# Jack Crevalle



## CaptGary1 (Aug 30, 2020)

When are the big Jacks around? Will be down on Jekyll Island last week of October and would like to have a shot if they are still around.
Any information would be appreciated.


----------



## BriarPatch99 (Sep 5, 2020)

Have caught them at that time of year.....


----------



## Mr Bya Lungshot (Sep 5, 2020)

Why in the world would you want to catch that fish?


----------



## Mexican Squealer (Sep 6, 2020)

Some big jacks cruising around the pier area still. Easy to spot at first light when the water is calm. Anyone wondering why anyone would want to catch a 15-25 pound jack either hasn’t or just fishes for meat (probably doesn’t understand why anyone would want to catch a tarpon either).  Got a couple of friends who have been catching them on Flies within the past few days...better hold on.


----------



## dtala (Sep 6, 2020)

I used to fish the mouth of the St Lucie River at Stuart Fl.  BIG Jacks, 20-35 pounds, would daisy chin just off the jetty on the south side. We would ease up and throw a big popper on a 11 weight fly rod into them. The whole circle would implode on the fly. Great fight and fun.


----------



## notnksnemor (Sep 6, 2020)

Ditto on the fun to catch:


----------



## pottydoc (Sep 6, 2020)

I grew up in Palm Beach County. We caught tons of them small to as big as they get ones the years. We used to take a 1” dowel about 6” long, drill a hole through the middle of it, tie a feed a 3’ or so 50’ leader through it then add a 1/2 oz. or so worm weight in front. We would take the old Mako up close to the sea wall in downtown WPB early in the morning and toss them into schools of jacks crushing bait against the sea wall. One of our favorite spots was next to Chapel by the Lake. Many times we had more folks there for early service watching us, than the preacher did listening to him.  I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t enjoy catching jacks. Not so hot on the table, but one of the hardest fighting fish there s.


----------



## dtala (Sep 6, 2020)

I went fishing in Lake Bourne La. with a friend who had never fished saltwater. We were trying to find some big redfish and saw a few blowups a few hundred yards away. Buddy threw a big spoon on a Zebco One and hooked a 30+ pound Jack. It destroyed his reel. I hooked up and an hour later landed a 35pound jack. Buddy asked what it was, I told him it was a Jack Crevalle. He wanted to know if it was good to eat, I said no. We moved locations....dang Cajuns. Can't eat it then ain't fishing for it.

Never get one to fish for Tarpon.....


----------



## dutchie49 (Sep 7, 2020)

I Smoke them, very good if you brine them first.


----------



## Angel Eyes (Sep 7, 2020)

Any fish in the jack family is a reef donkey. Never understood the whole if you cannot eat it don’t fish for it. People like that don’t really like to fish just eat.


----------



## Mr Bya Lungshot (Sep 7, 2020)

I suppose your right. I’ve fought many a 30lb jack crevelle only to be disappointed it wasn’t a grouper to eat.
Same goes for amberjack.


----------



## Tugboat1 (Sep 7, 2020)

Jacks are a sporting tussle. I've eaten Jack prepared " sal fresca" and it was delicious. A freshly caught jack is filleted and generously salted then fried in coconut oil. Operative word is fresh.
Smoked Amberjack fish dip or grilled collar fine eating.
But then again, I love Asian fish cakes made from Ladyfish. Yall dont know what you're missing.


----------



## saltysenior (Sep 7, 2020)

nothing , pound for pound , fights harder than a Jack....nothing gives a better all around fight than a Ladyfish. Yet both are looked at as trash because of no food value . But folks spend big bucks to fish for Tarpon , Billfish , and Bonefish...


----------



## oops1 (Sep 7, 2020)

They don’t happen to taste like Amber Jack do they?


----------



## Para Bellum (Sep 7, 2020)

Catching fish is fun.  Period.  Catching them on the fly is awesome.  Eating Jack Crevalle is gross.  Eating Ladyfish makes me wanna hurl.  Jack Crevalle is Snapper and Grouper bait.


