Fishing at John D. Macarthur Park, 1-13-14

I've been reading reports of big jacks being caught at John D. Macarthur recently.  I've fished there many times in the past, though not recently.  I haven't caught too much there and the tides can be a bit of a problem.  The kayak put-in is on a lagoon within the park and at low tide all the water in the lagoon drains out, leaving nothing but muck that would be tough to walk through, much less drag a kayak over.   If you're out on the water as the tide is falling, you'd better get back in before you're faced with a trek over mud.  If you're justing staring out, you need to wait until low tide has passed and fresh water is coming in to help you exit the lagoon and get out onto the portion of the Intracoastal Waterway that runs past the park.

That was my plan yesterday.  Low tide was at 12:30, so I arrived at 2 p.m.  The tide was indeed coming in by that point but the water depth in the lagoon was still only around 12-15 inches.  We're at a stage in the lunar cycle where tides tend to be on the extreme side.  And so it was taking quite a while for the lagoon to fill back up, after being drained dry during low tide.  It was a bit of a struggle to get out of the lagoon, as the Mirage Drive on my kayak needs around 18 inches of depth to work properly. I ended up having to do quite a bit of paddling instead of pedaling.  My kayak can be paddled but it's really designed to work best by pedaling the Mirage Drive.

A month or so ago, when I was fishing at Jonathan Dickinson Park in Jupiter,  I was having decent success using spinning tackle and a type of lure called a Mirrodine.   That's what I started out with yesterday and because I got action with the Mirrodine immediately, I stayed with it through the afternoon.  I had a couple strong hits within five minutes of pushing off from the put-in, then pulled a small ladyfish up close to the boat, before it shook itself free.

The wind was coming up pretty strong from the south, which was the direction I was heading in order to pass under the A1A highway bridge and get out to where I thought there'd be deeper water, between the bridge and Munyon Island.  Between having to paddle because of the shallow water and the wind, it was a bit of a struggle to reach the bridge.  Once beyond it, I discovered that I still only had a foot of water in many spots.  I pulled the Mirage Drive out of its slot and allowed the wind to push the kayak across the flat, over towards Munyon.

As I approached Munyon, I got a bit of lee from the wind, and eventually found some deeper water.  I had a strike on the Mirrodine in that deeper water and hooked a nice jack.  Formally known as "Jack Crevalle," these fish aren't much respected in south Florida, probably because they're so common.  But pound for pound they are the strongest fish I've ever caught.  A five pound jack would easily win a tug-of-war with a five pound largemouth bass.

I continued on south along Munyon, headed toward a pass between Munyon and another island, known as "Little" Munyon, where I could see that the incoming tide was pouring through.  I saw lots of mullet toward the south end of Munyon and what appeared to be a large jack busting through a school of these jacks.  I threw my lure in amongst the commotion numerous times but nothing chased it.  I had thought I might want to go through that passageway between Munyon and Little Munyon and fish the flat to the south of both islands.  But between the tide surging through there and the strong south wind I would have to fight against, I decided to forego that idea.  By then it was already three o'clock or so and I needed to be back at the put-in by five o'clock, in order to exit the Park before they closed the gates for the night.

So I turned around and headed slowly back the way I had come.  Near the north end of Munyon I caught a small mangrove snapper.  A little while later I caught a puffer fish in one of the small bays along the A1A embankment.   Finally there was plenty of water for me to pedal through.

I was pulling the kayak out of the water at the put-in around five o'clock.  All in all, I caught four fish in about three hours, including that nice jack.  Not bad for mid-January.

Here's a link to the video I shot:   http://youtu.be/xgwT8v9OS3s