# Pier Amberjacks



## pier-legend (Jan 14, 2004)

This subject was touched in another thread....but for all of you who may have wanted to know about Amberjacks off the ocean piers...

When I 1st began pin riggin in 1969, Amberjacks were an occassional catch from the Topsail Piers...
Some showed in the summer, but fall was the time the majority showed up...

The 1st one I ever landed weighed "only" 28lb., but I was a happy as if it had weighed a hundred..
You see Amberjacks were notorious for "shooting the pier" on the strike!!!
Especially if the water was real clear...and even if it wasn't!
Tons of terminal king riggin, lost to the pilings..

It was not at all unusual to have 15-20 Amberjack strikes and NEVER PUT A ONE ON THE PIER!! In one morning! Numbers like 3-35 happened a lot!
I went thru a bunch of strikes before I ever got that 1st one..l

When I 1st went to Topsail there was a fellow nick-named "Big John"..and I thought that guy was "super fisherman"...
WHY? "Big John" had put a 96 lb. 8 oz AJ on the pier!! It was all the local club records.
Most of the Amberjacks weighed between 25-45 lbs...in the beginning.

There was a certain way you had to "play" Amberjacks..we learned thru trial, and a lot of error..
If you "beat on" a Jack, it would run the other way..at least for a while.
We learned to "beat on" a jack with the original intent of saving some of our terminal tackle, before the Jack shot the pilings..
Just jack the crap out of it, hoping something would break before it was ALL gone!!
And when we started that..the AJ started going the other way!! WE KILLED A BUNCH OF EM!!

Well the next big move in Amberjack fishing was when they started putting in the Artifical reefs anywhere from 1-3 miles offshore....They put a couple off Topsail and right on up the coast...

Well the Jacks got THICK THEN!!!
How thick?? 
I landed a 50 lb. amberjack off the Jolly Roger Pier EVERY MONTH of the season in one year! April thru Nov. Not counting the 40's and such.
AND I WASN'T TRYING!! I WAS TRYING TO STAY AWAY FROM EM!!

How thick?
There were days you couldn't get a bluefish, spanish, pompano, you name it...to the pier for the Jacks gobbling it!!
They "patrolled" the pilings and anything splashy was "history"....

They got "big" too, after thoes reefs were put in..
There was a 105 lb. landed off of Johnnie Mercers Pier at THANKSGIVING!!
There were several landed in the 80-90lb. range..
My wife landed a 89 lber. from the Dolphin Pier, and the old Rodwatcher got him a 91 lber...
Best I ever did was 78 lb., but I have landed back to back to back 65 lbers...

The Amberjacks were the 1st thing in April, and the last thing in Novermber...before the kings, and right with the spring footballs...

They weren't too picky either....
They would hit ANYTHING LIVE, regardless of its size or kind!!
And they would hit dead bait on the bottom!
I discovered their weakness for a dead blue or mullet on the bottom by accident...(shark fishing)...
So if bait was tough, I would just stop by the seafood market, and get a sack of blues or mullet, and go put em out with a 4' section of 100 lb. leader and a 7/0-9/0 hook, and a 4-5 oz. sinker and a 4/0 senator.
There was a larger percentage of strikes that would run when bottom fishing...I use to go to the Crystal pier,at Wrightsville bch, and catch a couple of 40-60 lb. AJ, just about any morning in the fall...actually toward the end...any day of the summer too..
When the pier kings disappeared there wasn't anything else to mess with..AND THE JACK WERE DEPENDABLE!!

The jacks that would just stay under the pier were the ones that inspired the "JACK RIG"..
A 6/0-9/0 filled with 125-150lb. Ande, a solid glass rod and a 10/0 needle eye hook and the biggest bait in the tank...
With the gaff on the rail, and the drag LOCKED, the drill went like this...
Put bait down close to pier..
Jack hits bait...
One angler grabbed rod and came straight up with it...
Another fisherman, grabbed rod above reel and HELPED PUSH ROD UP!!
The 3rd fellow grabbed gaff and down it went!!!
If you got the Jacks head up immediately..he was TOAST!!
I had a buddy kill a 83 lb. Amberjack in about 2 mins!!!!
I mentioned the 77 lb. cobia that hit the "wrong" rig...no more than 5 mins.!!

