Mangrove Jack

I spent the weekend with a mate of mine who had never caught a jack and he didn’t get one during the comp either, but still described it as one of his favourite weekends of fishing. I hope you get some good encounters with red fish over summer. See you at the next Mangrove Jack Anglers Tournament.

It can be a case of feast or famine out there some days. The wharves are mostly carbon copies and don’t have any bottom structure to attract fish to the area. The best way to find fish is to sound around until you see bait schools or predatory fish on the sounder. This can be time consuming but there is …

I also noticed the boys were rewarded with a fish each. Once again, Dream Kayaks came on board with a $900 Beast kayak to give away as the major prize in the now-famous lucky door prize giveaway. This awesome prize went to kayak fisho Nathan Brennan who had just upgraded his own yak, so thought he might donate the Beast …

I’ve also been exploring the upper Herbert River as a location from which to run a future charter where we will spend two days casting lures for sooty grunter, barramundi, mangrove jack and jungle perch. The plan is to put the boats in upriver, drift fish down to a little cabin on the banks of the river and pull up, …

It involves rigging a Keitech 3” Easy Shiner weedless and skipping it under pontoons and boats and has proven very successful. A quicker retrieve with short pauses will often prompt the reaction bite. Round eight of the KFT Australian Kayak Fishing Tournaments series was based at the Raby Bay canals. The target species was bream and the mystery fish cod. …

They are out there. Once again we would like to thank our major sponsors Dream Kayaks, BCF Oxenford, JML Anglers Alliance, Weapons Custom Rods, Marquee Events and 2DEEP.We would also like to thank our other sponsors for their contributions – Burleigh Brewing Co, Mick Molnar Marine Art, Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine and Coomera Watersports Club. A big thanks to …

My lure of choice is a soft plastic. I prefer the 3” Fish Arrow Flash J Split with a 1/16oz TT Head Hunter jig head. I twitch this lure through the schools until I get a strike. A tell-tale sign that the fish you’re casting at are in fact tarpon rather than mullet is when after a rise, a distinctive …

On the first cast another large coral trout ate my plastic and swam straight into a bommie. I have never felt so out-gunned when using such a high calibre of gear. After hits and misses, a few little reefies such as stripey seaperch, a spanish mackerel and various sweetlip, we left the area with a score of coral trout five; …

Your gear will cop a lot and I’ve had endless trouble with my Daiwa Tatula baitcast reel. My usual kayak partner in crime, Brad, has also had the same issues. When chasing jacks, 20-25lb braid will be sufficient, coupled with a 1.5m, 40lb leader. While on leaders, there has been a lot of talk lately about the FG knot and …

My favourite snags are the ones out in the middle of the river that have washed down in previous floods and become wedged on the bottom. These snags rarely get fished and often hold good schools of jacks, including some really great fish over 50cm. I like to vertically jig these snags. Most of them are in deep water of …