gisp 4/16

[poonchum]

waded back in the park from 7pm-9. ive been trying the topwater lures without a whole lot of luck. im sure there is a bunch of reasons i am struggling with the spook jrs but i did manage two bites tonight. after the sun went down but there was still light, on a very calm night, i saw a big wake chasing around bait. i was in 1.5 ft of water throwing a chart. body black head spook jr. there were rays everywhere and ive read on these posts the big wake could be shark. i really dont care what it is, i want to catch it. as soon as i saw it, i brought in my lure to cast at it. before i could even throw at it, it had come straight at me and turned just before it reached me. its dorsal and tail were out of the water; it was a twenty lb jack! i threw ahead of him to try and get the bite. he was curious and came right up to the lure but never took it. as i threw a couple more times at him, i nice trout took the spook. they were feeding together i guess. that was the first top water bite ive had. the trout was a solid 3-4 lbs and as i was trying to unhook him, i started to pull him out of the water by the leader and the hook assembly busted off the lure and the fish was gone. i put on a yellow orange top and well into dark i caught an 8 in. speck. that was that. i think next time im gonna take some gulp shrimpers. it was cool catching that trout but i feel like i probably would have done better with live bait or gulps. i really wanted to catch that jack... any suggestions on 'best meals for jack'

[FLAPPER]

When those jacks are back in those coves running bait like that,the best thing,in my opinion,if you want to get spooled or worked over for 30 minutes,throw a big spook at him and work it across the top of the water as fast as you can,and you better be ready!If he clobbers it,it's going to sound like someone dropped a car battery in the water.The explosion is unbelievable.If you really want to catch him,make sure you take a back up reel.

[Randy]

Sounds fun! Catching a Jack while wading would be one heck of a fight. Thanks for the report..

[Curmudgeon]

Nice report. Good luck with that jack!

[JWS]

Car battery is a pretty accurate description. Watching a big Jack nail a top water is pure freakin excitement.

[fishalot]

Not a big fan of grabbing leaders, better to grab the fish instead, may heldp not loose um next time

[Milkjug]

Congrats on your first topwater fish. You didn't string her, but you could have had that fish with a net, and that's what matters!