----------



## Juan De (Sep 7, 2020)

I’d love to have a few large jacks in the freezer, probably make good bait for a great white.


----------



## KyDawg (Sep 8, 2020)

I have actually ate some Jack that were not bad. Think the guy soaked them in lime juice and other stuff. I reckon you could make shoe leather good if you soaked it in something long enough.


----------



## LittleDrummerBoy (Sep 8, 2020)




----------



## dtala (Sep 8, 2020)

I didn't say ya couldn't eat them....but there are 3, 285 better tasting fish out there....

Buddy and I went down to Orange Beach Al to pick up his boat in October. We took it out for a quick fishing trip. As we ran down the first bar I let out a big spoon...bout half way out a 30+ pound Jack hammered it. Fought like a whale. As I let the line out again it got hammered same way. A 35 pound Jack I fought to the boat.

As I let line out for the third time it got hammered AGAIN. I put the reel in gear, in a rod holder and ran to the front of the boat. Buddy driving boat was yelling for me to get on it...I told him it was his turn and refused. LOL


----------



## bany (Sep 9, 2020)

I threw a big FRESH fillet on the fire with salt and pepper and I thought it was pretty dang good! 
I froze the other and when I cooked it, it was terrible.


----------



## oops1 (Sep 9, 2020)

bany said:


> I threw a big FRESH fillet on the fire with salt and pepper and I thought it was pretty dang good!
> I froze the other and when I cooked it, it was terrible.



That’s how I feel about king mackerel. Great fresh..frozen and then thawed..not so much


----------



## ghadarits (Sep 9, 2020)

I'm of the opinion that if it puts up a good fight I want to catch it. I love to catch fish that makes the drag scream trash fish or not!!


----------



## saltysenior (Sep 9, 2020)

lots of fish must be seasoned with alcohol.....


----------



## Ihunt (Sep 17, 2020)

I love catching fish that pull hard on the line. I’m perfectly content catching sharks all day behind the shrimp boats. Very seldom are “my” kind of fish not biting.


----------



## Fletch_W (Sep 21, 2020)

I don't know about Crevalles, but Amberjack is great eating in my opinion. Fresh, no bloodline, no skin, and blackened.  Then spritz of lemon juice. Then make a burger out of it with fresh lettuce, tomato, roumelade sauce. Basically a Po Boy on a big hamburger bun.  You won't spit it out.  Jerk seasoning is also very complimentary if you don't want blackened.


----------



## Rich M (Oct 3, 2020)

I don't care for jack crevalle but enjoy kingfish and amberjack.  

We vac pack kingfish for freezer and enjoy it when the weather is too rough for my little boat.  Baked, it is a great meal.  No issues after freezing either.  Not sure what it is that so many folks don't like about it.


----------



## benellisbe (Oct 15, 2020)

Sitting at Cheeca lodge in Islamorada right now. Have 70lbs of fish being flash frozen and freighter back to my house. Pound for pound, jack cravalle are a fantastic fighting fish. Yellow Jack are in the family and are excellent eating fish. We make tacos and other stuff with them. Black fin are running really good right now down here. Im not particularly a fan of tuna, but my wife and oldest enjoy it. A light weight rod and a 15lb cravalle are a blast for anyone, but especially for kids


----------



## smokiej (Jan 23, 2021)

Tugboat1 said:


> Jacks are a sporting tussle. I've eaten Jack prepared " sal fresca" and it was delicious. A freshly caught jack is filleted and generously salted then fried in coconut oil. Operative word is fresh.
> Smoked Amberjack fish dip or grilled collar fine eating.
> But then again, I love Asian fish cakes made from Ladyfish. Yall dont know what you're missing.


yup i have a buddy who made me some ladyfish cakes after i told him they are trash fish those things are good


