Big, cold drops of rain pelted us as we drove the boat towards an island to get some bait. I could tell from the skeptical faces of my fishing companion, they were not convinced it was a good idea to be out on the Indian River in bad weather, and an even worse idea to be going 20 miles offshore. However, with a couple throws of my big 12ft cast net, we filled the bait well with mullet, and headed towards Sebastian inlet. It was a good thing they were both willing to endure some weather at the start of our trip, because I knew there was going to be an epic day of fishing ahead of us. I knew a secret. The reef we were headed for was absolutely loaded with hungry amberjack.
After a pretty rough ride to the spot, and a quick calculation of the drift, I had my crew
drop the vertical jigs down to start fishing. As we drifted, I co
uld see the bait and fish stacked up below us. The bite was almost instant. Am
berjack, or AJs as they are more commonly referred to, are aggressive and powerful fish who strike with incredible power. As a result, they’re super fun to catch. Almost every drift we made over the ¼ mile stretch of reef resulted in heavy AJ action. After a few hours, the fish began circling under the boat which made for some incredible video opportunities.
The fish 
continued to bite, and our arms continued to get tired. Eventually, we gave up before the fish did. We caught plenty of fish, and all but one was released for another day.
