Corpusfishing.com

[chap_cat]

My buddy Red and I started the morning at Packery N jetty casting Spooks, Johnson Sprite silver spoons, and Mirrolures. While there one of Red's buddies who happened to be there landed one nice trout, and he hooked a big jack crevalle on a Mirrolure, fought him for a long time before it finally threw the hook. Nothing much else was being caught, so we went to the Fish Pass N jetty to try there.

The wind was moderate, and the breakers approx 2-3 feet, water green and clear to the beach, with tide very high. The trout bite was on today, and several folks got limits while there, including Red. The trout seemed to prefer shrimp tail jigs, and they all seemed to be averaging about 16 to 20 inches. If the wind will just stay down, and the rain not be a big issue, it just might be a good day tomorrow for the holiday crowd in the Mustang Island surf.

Using a Johnson Sprite, I hooked and fought this Jack Crevalle:

Jack Crevalle 22May15 Fish Pass Jetty by Tim Leinweber, on Flickr

I hooked him in very shallow water not far from the beach, and he immediately took off for deep water, getting into another fellows line. I thought I would lose him, but we got untangled and I had to chase him all the way around the end of the jetty. I fought him for about half an hour on my 5500C before I finally landed him. I was so doggone tired I went back to the car for a nap!!!

That was my first Jack of a decent size, and it was by far the most powerful fish I have caught pound for pound. If you are the fellow that helped me by netting this fish and read this, many thanks. It made my day to catch him.

[Tyler]

Thanks for the report and those jacks sure can fight!
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[Quick Karl]

I lived in Hawaii for a number of years and I've said it a hundred times - Jacks put up a better fight than anything I ever caught! If they grew as large as Marlin it would be impossible to ever land one.

Now I've heard they aren't very good to eat here abouts, but the Jacks I caught and ate in Hawaii were fantastic, and looking at your photo is making me hungry!

[chap_cat]

[landlocked beachbum]

All jack species put on a way better than average fight for their size. As to eating, some are great like Pomps, AJ and Almaco, and I haven't tried the rest. Considering the fact that AJ's were considered trash fish until not too far back (and still are by some or in some places), who knows. They are one of my absolute faborite table fish!!!

By the way, nice looking water! Thanks for the report.
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Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[mickeyd]

The folks in the Florida Keys think they are the cat's meow! Some target them rather than others.....just for the table fare.
Don't know about those parrot heads!
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Mike

[Quick Karl]

Well I had to do a little Jack research...

It turns out that the Jacks I used to catch in Hawaii are a little different than the Crevalle Jack native to Texas waters...

In Hawaii I caught beaucoup "Papio" (the Hawaiian name for the fish in question) -- averaged around 5-lbs but the first one I ever caught was a 12-lb fish that nearly spooled my Penn 430SS with 200-yards of 6-lb Maxima, twice.

The "locals" who were making fun of the stupid "Haole" with the silly little spinning rod (they fish with heavy stuff over there), watched with their jaws agape when my rod was bent in half and all I could do was hang on and watch line peel off, but when I finally landed it (one local guy even did the honor of stepping into the water to grab it for me, lest I lose the beautiful thing), I had a new bunch of friends right there and then!

They ALL went out and bought The exact Rebel Pop'R I used to catch the beast.

Anyways, the Bluefun Trevally (Caranx melampygus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluefin_trevally - an excellent food fish) that I caught is not the same as the Crevalle Jacks caught in Texas, and the flesh of the Crevalle Jack is much different so far as I could tell from what I've been able to read.

Nevertheless, no other fish I've ever had on a line is as plain brutal as a Jack, so I'll be fishing for them here.

Someday I'll tell y'all about the "submarine" I hooked off the tip of the west jetty at Kahalui Harbor on Maui, that completely spooled my "larger" Penn 450SS... It had to be a submarine because it just took off heading out to sea and never even slowed down once - took all of my line.

[Stinger-A]

Quick Karl, i remember the "Papio" well. I grew up and attended Pearl Harbor Elemetary and fished Hickem pier until moving back to Texas. Papio was a prize catch, wish I could have hooked into one of those while fishing but never did. Caught a lot of them in a cast net but never an adult. We use to reel the long lines in as fast as possible when the subs and battle ships came into dock. The good ol'days were awesome! I type this while I'm in Jacksonville Florida with no fishing poles.
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Stinger-A

[Quick Karl]

[chap_cat]

I have been researching how people prepare these Jack Crevalle to eat, as they are consumed regularly in S Florida and in the Caribbean islands. Next time I catch one, I am going to fillet that sucker and find out for myself as an experiment. I reckon I will be catching more soon as I will be surf fishing a lot over the summer. They say they should be bled and immediately put on ice right after catching them. When filleting them, it helps to cut off the red flesh like found on Redfish. I am just going to broil it, and season with lemon pepper and I will post the results.

There are several videos on YouTube that show how to prepare it. Here is a video of a dude that gave a review after preparing and eating it for the first time:
https://youtu.be/KG6CBKB3kiM

[Central Scrutinizer]

[Quick Karl]

[Quick Karl]

[Quick Karl]

WOW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZrCxMUvlaM