Sunny Coast Jack

[Andrew_P]

Lucked into my first ever jack fri night after countless hours targeting them over summer with my brother and his mate. 55cm and 2kg+. Got it on an unweighted dead and butterflied livie at the mouth of a small lake that sees a lot of fishing effort and has only produced cod and catfish for me previously. the fight was intense but enjoyable on my bream gear beefed up with 14lb braid and 20lb leader. Lots of people to thank for tips (both ausfishers and non-ausfishers) but i will have to say the initial inspiration came from reading and re-reading the post by The Gecko 'Jack tips for virgins' and seeing the numbers and quality pulled out of the sunny coast by Pistol_P and friends. So now all 3 of us have joined the 50+ club - brother Rob broke his virginity with a 52cm last month and his mate Karl has caught a handful, the biggest being 51cm. Thanks again to all who helped.

[tenzing]

Mate, good onya. A bloody good fish at 55 for a first up too . That perserverence has obviously paid off. congratulations
Brendan

[matt__hill]

nice fish mate a dead butterflied livey leaves me wondering tho lol

[BLOOEY]

Good on ya andrew. Top quality jack there mate, Bet you were stoked. There is a wealth of info on this site just got to sort the wheat from the chaff. Congrats Ben

[Pistol_P]

Top Jack Andrew,

Well done.

I only caught a few jacks this season although the size was better than most years....Its been a good year for Jacks on the sunny coast.

Pete

[the gecko]

Well done mate, 55 is a great way to open the account. Time for a brag mat now. Another cherry popped this season. Dont they love those butterflied baits, was that mullet or herring?

I reckon the sunny coast had the only good jack season this year. Still a few weeks left to get into em before the water cools down. Its been horrible up here in hervey bay this year, and I hear the goldy is no better.

cheers
Andrew

[fishel]

Congratulations Andrew! That is a beauty for a first, but well deserved for alll your perseverence! Love to catch one myself but don't have the opportunity to put in those kind of hours to get one, so unless I get lucky and catch one on less hours of input may have to go jackless.

Regards Eleanor

[Andrew_P]

Andrew - it was a poddy mullet. The herring i have used seemed to attract only small bream so far. The 52 and 51 were caught on live poddy and mullet strip baits respectively. Brag mat and a good camera are next on the wish list!

[dinga1]

oh Andrew that jack is just sooo super, fantastic catch for a really fantastic guy!

you are suuuper!!!

you go for it guy!!!!!

[nickstock]

Congratulations Andrew! That is a beauty for a first, but well deserved for alll your perseverence! Love to catch one myself but don't have the opportunity to put in those kind of hours to get one, so unless I get lucky and catch one on less hours of input may have to go jackless.

Regards Eleanor

Eleanor,

You are only a few hours from one of the most consistent Jack fisheries in Australia. Go to the lakes at 19th avenue at Palm Beach. Flick out a live Herring, Boney Bream or Poddy Mullet around 75mm long, un weighted, on 15lb braid with 20lb mono leader and hang on. Hold you rod, dont let it free spool. Use chem sharpend 1/0 circle hooks and dont strike too hard. Once the fish has taken the bait just lift the rod to set the hook.

If the current is running strong then I use up to a size 3 ball sinker straight onto the hook but the less weight the better

You will catch a Jack within a few trips and once you have got the hang of it you will clean up on a regular basis.

It amazes me when people talk about Jacks being the hardest fish to catch in a river ect. They are very common and the people that take months to catch one are either fishing in the wrong spot or using a wrong method.

Thats not to take away from the quality fish that is in this thread. It is a ripper of a fish to lose your Jack virginity too. Most fish encounted will be around the 30 - 40 cms mark but they still fight well on light tackle. Any jack over 50cms is a quality fish.

[natho]

Well said nickstock i agree, and a very nice dark jack to start you off Andrew!!

[nuggstar]

ripper jack dude

[brisboys]

Great jack to break that virginity at 55cm!

Sam

[abbot_86]

nice jack mate good stuff

[ddobson]

Well done on your first mate. I have spent a lot of time around the bay in brisbane and come up with nothing even with all the top baits even live baits and still not a touch. We must be unlucky with all the good ones up north or down the coast. Its good to see someone getting there fish after trying for a while and a good size to. Cheers and well done.