sambo or amberjack?

[nigelr]

Caught this beast this morn on my fave spot in 27mtres, about 2.5ks from shore.
(The shelf is less than 30ks out from here.)
Took my fave bait, a nice big strip of tailor on a 8/0 circle hook.
Gentlemens hours, perfect morn with no wind or current, must have been at least 10 am when I hooked him.
On inspection, had the contents of my burley trail in his stomach!
First time I've caught one of these, not sure which it is but I'm thinking AJ, no mottling like on Erns'pics of a sambo.
My they go hard, don't they! I'm calling this one at around 20kg..........;D
Cheers.

[Is Don Is GOOD]

Looks a bit like an amberjack mate, hope it helps!
Cheers Don

[wags on the water]

Amberjack for me.

Thanks for your report and congrats on the fish. Nothing beats fishin gentlemans hours midweek.

Cheers,
Wags

[tailorboi99]

Not that I've ever caught one though I believe it is an Amberjack, a quality one too.

[legsy11]

ambo,13-14 kg

[skipalong]

awesome fish mate great pulling power aj for sure

justin

[ooglie74]

Im calling it for a samson.The head inst the right shape for an aj.

Cheers Troy

[jtpython]

Ambo by the markings
JT

[Jurkyjj]

100% AJ!!!!
Cracker fish there mate!!
I probably would call it for 20kg though.
Solid 13-15kg.
Champion effort and YES they go HARD!!!

Cheers, Jason.

[Angla]

I would have thought it was a Samson. The colouring seems wrong for an Aj.

This was a 17Kg Aj

Good fish all the same. Too big to keep though as I thought the edibility rating was poor at best in these size fish. Hope yours is better

This one was returned to fight another day

Cheers
Chris

[nigelr]

Thanks everyone for your replies!
Forgot to mention I'm 195cm tall..........no more like 170cm to be honest.;D
Not sure what it weighed but it felt plenty heavy enough for me..........in the pic the fish has been scaled, had a very distinct bright yellow head marking.
Typically, didn't take the gaff with me today so had to use the snapper net on it, broke the flippin' net when I lifted it into the boat! Fortunately it was half dead by the time I managed to prise it off the bottom...........
I'm particularly happy to report its' not too bad on the chew, not much flavour but quite good texture, no abuse from the crew when served up in an Italian style tomato, onion, celery, red and green capsicum and basil sauce on pasta this evening. I would sincerely hate to have killed this beaut fish and not be able to do it justice by eating it and enjoying the meal.
Cheers.

[Angla]

Sorry for the comment on edibility Nigelr

I am not one to add a piece of fish into a dish but serve it cooked with sides. I just found that its flesh had like very thin layers of fat or jelly like stuff between the scallops of flesh.

This fish may be suitable to other dishes though.

Cheers
Chris

[murf]

nice fish nigelr :) did you hook him on the snapper gear? would have given you a lot of stick if you were not expecting it

cheers Murf

[nigelr]

No worries Chris, I'd have to agree would be a bit ordinary served the way one would a nice fillet of pearlie for example. I'll almost certainly return the next one overboard but the pickings have been very thin down this way the last few months, and this one is fine ATM for curries, mornays and the abovementioned and similar concoctions.
Yeah murf, 25lb main line and 80lb trace snapper hunting in rough bottom.
Thought it was a large wobby or ray, didn't want move off the bottom.
This one came from off Urunga, do you get many off Arrawarra?
Cheers.

[outofcontrol]

g'day, the only way to tell sometimes if it matters is to count the segments of the dorsil fin. samson low 20's, ambo high 20's to 30's

[murf]

No worries Chris, I'd have to agree would be a bit ordinary served the way one would a nice fillet of pearlie for example. I'll almost certainly return the next one overboard but the pickings have been very thin down this way the last few months, and this one is fine ATM for curries, mornays and the abovementioned and similar concoctions.
Yeah murf, 25lb main line and 80lb trace snapper hunting in rough bottom.
Thought it was a large wobby or ray, didn't want move off the bottom.
This one came from off Urunga, do you get many off Arrawarra?
Cheers.


12yo mates young fella got a sambo inside North West Solitary a few years back in 12m of water that went 19kg, on snapper gear, it took that long to get in I dropped back over and caught a nice Tusky and a snapper while he kept fighting haha

we get the occasional few up to 5kg in the shallows but mainly juveniles around the 1kg mark

cheers Murf

[Ostheman]

Caught this beast this morn on my fave spot in 27mtres, about 2.5ks from shore.
(The shelf is less than 30ks out from here.)
Took my fave bait, a nice big strip of tailor on a 8/0 circle hook.
Gentlemens hours, perfect morn with no wind or current, must have been at least 10 am when I hooked him.
On inspection, had the contents of my burley trail in his stomach!
First time I've caught one of these, not sure which it is but I'm thinking AJ, no mottling like on Erns'pics of a sambo.
My they go hard, don't they! I'm calling this one at around 20kg..........;D
Cheers.

Definitly a samson, color of the skin and the shape of the head sais it all... nice fish, fish that size is could be a little tough to eat but if you cut it in very thin slices and marinade it with salt and lemon overnight, next day cracked pepper and olive oil over ir will be beatiful. :)

[1lastcast]

I would say sambo wrong shape and colour for an aj from what i can tell anyway bloody nice fish mate well done

[GPB]

I'm with Mono, especially the shape and colouring of the head.
Some info:
The three species within the Seriola family – amberjack, samson fish and yellowtail kingfish – are not always easy to identify as all three can school together and are quite similar in appearance.

Amberjack look more streamlined in appearance compared to samson fish, which resemble them most closely. The yellow stripe along the body also tends to be more prominent with amberjacks.

But the most reliable way of identifying an amberjack is the dorsal ray count – amberjack having 29-35, whereas samson fish have 23-25 and yellowtail kingfish have 31-34.