queensland Another Jackless Weekend

[heidii]

Well yet ANOTHER jackless weekend for me. I went out fishing friday and saturday night with live bait and no bites, however went out last night as the sun was going down and the rain was setting in and got a bite after about 2 hours on live baiting. Whatever this fish was, it was huge and im guessing it was a jack but OF CORSE i couldnt land it! I could bearly hold the rod..all my partner could do was laugh as he saw me struggling trying to hold my rod let alone even try and wind it in! I kept saying to myself my next bite i will just try and skull drag it in but it was no hope for me! My leader ended up breaking of course, well actually i think my knot may have sliped because the whole leader was gone.

Can anyone recommended the best leader to use for jacks? One that is tough and holds knots well? ..or can I just tie my 25lb braid straight to my hook without leader? :dry:

[nadders]

maybe some 40lb flurocarbon, and as for knots, i've been using the slim beauty knot for braid --> leader and have found it to be reliable and strong:

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i wrap the braid up 11 times and down 10 but that may be overkill...but anyway my line usually breaks at the hook/lure which is convenient

bad luck about the bustoff but i guess thats why we love jacks so much

[bretto]

Bad luck about the jacks but when the water clarity gets a bit better around the coast you will find yourself getting more bites.

I fish really light for jacks with only 8-10lb leader and lose alot of lures when you get one it is worth it. i always use a bimini twist double in my braid and join leader to double with a tony jones knot. This is a knot I use for everything from bream to tarpon to big GT's and it never slips for me.

Hope this helps.

[Toby-MJ]

hey mate.

i fished for jacks on sunday along with 2 big flathead 73cm and 80cm i laned 1 jack but got busted off 3 times. i fish with a 8lb leader. Just take it nice and slow, unless in really tight struture

were did you go?

Good luck for next time.

[pinkey]

Tough luck, I've had the same troubles latly when chasing my first jack. Around brisbane i gave it a shot but only got cod ranging from 20cm - 43cm on Ecogear vt65's. I then tried up at noosa last week and Got busted off 3 times once on bream gear with 9lb momo and a sammy 65, second was with 20lb castaway pe and 17lb fluro and a dead fresh silver biddy and then i uprgraded to 40lb leader and landed a 40cm cod then got busted off by an unstoppable (for me) jack on a fresh winter whiting. Got the heart pumping for sure. I reckon you could say using bait is more of a chalange to land the fish than lures, unlike lures where you are concentrating and working the lure and already retreiving with bait you are waiting waiting. nothing nothing nothing BANG you strike up hard but its already all over..

[Toby-MJ]

hey mate.

yeah bad luck aye..there are some big fish up there.

were abouts did you fish?..were was the bust off??

[pinkey]

canals mate, from 11pm - 1:30am