Rod virgin Jack

[devocean1]

Well with 30 kots winds forcasted and the girls calling off the Ocean Rafting trip around the Whitsundays I quickly organised a morning session for Jacks with the father in law. I was keen to try a new outfit on the brutes which consisted of an abu 5500 joined with a Shimano Ian Miller Barra Magnum rod loaded with 20lb braid and 50lb leader. I usually use this rod for luring but I thought I would give it a go on the jacks before I hit Faust Dam and really break it in.

Anway we aimed to fish the coming in tide but a few beers that night before hand meant we missed most of the best part coming in. We still managed a few nice grunter and 2 nice bucks on the line but no jacks to speak of.

With the change in tide we moved to a new spot and fished for a while before the rod almost jumped out of my hands and I was onto a good brute. Fishing in 5 foot of water in a creek around 4 metres wide I could see the flashes of red heading for the mangroves. A quick tightening of the drag and I had him stopped but not making an inch backwards. After a good 5 minute tussle he was netted and in the esky.

I was very happy with the fish and my heart was pounding as it always does after a good jack attack. Was very happy with the performance of the rod and really came into its own when the going got rough.

Anyway heres a pic of the Jack went just over 50cm.

Dan

[snapperm8]

nice jack mate



cheers dave

[richieboy]

Top fish mate. I'm still working on getting in my first of the season. Top stuff.

Richie

[Smailesy]

top fish mate

[JasonT]

Niiiiiiiiiice!
I gotta get me one of them!
Well done!


JT

[Brissyguy]

Nice Jack Dan, damn fine fish to open your account with the new rod.

Cheers,
Rich.

[snasman]

Now thats a fine fish m8 well done

[geoff72]

great jack,like the look of the fangs on him to.

[manangatang]

good on ya devo, your getting plenty of good jacks up there ,whats your average sizes up there ,compared to what you used to get down here on the cold coast,lot better numbers up there i gather ,cheers mick.

[zach]

nice jack mate i havent got one yet this season
cheers
zach

[devocean]

Gday Mick

The average size up here I would say is about the 42cm mark and I dont often get them over 50cm. In the last four weeks I have caught heaps of undersized healthy jacks which is a good sign. No matter where you chase em though they are still pretty hard to catch and I have only manged 2 or 3 a session and havnt really got into a hot session yet. Last year I passed up a trip with a mate and he got 17 in about 2 hours all legal with a few over the 55cm mark. He was using handlines and his fingers looked like hell in the morning. Its all in the tides with sessions like that as I find you have to wait until the water hasnt been over the flats or mangrove banks for a few weeks so the jacks cant get in to get an easy feed.

I have found the size down south in the nerang river was much better by a mile. Used to catch huge jacks down there average bridge jack (wont tell you which bridge) was over 55cm. But they never fight as good as being in a small creek in shallow water.

Numbers are still good up here because jacks often get through nets as they are cunning buggers. I have heard from pros that they will slip under nets and they hardly catch any. Still reckon there are plenty down south.

Just an indication of how big these guys get , a mate of mine was spearing the outer reef the other day. Came back with huge jacks over 9kg and told stories of huge schools of up to 40 fish with some even bigger than the ones he speared. Hate to catch one of those bad boys.

Last word I still reckon black bream taste better than mangrove jack ;)