Mangrove Jack Dusted Me

[beachwormer]

Hi raiders, haven't posted in a long while, truth is life got in the way of fishing for a long time.

I'm up in Coffs Harbour on a holiday from Sydney. I used to live in Coffs many years ago.

My dear old friend who's a local told me about mangrove jacks haunting the boats around the marina at the Jetty, so I pumped some nippers and did a session with him this evening fishing the change of tide.

Apart from a few small keeper bream that went back things were quiet but we had a a couple of beers and talked about how life and family had turned out.

I then hooked into something more than decent that took a lot of tight drag several times. I loaded up hard on the 20 lb trace trying to stop it running me under the boats or pylons.

I began to gain the upper hand and my mate was standing with the net ready. As it surfaced I saw a jack of at least a few kilos. Holy shit. He then went for one last run and dusted me.

No pictures obviously, I went home empty handed but at least I got to feel the power of a species i had never experienced before. Fortunately I'm here another 9 days so I'll be back there and I promise to post pics if I can come out on top next time!

[big Neil]

4 hours ago, beachwormer said:

Hi raiders, haven't posted in a long while, truth is life got in the way of fishing for a long time.

I'm up in Coffs Harbour on a holiday from Sydney. I used to live in Coffs many years ago.

My dear old friend who's a local told me about mangrove jacks haunting the boats around the marina at the Jetty, so I pumped some nippers and did a session with him this evening fishing the change of tide.

Apart from a few small keeper bream that went back things were quiet but we had a a couple of beers and talked about how life and family had turned out.

I then hooked into something more than decent that took a lot of tight drag several times. I loaded up hard on the 20 lb trace trying to stop it running me under the boats or pylons.

I began to gain the upper hand and my mate was standing with the net ready. As it surfaced I saw a jack of at least a few kilos. Holy shit. He then went for one last run and dusted me.

No pictures obviously, I went home empty handed but at least I got to feel the power of a species i had never experienced before. Fortunately I'm here another 9 days so I'll be back there and I promise to post pics if I can come out on top next time!

Good luck with your quest. I haven't had the pleasure of landing one YET but can vouch for their ability to resist being caught. bn

[Pickles]

It’s exciting when your target species swallows your bait / lure, especially when it is not “commonly” caught. Hope you get into them over next few days, look forward to some pics.