trolling for jacks

[ockoman]

hey guys got given an idea the other day whilst fishing up the creeks to troll for jacks as they have been catchin a few. so we went trolling up and down a creek and got a hook up to a small 20cm which opened my eyes from many things to come but the water was very dirty due to the rain i have no idea if it was fresh or not but just wondering does the fresh matter? or would the jack still be there any others tips would be great thanks

[madmaskbass]

hey mate,

been doing a lot of reading..not much catching of jacks lately and from what i have read jack live right up against structure like if it was a fallen tree the jacks would be up against the roots and stump rather then out near the branches...the few jack i have ever caught have proven this as they were well hidden and only the most adventurous of casting got the hook ups... probably why they are hard buggers to get regularly

i have a mate that catches plenty more and he swear that they are that smart that they will swim out past a bait (he uses livies normally poddie mullet) and strike it on the way back towards the shore so that they can get to cover faster...

never heard of trolling for them before but i am by no means an expert they still very much have eluded all my attempts to target them!

good luck

[dallas90]

gday mate,

trolling for jacks is very effective and is quite popular on the gold coast where i lived most of my life. places to troll are canal edges, rock walls, along the edge of a number of pontoons and jetties in a row, and pretty much any rocky bottom you will get them. troll your lures about 1 metre off the bottom. best times are usually couple hours on each side of high tide. good lures are tilson barra, lively lure mad mullets, manns stretch 10+, rapala xraps, killalure flat ratz, brads smiths diggers and many more. and its important to hold your rod or your chances of landing a decent fish is pretty slim. estuary cod and trevally are a common bycatch using this technique aswell.

dallas

[tunaticer]

Jacks can be very finicky with what they want to eat some seasons. Back in the early to mid 80's the jacks showed a definite liking for twin tailed plastic grubs trolled slowly around Noosa Sound and up near John's Landing. The following year they wanted to eat 5cm Rapala minnows in gold florescent red colour, then the year after they took a big shining to 150mm Rapala Invincibles in the tiger brown colour. During these three seasons you would scarcely get a look in from anything but the favorite lure of the season.

Look for a lure that resembles the shape, size and colour of a Hardihead for the rest of this season and I reckon you will be in for a show. Locally they seem to be the producers for two of the locals here.

[fishinwahbee]

videos on youtube helped me mate.

Fishinwahbee

Never to young to be a pro 13yo!