Key West Amberjack Fishing
Amberjack are common fish on the wrecks of Key West. They live in subtropical oceans all over the world and can grow to six feet long.
While the biggest of these fish weigh almost two hundred hundred pounds, most weigh in the region of 40 pounds with females being larger than the males.
Amberjacks typically live for 17 years and reach sexual maturity by age three or four. In the western Atlantic Ocean, spawning season occurs from March until June and takes place mainly around reefs and shipwrecks.
Juveniles of the species feed on larvae and small invertebrates. Adults are opportunistic eaters and hunt a variety of benthic and pelagic fish including bigeye scad, sardines as well as crustaceans and squid. Yellowfin tuna and other large fish prey on amberjack, as do certain seabirds.
This animal is a silverfish shade of white in most of its body with some darker grey or blue on its back. They also have a dark amber stripe on their heads from the nose to the first dorsal fin. There is another amber lateral amber stripe extending the length of the body.
These jacks live in reefs, wrecks and floating debris at depths ranging from 40-240 feet. Although in Florida they do sometimes go inshore.
These fish are plentiful all over the world. While there are, of course, strict limits on the numbers and size of amberjack fished from Florida waters, they are not listed as vulnerable or endangered by the World Conservation Union.
Both their size and bountifulness makes them a very popular game fish in and around the Florida Keys.