# Jacks and Triggers (long read)



## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

Ian (terpdoc), Matt, Mr. Mystery, and I went out early Tuesday morning in search of jacks and triggers with an option to deep drop if we had time. 

We stopped at the spot Ian and I caught big triggers the day before, but only managed to start a juvie snapper feeding frenzy. After throwing back probably close to 50 of those and only managing one 14.5" trigger we decided to go try for jacks.

We get to the spot and Matt drops down cut squid in hope for a nice live bait for a big jack. Matt hooks up with what we thought was a decent sized snapper, but brings up a 7-8 pound trigger. That definitely got our whistles wet, so each drift we would send down a couple chicken rigs with cut squid in hopes of more triggers and we would jig after we drift off of the spot. We would typically pick off one keeper trigger each drift. We also would have earned a limit of nice snapper had they been in season. Our mystery man also managed to boat three very nice unicorn file fish. All on tiny pieces of cut squid.

Meanwhile, Ian sticks a nice jack on his Saltist 40/Tallus combo and after maybe a 10 minute battle, we gaff our first jack. At this point I start jigging my ass off only to come up with a short 32" jack. 

So, we have seven triggers in the box, right. Ian, the jig master to this point, sticks another jack. We get it to the boat and it measures (from my point of view) exactly 34", but there wasn't a consensus so it went back to grow. Better safe than sorry. I start jigging again and get my jig cut by something toothy.

So I put on the meat loaf... It's about to go down.

First drop of the meat loaf. Hits bottom. jig. jig. jig. jig. BOOM!!!!!!!!!!! My brand new TwinPower reel starts screaming. After maybe a 10 minute tug-of-war, Matt gets a perfect gaff shot on a very nice jack. Ends up weighing out at 46 pounds back at Ian's house. I had a great team for this one. Matt got the gaff and Ian maneuvered the boat with Mr. Mystery giving him directions. We probably wouldn't have moved the boat, but the jack pulled it wherever it wanted, so we took that out of the equation.

After this, we still need one trigger, so we regroup and start the drift. I hook up with what we all thought was yet another nice snapper, but also ends up being a 7-8 pound trigger. Limit met.

So, we have two nice jack, trigger limit and three file fish in the cooler. It's time to make a move. We had to decide between a couple more jacks or try some deep drop. We decided on the jacks solely based on the time factor.

We get to our spot and Matt and I drop jigs. Matt drops a beautiful Shimano Butterfly jig a few seconds before me. jig. jig. jig. BOOM!

Meanwhile, I drop the meatloaf. Hits bottom. jig. jig. jig. jig. BOOM! miss. jig. BOOM! miss. jig. BOOM! He's stuck.

Matt and I are both fighting jacks. Matt boats his and its just shy of the new regs.

A few minutes later, Matt gaffs another nice jack. My TwinPower is thoroughly broken in. haha

Matt decides he wants to try the TwinPower and drops the meat loaf. Hits bottom. jig. BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!! This fish is tugging HARD. We are all excited to have a limit of triggers and jacks. I get the gaff ready. We see color. It's brown and stubby. It's a very nice gag grouper. Womp. Womp. We take a few pics with it and try to bring life back into the fish, but we all cry as it floats away. Don't get me wrong, we all wanted to keep the fish, but we had to do what was legally right in the end.

I don't think any of us wanted to drop again after that. Watching the fish float away really to all of the wind out of our sails. 

Ended up being a great day on the water. Lots of fish to clean and great weather. More pics to come.


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## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

More pics to come.


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

Nice bunch of fish Looks like it was a a good day


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## terpdoc (Jan 8, 2012)

To dovetail on Will's report, some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Also not to mention Matt turned this fish (gag) and got it off the structure with the impressive reel. 
Also pictured is the pot roast 10 oz jig I used which was quite productive when dropped batting comparable to Will's meatloaf jig which I do not have a picture of (~8oz?). Tight lines all. Great job Mr Batwing, Will, and Matt.

































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## terpdoc (Jan 8, 2012)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jcasey (Oct 12, 2007)

Boom! Nice job !


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

How far did y'all go. 
34 at the fork will have some distance to the ride to consistently get to the legal 34 at the fork.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Damn. All these years of fishing and now I've seen unicorn filefish -- 5 in 3 weeks!


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## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

hjorgan said:


> Damn. All these years of fishing and now I've seen unicorn filefish -- 5 in 3 weeks!


They're very good tasting fish! Better keep them if you catch one!


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## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

Chapman5011 said:


> How far did y'all go.
> 34 at the fork will have some distance to the ride to consistently get to the legal 34 at the fork.


We really weren't too far out. Maybe 20 miles or so from the pass.


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## NoleAnimal (Apr 3, 2014)

Dude! Way to kill it! Making me jealous.


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## Reel Sick (May 4, 2009)

Some nice donkeys there. Way to get on them guys I'm way past due for a trip.


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## LIM-IT-OUT (Aug 26, 2014)

Dude Yall Killed it!!!!


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## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

NoleAnimal said:


> Dude! Way to kill it! Making me jealous.


Let me know when you want to take you Robalo out. We'll put a good hurting on them for sure. I've been wanting to check that thing out bro.


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## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

Thanks for the love fellas!


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## bcahn (Jan 10, 2013)

Man, great box of meat!


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