Last weekend Deep Tempest

[nezevic99]

First post but just had to skite. Went out to deep tempest Sat morn with the missus and the old man.I was fishing 7" chooks on 14lb. Old man persisting with bait and the missus using both bait and a chook on paternoster. First couple of drifts only produced seargeant baker and smallish pigfish. Next drift i hooked up to something i thought was a reasonable squire. A few minutes later and low and behold a 3kg pearly rises out of the depths, it had actually fought all the way up without opening it's cavernous gob. As i'm boating it the missus picks up another about 1.5kg. Bag is now starting to look ok.
A few more sargeant baker and then WAP! something with some serious grunt hits the plastic. Sitting watching a 4000 series reel lose line at an alarming pace in 90m of water is not the best sight but a great feeling. Nudge up the drag slightly... cautiously... hope to god it's not too much... fish starts to slow. Inch by inch i start to regain line. This is starting to hurt. Ok it's coming now, slowly, but coming. Hang on, no it's not. There goes all my hard earnt line. Slowly the fish starts to tire and i'm fairly solidly working it back to the surface. Colour now and good god it's big. Big silver flashes. Slowly.. ease off the drag a touch just in case... And up to the surface pops the first Amberjack i have ever caught. It pushes the scales down to 20kg. Must admit it was a pretty awesome fish.

[BAR UP]

Pix where are the Pix???.

[skipalong]

nice fishing mate

[Harley000]

Nice work!! Sounds like a good session.

What size jig head did you use for 90m or water?

[nezevic99]

Can't resize the pics one this computer. They are about 1.3MB at the moment. Was using a 1oz head at first but was having trouble getting down. So ran a ball sinker about the same size down onto the head.

[nezevic99]

Here we go resized the pic.

[sangan]

great fishing mate! Looks beautiful!

[Vindicator]

Nice fish, well done.

Cheers
Kezza

[wak69]

great catch , they do pull hard.....

[nezevic99]

Going to try and do it again in the morning. Have fun anyone who has to work!! i'm feeling a definate bout of seasickness coming on

[SummerTrance]

Ah rub it in mate, I just finished a 16 hour day :( and starting a 4 again in the morn while you be out fishing.

Great fish there! Did ya missus's pearly hit the chook or the bait on the bottom basher rig?

[dayoo]

Good catch.
Not your usual AJ but a highfin AJ (seriola rivoliana).

Cheers
Barry

[blue_mako]

I thought it was a Sambo too?

Troy

[eotbmg]

Definetely a Sambo. We have caught a few at deep Tempest jigging. Great effort on that gear, I personally reckon Sambos pull Aj's out of their skin!!!!!
Ben

[dayoo]

Close smallunit.
The samson fish and high fin AJ are almost identical except for the length of the anal fin and the number of spines in front of the dorsal fin.
The high fin AJ has the longer pointier anal fin and more than 4 spines on the nape just in front of the dorsal fin.
So without seeing the fish close up and judging by the size of the anal fin and the 4 to 5 spines I see in front of the dorsal fin I'd still call it a high fin AJ.
If you have Grants Guide to fishes have a look at the difference.

Cheers
Barry

[nezevic99]

We had the same discussion on the boat. Grant's came out as soon as we got home. Our verdict was amberjack

[Liberty]

Great fish anyway!

What weight jighead were you using?

[Frank OO]

Gidday Nezevic99,

Eitherway it is a great fish especially at 20Kg and 14lbs line. I am amazed you got it in at all. We have fished Deep Tempest a fair bit and have pulled up a Samson fish at 14lbs with 30lbs braid which was a massive effort.

Not that it matters too much but from everything that I see, especially the big blotches over the body, I might suggest that it is a Samson Fish.

Extremely well done on that line class

Frank OO

[Pistol_P]

Yeah Samson f sure.

The 45 degree band over the eye tells the story.

Great fish

Pete

[Az]

glad some1 said it... i thought i was on my own.. sambo for sure.. not quite as common in these waters though!

Nice fish!

[Outsider685]

Thats a samson fish.

That's what I thought too

[dayoo]

Smallunit

You could be right. Like I said without seeing the fish close up it is difficult to accurately identify it as a samson fish or a high fin AJ. The pic has sun shining on the fish from the left hand side which makes it look blotchy. Only freshly caught Sambos display the blotchy or vertical bars on the back. The anal fin on high fin AJ's is more pronounced than on Samson fish.

Nice pic of a high fin AJ on your post.

Cheers
Barry

[Errin Johnson]

No we gave Howard the arse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nezevic99]

i'm pretty sure it's an amberjack.
According to Grant's "There is one point of easy distinction: the samson fish has red teeth." "The samson is blue-green above and white below; the dorsal fin is dark blue, the other fins greenish yellow."
Whereas "the Amberjack... ...is purplish brown above and whitish below, the two colours seperated by a broad golden longitudinal band. the fins are dark blue to olive, the anal edged with white."

Regardless it went like the clappers and was great fun. Will enjoy catching more. Have been out again today see most recent post...