The poor Jack Crevalle is the Rodney Dangerfield of gamefish. Despite aggressively attacking lures and putting up a very strong fight for its size, it is generally not a highly regarded catch and is rarely specifically targeted. People are generally disappointed when they see how small of a fish put up such a big fight that tired them out.

The Jack Crevalle is a tropical fish found throughout North and South America as well as Africa. It is not a good fish to eat, which is probably one of the reasons it is not highly sought after. The meat is dark and bloody. It tops out around 40lbs and the bigger ones will pull harder than any fish of equivalent size that I can think of.

Tackle

Scale your tackle to the size of Jack Crevalle you are targeting. Like the rest of the Jack family they do not have sharp teeth and so you do not need wire leaders. A Daiwa Pluton baitcasting reel is a perfect choice for Jacks up to 20lbs or so, while the middle sizes of the Daiwa Saltiga spinning reels will handle the biggest ones. They don't generally wrap you up in rocks or other structure so heavy tackle is not really needed.

Techniques

Jack Crevalle readily attack lures and bait. They are often seen feeding at the surface as the splash around chasing baitfish. When they are seen on the surface chasing bait, virtually any bait or lure that resembles whatever they are chasing should result in a hookup.

Lures

Poppers and jerkbaits worked aggressively will catch these guys. Jerk-Jerk-Pause is a good rhythm to default to. They aren't shy. You can also catch them trolling Rapalas and similar plugs but I'm not a big fan of trolling. I've heard that bucktail jigs work well but I've never tried them. Practically any lure that imitates a baitfish should give you a shot at catching these.

Baits

I never fish for them with bait but I'm sure they eat any local live baitfish.

Where to get the big ones

Florida has some big ones. My biggest one was caught on the Pacific Coast of Panama. I have never heard of any guides that focus on them specifically but you shouldn't have a hard time finding guides who can find them for you. Anywhere they are found there should be some big ones since they are not heavily targeted either commercially or by sportfishermen.

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