# 'Fish of the Month' - Mangrove Jack



## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Mangrove Jack - Lutjanus argentimaculatus (This is latin for angry red mongrel fish)

Name/UserName: Kevin Crawford - BIGKEV

Where I fish:

Mangrove Jack are a widespread species that inhabit coastal estuaries for part of their lives before moving offshore inhabiting coastal reefs from Coffs Harbour in the South right around the top end and down to the Pilbara in WA. Whilst the fish may not be quite as thick in their Southern ranges here in SEQ and Northern NSW, they easily targeted. The fish we are most likely to come in contact can reach up to 60cm and around 3-4kg but more commonly most jack captures from yaks tend to be in the 30-50cm range. Once the fish get much larger than this they move offshore and inhabit the inshore reefs and can grow to 1m+ and in excess of 20kg.

I focus my attention on the tidal Creeks & Rivers in South East Queensland and more specifically the creeks that feed into Pummicestone Passage north of Brisbane. Once the word gets out that you can catch Jacks in certain areas, locations tend to get a little busy, but there are some of these creeks aren't quite as well known in local circles or are a little harder to drive into with power boats and receive significantly less boat traffic and subsequent fishing pressure, which bodes well for chasing Jacks.

When I originally decided to target this species from the yak I did a lot of homework on this species and read and researched everything I could before focussing on them. They have cost me a small fortune in lures over the years, but just getting that first fish is worth every penny.

I have a few specific spots that I don't like to advertise too much over an open forum, but I am quite willing to share info with people when asked and have done so plenty of times in the past, provided they are happy not to blurt out too much information to the public forums, so this little article won't be mentioning specific locations but hopefully it will contain information that can be used in a number of different localities.

Mangrove Jacks make great table fare and in my opinion, they are probably the best eating estuary fish available. Although I do not generally take these fish for the table as I believe the old cliché: "they are just too good a fish to only catch once".










Area I fish:

I concentrate on a variety of areas in the systems in which I target jacks including: natural and artificial snags such as fallen trees, moored and sometimes sunken boats, jetties and pylons, man made rock walls, deep undercut river bends, deeper holes, drop offs, underwater rock bars and I always pay particular attention to areas holding bait, especially nervous bait. But as a general rule look for the most ugly, twisted, barnacle encrusted pile of sticks in the area and toss your $20 lure straight into the middle of it, don't bother wasting any time trying to work out how your going to get a fish out of there, worry about that after you hook it and work on instincts for the short term.










When I fish:

In SEQ, summertime is prime Jack fishing time and you can expect to tangle with a Jack anytime between October and April. Those hot sticky days with an afternoon Northerly and a building thunderstorm really fire these fish up. I personally believe that the Jacks leave the estuaries during the cooler periods of the year but have no idea where they go, there are many and varied theories on this and it is probably another topic altogether. But as a further twist there are often Jacks caught well into June at times and as early as September locally, very few reports of Jacks being caught from May to August filter through so they are probably not really a viable target at this time. October seems to be the month for the Jacks to show up in surprising locations, and it is not uncommon to hook a jack well away from any form of structure as a bycatch when targeting other species, so this is probably when you're most likely to land a real trophy size fish as they are near unstoppable when they are close to structure.

Time of day is a personal thing, particularly with the safety aspects of yakking at night. However I have caught jacks at all times including the middle of sunny days, but they are definately more on the hunt at times of low light, this is also when you can expect them to be a bit further away from their snag.










Rod/Reel I use:

I have regularly landed Jacks on gear as light as 10pd. I have also had some spectacular bust ups on lighter gear including one particular Jack that when I first sighted it I thought to be well over 50cm. Problem was, I was only using 4pd bream gear, I thought I had won the battle with this fish, but I was too slow with the net when I had the fish yakside and it ran me into some sticks on it's final effort. This is not to say you cannot use light gear and plenty of people have landed jacks on suicide gear before and plenty more will still be landed but it gets expensive after a while and you need all your stars and moons aligned for continued success with light outfits. For the most part I use a Shimano Calcutta 200 spooled with 30pd braid and up to 60pd leader on a 6-12kg graphite rod with a extremely tight drag setting. It is a brutal tug of war and drags need to be smooth because even under full drag pressure on my Calcutta a small to average jack will still pull line on the initial hit and a sticky drag can cost you a fish.










Hard Body Lure/Soft Plastic:

My preferred lures for casting are floating deep divers that get to a max of 4-4.5m. These dive sharply down the face of steep banks and can be floated back up out of snags if and when required. For trolling I prefer a lure that dives to around 1.8-2.5m and I can usually troll this through most of the system without snagging on bottom structure too often. Many different styles of soft plastics, poppers, fizzers, and lures such as prawnstars all work well but I prefer casting and trolling bibbed hard bodied lures. Colours are a personal preference but I do use a lot of gold lures.










Bait I use:

Bait-fishing for Jacks traditionally has not been high on my agenda whilst yakking but if out in a boat with a mate then I get the cast net out and collect live mullet, herring, prawns whiting, gar etc (obviously adhering to all applicable size and bag limits). All these baits will account for fish if in the right location. Don't be afraid to use a big livie either, Jacks will often try and eat things that we think are just too big for a bait and I have seen a 40cm Jack caught on a 30cm mullet. Cut baits such as slabs of mullet are also deadly baits for Jacks.