----------



## Darkhorse (Jan 25, 2021)

A few years back my brother and I spent a week fishing at Sebastion inlet Florida. This was our first time there so we had to scout for a likely looking spot to fish. Finally found a spot a little west of the bridge where the shoreline made a little point protruding slightly into the river. I used live finger mullet I caught with a castnet, no weight, and a circle hook. We would cast them upcurrent and free line them down current.
It was a memorable day. For over 3 hours we caught a Jack Crevalle or Redfish nearly every cast. They were in the strong current and put up these long, strong fights. Some of them were in the 20 pound plus range and were almost impossible to wear down with the tackle we used.
I'd love to be in that situation again.
My rig that day was a Shimano Stradic 4000, (the older white one), a Shimano Teramar 7 1/2 foot Medium action rod and power pro 20 lb. braid. I tied 6 foot leaders of premium 50 # florocarbon directly to the braid and tied a circle hook to the leader with a loop knot.
 Talk about fun, this rig was really too light for some of the fish but I managed to land them all.
I don't eat Jacks but I love to catch them.


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Feb 1, 2021)

Mr Bya Lungshot said:


> Why in the world would you want to catch that fish?


Same reason people fish for Tarpon or Bonefish or spend tens of thousands of dollars to catch a GT (Giant Trevally is basically a Jack Crevalle on steroids) or bull reds, or sailfish, or marlin or any number of fish people target purely for the sport of it. They are down right fun to catch...and if you ever caught one on a fly rod, you would spend your life chasing them.


----------



## Mr Bya Lungshot (Feb 1, 2021)

redneck_billcollector said:


> Same reason people fish for Tarpon or Bonefish or spend tens of thousands of dollars to catch a GT (Giant Trevally is basically a Jack Crevalle on steroids) or bull reds, or sailfish, or marlin or any number of fish people target purely for the sport of it. They are down right fun to catch...and if you ever caught one on a fly rod, you would spend your life chasing them.


 RIGHHHHT!


----------



## Rich M (Feb 2, 2021)

oops1 said:


> They don’t happen to taste like Amber Jack do they?


No


----------



## lampern (Feb 5, 2021)

You don't eat crevalle jacks.

Pompanos and amberjacks can be quite tasty.

Crevalle jacks make great live bait if you catch a small one for sharks and goliath groupers.

Videos on youtube show people catching huge groupers on them.


----------



## Wifeshusband (Feb 8, 2021)

Ihunt said:


> I love catching fish that pull hard on the line. I’m perfectly content catching sharks all day behind the shrimp boats. Very seldom are “my” kind of fish not biting.



Although I like hard fighting fish, I  do not like catching sharks when I'm snapper & grouper fishing, and I like it even less when I pull up what was once a big, good eating fish with its body missing.


----------



## Buckstop (Feb 13, 2021)

Ate them once, back in the mid 80's on a surf trip to Limon, Costa Rica. Local tico surfer/fisherman Carlos invited us to a cook-out. Ended up being steaks of an about 30 lb Jack Crevalle, slow cooked in the biggest cast iron frying pan I've ever seen. Lotsa pepper, salt n lemon. Key was cooking it so slow that everybody had several Imperials downed and was about starved before serving it. Not ate it since. Just too many better species available.

The AJ, I like though. Shoulder meat fries, grills and smokes just fine. Almaco too.


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Mar 5, 2021)

Mr Bya Lungshot said:


> RIGHHHHT!


Most people do not eat these, and yet fortunes are spent by many to catch them.


----------



## Turkeytider (Mar 5, 2021)

Tugboat1 said:


> Jacks are a sporting tussle. I've eaten Jack prepared " sal fresca" and it was delicious. A freshly caught jack is filleted and generously salted then fried in coconut oil. Operative word is fresh.
> Smoked Amberjack fish dip or grilled collar fine eating.
> But then again, I love Asian fish cakes made from Ladyfish. Yall dont know what you're missing.


Had amberjack sandwiches in Panama City Beach. Delicious.


----------



## Mr Bya Lungshot (Mar 5, 2021)

redneck_billcollector said:


> Most people do not eat these, and yet fortunes are spent by many to catch them.  View attachment 1070173


I love marlin.


----------



## Uptonongood (Mar 5, 2021)

Try them on an 8wt fly rod for an hour and a half of brute force fun. I was going to break the thing off but the guide said he needed it for a family grill out that evening. A buddy of mine cooked some JC a year ago, it was darn good!


