we've done lunch there a few times, always amazed at how big it is and how few people are in there. pretty good salad bar & cup of gumbo

The Destin paper had a picture yesterday of a guy with a 110 pound donkey he caught. Probably used a Zebco 33..................

Amberjack used to be a trash fish along the gulf coast. Amazing how things change. Cobia is my favorite. Shouldnt be much longer before they start migrating down the coastline.

AC worms in saltwater fish is common with some species. Grilling them or smoking will kill the parasites and you won’t even know it was in there as long as you didn’t see them ahead of time. My problem with AJ’s was inherited. My daddy hated them and will always would throw them back. Trigger fish is what we wanted to catch to fill up the box.

Enjoy your vacation and try the Anchor Bar in OB if y’all get a chance.


Like Peach said I was brought up that they are trash fish.

We used to go out of Pcola a lot and hit the Russian freighter, cleaned up on some AJ. A guy from fla fish and game surveyed at the ramp and told us not to worry about all the worms....We did our best to cut them out but sure we have ate a bunch too. I prefer bull nose dolphin over any other fish.

Meh. It’s my give away fish. Not my favorite by far. Flounder, triggers, and grouper in no particular order.

if (I know, big word to be so little) you have leftovers, amber jack makes a good "salad" sandwich, like tuna.

I concur, not a big Amberjack fan, can't remember the last time I ate any. I mean, nothing wrong with how it tastes when cooked right - like that appears to be - but they are known as a trash fish by many mainly b/c they will freaking eat anything out there...and then there's the worms. On top of all of that, there's the tight recreational regulations on them.

1. Warmer waters and further south has nothing to do with number of worms.
2. Not enough AJ to supply very many restaurants. THINK ABOUT IT! LOTS will be serving mahi (dolphin) and saying it is AJ. It is still fairly abundant worldwide.. Mahi is to the grilled/blackened dishes like basa and swai are to the AUCE fried whitefish meals.
3. All drum family fish and jacks are subject to worms. Per capita speckled trout have more worms than any other fish.
4. Triggerfish is still king but the bottom of the filet past the rib cage on a sheepshead is as close as anything comes to a substitute for trigger. The top filet is about as good as it gets too.

This^^^

Cant believe none of you guys mentioned WAHOO. Typically a captain will only get a cut off two fish and that's Cobia and Wahoo. The hawaiian word for Wahoo is ONO. It literally translates to TASTE REALLY GOOD. Let's go ahead and add Pompano while were at it.

The best eating fish in the gulf by far is a scamp . Captains choice .

If you like sheepshead you need to get on a triple tail .

Wahoo is my pick for best in the ocean. Close second would be Mahi.

I wonder how many of those worms wee cooked in AC's AJ? You can bet he'll be looking for them next time! AC remember that one bite that
felt and tasted a little different?

Since we're talking about eating good fish, I'll have to say that the snapper throats at Zeke's is the best I've had after a long day.

resturants blacken the amberjack so you can't see the worms BEFORE you eat........

Absolute pain in the butt to clean but IMO there is not a better eating fish that swims in the Gulf. We all used to regard them as just trash fish and bait stealers.

Worms are just extra protein. Won't hurt you at all and like was mentioned earlier, a lot of fish on the Gulf coast have them. I've seem them in bass/specks on the causeway to drums in the bay to AJ's offshore. They eat the same as the rest of the fish.
As far as triggers, The filet is as good a eating fish there is but the real delicacy is the throat. Captain Jab turned me on to them a few years ago and I still thank him from time to time. Best tip I have ever received on fish cleaning/eating.

Absolute pain in the butt to clean but IMO there is not a better eating fish that swims in the Gulf. We all used to regard them as just trash fish and bait stealers.