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Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Seriola dumerili
How to catch Greater amberjack
Greater amberjack feed in 64–84°F water and bite best at 68–80°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 11 waters; in October they are at their peak in The Panhandle, The Louisiana Marsh, The Golden Isles and 2 more.
50 pts · trophy at 40"Feeds 64–84°FBest 68–80°FIn season nowWreckArtificial reefLedge / hard bottom
About
The reef donkey: fifty to a hundred pounds of pure pull stacked over every deep wreck and tower, waiting to hurt your back. A live bait dropped over a wreck is rarely refused.
How to fish it
Over the wreck or the tower, a live blue runner sent down on a 7/0 circle hook, or a vertical jig ripped through the school. Heavy tackle and short legs.
What it eats
live blue runners and pinfishvertical jigsbig swimbaits
Live bait for it
Blue runners (hardtails)Nose-hooked and slow-trolled on a wire stinger rig for kings; bridled for sailfish and cobia.
PinfishHooked through the back ahead of the dorsal on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook; the small ones free-lined, the big ones on a fish-finder rig.
Cigar minnowsNose-hooked on a stinger rig for kings, or a 4/0 circle hook dropped to the bottom for grouper.
Goggle-eyesBridled through the eye sockets for sailfish and kingfish, kite-fished or slow-trolled.What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader30–60 lb fluorocarbon
Hook2/0–7/0
Braid30–65 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereMinimum fork length, one per person, and a season that closes for months — confirm at MyFWC.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
Gulf of Mexico