Amberjacks in the Med

[frogman]

Adrian,

You are probably right. I think the school of fish is "greater amberjack" (Seriola dumerlii). I have experience with the Med and Florida and I do not think the other species (lesser AJ, banded rudderfish, yellow jack, horseye jack, jack crevalle, etc) exist in the Med. It is common to see schools of smaller AJ in the shallows in the Med but the "jumbo" ones usually only come in May-June to spawn. Otherwise they are found in deep water, structure, etc. BTW, we do not spear AJ's in South Florida. Too many worms...

Angelos

[Murat]

World record Jack Crevalle had been shot in France with wong uno gun, am i right?

[rigdvr]

Murat...aj's are really a reef fish as thet almost always are assoiciated with structure. In fact here we call them "reef donkeys" b/c of how damn stubborn they are. Bigger ones tend to prefer deeper water but they are often found in the upper part of the water column over the structure. On deep wrecks it is akin to b/w hunting as I like to dive 40 or so feet and wait for them to come up to check me out.

[sturgeon]

Murat,

If you're talking about the IUSA World Record it was shot by a Frenchman using a Wong Ono gun but he took that fish in North Carolina, USA. He got it on a tower in about 50' of water. They get monster AJs up in VA, NC way in very shallow water (90-100 lbr's in 40 ft of water). Frogman's right though, most of us don't shoot them down here in S. FL. They are considered a trash fish and are also usually full of worms. Our club record is an 82 lb'r taken a couple months ago in about 70' of water by Mike Damms who happens to be the USA Rob Allen importer. Not a bad fish considering he took it with a 110cm RA (Euro style gun) with a single band, single wrap of line and a 7mm shaft with a Tahitian flopper.

Scott T.

[Memo]

I think we are talking about this fish...

we have big ones in our waters as well

[Memo]

one more, I dont know the hunter unfortunately.. but have big respect to him

[Murat]

Originally posted by sturgeon
Murat,

If you're talking about the IUSA World Record it was shot by a Frenchman using a Wong Ono gun but he took that fish in North Carolina, USA. He got it on a tower in about 50' of water. They get monster AJs up in VA, NC way in very shallow water (90-100 lbr's in 40 ft of water). Frogman's right though, most of us don't shoot them down here in S. FL. They are considered a trash fish and are also usually full of worms. Our club record is an 82 lb'r taken a couple months ago in about 70' of water by Mike Damms who happens to be the USA Rob Allen importer. Not a bad fish considering he took it with a 110cm RA (Euro style gun) with a single band, single wrap of line and a 7mm shaft with a Tahitian flopper.

Scott T.

Yes i am talking about IUSA record. Sorry i mixed it. In here and most of the med sea AJ cosidered as premium game fish. I don't know if bigger ones has worms in it.
So you joined the hell divers? I thought they also hunt while doin scuba in deep waters. Or i mixed it with something else again.

[Murat]

Originally posted by rigdvr
Murat...aj's are really a reef fish as thet almost always are assoiciated with structure. In fact here we call them "reef donkeys" b/c of how damn stubborn they are. Bigger ones tend to prefer deeper water but they are often found in the upper part of the water column over the structure. On deep wrecks it is akin to b/w hunting as I like to dive 40 or so feet and wait for them to come up to check me out.

Thanks Mike. In here divers get them as you mentioned. They dive down to mid-water and wait them till they get in range. I heard that sometime they make aspetto as well, in near 100 feet of water to get them. I swam some deeper reefs range from 50-100 feet but couldn't see any. May be they like to hang deeper waters in med sea or i was hunting simply wrong place and wrong time.

[yunuschiro]

Memo and Murat. Hi. This is Mustafa from Miami, Florida, USA. I have been living and hungting in the east coast of USA. I will be moving back home at the end of the year. Is there a book or any educational tool for the identification of the fishes of our waters.
Memo Turkiyeden nerdensin?
mustafa

[sturgeon]

Murat,

Me in a Scuba diving club? Bite your tongue. I don't know anything about the Hell Divers. When I do the Nationals I compete for the Massachusetts Freedivers. Other than that, I don't have an affiliation with any other spearfishing club. I am however, the southeast Regional Vice President for the Underwater Society of America (USOA). They regulate all underwater competitive sports in the USA (fin swimming, spearfishing, underwater hockey, underwater rugby, etc.).

Oops, I just re-read my old post and saw where your confusion probably came from. I said the record for 'our club' was 82 lbs. The club I was talking about was the Palm Beach Freedivers. I don't belong to them anymore but referenced it as 'our' club just because it's the local club in the area. Sorry for the confusion!

Memo,

That's some awesome fish you posted in those pics. How big were those AJs? If I saw one that big I might just have to shoot it. I think AJs in the Gulf of Mexico are thought of in a better light than the ones we have here in the Atlantic. I've been told they don't have worms like the ones do here. Somebody told me it's because they don't have the reefs in the Gulf like we have here in the Atlantic. Who knows??? I do know that they serve amberjack in nice restaurants in the states surrounding the Gulf but over here you can't give amberjack away for free.

Scott T.

[rigdvr]

Its all in the attitude Scott. The aj was considered trash here for a long time as well until snapper fisheries were shut down for a while then low and behold these amberjacks aint that bad after all! I have found anything fresh is better than the best meat frozen...fresh fried or grilled aj has a taste like cobia. We do have worm problems but usually in the tail meat, hell even speckled trout get worms. For food I like them 20-40#'s but we have taken them to 123# in my circle of friends...my biggest is 80#.

That med aj looks skinny...he must be on the adkins diet! Beautiful fish though.

Murat, the helldivers have started to want some freedivers in the club as they are getting their butts kicked at their own tournament in that division(skin diving). Some of them also want to come to the lumps this winter for tuna and wahoo but you cant do that with a tank. Really nice guys.

[sturgeon]

Rig,

I know I like 'em smoked for sure!!!!! I used to have a place here that would smoke them for free and then keep half to sell but they stopped doing that. I used to take the small ones (just legal) up there as that size doesn't seem to have worm problems.

I was only teasing about the Hell Divers. I'm sure they're nice guys and good divers. I know they do some crazy sh-- and get some crazy fish on tanks!!!!!

Scott T.

[sammydive]

Here is the mother of all fish data bases on the web. At least that is what I was told. http://www.fishbase.org/search.html

[Memo]

Originally posted by sturgeon



Memo,

That's some awesome fish you posted in those pics. How big were those AJs?

Scott T.

I dont have a clue of the weight but I think they can easily pass 35kgs maybe around 50kg? who knows? I've heard AJs about 70kg mark in med. waters

[Murat]

Recently shaca post huge AJ somewhere. It was quite monster.

Scott,

Forgive my poor english It cause problems sometimes. hehe...

Mike,

Our mate IYa takes those doggies with tank. May be he is exception.