The DOWN SIDE,to this method was when the Jack DID get his head down!!! I had a buddy (Rodwatchers cousin)... LIFTED OUT OF HIS SHOES, on a Jack...the pier was the fulcrum.... and he WOULD HAVE WENT OVER IF THEY HADN'T GRABBED HIM!!
Several hurt backs when the Jack got his head...

I could tell AJ storys for the rest of the day....I loved them things and I MISS EM!!
You would know in a hurry if your knots, and crimps, and hooks, and BACK, were any good when the Jack hit!!

What happened to Pier Jacks?? 
Simple: They found out they were GOOD TO EAT!!
When we were catching them..NOBODY ATE THEM...WHY?? CAUSE THEY HAD A ROW OF PARASITE WORMS IN THEIR BACK....thats why..
The folks in Florida were eating them, Gulf Coast too...BUT NOT IN NORTH CAROLINA..
You couldn't even sell em with the kings and stuff..no fish market would buy them!

But suddenly in Islamorada Fla. on the "hump" where the Amber jacks wintered...they started paying $1.00 a pound with no limit!!
AND IT WAS EASY MONEY TIL THEY WERE ALMOST GONE..now there are limits..
When they started winter commercial fishing the jacks. in Florida....they disappeared from the piers...

The last one i caught was 1989..the last one I hung or saw, was 1991....
I have heard of a Pier Amberjack caught since then.but not since the late 90's...

Ask the "real" pier-legend Angelo Depaola about landing Amberjacks from the Jolly Roger on just a heavy cord tied to a broom handle...no reel!!!!
see-ya...


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## Andre (Mar 15, 2003)

*again pier legend .....*

Another awesome report / story /information .....What's the best pier in NC to fish for AJ ?


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

PL,good read.. I was going to post the pic of RW'S 90lber,but for the life of me,I can't find the pic...


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## king&strut (Jun 17, 2004)

PL,

Have you talked to Rick lately? What about Rod, he still fishing too? Later, Mike


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## pier-legend (Jan 14, 2004)

Hey mike..nah, I haven't heard from anyone at all..I am completely out of the Jolly loop....wish it wasn't that way....BUT IT IS! 
Maybe there will be better days..tell that pretty baby daughter of yours hey...


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## Reelturner (Dec 24, 2003)

*DD do you know*

a guy from Nags Head named Ray Miller? He is a brother to the other one who owns a lot of real estate and I think who owns "Miller's" restuartant also.

I didn't see it but at one time there was a sign at Nags Head Pier. Ray landed a 72# amberjack. Ray is a large framed man. About all Ray said is that...."That was a hosss too!"

I remember the first ever large fish I ever saw caught was a 63# caught at Emerald Isle back in '85. After having it one for a while and practically running down the north side 30 yards they got it. As soon as the hooks were removed the angler grabbed its tail and slung it over his back and took off to the scales. Course ya know I was a green youner lad then when it comes to piers and kinging I watched in amazment. After weighing it in, I asked him about it and he said that it was his largest that year and I think his third one. It was October.

RT


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## chipotle (Nov 24, 2005)

*can u eat em*

i have heard that amber jacks can cause (bad spelling ) ciguaretta poisioning is this true:--|


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## Hitchhiker (Feb 13, 2006)

Good read PL, I had no idea it was like that now. Shows how out of the loop I am. I used to fish Risley pier on Camp Lejeune when I was in the Marines. This was in the 80's and you are right, the AJ's, even on that short, and if you know that pier, I mean short pier would come in thick. Sadly, from what I understand it (Risley pier) is not there any more. Is this true? Anyhoo, I had one adventure with Mr. AJ and he was 74lbs. I will never forget that day. Awesome power.


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## Rosco (Feb 15, 2005)

Excellent read Pier-Legend. I had never heard of amberjacks from a pier before. It is sad that us younger fisherman may never have that opportunity, but maybe conservation efforts will pay off.


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## king&strut (Jun 17, 2004)

PL,

Thanks. Brooke says "Hi" also. You and Depe are her Heroes. Don't let it swell your head. Ha, Ha. You still need to catch a big JACK like mine off the pier. Remember, 43 lbs.???????/ Later, Mike

BTW, what do you mean you are out of the loop? Just not heard from anybody or you not fishing this year?


