Jack Crevalle are lean, mean, eating machines, and they love to chomp on fast-moving lures. Jacks are schooling fish themselves, and will often surround a school of baitfish into a tight corner before attacking, where they each take turns to rush in and gulp in a few fish. This results in fish “busting” at the surface of the water, and can be seen both offshore and inshore.
Lures for Catching Jack Crevalle
Some of the favorite prey of Jack Crevalle are the shiny baitfishes like Spanish sardines, scaled sardines, striped and white mullet, and many others. A variety of lures out there mimic these shiny little fish, including spoons, hard plastics, and soft plastics, all of which work great for catching jacks under almost all circumstances.
Spoons for Jack Crevalle
Spoons are probably the top lure for catching Jack Crevalle. These jacks love to eat fast-moving prey, and spoons are able to be cast far distances so that you can retrieve them quite fast, which will always catch the eye of a nearby jack. Spoons can be cast in the surf, along seawalls, over seagrass, within channels, over shallow reef, and just about anywhere else you would expect a jack to be. They are also great for casting just outside of schools of bait like mullet or sardines.
Spoons like the one shown here work great for Jack Crevalle. Choose a silver color to mimic sardines or mullet for the best action. Image taken from FishUSA.com.
Hard Plastics for Jack Crevalle
Hard plastic lures have some of the same advantages as spoons including a fast retrieval and a nice shiny coat. Further, hard plastics have the overall realistic patterns of some of the jack’s favorite meals, and work great for catching them. Almost any color will work, but make sure it has plenty of shine. Different styles of hard plastics range from surface, midwater, and deep-diving plugs depending on where you’re fishing.
Hard plastics are great lures for catching Jack Crevalle because of their realistic patterns and nice shiny coat. Several options are available from topwater to deep-diving lures like the one shown here. Image taken from www.Rapala.com.
Soft Plastics for Jack Crevalle
Soft plastics can also do a great job at mimicking small baitfish, although they are not nearly as shiny as a good silver spoon or hard plastic lure. Nonetheless, Jack Crevalle are not hard to get to bite, and some of these soft plastics can look very realistic in look and texture. Cast soft plastics near good structures inshore, and retrieve fast – that will catch a jack’s eye.
The soft plastics from DOA shown here are already weighted, and are able to be cast far and retrieved fast – a perfect lure for catching big jacks. Image taken from www.DOALures.com.
Saltwater Flies for Jack Crevalle
The Jack Crevalle is an excellent species to target on fly, because they are aggressive enough to bite flies readily, and are a blast to fight on a fly reel. Pound for pound, even the small juvenile jacks inshore put up a great fight. Small streamer flies mimicking baitfish are the best option, and are widely available from fly shops if you don’t tie yourself. Cast the flies first thing in the morning along the edges of the shoreline, or over shallow grassy or clear areas later in the day for consistent action. Flies also work great when cast into schools of bait getting busted by jacks and retrieving it fast away.
Small streamer flies like the one shown here in a light color work excellent for catching small jacks in shallow water. Image taken from www.Orvis.com.
A General Statement About Jack Crevalle Lures
There aren’t many species out there that hit a lure faster than a Jack Crevalle. These fish are excellent game fish when you need to bend a rod, and will really hit any lure that resembles a fish and has a good shine to it. A variety of lures will work, so switch them out if the fish stop biting, and just catch some fish and have fun.
All credit for this awesome list goes to The Online Fisherman.
