Had two great trips with Capt Steven Page on Saturday evening and Sunday morning for Jacks in Calibogue. We took Ryan " the junkyard King" Martin from Aiken. He caught 4 large Jacks around 30- to 35 pounds. “Them their fish sure put on a fight I mean to tell ya! Lot more pulling than them 1/2 lb crappie back home in the farm pond on a #2 cane pole and plastic bobber fishing with Bubba” exclaimed Ryan after he landed his first fish on braid.
This fish looks like he had a run in with a toothy critter some time back.
Highlight of the two trips , other than Aiken boy’s heavy accent , was a shark leaping through a bait pod just as were casting on same. We thought we had hooked the shark, but he was feeding right with the jacks. The fish we hooked was a nice jack. Shark shows up around 1 minute in video( sorry for not editing- forgot how:frowning_face:)
Thanks for posting that video!!! Great to learn from.
The last 2 weeks, I have gotten on schools of jacks. I probably pulled a big Yozuri Popper (apparently “everyone’s” choice) through and in front of the school 20-30 times, without a bite.
I noticed in this video the technique of a huge, long “pop” followed by quickly reeling up the slack and then repeating until out of the school.
Is this how you all like to do it? Do you have a second choice if they won’t take it? I next tried live menhaden on a a big popping cork out in front of them, but they ignored that too. Eventually I lost them in all the boat wakes and chop as the morning progressed.
Any suggestions?
Since he was hooked up I would say he got it just right.
Poppers chug and make more noise through the water with a low tip. Raise the tip and they tend to skip more. Most of my top water hits come from getting the retrieve speed correct. Sometimes it has to be as fast as you can reel and other times just chugging along. If you raise the tip and reel lke crazy then a popper tends to just skip on the water surface.
Once hooked, it is more effective to fight and turn a fish with a low rod tip. I believe it was Lefty Kreh that dubbed the term down and dirty. This came from fly fishing for tarpon.
With a low tip you want to pull straight back on the fishes head. This gets the line down the side of the fish and wears them out quicker. Most times this will be done with a low tip and a side pull against the pressure of the fish. You can also turn the fish at will once you figure it out how to get the angle right on a fish. This comes in handy when you are trying to get a big fish to avoid obstacles like motors and dock pilings.
You should try it. You will be amazed. It works well with reds too.
Thanks for posting that video!!! Great to learn from.
The last 2 weeks, I have gotten on schools of jacks. I probably pulled a big Yozuri Popper (apparently “everyone’s” choice) through and in front of the school 20-30 times, without a bite.
I noticed in this video the technique of a huge, long “pop” followed by quickly reeling up the slack and then repeating until out of the school.
Is this how you all like to do it? Do you have a second choice if they won’t take it? I next tried live menhaden on a a big popping cork out in front of them, but they ignored that too. Eventually I lost them in all the boat wakes and chop as the morning progressed.
Any suggestions?
The thing that made these fish eat the popper was they were feeding. That shark was in the frenzy too. This is when it is on and the fishing is good. Right place right time… Stay after them and your day will come.
Hey thanks Corks, I am glad I chimed in on this thread. I have never heard that technique before.
I don’t fish around Hilton Head and Calibogue Sound. I live in Beaufort.
Does anyone know do Jacks frequent St. Helena Sound? Seems like all the action I hear on this board about Jacks is from Calibogue Sound. I will fish Port Royal Sound but prefer the St. Helena side.
I grew up on HHI but fish out of Beaufort too now. I have not seen jacks in PR like Calibogue but I am sure they are around. I have not really been hunting them either. They are found all the way from the May River around South Beach and run the HHI beach front.
From Beaufort, I would look on the flat in front of the Hotel Intercontinental (the northern heel of HHI). There is always a ton of bait there and I would be surprised if they were not schooling there. Look anywhere from 100 yards from the beach out.
I would imagine the Hunting Island beach front would produce too. It was loaded with bait and fish crashing the menhaden a couple of weekends ago when I was paddling there (but no rod on the yak). Looked like a good place to have some fun and avoid the crowds.
Pick a calm morning and go look for them at sunrise. It is cool to see menhaden schools getting crushed at first light by all kinds of critters. You wont forget that sight when it is on.
September/October is amazing during the mullet run too. They are literally chasing schools of mullet so it is nearly impossible to sight cast for them then. They are moving too quickly to run and gun for them. But, slow troll a couple of live mullet and it is on… Use a king rig because they will bite through mono.
Saluda, the lure I like the best looks somehwat like a menhaden and is made by Shimano . It is called a Waxwing 118 Jr. However, we have used many similar lures and various topwater lures with good success, As to your lack of success with the fish hitting the lure, do not get discouraged. We hooked about 9-10 fish and landed 4 during two trips, but we casted to many other schools with no hits… We also had a running debate on the speed of retireve ( I favor a slower speed) and where to cast (ie. in front of lead fish or in middle of pack). I can not tell you we reached a consensus on these issues. Keep at it and you will get hits.
One thing I did conclude is that Capt Stevo needs to work on his knots… We probaby lost 4 lures on hooked fish with bad knots and one lure went flying off when it was casted ( yes, that was surely a pretty poor excuse for a knot). We are Fishing with braid and the drag set very tight to not let the fish fight himself to death, so there is a lot of pressure on the knots- much more so than usual ( yes, I agree, Capt Stevo’s knot should at least withstand the casting phase !)
I was on Hunting Island near mid-island for a week in July and saw plent of menhaden but no Jacks. Also fished FrippI nlet once with not much going on. However, was not there at best timesof dayl, They definitely should-be in Port Royal, and in St, Helena, Go Early in the morning or late in evening ( between 7 pmto 8:30).Obviously the calmer the better… Finally if school spooks, just sit tight with engine off and see where they pop back up. Usualy they do not go far . Good Luck and Tight Lines to ya!
ps. If a boat is on a school, stay back until they hook up and then you can move in and cast.
Dang thanks ya’ll!! I would love to find them out of Fripp Inlet and in front of Hunting Island. I put in at Russ Point and fish out that way often. RP…are you by chance related to Allen? I surf with him at Hunting as well. I know he has a family house on the island.
I am about to soak my carbs and hopefully get them back on Thursday. My first mission was to head back out to the reefs there. If its calm enough in one a.m. maybe I’ll hunt around through that slough at the south end of Hunting and troll north looking.
Gotta hunt down one of those lures first!
Oh BTW, do you catch and release them or are they good eating?
Yes, Allen, Steve and Merritt are my brothers, I had to move to HHI and help pay all of the taxes for you Beaufortians so the County was able to build the 25++ boat landings on that side of the river! On HHI we have 1 useable landing for 40,000+ people. That makes sense
Everyone over here releases the Jacks- not really good to eat.
Yes, Allen, Steve and Merritt are my brothers, I had to move to HHI and help pay all of the taxes for you Beaufortians so the County was able to build the 25++ boat landings on that side of the river! On HHI we have 1 useable landing for 40,000+ people. That makes sense
Everyone over here releases the Jacks- not really good to eat.
Good luck at Fripp Inlet.
Miss Libby 2
26’ World Cat
Beaufort is like HH used to be 30 years ago or Bluffton 20 years ago. Dang I’m getting old.
Thanks for the Waxwing tip. I’ll be keeping one on the boat. I thought those were for jigging.
Yes, Allen, Steve and Merritt are my brothers, I had to move to HHI and help pay all of the taxes for you Beaufortians so the County was able to build the 25++ boat landings on that side of the river! On HHI we have 1 useable landing for 40,000+ people. That makes sense
People in HHI don’t need ramps. They are so wealthy that they just keep their boats at the marina.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
