In Hawaii and around a large potion of the Pacific, they’re known simply as ahi.

East coasters refer to them as yellowfin, while French and Portuguese anglers often called albacore. You can agree or disagree on what we call these large and powerful pelages, but if you have ever had the wonderful opportunity to catch or see these

fish in the wild you’d agree that they are spectacular species. One of the largest tuna species, reaching over 400 pounds, they’re found in the worldwide in both tropical and subtropical waters.

Commercial fisheries catch these fish with purse seines, loglines and, even, in a few cases, pole and line is used around the Maldives, Ghana and by a small number of vessels fishing out of the Canary Islands in the far east Atlantic. Over the past generation purse seine nets have caught the majority of the world’s commercial yellowfin tuna catch. This type of fishing has been very controversial because of its potential by-catch of marine mammals such as bottlenose dolphin, spinner dolphin and other porpoises.

Around the world yellowfin are also a very valuable recreational catch. Not only are they delicious raw or cooked, but many anglers believe that large yellowfin tuna are, pound for pound, the fastest and strongest of all big game tunas. Large and accommodating “long range” charter boats in the Southern California fish in U.S. and Mexican waters, taking thousands of recreational anglers searching for yellowfin tuna and other pelages each year.

If you ever been saltwater fishing and thought you saw a piece of trash that turned out to be a fish- there’s a pretty good chance it was a tripletail. Often look over as floating debris or jetsam tripletail spends the majority of it’s life within twenty feet of the ocean’s surface. Because of this they can be great fun for those who enjoy sight fishing. More on that in a moment.

They also have a very keen sense of smell. For this reason, at times, they can be more difficult to catch on fly or artificial lure. However, a deadly combination for catching tripltail is to use a 1/4 ounce white or chartreuse bucktail jig dipped in one of Bioedge’s fish scents or tipped with a piece of shrimp or menhaden. The added scent is the ticket for increasing your success in getting their attention. It has been my opinion that tripletail smell the bait, much quicker than they see it. Also they can be notorious for following your lure, jig or fly right up to the boat as you retrieve it. They often strike on the drop so be sure to keep track of the slack in your line. Be patience with these fish and you’ll catch them.

It’s best you use a landing net when trying to get one in your boat They’re very difficult to grab, beware of their dart-like dorsal fin and jagged gill plates. If you think you’re going to gaff one of these prehistorical, quizzical gamefish you have another thing coming cause their hide is as dense and unpentatable as any you’ll ever come across.

When sight fishing tripletail keep the sun at your back and do your best to keep your boat down current from the fish. This way you have a lot less of a chance of the boat drifting over your fish. If fished with patience you find tripletail to be a fine foe.

Their fresh is a firm, favorable, white meat which is excellent both fried or grilled. We give tripletail a firm thumb’s up when it comes to fishing fun and table value.

Rodney has the world’s largest selection of tripletail images.

FMI E-Mail <irlcoast@gmail.com>

As so often the case, there’s more to a fish than its name. And in this case, actually there are several fish commonly called amberjack, including the greater amberjack, lesser amberjack and the banded rudderfish. These fish are frequently misidentified by less experienced anglers because of their likeness.

The greater amberjack, the largest of the jacks, usually have dark (amber) stripes extending down its body from nose to tail. The lesser amberjack have a proportionately larger eye and deeper body than the larger greater amberjack.
While the banded rudderfish, the second largest of the three amberjack, is identifiable from the others by a raccoon-stripe on its eye and an iridescent gold striper on its side.

It seems like every large salty body of water in the world has its own amberjack. To name only a few from a long list, there’s the Pacific amberjack, California amberjack, Japanese amberjack, Asian yellowtail amberjack, and the flat amberjack. But what’s in a name? In the majority of cases, amberjack represents a powerful, and voracious predator with a forked tail, and long broad body that spends its life roaming near reefs, floating debris, wreaks, and other submerged structure. Because of their forked tail, broad body and incredible strength they have also earned a reputation for being tone of the toughest fish in the sea. In fact, it is not unusual for an angler to give up on catching amberjack after wangling only one or two to the surface.

These fish are so admired that two United States Navy submarines have been named USS Amberjack.