Happy Jacks

jack crevalle

Afew jack crevalle were among the fish that cooperated a couple of weeks ago when I spent a day in Jacksonville fishing with Chris Holleman of Blue Cyclone Inland Fishing Adventures. I was glad. Jacks are hard hitting, fast and a lot of fun to catch.

Interestingly, jacks are among the most maligned fish in inland waters. I’ve often heard anglers grumbling when they hook up with jacks and even wanting to move away for them to search for the day’s targeted species.

I’ve watched anglers completely change their perspective upon getting a good look at a fish and realizing it is a huge jack. One minute enjoying the fast runs and brutal strength and the next minute irritated by the same qualities and time taken away from the pursuit of other species.

Fishing is meant to be fun, and preferences are personal, so folks have the right to like or dislike catching any species. I’ve just never understood how the fun factor can change so dramatically based on the shape of the fish.

I get a bit of disappointment if your hope for the day was to catch a trophy redfish, and you thought that was what you were fighting. It seems to go way past disappointed, though, and turn into a despise for the fish at the end of the line.

I’ve also always wondered when or why jack crevalle became perceived as “trash fish” in the eyes of so many anglers. Their shape, iridescent colors and fighting qualities are somewhat similar to permit, which are highly prized sport fish. 

I guess I don’t need to worry about other anglers’ preference. I know I like catching jacks and always welcome them to the party!

Jacksonville Jaunt

One more update is due before I get back to the favorite fishing destinations countdown because just a few days after returning from Maine, I pointed things in the opposite direction and blasted down to Jacksonville for a couple of fun days of inshore saltwater fishing with Chris Holleman and Nathan Johnson. It was a quick trip: Southbound on Thursday, and home late Saturday night. However, that was enough time to enjoy some fun action and get plenty of the photos that drive my travel plans.

I always have fun fishing the Jacksonville area with Chris and Nathan, and we always catch fish. Along with redfish and speckled trout (which are pretty much a given, any time), the species mix from the most recent trip included jack crevalle, flounder, sheepshead and kind of weakfish that's locally called a yellowmouth trout. We hit settings ranging from very urban stuff on the St. John's river in downtown to some pretty remote feeling marsh and fished quite a few different ways. Part of the plan also was to play with some not-yet-released Bomber Lures, which preformed exceptionally well!

My original plan had actually been to do some exploring on my own along the Georgia coast on the way home, possibly doing some pier or surf fishing at Jekyll Island, and to return home Sunday. Big storms brewed up Saturday afternoon, though, and they were forecast to continue until dark, so I decided to continue toward home and save that exploration for another trip.

Of course, Chris, Nathan and I have already started talking about "next time" for Jacksonville, and the working plan is to aim for the fall mullet run, when the fishing tends to be wide open for everything. I'm looking forward to that trip already!

Jack be Powerful; Jack be Quick

You usually won't spend many days targeting redfish in the fertile waters around Venice, Louisiana without someone in your group hooking into at least one whopper jack crevalle. Many anglers curse jacks, once they figure out what's on the line. I think jacks' brutal battles are seriously fun, and any jack is welcome to wallop my lure any time. Our group landed a few jacks last week. Lawrence Taylor landed his first jack ever, and Capt. Carl Smith landed a 24-pounder while Nathaniel and I were in the boat. Nathaniel captured the whole battle with a GoPro, including some cool "hat-cam" footage while he was netting the fish for Capt. Smith, He edited the whole fight down to a cool little 2 1/2-minute video.

Check it out.

The video is the first of three Nathaniel plans to produce from the Louisiana trip and the first of many for a new YouTube Channel he just set up for us. I usually forget to shoot video on trips (altough I'm going to try to do better), and I've never taken time to learn the editing side of things, so Nathaniel s taking over the video end of things for us and hopefully in time will also be doing some free-lance video work as he begins building his own place in the outdoor communications world.

If you haven't visited Nathaniel Samsel Outdoors lately, be sure to stop by and take a look.

Passion Flowers & Jack Crevalle

When Sarah posted this passion flower picture on facebook and noted her amazement that many people consider it a weed, it made me think about the fact that passion flowers are a little like jack crevalle. The only thing wrong with either is that someone, somewhere along the way, decided they were weeds or junk fish.

Interestingly, the biggest knock against a passion flower (Maypop, if you prefer) is that can be "invasive." Transfer the exact same characteristic to a nursery-sold plant and it would be dubbed enthusiastically as hardy and fast-spreading. Similarly, with a jack crevalle, anglers curse jacks because of their brute strength and the lengthy battles needed to land them -- the exact traits that bring acclaim to various popular "sport fish."

Passion flower have interesting foliage and spectacular ornamental blooms, both traits that would be highly praiseworthy in an intentionally placed plant. In the same manner, jacks attack topwater lures with the kind of vigor that's celebrated in other sport fish and their seemingly drab sides flash beautiful iridescent colors when they turn in the sunlight.

I suppose it doesn't really affect me whether folks consider something a wildflower or a weed. I'll just keep enjoying passion flowers when I see them, just as I'll continue to enjoy a catch even when I realize that what I thought was a bull redfish actually is a jack crevalle.