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The Jackson Pintail Revealed

For offshore casting, a 'must-have' lure in recent years has been the Jackson Pintail. In this region, it is known as a favorite for casting for Mackerel, and the countless catch reports showing a Pintail hanging off the jaws of these fish can attest to that. The pintail is also deadly on other species, and we hope that this post provides some insight on how to get the most out of the Pintail. 

The Jackson Pintail is a heavy sinking lure that performs optimally using a high speed retrieve to target pelagic fish such as mackerel, tuna, GTs and dorado. Casting the Pintail into schools of baitfish and ripping it back at high speed produced heaps of mackerel and an assortment of trevally species that love to shadow baitfish schools. 

When casting for mackerel with the pintail, we recommend employing a fast, constant retrieve. Refrain from twitching the lure as this increases the chances of bite-offs to these toothy predators. When the macks are around in numbers, it is also important that you do not stop cranking once you start your retrieve.

Due to its fast sinking nature, we discovered that there was more to this versitile lure than just the conventional retrieve. Letting the lure sink to the seabed and twitching it near the bottom produced an assortment of other species of fish. For one, big bottom dwellers like the coral trout just love a big bait and the Pintail never fails to fool these prized table fish. If there was nothing lurking at the bottom, flat cranking it back from the deep may also produce a mackerel along the way. Essentially, this is an extremely versatile lure for searching different columns of water.  

The Pintail comes in 2 models. The shorter and heavier Pintail 20 and 35 are best for bottom fish. They sink as fast as a jig and have a wild, erratic action when retrieved. Twitch it along the bottom and you can expect to catch almost anything. We recommend using single hooks with both hooks facing upwards. This is to prevent snagging the bottom. The longer, slim models Pintail 27, 40 and 50 are arguably the greatest mackerel lures in the market.

The Pintail 27 is a downsized cousin of the highly effective on juvenile pelagic fish. Daniel's catches below show some juvenile GTs that have taken a fancy to the smaller Pintail.

Recommended tackle for Pintail luring would be a good offshore casting rod about 7-8 feet. The Evergreen Poseidon Ocean Hunter POHS 77 is a wonderful weapon of choice. We usually match this with a Shimano 6000 reel, 20 lb braided line or P.E 2.5-3 line. We find that using flourocarbon leader of about 40-50 lbs is ideal. To connect the lures to our leader, we use size 2-4 swivels and size 4 split rings. We prefer to avoid snaps as they have the tendency to 'open up', and they also impede the lure's swimming action. 
 

A Short Getaway...

I have always been fascinated by Malaysia's freshwater fishing scene. Many species of fish native to South East Asia are available in Malaysia's waters. Although freshwater fishing in Malaysia has grown increasingly challenging, the country still has some great locations. Some of the most awesome fishing can be found in large stocked lakes and ponds.

When I was invited to join Robin on this trip, I agreed with no hesitation. I had seen reports of the giant-sized snakeheads in Jurassic lake and was truly excited about trying my hand at engaging one of these beasts in battle. However, I knew that these fish are very elusive to find and even harder to catch. Fish don't grow big by being stupid!

Jurrasic angling park. Our hearts were set racing the moment the lake came into view. We could see rises everywhere from our vantage point!!!

All set up and ready to go before the sun is even up. Check out the light boats powered by electric motors. Stealth means everything in freshwater fishing.

Casting paradise. Looks can be deceiving. Fishing in this lake was extremely tough and not for impatient anglers.

First catch was a beautiful golden catfish taken deep on a Jackall TN 70 vibe.

Topwater fishing was fruitless. Changing to deep divers started to produce some fish. Evergreen combat crank 320 have a solid reputation as a big snakehead lure in Thailand. They work on Malaysian Snakeheads too.

Long, slim minnows like the Ima Flit worked fast and twitched wildly induced reaction bites and we used this tactic a lot to locate schools of fish.

Imakatsu Crank 400 accounted for this snakehead

After an epic battle and a lot of drama banging the boat into everything that was not even close by, this 7 kg beautifully marked snakehead was taken at 12pm in the afternoon on a deep diver. Target achieved!

Imakatsu Crank 400 again. This lure was my star performer in this location.

We spent the later part of the day wandering the many smaller ponds in the vicinity. It was very kampong style fishing. Juvenile snakehead taken on Zipbaits Raphael.

Dave with a nice sultan fish taken on Duo Ikkako. It was a nice surprise that the squid imitation lure could work on freshwater fish as well.

Strange local species of fish taken on Zipbaits Khamsin Tiny DR. There is no saying what you will catch in these ponds.

Black Pacu taken on Zipbaits Khamsin Tiny DR. Zipbaits lures produced outstanding results in the micro lure category.

Rawang Jurassic game fishing pond. Good fish. Beautiful surroundings.

Nice Pacu taken on Zipbaits Calibra Vibe.

Asian red tail catfish taken on Jackall Mascle deep. Knocking on the bottom with deep divers and vibes really stirred up these bottom dwellers

Another Asian red tail, this one was taken on Zipbaits Khamsin DR.

Surprise catch! The beautiful golden freshwater catfish. The Khamsin lure produced fish after fish consistently.

That’s a super fat 3 Kg tilapia!!

Evergreen Kaleido Alley Oop bent in action.

They even had sebaraus in the pond. This one was taken on Zipbaits Rigge 46S.

Thomas with another surprise catch. 7 kilos of slimy walking catfish taken on Zipbaits Rigge 70S.

Redtail cats are the most common fish in this pond. As long as your lure is near the bottom, you will find some eventually.

Check out the dorsal fin on this one!

Jackall TN 50 Vibe. Probably the best vibe ever made. Dark colored lures stand out better in the milky, muddy water.

We really caught our fill of redtails.

Jackall TN 50 Vibe in spawn tiger color.

A spectacular white colored sultan fish taken a zipbaits rigge 70S. These fish are not a common catch on lures.

Lunch time at the ponds café. It was a tough decision indeed. We were deciding between Friend Fried and Mix Snake.

Next stop, crazy toman and haruan action at the next pond just 5 minutes away.

The haruans were big , willing and many!

Jackall TN vibes jiggled on the bottom were attacked on every cast.

One fat haruan taken on Zipbaits Calibra vibe.

This pond was like a giant pot of haruan soup. There must be thousands of fish inside this pond.

Tomans were aplenty too. They love fast cranked lures worked erratically.

An angry tilapia fell for this red Jackall TN 50.

Good size but really not much of a fight even on ultralight gear

A second one came along. Wonder how these guys survived in this pond with so many snakeheads inside??

Topwater action was red hot in the evening. Jackson RA popper did the job on this fish.

The fish were all generally of a standard size. Typical of a stocked pond.

Duo Pencil was loud and clear. Dave stopped counting the number of Tomans taken on this lure after a while.

This pond beside the owners house holds some of Malaysias rarest freshwater fishes. Black Carp, Temoleh, Kelahs and giant sized tilapias.

The day ended with one of KL's famous bak kut (teh) dinner. Big thanks again to Robin for organizing the trip.