
The bigger ones requires a little more effort, we towed one of the bigger fish for about 5 mins before it struggled and swam away by itself. Sharks would be a bigger problem then releasing.
Out of the 2 days, only 2 fish died...their gills were ripped out during the fight.

Cheers,
Paul.

Alex Jordan

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Saw the pics on FB Paul - some monster AJ's there!


Peter Morris

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Now theres a jigging trip I wish i was on.

Some really nice fish amongst that lot.

Great report. 8)

Pete

Nathan Cefai

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Plenty of fish caught,well done to you and the crew mate.. ;D

Saltywater Tackle

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Thank you guys for the compliments.
Amberjack fishing is pretty much all year round in Wilmington and you are almost guranteed a fish or two on every drift.
The run takes 2-3 hrs depending on the sea condition approximately 60-70miles offshore into the Gulf stream.
All the charter captains are some of the most hardworking and accomodating i have seen.
If anyone wanna tangle with some of these reef donkeys, let me know and we will gladly set you up.
Cheers,
Paul.