Action AJ

[JCACTION]

This was in the tortugas and the jack was in the 70lb range. The thing about it is the ass whipping he gave me. I had my friend hanging to close and carrying a camera. I see the jack and I see that if I dont get a perfect shot this fish is going to immediately circle around the camera and the diver so I wait and wait to see if I can place the arrow right in the kill area, the shot goes off he acts dead and I swim to him as I know he is definitely not dead just knocked silly from the placement of the shot. The minute I take the shaft hoping to get to his gills, all hell brakes loose. I rode this SOB for an eternity while he just spins and circles and thrashes the shit out of the other diver which was intent on getting the picture. I almost had to cut him loose because I was afraid he was going to tie my friend up in the bight but luckily he started to tire and I was able to subdue him. Notice the shaft is in my hand as it was impossible to get to his gills for the whole ride. This is not the biggest at 70lbs but definitely the best fight i have had in years. The pic came out pretty decent considering the chaos.

[f94gator]

That's a great pic. Sure sounds like it was fun!

[JCACTION]

it really was the best ride ive had in a long time and from a not so big fish makes it even funnier to me. If you notice the shaft it is bent that SOB really had fun with me but it was worth it!

[TopCat]

Great fish, Great pic and Great story.

[Wet Spot]

Here's a ton of fun that led the battle down to 240'.

[JCACTION]

Wetspot.....Awesome looking pic and great fish he looks huge. How big was that puppy? I can see him taking anyone for a ride DAYUM!!!!

[bluephoria]

Nice Fish JC! Reminds me of my battle with my 57 pounder in the tortugas. That thing kicked my butt!

[Wet Spot]

Thanks JC, This one went 117lbs. The ride is quite the rush. Big ones sound immediately so you try to get to a pipe on the rig to bind him on. Once you get him wrapped you pull out one of your knives and go for the head. It's cheaper than a psychiatrist...

[JCACTION]

Wetspot, that makes my fish look like a guppy, I am ashamed to have posted it!!! LOL LOL LOL I have heard they are outrageous when they get that big. I think after tanglin with a monster like that a little therapy may be in order!!! Great fish. I wanna come there and maybe take a monster like that as that is all I look for nowadays. Miami is DEAD DEAD DEAD
If I saw an AJ like that in Miami , I would probably start crying and get out of the water thinking it had to be a weird looking shark or something!

Is that the biggest youve gotten there?

[IyaDiver]

That is one KING KONG Jack....:D

If I save enough money I want to go to those HellDivers rigs.....YUM YUM.

JC your AJ is not a guppy it is already KONG size...:D


Wet Spot,
What is rig riding ? Sounds like a custom hook on the rig or what. What tools can one use in rigs deeper than 160 feet, in order not to get dragged by a fish, I don't mean a reel ?

[lionfish]

I have attatched a picture of my gun with my version of a riding rig

the rig is basically a piece of cable attached to the slide ring or spearshaft with a rope for a handle at the other end. it usually has a clip on the end of the rope for wrapping the cable around a crossmember of a rig or railing of a wreck and clipping it back to itself to restrain a large fish. it also allows you to unclip the rig from the gun (before you shoot!) and let go of just the cable,spear and hardware if things get out of hand.
Fredt has some hair-raising stories about this form of madness ;)


Leo

[IyaDiver]

Thanks Lion,

I got the picture now....;)
Used to dive rigs, but none deeper than 120, so we fear not of being dragged down.

[LuvMyRedDog]

Sweet story JCAction. How deep were you?

[Wet Spot]

JC, you're fish is far from a guppy! I think I've taken my worst ass whipping from one about that size. We've had a few good years for big AJ's, mine came in THIRD in the state competition... I saw a seven footer that had to go over 140lbs a couple of years ago, he was cruising at 200ft on a crosspipe and I maybe could have shot him with my JBL but knew that I'd lose my gear so I didn't pull on it. We left and dived a couple more rigs then went back. One of the captains club members (lick'em and stick'em club) begged to go down for it. He let him, he shot the fish at 220ft and it yes, took his shit. Meat shot so the fish will wrap up on the rig somewere and pull out and live. I shot a 28lb snapper one time with five or six shaft marks on him....!

Iya, We like holding onto a rope while fighting fish because we can bind in down on the rig (and clip it off on occasion) allowing the fish to wrap up where we can knife it if neccessary. Having the cable attached to the muzzle might break the gun if you tried to stop it plus the barnicals on the rig would tear your gun up pretty bad.

[IyaDiver]

Hello Wet,

How far away from the rig will fishes be around your area ?
Do they play inside/within the steel legs or outside of it ?
How deep is your typical rig ?

The biggest rig I dove here ( all the same ) only has 4 legs. I think no more than 60 feet across. Giant Trevally is about the biggest kind of fish we can find on Java sea's rigs, before they wanted to arrest me for diving it....:D . Here its illegal to dive active rigs.

How close will monster size AJ swim to a diver ? My only encounter with baby AJ in my Indian Ocean water was only two trips when the water was cold ( 21 deg Cel is cold for me ), now they are gone. It was a submerged rocky area.

I am just curious if my type of Carter parachute float will work on a place with so many obstruction like a rig ? I will drool to see a 200# AJ dragging that float attached to a reel....:p

Thanks
IYA

[Wet Spot]

Hey Iya,

Most fish hang in and immediatley around the rig structure. Certain fish like Wahoo and Tuna hardly ever get close to the rig.

We have rigs in five to twelve hundred plus feet of water. The deep ones like that are good to freedive around. The best ones in my opinion are in about 200-230ft of water. That's deep enough to hold most good fish and shallow enough so you can hunt the normal 20ft murky layer on the bottom.

Some of the platforms are HUGE, we have anything from single pipes (good for cobia) to five or six connected structures with up to a dozen legs each.

The really big AJ's usually come in pretty fast and make one or two passes at you. They really come in to check you out then leave. They normally don't get real close to you either, I took a long shot on that one.

Sad about Carson. A young guy here died while fighting a big jack a few years ago. He already had a 121# for the year and the one that did him in was bigger than that.

I'll try to find a couple of rig pics to post.

Stan

[IyaDiver]

Thanks Wet,

Your kind of rigs will be my priority if I ever hit US shores again..........drool...drool...drool.

[Wet Spot]

Here's a typical rig and a "floater" in very deep water.

[Wet Spot]

Well that was the floater (I'm picture posting challenged), here's the "fixed" rig.

[IyaDiver]

The floater looks so gigantic !!! And the fixed rig got so many legs.....must be awesome to hunt there...:)

How many anchor chains does a floater like that uses ? I think reference wise a floater type rig is more dangerous as you are more in hovering mode all the time and what/where to grab when fish too big ?

[Wet Spot]

Yeah when diving the floaters it's like you're in open water. They do have a lot of huge chains though. We're on the bungee and float system here since most of our pelagics are in such deep water.

[rigdvr]

is that the mars and the moxie?

[Wet Spot]

That floater is a big Enco rig, not sure if it's mars or not. Best I can remember that fixed rig was somewhere aroung the 900 block of Vioska Knoll.