# Mangrove Jack at Pelican Waters - Sun 28/09



## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

Hi All,

This is the first post I've made in a while. I've only been getting out once or twice a month lately and haven't really caught much worth posting  , but I set myself some goals about a month ago to add a few new species to the yak caught list. The plan is to catch a mangrove jack, a jewie and a big queenie before Xmas and today I nearly knocked 2 off the list....

I launched from the Power Boat Club carpark at about 4:45am and headed straight for the Pelican waters canals. I was trolling a Strikepro Galaxia on 1 rod and as I always do a Pink/Purple Micro Mullet on the other. There was lots of weed around in the Passage which made trolling lures impossible and I was hoping the canals would be a little cleaner. The weed cleared up just as I passed under the Bridge and there was lots of surface activity around the pylons. I had a couple of casts and briefly considered switching to a small popper, but there didn't seem to be much size about these fish and I made the decision to move on.

I threw a cast with the M/Mullet in behind the first pontoon after the bridge, cranked the handle once or twice and "WHACK", I was on... and it was going hard. Short, strong runs and lots of big head shakes. I was a little worried as this rod only has 4lb mainline and 6lb leader, so I just played it real slow. I got it to the surface a couple of times and it would take off again and as it was still dark I couldn't see what it was. I was thinking good trevally and hoping jack. After about the third time I got it to the side of the yak I decided to try to get the net under it, and "WOO-WHOO", a nice jack  . It messured 43cm (my smile was bigger).









The sun was just coming up as I got going again, and decided to just troll the lures up the canal, keeping close to the pontoons. After about 10 mins I got a good hit on the the Galaxia, but no hook-up. 5 mins later a huge hit and this time a hook-up. Line was screaming off the reel as it is a baitfeeder, I engaged the main drag and it wasn't slowing down. This rod has 8lb main line and 12 lb leader and again I felt it was going to be tested. Then about 50 metres away it jumped and now my heart was really pumping. It was a Queenie and at a guess I would say between 80-90cms. I made a bit of ground on it and it took off again, these were really long runs. I tried to keep the line tight with one hand as I quickly reeled the other rod in. It jumped again, this was awesome, clearly the best fish I'd ever had on in the kayak. I had it on for another minute or so before it bit me off. It jumped 2 more times after it busted me off. Bloody show-off! :lol: .I was devastated and excited at the same time. I quickly tied on a similar style and sized lure in anticipation for another crack at one, but unfortunately that was it for the day.

I fished for another 3 hours, without a touch and to make matters worse I lost my Micro Mullet to a snag. Over the last year or so, that lure has caught me about 30 flathead, a couple of dozen whiting and bream, about 6 bigeye trevally, a nice GT, an estuary cod and today a mangrove jack. I've climbed trees and been swimming at least 3 times to get it back from snags and today I lost it to a bloody rock :evil: . I've got a couple of others in different colours, but nothing else has had the success of this one. I will be replacing it today!

All up a great morning though. hopefully it wont be to long and I'll be writing about round 2 with the queenie and maybe even adding that jewie to the list too.

Thanks for reading

Jason


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## FishinRod (Mar 2, 2007)

Jason, 
Congratulations on jack. That would have been awesome on light line.
Bad luck that you didn't land the queenfish - but you obviously had fun with it.


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## Vikingfisher (Jan 31, 2008)

Great effort mate with the jack on such lite line. Micro mullet strikes again.
Jay


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## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

Vikingfisher said:


> Great effort mate with the jack on such lite line. Micro mullet strikes again.


Thanks Jay. You been havin' any luck?

I just got back from BCF. I went in to replace the M/Mullet. I think I've been talking the Pink/Purple colour up too much, they'd sold out... :lol: I had to make do with the Pink one with the little white squiggles. I'll have to get a spare when they get some more.

Cheers,

Jason


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Well done mate,

Jack is still on my to do list.....One day!

Cheers Andybear


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

Nice work mate. I fished the same area today and had no luck with the trolling out in the passage itself, just too much weed. Plenty of water worth exploring around there.
Joel


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

beautiful looking fish mate and great report cheers


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Great capture with the jack Jason, and at least you now know where your queenie is living now ;-)


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## pwr62 (Feb 10, 2008)

Hi Jason, nice catch. Greg and I were in the passage on sunday too but later and the wind made it very hard for us.
Sorry to hear you lost your favorite micro mullet.








what am i offered for this slightly used lure.
ha ha sorry mate we will have to catch up for a fish soon, might see you ar the next sunny coast meeting
Paul


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## pcsolutionman (Apr 9, 2007)

Well done mate awesome stuff, Cant wait to get out and target a few Jacks this summer 

Lee


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## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

pwr62 said:


> what am i offered for this slightly used lure.


Hey Paul, where do the bids to start? :lol:

I can tell you that by the time I lost mine it was in_* very *_used condition. I had replaced the trebles twice, and it was due for a repaint. It was Pink/Purple _*and*_ white, it so many teeth marks and scratches on it.

Jason


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

Good report, shame about the Queenie - at least it put on a good show for you. If you like the micro mullets (clearly you do ;-) ) then try the bleeding mullet colour - silver with red stripes. Has always been a favourite producer of mine.


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## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

Nice fish mate,

being new to the whole hard body lure thing, can I ask, when you retrieve or trawl do you put an action on the rod or do you watch the tip to know you are the right speed for the lure etc also do you tie a loop knot on your trace or a blood or attach a snap thing! which is best?

Cheers

Paddlepara


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## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

beefs said:


> If you like the micro mullets (clearly you do ) then try the bleeding mullet colour - silver with red stripes. Has always been a favourite producer of mine.


Yeah got one in that colour, infact that's the one I tied on after losing the fave.



paddleparra said:


> when you retrieve or trawl do you put an action on the rod or do you watch the tip to know you are the right speed for the lure etc also do you tie a loop knot on your trace or a blood or attach a snap thing! which is best?


When retrieving I usually retrieve quite slowly with occasional short pauses, and then a couple of quick winds to create a bit of an erratic action.

I troll at a dead slow pace, just enough to maintain forward momentum. I leave the rods in a rod holder and as you said, just keep an eye on the rod tip to ensure that the lure is working right.

As for tying them on, I use a blood knot if the lure has a split ring attachment and a loop knot if it doesn't. Personally I rarely use snaps, as I just dont have confidence in them. I've never had a bad experience, but unless there was a need to be changing lures constantly, I prefer not to use them.

Cheers,

Jason


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## paddleparra (Apr 23, 2008)

thanks for that mate i will go get me a micro mullet and have a bash.

cheers, by the way does the jack taste goos as a table fish?


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## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

paddleparra said:


> by the way does the jack taste goos as a table fish?


Very good...

Jason


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