# Anyone have any luck building reefs for AJ's??



## Dynamic (Oct 3, 2007)

Tired of always having to run 25-30 miles at a minimum to get a decent grade of AJ....So I'm sure people have sunk things with a fads in deeper water say 160-180+ but I'm curious if anyone has sunk anything in say 80-120 feet that had had consistent success with BIG AJ......I know of a few guys that catch big AJ in close on some run overs but they don't know what they're fishing on and they won't let me dive 'em &#55357;&#56847;.....I've fished a Dave Walter pyramid with a fad in 75' of water alot and never even seen signs of an AJ.....So anyway. Help me figure this out fella's!!! Lets hear it!!
Thanks
Miles


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## markw4321 (Oct 4, 2007)

Subscribed


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## BlaineAtk (Jun 8, 2010)

Wirelessly posted

Me too


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

For the most part it takes a big structure with big relief to hold good sized jacks. You can find one now and then on smaller stuff but it isn't the norm. You can also run into them on a small spot if it holds a lot of bait. Other than that the bigger the relief the better the chances.


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## aquatic argobull (Mar 2, 2009)

I know a group that built reefs and they were loaded with jacks.


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## ghost95 (May 4, 2009)

I have a friend that used to run a boat out of orange beach and he told me that they attached 4 or 5 longline buoys at about 30 to 40 ft. above the reef in 100 ft of water. He said that those spots consistently held bigger amberjack.


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## no woryz (Oct 2, 2007)

Well this going to be unpopular here but damn, when is enough going to be enough...



With that being said...... I don't care if your going to break the law....I don't agree with it at all but why flaunt it on a open public forum... there used to be some shame in law breaking but I guess not as long as you can catch a fish....


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## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

no woryz said:


> Well this going to be unpopular here but damn, when is enough going to be enough...
> 
> ...I don't care if your going to break the law....I don't agree with it at all but why flaunt it on a open public forum... there used to be some shame in law breaking but I guess not as long as you can catch a fish....


I agree wholeheartedly. We live by the rule of law, not every man for himself. It you do not agree with the rules, work to change them. 

*Now to the question...*
I shoot a lot of large AJs each year. I have never had much luck finding them on small artificial reefs. I find them on larger structure, the deeper the better. However, since AJs move around a lot, it is possible to find them just about anywhere from time to time. A good example of this is the Russian Freighter. On most dives all of the AJs will be undersized. However, sometimes you will find legal-sized ones, and every once in a while you can find a monster there. The freighter is in 85' of water and over 300' long. If it does not hold legal AJs very often, then you can imagine how often a 10' pyramid will.

My belief is that to increase my chances of shooting a large AJ:

The deeper the better.
The taller the relief the better.
Winter is the best time of year.
Whack 'um


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## ghost95 (May 4, 2009)

no woryz said:


> Well this going to be unpopular here but damn, when is enough going to be enough...
> 
> 
> 
> With that being said...... I don't care if your going to break the law....I don't agree with it at all but why flaunt it on a open public forum... there used to be some shame in law breaking but I guess not as long as you can catch a fish....


Before you jump everybody's shit you might want to get the full story. These guys, some long dead, did this years ago back when even the states were putting out tire reefs. Things have changed a lot since then. This wasn't a discussion about what's legal or not but rather anyone had any luck building reefs to attract amberjack. 

Yes some have had luck building reefs for jacks. Is what they did years ago legal now? No. 

Happy?

Now, go jump everybody's ass who says they used mingo snapper to catch grouper within the last few days. 

Have a blessed day.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Now careful Ghost you will a bad reputation (like me) for telling it like it is.


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## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

two words: "anger management"

I'm on a 12-step program myself.


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## ghost95 (May 4, 2009)

Yeah, sometimes it gets a little out of hand. 

12 steps just aren't always enough. Sorry.


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## Dynamic (Oct 3, 2007)

WOW!!!....That got flipped around and out of control real quick!!!!...I wasn't asking how people made illegal reefs. I just want to know what people have done and seen that have successfully and consistently caught nice size AJ's in shallower waters?? 
Thanks
Miles


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

Miles i see most legal sized AJs on the bigger wrecks and public spots in the inshore areas. Juvenile AJs are on just about any inshore wrecks.


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

Yep, I see more and bigger jacks on the big public spots compared to the smaller/built reefs. Most of the time, there will be some juvie AJ's on the smaller reefs. But big structures hold the most and bigger jacks. From my underwater spearfishing experience. 

That does not mean that the AJ's are biting though. I have been at the Chevron and the rig was LOADED with big jacks. But the boats at the surface were not catching any of them. They had lock jaw when it came to biting a hook for some reason. But we all got our big jacks while spearing that dive.


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## Hangover (Aug 5, 2013)

Sounds like most of you guys are in the Pensacola area (_uh, ahem maybe has something to do with the name of the site stupid, but I digress_). Over here in Panama City Beach there are a ton of old bridge spans. The ones in deeper water say 95-110 to the sand seem to hold more shooter AJ's. Some of the other wrecks in that zip code such as the Accokeek (old tug) are the usual "offshore" targets for AJ's. "Offshore" here is +10-12 miles from the pass & 90-110 fsw. One day this week we hit both the Accokeek, Mac's Reef and a Span. The span was the most productive. Although that particular span didn't produce anything other than a bunch of mangrove snapper it made the boat want to dive nothing but spans the next day, which we did. On the first dive we could have limited out on AJ's if we wanted and took 6 nice AJ's. I'll fess up, they were so big and I was scared. The other place around here that allegedly produce BIG aj's is some secret high relief bottom in 150 ft. Dunno where it is exactly but I've heard stories.

In my limited experience it seems like high relief structure or really deep limestone reefs do the trick. All bets are off when you get into the Oil patch off the Louisiana coast, production facilities are some of the hardest to get to and most productive reefs out there. But your government is workign to stop that by dismantling them one by one.


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## Dynamic (Oct 3, 2007)

So the consensus is. There is no particular reef you can reasonably build in shallower water for AJ's??


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## Mike W (Jul 11, 2011)

Dynamic said:


> So the consensus is. There is no particular reef you can reasonably build in shallower water for AJ's??


Nope. You need one word: steel, and lots of it with high relief. Aka sunken ships, drilling rigs, etc


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## Dynamic (Oct 3, 2007)

Ok. What about a pair of coops with a fad on it in 120'.....Anybody know from experience?


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

Forget the popcorn. I'm going for double stuffed and milk!


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Dynamic said:


> Ok. What about a pair of coops with a fad on it in 120'.....Anybody know from experience?


That works in 200'. Use small snapper and large mingo's for bait.

They love em!!


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## no woryz (Oct 2, 2007)

ghost95 said:


> Before you jump everybody's shit you might want to get the full story. These guys, some long dead, did this years ago back when even the states were putting out tire reefs. Things have changed a lot since then. This wasn't a discussion about what's legal or not but rather anyone had any luck building reefs to attract amberjack.
> 
> Yes some have had luck building reefs for jacks. Is what they did years ago legal now? No.
> 
> ...


Thanks Ghost, I took your advice and reread this & the post last week asking were the other fads went too....... I believe in light of this I will stay with my original statement.... thank you and you have a blessed day as well......


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## ghost95 (May 4, 2009)

Well, ok, as long as if you run over an illegally dumped spot you don't take any fish or lobster off of it. :no:

PS. There is no personal disrespect intended, but relating an old man's stories does not mean I am condoning breaking the law. Maybe someone can design small reefs using a variation of their design that would attract larger AJ's. Approved through the proper channels of course.

Keep up the good work. You guys do a good job. Thanks.


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