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Land Based Jacks

Jay Noble

As so many fishos do, I look forward to the warmer months and love chasing the species that become active with these higher water temperatures and longer days. I generally start to target mangrove jack from October and have found them to take a plastic right through until May in previous years. The area that I spend my time targeting these brutal fish is the Gold Coast in south east Queensland. We seem to have a good population on mangrove jack and it is not uncommon to find fish in the high 50's and early 60's... landing them is the hard part!

Over the past three years we have experienced some major flooding in the area and it has affected the fishing during this time. However, this year has seen a very dry start to the season, with high temperatures bringing the bite on strong and a little earlier this year.

Some of the reasons why the mighty mangrove jack is a target for so many people is that they are such an aggressive fish, so brutal when they hit and they will try to bust you off on anything they can, meaning you often lose more than you land. They are also a great fish to target because, when they are in the mood, they will take a large range of lures, with my favourite way of targeting them being on plastics.

Not everyone is lucky enough to own a boat, but if you're keen enough to explore some remote areas and fish them in the peak bite times, you can get right amongst these aggressive fish. I use Google Maps to search out and locate possible new locations to find fish.

Areas to look for when targeting jacks:

• Rock walls with good water depth, current flow and a good population of bait.
• Bridges that are away from boat traffic, also with good numbers of baitfish and once again a good flow of water.
• Rock bars that are close to the bank that have a good drop off.
• Marinas.
• Big stretches of pontoons and pylons.
• Retaining walls with a good rocky base and a nice drop off.

When scouting out these areas I like to get there at the bottom of the tide and have a really good look at the area and the structure you will be fishing (see it at its worst), so that you get a better understanding of any unseen obstructions that the jack will try their best to get around.

Tide times and conditions:

• I have found the best tide time to chase jacks is the run out tide, right through to the bottom of the tide, as the jacks seem to drop back into the deeper sections of the rivers and creeks and it can make it easier at times to locate where the fish may be holding.
• As with most fish early morning and late afternoon are great times to target them.

By-catch in these areas:

When chasing land based jacks you will cover a lot of areas. Some of the by-catch you may encounter when fishing across these areas includes flathead, estuary cod, Moses perch and school jew, all of which make the time spent searching worthwhile.

Gearing up - rod and reel selection:

When chasing land based jacks I tend to use a longer (7') spin rod, as they give you a long cast and can be helpful to steer the fish away from structure. The rod doesn't have to be the top of the range, just somewhere in the 6-10kg range, with a little bit of whip in the tip for those long casts and a strong bottom end to rip into the fish when you get that unmistakeable hit! The spin reels I tent to use are between 3000 and 4000 size, with a hi-speed retrieve and a strong drag so you can lock it down tight and stop the powerful runs and get line back onto the reel and the fish away from the structure.

Line and leader set up:

Sunline Super PE in 20-30lb braid is a line that I have found to be great. I tend to fish a little heavier than most guys and good leaders that I have used are 30lb Sunline FC Rock leader or 40lb Black Magic Tough trace and they both have great abrasive resistant qualities.

Lures and jigheads:

Mangrove jack will take a range of lures and ZMan 4" SwimmerZ, ZMan 4" DieZel MinnowZ and 3" MinnowZ are a great place to start and have proven to be jack favourites.

Popular colours in the range include:

4" SwimmerZ - Bad Shad, AYU, Shiner, Smokey Shad and Pearl.

4" DieZel MinnowZ - New Penny, Pearl, Opening Night and Houdini.

3" MinnowZ - Pinfish, Houdini, New Penny and Opening Night, just to name a few.

Jighead selection depends on the areas you are fishing. TT Lures HeadlockZ HD and Head Hunter Extreme jigheads are a popular choice. Somewhere in the range of 1/4oz 3/0 - 3/8oz 3/0 for the ZMan 3" MinnowZ, or for the 4" SwimmerZ and DieZel MinnowZ the Head Hunter Extreme 3/8oz 3/0 - 1/2oz 3/0 and HeadLockZ HD 3/8oz 5/0 - 1/2oz 5/0 are the sizes most commonly used.

Tips for fishing these areas:

Pontoons

The cast must be as close to the pontoon as possible and a slow rolled plastic, along the entire edge and past the post, will often be a good place to start.

Rock walls

Cast up current and slowly work the lure back, as the fish will often be waiting for bait to come down with the current.

Bridges

Cast vertical if possible and roll the lure back along the pylons, keeping it in the zone as long as possible. Flick in between the posts and roll back.

Rock bars

Cast up current and slowly retrieve the lure back across the rock bar. A hopped retrieve will also work in these areas.

Mixing up the speeds and styles of the retrieve can sometimes trigger a bite if the fish aren't as active.

Scents:

The range of Pro-Cure scents will increase your chances of getting a bite. The Mullet Super Gel Scent and Shrimp Super Gel Scent flavours have proven to be great producers for me.

Retreve methods:

When working over areas, looking for mangrove jack with the ZMan paddle tails, I tend to use a slow rolling retrieve, making sure the lure holds in and around the structure for as long as possible to trigger a hit. After working the area with a few casts and no luck it's a good idea to change up your retrieve to a faster roll back, as this will sometimes trigger a reaction bite. A retrieve with small hops back across the bottom is also worth a try if the bite is tough.

Extra gear to think about:

• A backpack to keep all of your gear in the one place.
• A good strong landing net to secure your catch.
• Lip grippers.

Mangrove Jack are one of my favourite fish to target because they hit so hard and fight dirty. There's also the explosive bust offs that you often think more about than the ones you have landed, along with the memories they leave with you to share with others.

Even if you don't have a boat, it doesn't mean that you have to miss out on these exciting predators. Hopefully some of the techniques and tactics that have worked for me will help you get onto some of these cracker fish in the future.

Too good to catch once...

Jay Noble