Whilst you will often find a number of Mangrove Jack in one area they are very territorial and each will have it’s own station or beat with the bigger fish having the best of the snags, holes in rock bars or other types of habitat.
For a long time I associated catching Mangrove Jack with fishing deep into structure particularly on either side of high tides. Over time I have found that whilst that is right for non tidal water for water that is subject to the influence of tides that is completely wrong. The reason for this is that Jacks prefer permanent habitats that they don’t have to leave as tides drop so in tidal waters it’s a much more productive fly fishing option to target snags, rock bars and other structure that are always, by in large, covered with water.
Interestingly regardless of if the fishery is tidal or above tidal influences fishing for Jacks either side of the low tide time seems to produce the best results.
Jacks are most prolific in the middle of summer but of course you can catch Jacks from as early as October right through well into May if your lucky. Whilst Jacks can tolerate a reasonable range of water temperatures they are most active at water temperatures above 23 degrees.
Hot Spots.
- On falling tides or either side of a fallking tide around any permanent structure that is below the influence of tides.
- Above the influence of tides any structure that provides a hide for fish.
Best times.
- Whilst active during the day the best fishing for Mangrove Jacks can be had at night and to an hour or so before dusk and after dawn.
- Jacks are also very sensitive to weather conditions and generally fire up if there are storms and inclement weather around.
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Techniques.
Jacks feed at a range of depths partially depending on the type of structure they stalk their prey from. The other variables that determine the depth they feed at include weather conditions, wind, clarity of the water and time of day.Accordingly I carry three different fly lines so that I can fish at a range of depths and at a range of speeds.
Intermediate fly lines are a very good option for Jack fishing and, unless I have a reason to believe that jacks will take a floating fly, it’s my intermediate line that I generally start with when targeting Jacks. With my intermediate line and a few changes of flies and by counting the line down to various depths I can quite quickly cover a range of fishing depths and get a better idea of at what depth fish are holding at.
If because of that process, visibly rising fish or reliable reports your suggest that Jacks are feeding at or close to the surface I always swap to a floating line. Hopefully they will fall for a floating fly and if that’s the case not only will you be in the best position to enjoy some absolutely mind blowing visual strikes but also surface strikes put your prey further away from the the structure where they normally sit and ambush their prey.
The third type of line that I use is a T14 shooting head.
and With that line I can fish basically from subsurface to around a meter deep quite efficiently without sacrificing the tsub surface flies and siMy default line when I am fishing for Jacks is my intermediate line preference of course is to fish for jacks using a floating line and hidy holes in various forms of structure and consequently a better chance of My preference is to either carry two rods with one set up for dry fly fishing and the second set up for wet fly fishing or to at least have the two lines with me so that I can change over if and when required. In either case my leader set up is the same.
When I target jacks on fly I use two basic outfits, surface and sub surface. The fly gear you will require varies for both methods of fishing so for this reason I usually have two outfits onboard to cover both bases although one is set up with interchangeable lines and a variety of buoyant and sinking flies will also suffice.
Mangrove Jacks are target predictors and for the best results you have to keep your fly in their zone for as long as possible. Thre are two basic set ups that work really well on Mr preferred line for jacks is generally a full floating line.
If you decide to cross over to the dark side or you want a soft plastic to style a fly against then a Z-Man 4” swimmer i sexy lady and bloodworm colour or the 4″ curl tailZ in New penny are good starting point.
| photo | photo | photo |
Food source
Being ambush predators it is not surprising that a large part of Mangrove Jack diet is made up of prawns, shrimps, yabbies, crabs and small fish and is supplement by drowned terrestrials in summer.
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