Jump back ’Jack - Rausch wrangles with big ’jack and wins

It’s no fish tale.

Aaron Rausch of Evansville, Ind. hauled in an 82.4-pound amberjack while fishing aboard the Twilight Wednesday with Capt. Robert Hill and first mate Billy Taylor.

“It was mind blowing,” said the 16-year-old Rausch who was down here with family on springbreak.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get it in the boat or if the pole was going to break,” he said, noting the fish tugged hard on the line.

“I just listened to the first mate … if I hadn’t, it would have gotten off,” he said.

“It was crazy,” Rausch said.

When the fish first took the bait, a white snapper, Taylor said they thought it was a shark from the way it was acting. But once it came up in the water they could see it was a big amberjack.

“It got tired pretty fast,” Rausch said, noting it took about 30 minutes to board the fish.

“My back was sore but I was ready to catch another one.”

The 80-plus pound amberjack is “by far” the largest fish Rausch has ever caught. He said he had a big grouper on line last year, but lost it.

In addition to the colossal amberjack Wednesday, the group had five more on the racks in the 30-pound range along with a few mingo and white snapper.

Taylor said they had the chance to catch some more big amberjack, but the jacks kept going down in the wrecks and breaking off.

However, the one they did get in the boat, is a fish Rausch will remember for quite some time.

“I’ve got a big fish story … but they think I’m lying,” he said, noting he has already phoned a few folks back home.

“It was pretty mind blowing,” he said.