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## crazyted (Jun 16, 2005)

*Amberjack on the Jolly Roger*

Pier-legend who are you? You seem to know everyone I fished with on the Jolly Roger and Dolphin pier in the 70's.

[email protected]


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## king&strut (Jun 17, 2004)

He is the one and only (He wishes to remain anonymous).


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## crazyted (Jun 16, 2005)

*Amberjack on the Jolly Roger*

I thought it had to be, but I wasn't sure


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## bluerunner (Jun 30, 2003)

chipotle said:


> i have heard that amber jacks can cause (bad spelling ) ciguaretta poisioning is this true:--|


any reef fish can cause ciguatera, including grouper and snapper. However, its mostly a tropical problem. It's not as much of an issue here in NC


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## pier-legend (Jan 14, 2004)

Hey Ted!!...are YOU fishing anywhere? We haven't heard or seen you in years !!!!
Gots to MISS the ole Dolphin ...Larry Lee "left us" 2 aprils ago...the pier in the sky..... 

Mike..haven't "pier fished" in 2 years...I am planning a comeback though.....


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## pier-legend (Jan 14, 2004)

Well let me correct that "haven't pier fished in 2 years"....NOT where ANYONE KNEW ME!! Hows that....I am rather sneeky! 
Ted I haven't seen you since you walked off the old Jollys....I don';t know how many years ago..


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## pier-legend (Jan 14, 2004)

BIG THANKS DD!!!.....

Hitchhiker...AMBERJACK fishing from piers is NOT like that now..the last I heard of one was about 1997...
Risleys pier is still there but Ophelia messed it up last fall...it is suppose to be rebuilt...

Rosco...Amberjacks were CURSED by many in the days they were here..there was still kings to catch and Jacks tore up too much tackle, and took too much time!!
I AM OLD...meaning: I have TAKEN MY BAIT AWAY from such things as Amberjacks, false albacore, small cobia, small Jack Crevalles, big spanish, and big blues..not to mention ANY SHARK.( sounds like a lie don't it!)

We had to hustle bait so much, that it was a pain in the arse, to have a Amberjack or some other "crap" fish.(see list above) gobble our HARD EARNED, KING or TARPON BAIT!!! 
Some of the "best" days for "catching" were also the days that you couldn't find a "wiggle" on the pier itself...
...and of course there were 'PRIME" baits, that gave you a decided advantage, when you were "targeting" just kings or Tarpon...

I have had the "wrong" bait and been shut out with the kings "looking" at my wiggle, circling,and "eating" the guys with the "hot bait"
..and I have "put it on others" the same way... 

I have fished several days when ALL the bait you had for the day, was captured BEFORE sunup...and when they were gone..you were THROUGH...
Like everything else, (and it's still true)...LUCK is when PREPERATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY...Hard work in fishing always makes a decided difference..

In truth we were "SPOILED"..there use to be a LOT of fish...no doubt...
Now days NO ONE TAKES THEIR BAIT AWAY FROM NOTHING???....shark, spanish, blowtoad, sand lizard....THE TARGET IS TO GET ANY STRIKE!!! 
I don't think you will ever see Amberjacks again on the piers...it is sad.
Big sharks are another one you won't see again in most cases..
I mean BIG SHARKS...300-500 lb....hammerheads that were 10-12' long, in the summer...Tigers and Lemons...with big sets of teeth...reel strippers...
King and Tarpon eaters....I have seen several Tarpon "heads" brought in.. .
I have had a bunch of kings eaten. .and a even a football on a plug...

On a positive note....(if we have ANY piers )...
Your chances of catching a Tarpon are as good as they have ever been, and may be getting better...
You don't have a lot of "kings" to mess you up in the summer time, and you can "target" tarpon..
The biggest challenge to "Pier Tarpon" other than being rigged right..is all the "crying and Whinning" about releasing the thing when you catch him... 
YOU CAN'T GET A LIFETIME PICTURE IN 5mins. on the beach, or beside the pier...sorry thats just the way it is...it's up to you!.. YOU STILL AIN'T GONNA CATCH A BUNCH OF EM!!

