I grew up fishing in the gulf around the florida panhandle and into alabama and I haven’t caught one yet with worms in it, and the meat has always been pretty good. I didn’t know about the worms thing in ajs here so I kept wonderring why y’all didn’t keep eat them up here. Now I really want to catch one here to see this.
Trying Reel Hard, my suggestion to you is to go to the SCDNR website, go to regulations sction, and print out the size and catch limit fo each fish, and have it laminated and put it in your radio box. If you are in doubt about a fish, check it out. Get you a saltwater ruler and tape it to your boat/deck somewhere. Fines are pretty hefty for illegal fish and you don’t want to get “Cupka’d!”
Also, do you have an HMS permit? If not, you need to get one so you can bring in the game fish!
Life is like a piece of s#$%…no matter if it sinks or floats…you always get flushed in the end
quote:
Originally posted by juneywuney[quote]Originally posted by gotchacovered
I just got back from Venice, La and caught 3aj all over 60 lbs. The captain talked me into keeping them and when they hit the cleaning table I could not believe what I saw. Beautiful white, worm free meat! I have never cut into one in my life that did not have worms. We ate it that night and it was very similar to cobia in taste and texture. In other words, it was excellent. Cooked it for some friends this weekend and they reluctantly tried it, then devoured it. My question is, why do they get the worms here and not on the gulf coast?
Well yours is not a fishing question, but a question that should be directed to INS. See these fish are a migratory species, and have somehow or another picked up the worms from the waters off of Mexico, and Cuba and have illegally infiltrated our waters off the SC Coast. Would seem to me that the NMFS and the SAFMC should be trying to round up these illegals and send them back to where they came from, but they just keep coming back! But, as I have recently heard, the same NMFS and SAFMC are trying to get all kinds of “jacks” on the protected list along with ARS and grouper!
Rest easy grasshopper! The worms are NOT related to Jose Cuervo.
Hope this helps! 
Life is like a piece of s#$%…no matter if it sinks or floats…you always get flushed in the end
quote:
Originally posted by gotchacoveredTryin Reel Hard,
He’s talking about those two little tunnies under the amberjack. They are basically vampire food, but you can cut strips off of them and use them instead of ballyhoo. That’s an old trick that I don’t know if anyone does anymore.
Gotcha Covered,
Lee Strickland
Strickland Marine Insurance, Inc.
843-795-1000 / 800-446-1862
or use them as live bait for marlin…it’s their favorite food. 
quote:
Originally posted by Crackerquote:Cracker, don't knock it til you try it. I have been catching them off of SC for 25 years and have never seen one without worms. I was very reluctant to try it myself, especially since we had over 500 lbs of YFT in the box. But the captain talked me into it and I am glad he did. Make your tongue slap your brains right outta ypur head!
Originally posted by SCGatorI saw the same thing in Venice. The captain we were out with said he knew about the worms in the East coast AJ’s, but for some reason they were worm-free in that area of the Gulf. We musses have good worm-breeding conditions around here…
SCG
“Quit being nasty!!!”
Worms or no worms, they are nasty…
dirty boots are on - hi di ho
