# Reef Donkeys are in!!



## Capt. Scott Griffin (Mar 17, 2013)

I had a great trip today with great 3 time  customers, Ron and Patty.  We headed offshore for a little Reef Donkey  action and to try and scare up a Red Snapper.

Ron and Patty are  strictly catch and release.  They document each fish and then  have a replica made for their home.

The seas were flat calm this  morning.  We made great time out to a Navy Tower 30 miles offshore.   First drop with a speed jig and it was on.

The bottom and mid water  column were lit up.  After catching and releasing multiple  smaller AJ's  we we moved a little closer to the tower legs in search  of some larger  AJ's.

We found em..we even had one of the brutes snap the butt of my  Tiger Ugly Stick that was in the rod holder when it hit a jig that was  just dangling next to the boat.  We fought him and got him to the boat.

After banging on the AJ's we moved off to the Snapper Banks hoping to  land a Mule Red Snapper.  The wind started to howl..so we made a few  very quick drifts over some numbers I have and landed a few solid Black  Sea Bass.

We decided to head in to a reef about 25 miles offshore  and  again we picked up large Sea Bass.

My new first mate did great handling  the action, landing and releasing all the AJ's.

Great day with good  folks.  The ride in was ugly..real ugly.  The wind had shifted and the  seas were all kicked up.

The water temp at 8 miles was 58, the farther out we went..the warmer it got..44 miles out it was almost 70.  No bait to be seen on the surface.  Marked some around the tower deep.


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## Sharkfighter (Mar 18, 2013)

Nice job and great pics.


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## OleCountryBoy (Mar 18, 2013)

AJs on a big spinner??  That musta been fun.


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## Apex Predator (Mar 18, 2013)

What tower is 30 miles off shore?  Out of Savannah?  The closest I know of is 40+.  

Great day by the way!


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## Capt. Scott Griffin (Mar 18, 2013)

OleCountryBoy said:


> AJs on a big spinner??  That musta been fun.




I had the Penn Fierce set up as a pitch rod for a shot at an early Cobia..saw AJ's cruising by the boat and pitched them a Spanish Sardine and one slurped it up...for Jigging I use Penn Fathom 12's or 15's on my set ups..but yes..the customer had a good time on that spinner..the Fierce 6000 only has 20lbs of drag and every bit of that was used.


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## Capt. Scott Griffin (Mar 18, 2013)

Apex Predator said:


> What tower is 30 miles off shore?  Out of Savannah?  The closest I know of is 40+.
> 
> Great day by the way!




R5..about 30 from the end of the  shipping channel. 38 from the Light House. 


And thanks..it was a good day.


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## Jeff Raines (Mar 18, 2013)

Them fish look too good not to eat


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## SpotandStalk (Mar 19, 2013)

Looks like yall had a great time. 

Good job Captain Scott!


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## oops1 (Mar 19, 2013)

Very nice !!


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## Jim Thompson (Mar 19, 2013)

pics and story...and fishies...GREAT!


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## sea trout (Mar 19, 2013)

thanks for the great pics!!!
looks like a beutiful boat rise in the mornin!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Sharkfighter (Mar 19, 2013)

Jeff Raines said:


> Them fish look too good not to eat



The CPT can correct me if I am wrong but dont most AJ out there have little worms in them?  I have been known to be wrong though.

But those AJ are a Blast for pure fight and fun catching.


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## Apex Predator (Mar 19, 2013)

Stay away from the worms when cleaning and they are fine eating.  Most of the smaller ones don't have any.  The large ones mainly have worms towards the tail only.


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## Capt. Scott Griffin (Mar 19, 2013)

They do have worms..mainly in the tail meat..cut it out..or pour sprite on the tail meat and the worms will ease on out of the meat.


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## sea trout (Mar 19, 2013)

why don't y'all deep fry it with the worms like folks do trout?
are the aj worms different?


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## bhdawgs (Mar 19, 2013)

I have never had them any way that was good to eat.... they are sure fun to fight though.  

Nice pics


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## Lukikus2 (Mar 19, 2013)

Love fighting some AJ's. Great fish and thanks for sharing 



Jeff Raines said:


> Them fish look too good not to eat



Good tasting fish. 



Sharkfighter said:


> The CPT can correct me if I am wrong but dont most AJ out there have little worms in them?  I have been known to be wrong though.
> 
> But those AJ are a Blast for pure fight and fun catching.



What doesn't have worms anymore?


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## wharfrat (Mar 19, 2013)

In all seriousness, although gnarly, the worms won't hurt you, even if you eat them...and the meat is pretty good too! They are fished and sold commercially for a decent price...good table fare. Grapefruit spoon scoops 'em (worms) out pretty good if you don't wan't to try one


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## Capt. Scott Griffin (Mar 20, 2013)

wharfrat said:


> In all seriousness, although gnarly, the worms won't hurt you, even if you eat them...and the meat is pretty good too! They are fished and sold commercially for a decent price...good table fare. Grapefruit spoon scoops 'em (worms) out pretty good if you don't wan't to try one



They do look funky..but you are right..they are harmless.  I like AJ's grilled..good eats.  I did throw a few slabs of Almaco Jacks on the grill from the trip yesterday and there is a reason they have the nickname 
Rock Salmon.  Good eating fish.


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## redneck_billcollector (Apr 21, 2013)

OleCountryBoy said:


> AJs on a big spinner??  That musta been fun.



I would be willing to bet that the largest AJs caught now a days are caught on spinners and high speed jigging.  I know of a few over 100lbs caught that way out of N.C. and my largest AJs have all been caught on spinners, either stellas or saltiga dogfights or expidetions.  If you are highspeed jigging odds are you are goinng to be using a spinner though I do use a trinny 40N at times when I want to slow it down some.


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