The pier game was glorious, and it still offers one of the last places that promotes "real fishing"(like the surf game)
What do I Mean?
On the pieror surf)
YOU really CATCH THE FISH!!!
YOU pick out YOUR tackle..YOUR ROD AND YOUR REEL..
YOUR HOOKS, YOUR LINE, YOUR KNOTS and CRIMPS and HAYWIRE TWISTS ..
YOU set YOUR drag..
YOU catch YOUR BAIT...
YOU tote it out there, and YOU put in the time...
When the fish hits....YOU CATCH HIM, or YOU DON'T...
YOU have to get thru the tangles...and NOT GET CUT OFF BY BOATS... 

YOU have to get along with a bunch of other people...rookies, pro's, ill-tails, drunks,kids,honeys...you name its!! 

If you are to be consistently effective..YOU ARE GONNA HAVE TO LEARN THE GAME..you may blind hog a manster fish, but unless you LEARN some things..it will be FOREVER BETWEEN LANDINGS.... 

Last thing....TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES OF YOUR PIER FISH....don't take any of em for granted!!...

It's hard for the young fishermen to even imagine the Pier fishing that was...
There may be a day by the time you get my age...FOR YOUR CHILDREN, TO IMAGINE THERE WAS EVER A PIER TO FISH ON.... 
see-ya..


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## longcast (Jan 9, 2005)

PL, well said. Most want everything now, like microwave popcorn. Put in time, I have no time for that. Why hasn't anything bitten yet? I cast like a minute ago, on TV I saw them catch fish every minute.

Who me, get out of my way, I want my cart at the front rail. Trash, what trash? It'll blow away,and the can will sink. 

Here tie my hook, I don't know how.

Look at the pile of Skates I made, it's almost as big as the pile of Bluefish I left on the beach, and bigger than the Dog Sharks I left up here yesterday.

I am not drunk, I still got 4 cans left from the case.

longcast


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Love hearing about the monsters from the deep, whether it be AJs or sharks, or whatever. Love the old time stories. Numbers or size, if you have stories from the old days please tell us? Thanks for what has already been posted.


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## Blues Brother (Jul 18, 2005)

pier-legend said:


> YOU CAN'T GET A LIFETIME PICTURE IN 5mins. on the beach, or beside the pier...


Who says?


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

*That one may have survived..*



Blues Brother said:


> Who says?



Well,what he is saying is that if you catch a tarpon from a pier,you are better off cutting it free before you either,bring it up on the pier with a net,or land it on the beach.. I believe he is suggesting the chances of survival are very slim.. These fish are not as hardy as,say drum,and many other species,and it is not a good idea to take them out of the water ,just cut them free..

I've caught one myself,off the planks,and many out of boats,and happen to agree.. Many of the guides in Fla won't even take them aboard thier boats,not just for fear of them hurting thier party on board,but for the sake of the tarpon's survival..

If you have in mind keeping the fish,that's fine,but to release it,IMO,you need to cut it free..


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## crazyted (Jun 16, 2005)

*Amberjack on the Jolly Roger*

Pier-Legend- 
Since I found out who you are, I know how you got your name.
I haven't king fished in over five years, but have fished for spanish at atlantic beach a few times. Hope to get to the jolly roger this summer to visit

Ted


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## Hitchhiker (Feb 13, 2006)

Hey PL, thanks for the response, I hope that I wasn't misunderstood, when I said that I didn't know it was like that now, I meant that I didn't know that the AJ's were gone. Sorry to hear that info... I only had the pleasure once as I said before but a memory that I will hold on to forever.


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## pier-legend (Jan 14, 2004)

Crazy Ted...good to hear from you...Angelo Depaola is still on the Jollys...He is 85 yrs. old and caught a citation Red Drum last fall at the banks. ..he still chunks his squidder and heaver too!! he landed a 110 lb. Tarpon 2 yrs ago...when he was 83!!! (THAT THE REAL PIER LEGEND!!)

The pin rigging got so sorry I had to "learn" how to catch all the "other" stuff...Pompano and Speckled Trout are my disease now days....big surf mullets too.... 

Hitchhiker....I landed a ton of pier jacks, but I messed up....I set a goal of putting an 80 lb. on the wall....and 78 lb. was the best I did..
I don't know how others may feel about it, but now days a 78 lb. pier jack would be WORLD CLASS...
ANY PIER JACK WOULD BE A WONDERFUL MEMORY!!!....
..I feel bad everytime I look at the big Amberjack mount in The Sanaitary Fish House on the Morehead water front.. and yea I could get a "repo" done...
But like a lot of other things....we didn't know what we had til they were GONE.... 

