Jack Secrets for virgins

[MattChew]

Well Andrew, what can I say? An excellent piece of writing and information. I haven't caught a Jack in the 6 years I have been in Aus but I will get one this year .. my fishing is usually a mixed bag type of session so I guess after reading I should be solely targeting a single species to reap my reward. Excellent work again.

Ta
Matt

[natho]

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[Didley]

Natho Where are you fishing (roughly) and how do you attach the crab to the hook? (supaglue)

[Outsider1]

Thank you Andrew,

one of the best posts on Ausfish for quite some time IMHO.

Thanks for sharing!. It is quite sometime since I have specifically targeted Jacks, but you have me thinking now about a few creeks around here!!

Cheers and good fishing.

Dave

[snatch]

The most fun I ever had with jacks was the little guys right up in the brackish water where they spawn. Standing waste deep and throwing lures up into the current of fresh water and slow retrieving them just ahead of the current.

It's a bizarre thing to catch small jacks where the rainforest overhangs the creek. The location was Repulse creek in the Whitsundays and jcu still go there each year to conduct research on the spawn. A magic place for a magic fish.

[Pridey]

Thanks heaps for that post mate. All good information. Very wholesome, very Ausfish. Well done.

[the gecko]

Natho, thats interesting, Ive never tried crabs, but i see lots of em near the boat ramp. Tell us more about the rig..... do you float em under a baloon, or just weightless? How do you hook em so they dont die?

Ive caught cod with mouthfuls of crabs in them. Im sure jacks would eat em too down here. Are you in brissy or central qld?

cheers
Andrew

[jimbo 69]

what a top post

caught my first jack the other day while targeting bream, was using a mullet strip.

will be heading back to that spot next break for a bit of a early morning go, armed with some know how

[HIGH and DRY]

when i saw the heading, i went straight down to the fridge, grabbed a cold beer and sat down and read the whole thing twice, with a smile from ear to ear!!!

thanks for a sensational post, im sure you have inspired many people, as you have me, to get out there and target these great fish.

one question, with regards to the hardbody's, would you recomend useing a shallow diving (1-1.5m) or something that dives a little deeper.

thanks again

pete

[tunaticer]

My hard bodies run to a max of about 2m and mostly around the 1.5m deep. I seldom fish for jacks in water deeper than 4m or so. If I do its with soft plastics or wristed and clipped livebaits.

Jack.

[RawDog]

thanks for the tips i been fishing for jacks the last 3 summers last season i got 44
went to the coomera river last night to start fishing for the jacks again and i got my 1st jew fish by accident thanks for the tips ill use some of those for sure

[geoff72]

bloody top thread andrew,good to see an experieced member helping out others to beat these tough fellas. Really makes it worth while reading threads like this. Top stuff mate.

[Leighton]

great read mate, with your Mullet slab bait rig. Do you use just the stock standard running sinker onto a swivel then to the trace or are you floating your bait out?
If using a sinker, do you want the bait anchored to the bottom near the snag or are you using as light as possible

[kingtin]

Top post Andrew. My thanks to you, and others who have contributed. It's a good job I've got 40 kilo of mullet fillets in the freezer as I'm off down the Tweed for a week soon.

kev

[the gecko]

Trace is tied straight to main line, no swivel, I reckon fish see swivels. running sinker straight to hook. Use as light as possible sinker to hold bottom. I often use a sinker clip so I can change sinker weight every hour or so.