Mangrove Jack are a snapper species that excite most veteran spearos. Adreno's Trevor Ketchion shares his tips on how to land a Jack when spearfishing.
Mangrove Jack love ledgy areas, areas with large cracks as well as shipwrecks as this allows them to hide and ambush their prey as it passes by. Bait fish are one of mangrove jacks favourite prey, and so finding bait fish is a good indicator of where you might find a jack. If schools of baitfish are positioned near crevices or caves, the mangrove jack will wait within the caves for a chance at a meal.
To land one of these fish it’s important to know where to be shooting them. Shooting at a soft spot at the top of the skull or aiming behind the eye and above the top of the fin will allow you to shoot through the spine and stone the mangrove jack. But beware, they don’t fight clean and will immediately retreat to a hole or crevice making it difficult for you to retrieve them.
With larger jacks, they tend not to school up and like to camouflage themselves in schools of other larger fish, so always be mindful to keep an eye out for them in schools of fish you might otherwise ignore. They are very active early and late during the day and become active before storms closer to the surface where you might not usually find them, so you’re more likely to run across them around then.
Small jack like to school up. When working with a dive buddy/s, the best way to get more than one of the mangrove jacks is to spear one and remain close to the school as they will tend to stick around the injured fish. Whilst they do this, your buddy can spear another fish. Once you bring them to the surface, its more than likely the school will relocate.
Thanks to Trevor Ketchion for sharing his knowledge and experience. Trevor Ketchion’s Facebook page:
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