Topwaters???

[SpecialK]

Originally Posted by Snap Draggin

Have you caught any big uns on the squid rig?

Those were the biggest from our most recent trip. I have only jigged for AJ a few times and have not produced any biguns jiggin. I hope to have better luck next time as I like artificial.

[Minnow]

[quote=xs_tackle]If you mean to catch them, expect to straighten a lot of hooks. Most large topwaters (8", 4oz; all brands) are sold w/ hooks inadequate for large AJ.[/QUOTE

ALL OTI poppers come with Owner St-66 treble hooks, these hooks are more than adequate for AJ.

[Bill Fisher]

fwiw, one of my last trips out this year i caught an AJ trolling

i will say it was a first and we were trolling over what i had marked as an AJ hole

i think it hit a tuna clone if i remember right running at least 8 to 8 1/2 knots

it was evidently up top feeding with the bonito and blackfin we were catching

lotza bait on the surface that day

[SpecialK]

Wow! Thats a new one to me. I have seen some up high before but never had them bite on anything. ONe time tied to a rig one cam close to the surface chasing a little B-Liner I stopped and tried to get him to take it but took off towards the bottom the second he noticed the boat...

[Ragman]

Hey SnapDraggin!

AJ's will hit a really fast moving jig ripping up from the bottom. I haven't had one hit on the drop that I can remember.

I like to use a slim (6" to 8") 200g jig that doesn't drag the water as much when ripping it up through the column. I've caught smaller AJ's on diamond jigs too.

Just make sure your knot/connection is 100% or it will fail because you HAVE to have your drag locked down in order to turn its head and keep it from cutting you off.

On my last Big E trip, Capt Frank said that if you're chasing AJ's with jigs, and two AJ's are lost to break-offs, etc., that the AJ bite will shut down.

Well, that trip it did. Even when we changed spots, same thing.

Then on my next trip on the PhatKat, TJ and I were jigging for AJ's at Tequila rig. I repeated Capt Frank's info out loud, and sure enough, after TJ and I each lost what we just knew were AJ's (on first two jig drops), we couldn't get hit by anything except Grouper, Snapper, and an Eel! Rick said, in his perfect dead pan, "I guess Frank knows his AJ's."

I'll bet if you had the patience to maintain the right chum line on a private boat, you'd have a good shot at getting one to take a topwater. I know the OTI plugs would hold up, rings, swivels, hooks, lure body etc.

Maybe on the next PhatKat trip, we'll try to do it!

They are some of the toughest, fighting fish out there!

[SkeeterRonnie]

I keep waiting to hear of Mr Bill or Gunsmoke tying a hand line to their "you know what" to see who last the longest in the "man or mouse" contest.... LOL!!!

[AJ hunter]

Really nice fish. We had a gd time on Friday. The AJs were only eating shrimp. Didn't matter the size, as long as it was shrimp

[SpecialK]

We were out one time last year and they would bite chit..
My brother was just screwing around and threaded a shrimp on and instantly was hooked up. Now that I think of it, it was about this time of the year...

[AJ hunter]

How are the new circle hook regs going to affect folks? I am partial to them for bait when I fish AJs but I like them with a good offset point. I guess this is verboten now and actually illegal follow the council's latest (dubious) edict. I want to know where the science is published that supports this change in regulations? From what I can find, it isn't in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.