Species 08. Seriola dumerili
Amberjack fishing in the Canary Islands
Pound for pound the hardest pull in these waters, and the one species we can offer in any month of the year. The amberjack lives on structure and fights straight back down towards it.
Overview
The greater amberjack is a thick-shouldered member of the jack family that holds over wrecks, reefs and rocky structure. It hunts in groups and it commits hard.
The fight is short and violent: the fish runs for the bottom, and if it reaches the structure it cuts you off. Everything about the tackle is built around stopping that first run.
It is the backbone of our winter fishing, when the big pelagics are thinner on the ground.
Where
Where to look
Structure, always. Wrecks, hard bottom, pinnacles and the edges of reefs. The sounder finds the fish; the skill is holding the boat over them in current.
Because it is resident rather than migratory, amberjack gives us a reliable option on days when the pelagic picture is poor.
Best islands for this species
How we fish it
How we fish it
Vertical jigging, mostly. Drop to the structure, work the jig with a rhythm the fish will commit to, and be ready: the take is instant and it is downwards.
Slow jigging works when the fish are reluctant, particularly in colder water.
This is the most physically demanding fishing we do in terms of repetition. It is also the most immediately rewarding.
The big ones go back in the water
This is the part most charter websites in the Canaries leave out, and leaving it out tells you something about them.
Large amberjack in these waters can accumulate ciguatoxin, a natural biotoxin that builds up through the food chain and that cooking does not destroy. It is a real health matter here, not a technicality, and it is why the islands run their own sanitary controls on this species.
Our practice is simple: the big ones are released. A large amberjack is a magnificent fish to catch, photograph and put back. Smaller specimens, within the legal sizes and limits, may be kept for the table.
If you ask us on the day whether you can take a particular fish home, you will get a straight answer, and sometimes that answer is no.
Fishing Intelligence
Conditions we look for
Structure and current. Amberjack sit where the current hits hard bottom and delivers food to them, so we read the tide and the sounder rather than the surface.
Questions
About amberjack
Is this a good winter option?
It is the best one. When the marlin have gone and the bluefin have not arrived, amberjack still fish.
How physical is jigging?
Very, in short bursts. It is repetitive work with the arms and back. Half a day is plenty for most people.
We don't wait for the fish. We follow them.
Book an amberjack day
Send us your dates and the species you are after. We will tell you honestly what the ocean is likely to be doing.