Monday - June 12th, 2006



Today wasn't the best of fishing days. Last night was a full moon - a bit of high pressure over us last night and this morning - but still - the Jetty Poll called - and we answered.

The water was beautiful and 77.6 - wind at 3-5 and variable - tide was strong incoming. We fished towards the end of the Jetty on the outside and then moved to the inside.

For some unknown reason - I went brain dead when buying bait this morning. We picked up the Shad, live and dead shrimp and I asked for some mullet too - but somehow didn't remember about the mullet until we launched. Not for sure it would have made a difference - but still - I like to have two different types of bait out at all times. On the last few trips we have been able to catch bait with not too much effort - but this time all we could catch on the shrimp (both live and dead) was hardheads.

So all we had on the big rods was shad and that didn't seem to do the trick today at all. We caught 5 or 6 Atlantic Sharpnose Shark up to about 4 foot.

We decided to move over to a spot on the rocks we have caught whiting, trout, croaker trying to catch some bait - so we cranked the engine - nothing. The battery was dead. Not good when you are at the end of the jetty. In the engine cowling there is an emergency pull-rope. Amazingly enough - it worked first crank and we were on our way.

At this point, we called it a day and headed in. A little past the Ferry Landing, something dark in the water caught my eye. We were flying in - so I throttled back and swung around - moved in closer to take a look. It was a huge school of Jacks!

I grabbed a poll - and why I chose the smallest poll with the lightest line is beyond me - but still. I threw a mirrorlure in front of the school and the fight was on! And I do mean fight!

We have caught many different types of fish - I love catching Bull Reds - Kings and Lings are really fun - Shark are always fun - Black Drum are like hauling Bowling Balls from the deep - but Jack Carevalle are right up there with the best fighting fish I enjoy catching. One day - I hope to add Tarpon to the list - I keep a line out at all time just in case!

The fight lasted 30-40 minutes - with a light rod - I was pretty much at his mercy. At the end of the fight - Dewey got the net out - and after 3 attempts at knocking the fish off (grin) - he finally netted the Jack. As we were lifting the fish into the boat - the lure came unbuttoned from the fish! It had been just barely hooked!

So when you look at the picture - and see the sweat - you will know the story!

We made a token search for the school of Jack's - but they were long gone - and I was pooped anyway.

The boats battery was 3 days short of lasting 2 years. We will be putting a new one in immediately!

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