Saltwater Experience Tackle Zone - Season 16 - Episode 9: Jack Attack

And now for something completely different. The best saltwater fishing shows online and on cable show you a full range of angling opportunity. Although many Saltwater Experience episodes feature famous Florida gamefish like snook, redfish and seatrout, this particular Saltwater Experience fishing show focuses on a species that's often snubbed: the jack crevalle.

Offering mediocre table fare at best, the lowly jack is considered a trash fish by many anglers. But what it lacks in edibility it makes up in availability.

Ferocious Feeders and Fighters

These jacks travel through Florida's waters in big schools, ravaging through baitfish like living threshing machines. Many professional Florida guides consider them trip savers. When more glamorous species like tarpon, snook and bonefish aren't biting, jacks will almost always be willing to fill in, keeping guides' paying customers busy and happy reeling in these hard-fighting fish.

Inspired by Florida International University, which has initiated its first academic study of this under-rated species, the captains decide to target jacks. One of the study's initial findings is that the population of these overlooked fish have been declining.

Giant Jacks

The captains start their day cast-netting for live bait - in this case, pilchards. Once they start fishing, however, they soon learn bait is the least of their worries. Giant schools of big jacks are busting the surface everywhere, turning fleeing ballyhoo into mincemeat.

Capt. Rowland and Capt. Tudor bring in plenty of big jacks on surface lures and jigs, catching and releasing them one after another. For even more fun, they substitute hookless plugs. Swarms of jacks chase these skipping surface lures from all angles, knocking them out of the water just like a largemouth bass coming up from beneath a clump of lily pads to nail a Hula Popper or a big bluefish or striped bass tearing through a Striper Swiper.

Saltwater fishing TV shows like this show you can have fun with all kinds of fishing. If you need light-tackle spinning gear and lures to target jacks, Saltwater Experience outfitters like TackleDirect can assist. With more than 90,000 products in store, we can help ensure a successful day fishing for jack crevalle or just about any other species you can think of.