----------



## Darkhorse (Mar 6, 2021)

The wife and I fished King Mackeral tourneys and for pleasure off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts for over a decade. In that time we ate a lot of fish, including some just to try out some of which are mentioned in this thread.
Caught a lot of Amberjacks but I won't eat one. I was going to though, I had been told to cut out the shoulders as that was the best meat. Well I had cut out a couple of shoulders when I noticed these big white worms coming out of the meat. I will never eat Amberjack if I know what it is.
I never caught a Marlin but did boat a couple of sailfish. I've eaten sailfish fried, smoked and grilled. Dark meat. Not too bad but not the best that swims.
Ate tons of Kingfish fried and grilled, we like it. But a really large spanish mackeral beats Kings and has good white meat.
Wahoo has good white meat. Very good.
Cobia is the most underrated eating fish in the sea. Great tasting anyway you fix it.
Mahi Mahi fries up good and is good off the grill too.
We love some bottom fish too but don't have time to get into them.


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Mar 7, 2021)

Uptonongood said:


> View attachment 1070242Try them on an 8wt fly rod for an hour and a half of brute force fun. I was going to break the thing off but the guide said he needed it for a family grill out that evening. A buddy of mine cooked some JC a year ago, it was darn good!


I chase them with my fly rods. If I see the busting, I will quit whatever other fishing I am doing, to include hunting tarpon, to chase them....the only fish I won't stop fishing for for busting Jacks is bonefish and permit. I always have a 10wt in my skiff with a loud popper tied on so I can switch rods fast when they show up. I see you are in a panga in your photo, was that Mexico or Belize?   Biting at the bit to get down to Belize this year now that travel is allowed again.


----------



## Uptonongood (Mar 7, 2021)

redneck_billcollector said:


> I chase them with my fly rods. If I see the busting, I will quit whatever other fishing I am doing, to include hunting tarpon, to chase them....the only fish I won't stop fishing for for busting Jacks is bonefish and permit. I always have a 10wt in my skiff with a loud popper tied on so I can switch rods fast when they show up. I see you are in a panga in your photo, was that Mexico or Belize?   Biting at the bit to get down to Belize this year now that travel is allowed again.



I was in Belize, my third trip there.  Tons of bones, not the biggest fish but great fun. Saw a number of permit, had three shots at them, hooked up and landed one about 12 pounds. we couldn’t get to the big tarpon area so the guide got me into some mangrove lagoons were I finished my grand slam With a small tarpon. Haven’t been there in ten years so can’t give you recent info. I think it’s the safest, easiest place to go for the slam. We stayed at El Pescador so my wife had some activities. Other lodges that are strictly catering to fishing my be better options for permit and tarpon. Again, bonefish are a slam dunk if you can cast 50’.


----------



## redneck_billcollector (Mar 7, 2021)

Uptonongood said:


> I was in Belize, my third trip there.  Tons of bones, not the biggest fish but great fun. Saw a number of permit, had three shots at them, hooked up and landed one about 12 pounds. we couldn’t get to the big tarpon area so the guide got me into some mangrove lagoons were I finished my grand slam With a small tarpon. Haven’t been there in ten years so can’t give you recent info. I think it’s the safest, easiest place to go for the slam. We stayed at El Pescador so my wife had some activities. Other lodges that are strictly catering to fishing my be better options for permit and tarpon. Again, bonefish are a slam dunk if you can cast 50’.


Where are you going now for your fishing adventures since you haven't been to Belize lately?  I had a great shot at the slam last July in Islamorada, some huge permit,  could not get them to take, we found schoolie bonefish all over in the Everglades, which really shocked me, I always went out front for them, and large baby tarpon were everywhere...had I gotten a permit would have made the super slam, snook were all over the mangrove islands.


----------



## Uptonongood (Mar 7, 2021)

Haven’t picked up my long rod in a few years for a number of reasons, mostly physical. Had some surgeries, now I’m planning Scotland and Belize. Been a tough few years, I’m raring to go.


----------

