# Okaloosa Island 11-12



## OfcRob (Sep 12, 2013)

started slow, only 1 PITA catfish, around 830 i could see water boiling down the beach and heading our way, got our lines out for something big. we both had 9/0 circle hooks with 75lb cable with 80lb mono leader tied to our 30lb mono main lines, Jim's was a Penn 7500ss mine was my Spinfisher V 9500.
Both took off along with his pompano rig that was out as well, his 7500 ran for about 20 yards then went slack, at the same time my 9500 took off, off about 20 yards, then i grabbed it and cranked down the drag, it was steadly taking line off, i walked it down the beach for about 100 yards, slowed it down finally and started gaining back some line, then mine went slack. As i was walking mine down jim grabbed his pompano rig and started walking his down the beach to slow it down. After about 15 minutes he landed 1. It was a huge school of jacks, chasing mullet with about 3 dozen dolphins mixed in as well.
32lb 45" long jack


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

damn. what i'd give for a couple of those.


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## OfcRob (Sep 12, 2013)

are they good shark bait, heard that they are very bloody and firm meat, from what i understand most people don't eat them


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

Nice catch! I'd love one of those


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

OfcRob said:


> are they good shark bait, heard that they are very bloody and firm meat, from what i understand most people don't eat them


 great shark bait. if your going to eat them you need to pop the gills and let them bleed out in the water (keeps them from clotting), then gut and throw on ice. they can be good. but they do make great bait. I seen a bunch in navarre this weekend. thinking of going out to look for any busting them target reds in the pass.

btw, if you kept it and don't want it ill gladly take it instead of throwing it out.


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

Keep it ofcrob and yak that bad boy out.


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## OfcRob (Sep 12, 2013)

i do have a big 20/0 mustad rig just sitting here....... with 3 ft of 420# cable and 12ft of 600lb mono, all ready to go, but don't think my reel would hold up to anything that would be big enough to gulp him up.. would need a 14/0 or a big 80w


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

OfcRob said:


> i do have a big 20/0 mustad rig just sitting here....... with 3 ft of 420# cable and 12ft of 600lb mono, all ready to go, but don't think my reel would hold up to anything that would be big enough to gulp him up.. would need a 14/0 or a big 80w



You'd be surprised. Give it a shot. You don't necessarily need a massive reel. A guy in cali recently landed a 9'6" great white on a 12/0. So it can be done.

If you only have the 9500 then I'd save it and wait.


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## OfcRob (Sep 12, 2013)

all i have is a 6/0 right now, looking for a deal on a 9/0 soon


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

OfcRob said:


> all i have is a 6/0 right now, looking for a deal on a 9/0 soon



Yeah I'm wanting one too. Hell if that was me and I had my yak and all shark rigs with me I'd probably take him out on my 6/0 lol. 

But If that was me and no yak i would definitely keep that for another day. Some good bait right there.


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## bamagator (Mar 31, 2009)

Those big Jacks can really pull your string!


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## tigershark (Oct 16, 2007)

awesome Jack! one of my favorite shark baits for sure congrats on the nice catch


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Justin618 said:


> You'd be surprised. Give it a shot. You don't necessarily need a massive reel. A guy in cali recently landed a 9'6" great white on a 12/0. So it can be done.
> 
> If you only have the 9500 then I'd save it and wait.


lol, great whites don't compare to the power of a bull, mako or tiger in size comparison. they land 9fters on 6/0's fishing for threshers all the time. 

make 3 baits out of that jack and run it out. you could even steak it out into 5-6 baits and run them out. lots of sand bars and the tigers are still around. I'd love to have half that thing on a balloon rig off the end of Navarre pier right now on my 80W.


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

lowprofile said:


> lol, great whites don't compare to the power of a bull, mako or tiger in size comparison. they land 9fters on 6/0's fishing for threshers all the time.
> 
> make 3 baits out of that jack and run it out. you could even steak it out into 5-6 baits and run them out. lots of sand bars and the tigers are still around. I'd love to have half that thing on a balloon rig off the end of Navarre pier right now on my 80W.


I would almost guarantee that great white fought harder then the 9 ft tigers that were caught here.

Can't really compare size when that gw weighed probably twice as much easily then the tigers caught around here. Still it's a tiger and impressive catch.