The closes thing we have now, that produces the "attitude" that fishermen had towards the Amberjacks, ..are the skinny "Chopper Blues" that swarm the month of May....
Those are worthy fish too.....I don't keep em when I catch em...BUT I DO SNAP A PICTURE...
one day they (and the piers) may be gone too!!


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## Rodwatcher (Sep 17, 2003)

Drumdum said:


> PL,good read.. I was going to post the pic of RW'S 90lber,but for the life of me,I can't find the pic...


 I'll email ya one, can't seem to be able to post one on here. Thinks I gots it figured out now.


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

*OK Pier Legend..*

Is this what you're talking about??? 











Rodwatcher's 91lber....


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## Rodwatcher (Sep 17, 2003)

If that AJ had been fat he'd probably gone 95 or a 100. Know one thing though, I pulled on him 1-1/2 to 2 hours and he still whooped my butt. He was 68 inches long with a 32 1/2 inch girth.


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## pier-legend (Jan 14, 2004)

All right Pier fishermen...see them rails in the back ground?? 
Now how would you like to have one of these eat you bluefish???
This is a REAL PIER FISH!!!!

This boy makes a King look like the "sissy fish"....


Ole rodwatcher use to be skinny too!!
Hey Jimmy, wasn't there another manster caught that day too????
Tell the truth, don't you wish you had sent that boy to Al Pleuger?....and had him on the wall??...

If memory serves me right, Rodwatcher was using a international 50 and a custom rod....and it was NOVEMBER late.....

If I were a new pier fishermen.....I would think there was a lot of "lying" going on by the old guys....
The numbers and sizes WERE UNREAL, compared to the last 15 yrs..

I don't tell a lot of very truthful storys anymore, JUST BECAUSE THEY DO SOUND LIKE LIES!!!

Some things I don't talk about at all.......

Thanks DD for posting the picture.....


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## Rodwatcher (Sep 17, 2003)

Wilson, I think I was use'n my red 6/0, cause after he ate that 3 lb. blue and I set the hook, sat down on the pier floor and put my feet on the first rail from the floor, screwed the drag down so he'd know something had him and let him go, got the side plates right hot. Mike D. caught a 83 lber. before I got that one. After we all baited back up with whatever we could find, lobbed it back out there and got something on bigger, after about 30 minutes whatever in was bite me off, thinks this critter had teeth.


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## Hitchhiker (Feb 13, 2006)

NICE pic Rodwatcher... Man o' man... Good fish. Legend, good point about King's being sissy fish compared to those bucket mouths. Those dern feesh were so strong, you had to remind them from time to time that they were even hooked. Mine, anyway, would run out a good little ways then swim around kind of bored, then I'd hit him just to let him know I was still there.  Of course he wasn't bored much after the reminder... The funny thing is, I was out on that pier every weekend I could looking for kings and never had the pleasure of catching one, but I don't really feel like I missed out on anything because of that one Jack that I did catch. That Jack walked me up one side of risley pier and down the other several times near the end of the fight. The great thing about risley was it was so small that when I (or anyone for that matter) was hooked up, all 10 or 12 other people that were on the pier, stopped fishing and just watched. It was amazing. Alright, I'll stop waxin' nostalgic and get off here, it is just this talk about AJ just brought back such strong memories. Thanks Legend...


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## Rodwatcher (Sep 17, 2003)

I can remember when working in the area, would sleep at the pier house and was able to fish when I got off work. We'd catch bait at night, we had about a 300 gallon bait tank at the end of the pier. Had to bust your butt catching bait at night, so you would have something to fish with the next day. The guys would save me a few when I got off work, 3 blues=3 jacks, or at least you would get to pull on one...ya always had a few people though that wouldn't help ya catch bait, but wanted to use yours. Well we took care of them folks. How fast can a 8' hammerhead spool a 10000 C...funny as he%%. It'sa shame that the youngens come'n along today will never see anything like that, biggest shark I ever had on was a thresher. Free floated a big blue out on a Penn International 50, put him out there about half a spool. When that sucker took the bait, he commenced to take the rest of the line. Finally got cut off, somewhere between me and the fish, don't know what I'da done if I had got him to the pier...got some more shark stories, but will save them for later...


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