Hubbards 12hr AJ trip report

[TennesseeDave]

After the last 12hr trip that caught large AJs over 80lbs, I figured it was time for me to give it a shot myself. Of course 2 weeks can make a huge difference but I figured what the heck!

Loading the boat at 6am



Early bird catches the pinfish! Don't turn your back or one might go missing!



Mr. Chon, eighty years + and still loves to tangle with the big AJs!



It was a long ride out to the fish but we found them. 20-35lbers, but not the monsters we were hoping for. There was lots of mayhem as only amberjacks can create. They stripped line from our reels and created monster 'cluster %*#@s' with anywhere from 3-25 lines at a time. Lots of nice sized AJs came over the rails along with some unexpected guests. 2 nice African pompanos and 5 really nice cobias (one cobia who was the largest fish jackpot winner at 36.3lbs).



The big fish winner. If you can read the numbers on the scale you can see that Capt. Frank's hand is adding about 2.5lbs to the actual weight. He is probably tired after lifting about big 15 fish up to hang on the scale. The hard work that Capts. do sometimes. LOL!

[flatsfisher]

nice job, and cool pics!

[BryanC]

Looks like fun. Did everybody catch an AJ? Do they spend any time targeting mangos or other species on this 12 hr trip?

[Xaf]

Good report Dave. Glad to see that you found the AJs.

[TennesseeDave]

We didn't get any time to target mangos on this trip. We are planning on fishing for mangos but we ran out of time. Since this was a special AJ trip that is what we focused on. Unfortunately not everyone got an AJ. But many got more than one. Extra AJs were given to those who didn't catch one since the limit is one per person. We only had two stops and it was mostly big fish. There were some nice gag groupers that were caught and released but not much small fish of any kind. On the second stop some small vermillions came up but that was about it.

I believe on the regular 12hr trips they might hit an AJ spot early if they can and then look for other fish (snapper, grouper in season, etc.).

[Chasing Fin]

good report and nice job

[Elk Chaser]

That does it. I am calling Hubbards today and getting in on one of these. AJ is a favorite fish in my home.

[Bottombouncer]

Nice pics! Can you tell me what camera you are using?

[Mango Man]

Ahhh, the ole S.S. Clorox Bottle.

Is Wilkie still there Dave?

[TennesseeDave]

It is a Nikon D5100. Got a good deal from Costco a while back. I was tired of missing the action shots of my 4 and 6 year old. My old point and shoot camera had a long delay and couldn't keep up with the action. My wife says I'll ruin it by using it on fishing trips but I try to be careful and not use it when sea spray is coming over the side. I scale the pictures down to 800x600 to use on the forum so some of the quality is lost as you see the pictures here.

Mango - I am guessing that Wilkie is gone but I don't really know. This is the first 'day' trip I have gone on for a while. I had never met Capt. Frank before this trip. Yes I love that 'bouncy' boat. There were several people who got sea sick and the seas were 1-2 ft. On the way in it was more like 0-1 ft seas. It sure makes me appreciate the big catamaran boat on the overnight trips. We miss you out there on those trips but with your own boat I don't blame you at all.