360 Tuna Fishers Forum banner

OK I give up

3K views 38 replies 14 participants last post by  FishNaddiction 
#1 ·
How exactly do you stop a runaway train. I was out deep water jigging yesterday and hooked a couple big ajs that I couldn't even slow down. I jacked ones jaw and he said we will have none of this and off he went straight to the bottom and swam under some structure and cut the 100# leader. For those of you that have jigged big ajs tell me what do you do.
 
#2 ·
200 pound leader helps. i was using 125 around rigs and getting cut off like hot knife through butter. 200 pound slowed the cutoffs dramatically. im not afraid to use up to 300 right on structure. i have to crimp the 200 plus mono however. how far out are you going? finally a decent weather window!!
 
#3 ·
How exactly do you stop a runaway train. I was out deep water jigging yesterday and hooked a couple big ajs that I couldn't even slow down. I jacked ones jaw and he said we will have none of this and off he went straight to the bottom and swam under some structure and cut the 100# leader. For those of you that have jigged big ajs tell me what do you do.


I assume you were using your 400g/Saragosa 8000 setup with 80# main. If so, you've got a couple of options:
* step up to a heavier rod/reel with 100-120# main.
* on hookup try powering the fish away from the structure with the boat.

Either way, I think you need to use a heavier leader (150-200#) to increase the abrasion resistance.
 
G
#4 ·
presuming you're doing this around a rig, it is much much tougher to do this here than other places. There are huge AJs in NC but there is not the same structure so the fish need to be fished differently.

You really need to stop them right away. Even a 50 or 60lber is going to be very difficult to stop dead in its tracks. if it gets back into the rig then best of luck bc itll be very tough to get it back out. theres a reason people use ridiculously heavy lines/reels/rods and pull them from rigs with boats!!

id give it your best shot with 100lb+ main, 130-200lb leader and lockdown drag. if you get one to come out of the rig enough to get a jig in open water you've got a chance!
 
#5 ·
AW, we were 56 miles out. I went with a friend on a 33' Palmetto. What a ride!!!. We were in open water no rigs within 100 miles but I just couldn't slow this horse down. txseadog, I was using Freddys 20000 Stella fa and i am not sure the line he has on it but I had the drag down enough you couldn't pull drag with your hands, it was just a mack daddy, then I tightened the drag and they were flat out breaking the braid.
 
#9 ·
Yes they were getting me under the ledge and making hamburger out of my leader. The biggest we got up was 50# and there were some we simply couldn't do anything with but just hang on. The one that rocked me the fastest I knew as soon as I jacked him up it was a monster, so I was short stroking as much as I could to try and get at least a few inches back but he destroyed me in short order.
 
#10 ·
We were over rocks and ledges in 233' of water and the jacks were suspended at about the 150' range, you would hook up and them proceed to get spanked.


Ouch, 30 yards doesn't give you much of a margin of error. I'm not sure you're going to over power a big fish by yourself so try pulling it off the structure 75 - 100 yards with the boat. You'll need to keep someone on the controls for the whole drift so you can starting moving as soon as you hookup. It maybe overkill if there are small(er) fish on the ledge as well but it should help increase the odds when you hook a larger model.
 
#12 ·
I got spanked a couple of times before I realized these are very powerful fish on the hookup. I changed my tactics. If you want to land big amberjacks over ledges, drop offs or structure you need powerful gear. I landed about 5 in the 100 class length and one real monster over the 120-130 mark.

I would suggest using Diawa boat braid or equivilint pe8 (80-100#) mailine and a leader of 130 or more. I caught my largest on 200 pound varivas shock leader. This way you can put atleast 25-30 pounds of drag, palm the spool and stop them from reefing you.

This may be overkill for most but it lands fish
 
#13 ·
Spineyman,

You have to have specialized jigging outfit for big AJ in GOM.
120-130lb braided lines, 300-400lb leader and a reel capable of 30lb or more.

I used Gorilla 12, 120lb braided line and 400lb leader and once you hook up, power the boat away and hang on for dear life.
 
#15 ·
txseadog, I tried tightening down the drag more and it just broke the braid, so I don't know that I could get the fish of the structure with the motor without breaking the braid anyway.


You'll have to back off the drag a bit so you're not breaking the main line. I find that the combination of changing the angle of the pull and the steady movement of the boat makes it easier to pull fish away from the structure. You lose more line off the reel but once you're in open water it shouldn't be an issue to recover it while fighting the fish.
 
#17 ·
also it might be the knot breaking/weakening the line. I had to practice all last winter on land before i got the Page Ranking knot to work its best. i used a scale and just practiced. i dint have any knot failures this season(excepts some lazy ties). that stella can produce some crazy drag when cinched down too!

Practice makes perfect. youll just have to get out on that palmetto a few more times.
 
#22 ·
Spineyman,

You have to have specialized jigging outfit for big AJ in GOM.
120-130lb braided lines, 300-400lb leader and a reel capable of 30lb or more.

I used Gorilla 12, 120lb braided line and 400lb leader and once you hook up, power the boat away and hang on for dear life.


George

This is almost the same setup i use in Nc when we are after the triple digit AJ's

120 main line connected to 20feet of 200lb leader and 28-32 lbs of drag (checked with a shimano scale) crimped to my solid ring. If I had a jigging reel with lugs I would even strap in and turn the heat up more, but @30 lbs of drag is all my 250lb body can handle for 15 mins with out a harness.

d-a
 
#23 ·
George,
I feel bad you loose the big one because the main line snapped.
It's Daiwa Sensor-8 braided line on that spool but I don't remember either PE-6 or PE-8 (I have few 20K spool with different PE rating).
Or you can try to pull with scale and how many pound that line will break.
I can send you extra spool with Daiwa Boat Braid PE-10 (120lb) if you're planning to go again with him before I can come down to your place.
 
#24 ·
George,
I feel bad you loose the big one because the main line snapped.
It's Daiwa Sensor-8 braided line on that spool but I don't remember either PE-6 or PE-8 (I have few 20K spool with different PE rating).
Or you can try to pull with scale and how many pound that line will break.
I can send you extra spool with Daiwa Boat Braid PE-10 (120lb) if you're planning to go again with him before I can come down to your place.

Freddie, did you let him borrow a fake Stella or something? :D
 
#26 ·
Freddy thanks for the offer, but I am not sure when I am going next. So there is no need to send me a different spool. I am thankful that I got to use it like it is. Had a blast even though we didn't get to keep and snapper or ajs because they closed the 2 for the season.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top