My Diary 

11/16/03

Jack Hammer

Had a great weekend, casting in Austin on the Saturday and playing with Jack on Sunday.

I got a late start due to fatigue.

As I arrived at the end of the black top, the water was a little off-color, and as normal I pointed south.  I did not see much action on the north end of the beach and could not see any Mullet, so I decided to pop into the Y at the 15 to secure some bait. As I got below the high banks and the water cleared, I realized I could have caught the bait in the surf.

It was south of the 30’s when the bird action picked up. They were working just over the first bar. At first I thought they were hitting the Mullet, but as I waded out to the gut, I could see they were working a small school of Anchovy.  I then heard Brenda shout the magic words, “Tarpon.”  They were busting the water and I started slinging at them. I was surprised to see a small Bonnet nose shark leap out of the water just in front of me. I thought it was strange as I had not seen that before. After a few seconds, I caught a glimpse of something to my left. It was a nice five-foot Bull, which answered the leaping Bonnet nose question.

It was heading my way, sliding on its belly in the shallow water. He did this for about 30 yards, then he got something, thrashed about and then slid back into the gut.

The Tarpon were now starting to move out.  I needed to get a longer rod and some heavier metal to sling at them. I never did get them to hook up with that 4 oz spoon, but it did give me a chance to practice the finish of my cast that had been lacking in Austin.

Heading deeper south I watched for the Pelicans working. I was mainly looking for Reds; I was slinging my 8ft Breakaway with live Mullet as the bait.  

I felt the pickup, and then the line started pealing off the reel. “If that’s a Red, it’s a big one,” I thought. As the line ripped from the reel I knew I was into Jacks.  Locked down and leaning back it was all or nothing.

Those Jacks can be hard to turn; trouble is, if you let them get over the next bar, you got some serious problems.

Finally I was able to land him, weighing it at 17.5lbs.  

I had a couple of good fights and the biggest one I landed was just over 20lb.

We still have a bit of weed making it hard to fish the long rods. I did hear that the weed cleared in the 50s. Driving was good due to the low water. It’s all still happening. If the weather breaks, go for it. Regards Nickaway.

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