Catching jacks at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, 12-4-13

Wanted to try some salt water fishing yesterday.  Weather and tide looked good for Jonathan Dickinson State Park.  I had had a bit of luck there a few weeks ago, so that's where I went.

Arrived at the boat ramp around 10:30, just a few minutes after high tide.  The end of the dock next to the ramp was actually submerged - that's how high the tide was.  I started out pedaling around mangrove shorelines just downstream of the launch.  I was throwing a gold spoon since the sun was strong and would really make that lure flash in the murky water.  The tide stayed slack for about an hour or so after I put in.  I wasn't seeing much mullet action on the surface and nothing was interested in my glittering spoon below it.  Around noon the tide began to move out a bit.  I came to an area where a lot of fish were swirling on the surface.  They were probably mullet or some other kind of bait fish but I thought maybe some predators would be lurking beneath them.  I threw the spoon many times through the swirls without a strike - enough to know nothing was interested in it.  I snipped off the spoon and tied on a Mirrodine crankbait, which had caught some jacks the last time I fished that area. That didn't work either.

The outgoing tide picked up and I pedaled upstream against it, toward the boat ramp.  I was trolling the Mirrodine more than casting it.  I knew that pedaling upstream against the tide would give it plenty of movement.   I hooked my first jack not far from a sign in the water that announces to boaters that they are entering JD Park and a no-wake zone.  This jack was about a pound or two.  I caught a second one a few minutes later that was about twice the size of the first one.  Those jacks are strong!  The second one nearly bent the end of my rod beneath my kayak.  Pretty soon I had a third and then a fourth.  At that point I switched to a fly rod to see if I could entice a strike on that.  I started out with a Deceiver pattern.  After about twenty minutes I hadn't had a strike.  I switched over to a Clouser Minnow, which has a bit more weight and might sink down further than the Deceiver.  Sure enough, I hooked a jack that gave me all I could handle.  I took a video of that fish when I got it into the kayak, before releasing it.  I hooked another jack on the fly rod a few minutes later but it came off.

The outgoing tide slowed down a bit after three o'clock and so did the action.  I eventually switched back to spinning tackle.  I hooked one more jack on the Mirrodine, which was much smaller than the others.  It's finally sinking in to me that you need moving water to get action in salt water, especially in these tidal estuaries.  The tide flowing in or out must move the baitfish, which in turn whets the appetite of predator fish.

By four o'clock I could see that the action was over for a while, so I got my kayak back on the trailer and headed home.

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Hope to see you out on the water