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Justin618 said:


> I would almost guarantee that great white fought harder then the 9 ft tigers that were caught here.
> 
> Can't really compare size when that gw weighed probably twice as much easily then the tigers caught around here. Still it's a tiger and impressive catch.


can't really say till you hooked one i guess. 

this dude whiped this one on what looks like a saltist 40 equivalent.


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

None of us Will probably ever beach a GW. It could happen though. I'm not doubting the power of a bull tiger etc. But it's hard to say that a 9 ft tiger fights harder then a 9 ft gw. But it's all oranges and apples. Really means nothing. I know the gw was caught on stingray too btw


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Justin618 said:


> None of us Will probably ever beach a GW. It could happen though. I'm not doubting the power of a bull tiger etc. But it's hard to say that a 9 ft tiger fights harder then a 9 ft gw. But it's all oranges and apples. Really means nothing. I know the gw was caught on stingray too btw


yes it was. in the GWS capitol of the world. just depends where your fishing. we won't get one here. but i socal its common and i'm sure you can get on on the east coast of FL. all the way up to the carolinas.


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

lowprofile said:


> yes it was. in the GWS capitol of the world. just depends where your fishing. we won't get one here. but i socal its common and i'm sure you can get on on the east coast of FL. all the way up to the carolinas.


A gw was caught on navarre pier I think in late 70s. Maybe 60s. I have to find it. Some big sharks have been caught on navarre pier. East coast does have them. I know one night one of the tags from sharkmen went off and it was one of their 16-18ft gw just off the coast near jville I think. Maybe a little south. But it was well within swimming range. They have a story on it somewhere. They had to call the local authorities. So it is possible. 

But you never know. Hawaii isn't known for gw and a big one popped up about 2 miles off shore while I was there


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

The GW in that vid doesn't look very big, so I wouldn't give him much attention for a power reference.

I know many sharks fight different at times with very little explanation as to why. The biggest Bull I ever fought personally was well over 9ft and we estimated her weight at 400lbs or so. I caught her on a Penn 4/0 with 50lb line and had her to the dock in less than 10 minutes. I've also had 150lb Bulls take over 30 minutes on the same tackle. 

That being said, I've never regarded a Bull Shark as a hard fighter but more of a "heavy" fighter. I have never caught a Great White nor seen one in the wild but I still can't come to think a 9ft Bull would pull harder than a GW of the same size. Tigers pull pretty good but I wouldn't imagine them fighting harder necessarily. Makos are pure crazy and even if they didn't fight hard (which they usually do) they would win hands down in the attitude department.

Sorry to the OP, not meaning to derail. Big Jacks in the surf are a ton of fun. Nice catch


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## tigershark (Oct 16, 2007)

Rob,
Do the jacks run through there a lot ? I have caught several on the east coast but never on the panhandle so I'm just curious. Very cool to see them there

My 2cents on the shark talk I ink I would prefer the 9ft Mako if given the choice


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## foreverfishing (Nov 30, 2012)

hey those guys who tag them hand line for them with 3 basketball size floats and it doesn't take very long at all.... 

the only jack I have ever caught would've been a good sized live bait for that one:blink:


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## Justin618 (Aug 18, 2013)

foreverfishing said:


> hey those guys who tag them hand line for them with 3 basketball size floats and it doesn't take very long at all....
> 
> the only jack I have ever caught would've been a good sized live bait for that one:blink:


I believe they are bigger than basketballs and those things will definitely tire out any shark


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## OfcRob (Sep 12, 2013)

tigershark, they run through during the mullet run, saw a school in the bay a couple of weeks ago, chasing mullet, no luck hooking up, i have seen them a few times between sept-nov mostly


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## tigershark (Oct 16, 2007)

thanks !


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## Surfishinfool (Nov 20, 2013)

*Jack*

I'm the guy who caught that jack. I actually broke off 1 on my Penn 7500 on a 10 ft rod baited with the head of a whiting, while ofcrob was fighting his down the beach, I then noticed my Shimano 3500B with 30 lb braid on a 7 ft rod had been pulled down and was headed out to sea, I waded out to grab it. Then as ofcrob stated, the fight was on.So out of the 3 jacks we hooked up within literally seconds of each other, we only landed 1. The reality is, this was my whiting rig and he was foul hooked by my 2/0 circle hooks in 2 places, go figure . I will never forget it. It was a great adrenaline rush. Also had a great fishing bud, ofcrob to share the experience and to take the action shots .


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