Technique:

When casting lures I work my lures hard down the face of steep banks right into the snags until I can feel the lure hitting solid structure, with a floating lure you can stop your retrieve and allow the lure to float back up and away from the sticks and avoid snagging up too much. But if you're not getting snagged occasionally then you simply aren't fishing in the right location. All this makes carrying a lure retriever mandatory unless you're prepared to donate plenty of hardware to the sticks. I really give each location a fair peppering before moving on as Jacks will also strike on aggression and territorial instincts as well as hunger. So if you're lure is constantly buzzing past the nose of a Jack with a full tummy he may eventually just get the royal $h!t$ with it and smash it just to teach it a lesson so it won't come back.

When trolling, I run my lures out wide of the kayak using adjustable rod holders set at 90 degrees to the yak so as to get the lures as close to the snags as I possibly can. I prefer to use rod holders mounted forward of my position as the strike can pull the rod out of the holder and if it is in front of me at least I have a chance to grab it before it gets wet. As stated earlier my trolling lures run about 1.8 - 2m deep and this allows me to troll most of the areas I fish without the need to bring in the trolling line too often as I pass over shallower sections.

When fishing baits I always hold my rod, with the drag locked up as tight as I can ready for a strike as you can't afford to let these fish go for a run before striking. If you're fishing live baits on braided lines you will often notice you're live bait start panicking shortly before the strike as it knows what's about to happen and it's trying to get the hell out of Dodge!










My hot tip:

Mangrove Jack are an ambush predator that dwell in the snags, they hit their prey hard as they are turning and heading back into the snag from where they were holed up before the hit. They have a broad paddle tail and power to burn but their stamina is their undoing. If you can outlast their initial strike and first two runs your in with a chance. Try to avoid the temptation of going easy and savouring the fight because these fish are dirty fighters and will dive back into the closest piece of structure they can find with lightening pace, leaving you with a frayed leader scratching your head wondering where it all went wrong.

The Challenge:

Striking a balance with line class is probably the biggest challenge to overcome when chasing these creatures from a kayak. Go too light and you get stitched up in the blink of an eye, but if you go heavy the fish simply drag you and your yak back into the mess they call home but with the combination of heavy line and no stamina you increase your chances of landing the fish.

Please be careful handling these fish if you are lucky enough to land one. If given the opportunity these fish will bite you, their eyes watch every move you make and they can snap their jaws in a heartbeat.

There are a few videos on Youtube that show jacks feeding in aquariums and these make for great viewing to gain an understanding of how they feed on the return to their snag.

Also have a read of this thread on another forum. http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showth ... p?t=138239 It's called Jack Secrets for Virgins and is mostly boat based stuff but can easily be applied to us and is extremely helpful for those wishing to chase Jacks.

Good luck folks, this thread may be coming at the wrong time of year but it will certainly be a great resource and ready for next season. Hopefully a few others will add to this as I am by no means an expert on catching Jacks, I am just lucky enough to have landed a few of these great estuary sportfish.

Cheers

Kev


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## gonetroppo (Jan 29, 2011)

Great info there kev, a few things that ive found productive when it comes to the mighty Red Bream:

About 95% of captures have been on pink lures, the other 5% gold. Heard a theory that these guys also like the way they taste, hence the success of lures similar to themselves in appearence, or maybe its a territorial thing.

Fishing a few hours before and up to a low tide right on dark.

Almost always catch them in pairs, re-try that snag as his mate might still be there!

I find casting upstream of the snag and letting the curent take it to the snag a better way then chucking it right in it, especialy if you a shocking caster like me. This also gets the lure right in their face as they seem to use the current to keep the water moving through them while being able to stay put facing into it.

Keep the lure out there, they are sometimes in last place you would expect.

Now I'll share with you all, the tale of the (cant tell you) creek Red Bream, demostrating the sheer power these fish have.
Its a spot me and my dad have been going to for a long time now, it was past on to him by an old bloke only after many years of trusted friendship. It is a very fustrating place to fish as it is almost always dead, but thats because the fish in this creek are very old, very wise and HUGE.

We were trolling over a rocky oyster bed under about 3m of water, a place we had got some nice jacks previously, when our most prized little pink lure was taken. We stopped and started to bring it in, hauling it in actualy, this fish was heavy! but it didnt fight the slightest, that was until it saw the boat. A slivery pink flash (we estimated to be around the meter mark), the line buckled, a straining grunt then SNAP! so much force this fish had, the drag didnt even have a chance to let out line. After alot of swearing, we reeled in only to find that it wasn't a knot or a leader that snapped, it was the 40lb lure clip, and it had been pulled completely straight! and the lure, gone!
That fish is still down there somewhere but we have never been able to get him again, we searched everywhere for that exact lure taht we caught so many fish on, but it was long out of production. So if any marlin fisherman catch him trolling one day, please let me know just how big this fish was!


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