# Herding Donkey's



## Reel Twiztid (Apr 8, 2008)

This is kind of a late report...butI went floundering last night:sleeping, sohere it goes anyways. 

Put in at Navy Point Wednesday with intentions of bumping bottom for some grouper:hungry. We set out our pinfish baskets the night before. We usually mop up on the pinfish and just knew we'd have a pile of 'em...and probably would have, but someone robbed our traps:banghead. Of course you're just a little ticked and would probably choke someone if you only knew who done it:hoppingmad. Oh well...we've got Sabikis...we'll just stop and catch some bait(which saved the day):letsdrink. After catchingbait we headed about 25 miles off shore with steady smooth rolling seas. We did stop at a wreck in state waters along the way to see if we could catch some larger baits...but with no luck:doh. We did however catch Red Snapper one after another with most being legal and some being studs...but we had to send them back going out to Federal waters:crying. "No problem"! we'll just stop on the way back in and grab our limit:letsdrink. Needless to say...we must have filled them up that morning...because we couldn't buy one when we returned:doh. Anyway, we got to our spot knowing we're just going to kill the Grouper. Well...you guessed it:doh...If we were eating grouper that day, we were going to have to buy it at Patti's:banghead. We did manage to make a day out of it with someReef Donkeysas well as more Stud Snapper that we had to send back:doh. Maybe all these rare, depopulated Red Snapper will be around when Federal opens:letsdrink!


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## David Ridenour (Sep 28, 2007)

Nice report, thanks for posting.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Nice Aj's, They wore us out Wed also.


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## CurtyV22 (Sep 30, 2007)

Those are some nice AJ's my friend, glad ya'll had a good day on the water!


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## pier rat (May 11, 2008)

Nice looking Aj's! Who did yall buy them from? Because yall guys couldnt catch a cold!


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## Reel Twiztid (Apr 8, 2008)

> *pier rat (5/30/2008)*Nice looking Aj's! Who did yall buy them from? Because yall guys couldnt catch a cold!


All right Bubba...don't be a hater cause Whitney catches bigger fish than you...LOL


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Sweet ones Twitzted!! :letsdrink


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## top (Feb 28, 2008)

Just wondering if you had 10 people on the boat? Last time I checked the regs were 1 amberjack per person unless those are of the lesser amberjack or almaco jack variety and if so, the lesser amberjack has to be between 16 and 22 in. Just an FYI


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## Reel Twiztid (Apr 8, 2008)

> *top (5/31/2008)*Just wondering if you had 10 people on the boat? Last time I checked the regs were 1 amberjack per person unless those are of the lesser amberjack or almaco jack variety and if so, the lesser amberjack has to be between 16 and 22 in. Just an FYI


There are lesser in our catch...we had 5 people on the boat. 

*Lesser AJ's are...Not less than 14" no more than 22" to the fork...5 per person*

*Greater are 28" to the fork...1 per person*

http://myfwc.com/marine/Docs/Jan2008FlRecreationalSaltwaterRegsChart.pdf


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Really, you had 5 people on board, did you have enough life vests for 5 people, and if any of them were children did you make them wear the vest the whole time. You know you have to have a de-hooker and venting tool on board, and is your blood donar card up to date. Why do some people feel its necessary to put something negative into EVERY POST anymore. People, mind your business. Nice catch by the way, jacks can save the day when nothing else is going on.


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## P-cola_Native (Feb 5, 2008)

Nice catch! I bet your back hurt after that. :bowdown

I'm not putting you down at all, but I personally wouldn't trust that an FWC officer could tell the difference between a greater and a lesser. I didn't even think we had lesser AJ's up here, so there is no telling what a water cop might say. Heck I don't even like putting Almaco's in the box for that reason.


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## Reel Twiztid (Apr 8, 2008)

> *DLo (5/31/2008)*Really, you had 5 people on board, did you have enough life vests for 5 people, and if any of them were children did you make them wear the vest the whole time. You know you have to have a de-hooker and venting tool on board, and is your blood donar card up to date. Why do some people feel its necessary to put something negative into EVERY POST anymore. People, mind your business. Nice catch by the way, jacks can save the day when nothing else is going on.


:letsdrink


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## Reel Twiztid (Apr 8, 2008)

> *P-cola_Native (5/31/2008)*Nice catch! I bet your back hurt after that. :bowdown
> 
> I'm not putting you down at all, but I personally wouldn't trust that an FWC officer could tell the difference between a greater and a lesser. I didn't even think we had lesser AJ's up here, so there is no telling what a water cop might say. Heck I don't even like putting Almaco's in the box for that reason.


The best way to tell the difference is to lift up the gill and count therakers from the first gill. If it's a greater amberjack there are about 20 of these; in the lesser amberjack there are about 25. Upon till a couple of years ago we always threw backAJ's unless they were 28"...but realized that we were throwing away dinner when an FWC Officer showed us the real difference between the two.It's actually not hard at all to tell the difference.


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## P-cola_Native (Feb 5, 2008)

> *Reel Twiztid (5/31/2008)*
> 
> 
> > *P-cola_Native (5/31/2008)*Nice catch! I bet your back hurt after that. :bowdown
> ...


Thanks, I didn't know about the gill rakes.


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## Fish on! (Apr 20, 2008)

Thanks for the info to help id greater/lesser. We mis id'ed one once and ended up gettting a prettynice fine. funny thing was the officer took fooorrreevvver trying to figure out what kind it was... book and everything... we may have gotten screwed...










GREATER AJ ^










lesser aj ^


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## Fish on! (Apr 20, 2008)

Btw i got a question. If you did catch 10 Greater ajs with five people, drove all the way back in safely, got them off the boat to your house, took pics, got them cleaned and in the freezer ( or cooked) did you stillbreak any rules?:doh... wait......... bad thoughts:banghead:banghead:banghead


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## jmartintcb (Nov 22, 2007)

great pics, My back would be screaming after a day like that. Thanks for sharing the pics


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