That was another hard day! I was casting all type of lures, trying all possible combinations of action, but the results were pretty much zero! I was targeting for amberjacks. The moon was perfect, the current was right, but that day, the wind stayed completely calm making the fish so damn lazy. Days like this, are always testing your nerves and since I did not have much time, I had to try all the tricks in my book.

My next move was to use a “Panic Popper” to see if the fish where active on the calm mirror like surface. After a couple of pops, a pack of needlefish panicked by the exploding effect of the popper. So needlefish where actually there! For sure amberjacks should be somewhere close. I tried first with a 55g 3D needlefish, but the depth was too much and the currents too strong to allow proper action. So, I had to use the bigger 105g model. This is no problem for me, since I am used to cast jigs up to 150g if needed, but I only brought the pink and not the needlefish.  This did not stopped me from attaching it to my clip and cast it deep. When I met the bottom, I started to retrieve together with jerks. In the mid waters, my needlefish had two strong strikes, but without a hook setting. Bummer! I took out my lure and after a short inspection I saw the “sandpaper teeth marks” that clearly belong to amberjacks.

Probably their size was not very big and they attacked clumsy on the lure. I was very lucky to have some T-Treble  Spike Stingers that are normally for pike fishing! Who cares?  The 2/0 size fits perfectly on the 105gr 3D needlefish. Awesome! I casted once more! After some meters of retrieve and without even twitch, a strong strike came up! Boom! A brief strong fight and an amberjack hooked from the belly was lying on my feet. Super cool ha? Imagine the violence these fish use to attack their prey! For one more time, observation, good choice and combination of the lure and rigging, saved the day!

When lures are relatively big, rigging them with alternative options can be very effective!