Tidelines – July 2023
When I’m bottom fishing for grouper, I don’t like them at all, but when I’m 15 miles or so off of Emerald Isle with Capt. Johnathan Garrett, of On Point Charters, they are an exciting and fun way to spend a morning.
I’m talking about amberjacks, the hard-fighting, aggressive eaters that put on a show and test your tackle and strength with hookup after hookup when you can get them up to the surface.
In early spring, Johnathan and I had set up a trip for Father’s Day morning, expecting that I would bring my boys and we would be live baiting for big spanish just off the beach. Everyone knows, though, that plans can change, especially when it comes to fishing, and so did our plans.
My wife and kids wouldn’t be back from an annual trip to High Rock Lake until after lunch on Father’s Day and the big spanish just hadn’t shown up in force yet off Emerald Isle, so when Johnathan pitched the idea of a morning throwing topwaters for amberjacks, I reached out to Jeff Boberg, whose wife and kids were also on that High Rock trip.
Smartly, Jeff was in.
Casper’s Marina was relatively quiet when Jeff and I parked and started unloading, and before we had our food and drink dockside, Johnathan pulled up in his new (new to him) 26’ Pathfinder with a 300 Yamaha. The boat had plenty of space to move around, lots of storage, great electronics, and a decked-out T-top, but the boat’s best feature on our morning were the two livewells that were already full of pogies.
Gary Hurley poses for a close-up of the Shimano Sniper Splash Walk that coaxed a number of amberjacks into a surface strike. He was fishing a wreck offshore of Emerald Isle with Capt. Johnathan Garrett of On Point Charters.
Topwater hookups were the goal, but those pogies would be the vehicle to get the topwater party started.
Our first stop was an artificial reef close to 10 miles out, a short run out of Bogue Inlet, especially on a day with 1-2’ waves and 5 mph winds, and the location where he had amberjacks schooled around the boat just a few days prior. We were the second boat to arrive, and Johnathan put two live pogies out the back while keeping the boat in idle to move around until we found a group of amberjacks, either on the screen or in our baits.
One of the live bait rods doubled over, but it didn’t double over and scream drag in an amberjack fashion. Johnathan suspected, and it was soon confirmed, that we had found a shark. After two more sharks and no amberjacks, we picked up and ran about five miles further out to a wreck.
At the wreck, we were the fourth boat—a sportfisher was jigging for amberjacks while a couple of other boats trolled around the outskirts of the wreck. We went directly over the a big chunk of the sunken ship, put out the two live bait rods, threw out a couple of bait nets full of live pogies to work as chum, and work they did.
Jeff grabbed the first rod to find an amberjack, Johnathan reeled the second rod in close to the boat to have handy once we hopefully had the school fired up and close to the boat, and I went to the bow to toss out a topwater.
I had recently began a new relationship with Shimano, via Kade Gewanter of Darby Communications, and he had conveniently sent me a Shimano Sniper Splash Walk to try out. I was eager to both get a topwater bite and to get some material to solidify my relationship with Shimano, and on the second cast, any anxiety was replaced by exhilaration.
The Shimano Sniper Splash Walk has a big profile, a walk-the-dog action, and a low-pitch knock, but in my non-technical, non-scientific observations, it was the cupped nose that created splashes similar to a popper that made the lure successful on our day.
By my second cast, we were already seeing numerous amberjacks on the surface and close to the boat slamming the live bait chum, but while they quickly destroyed every single live pogie at breakneck speeds, they completely left alone the one or two dead pogies that just floated down. Though these fish were already in a full-on feeding frenzy, they were exclusively keying in on the live baits, and I kept this in mind, noting that on my first cast I did a standard and steady walk-the-dog retrieve back to the boat with a couple of fish shopping but not committing.
Jeff Boberg (left) and Gary Hurley with one of the double hookups they enjoyed while throwing topwater lures and pitching live pogies to amberjacks. They were above a wreck in 70′ of water out of Bogue Inlet with Capt. Johnathan Garrett of On Point Fishing Charters.
For the second cast, I decided to try and key in on noise and commotion by utilizing the concave front of the Splash Walk. A few big splashes at the start brought a handful of amberjacks in to take a look. The lure had their attention, and I began a more erratic walk-the-dog, a retrieve peppered with pauses and rushes. Once one fish took a swipe and missed in a dramatic surface splash, their competitive nature kicked in and I had a second fish not only providing the visual and audible pleasure of a crushing topwater strike in 70’ of water, but a tight line, a bent rod, and screaming drag.
After Jeff landed his fish and I landed mine, Johnathan kept the school happy and available by periodically throwing out another bait net of pogies or by teasing the school with a hooked live pogie that he would pull away just before any of them could successfully grab it, and for the next hour or so we hooked, basically at will, as many amberjacks in the 8-35 lb. class that we wished.
We may not know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, but the answer to how many amberjacks it takes before Jeff and Gary agree that they’re ready to head back in is roughly 12-15 fish each.
Capt. Johnathan Garrett, of On Point Charters running out of Casper’s Marina in Swansboro, enjoys targeting these brutes in the nearshore waters of Emerald Isle primarily from mid-May to mid-June. He still targets them after mid-June, but when the water close to the beach starts to warm, that warmer water brings with it sharks and barracudas (the water at the first stop—the artificial reef—had climbed up a good four degrees in the three days between his successful amberjack day and ours when we only hooked sharks).
Not to worry, though, as Johnathan would be more than happy to take you out further (weather permitting, of course), or he enjoys live baiting nearshore for kings and big spanish, but he may be even more effective inside targeting the great red drum bite that Swansboro enjoys all summer long.
You can find out more at www.onpointfishing.com, or call Johnathan direct at (252) 670-4523.
If you decide to try the amberjack trip, you don’t need to bring your own Shimano Splash Walk. Johnathan will already have an assortment of lures on the boat. A better suggestion? Show up rested, drink plenty of water, and bring your ibuprofen
