queensland A good snapper story

[max pwr]

Well, prompted by Ellicat to actually contribute something more worthwhile to the site than just a keyboard warrior rant I feel I should share with you fellow AFO'ers a small success I had last night.

Lately I've been fishing the southern bay quite a bit, and by quite a bit I mean several sessions of 6-10 hours every week. Trying to piece together a general understanding of tides, moon phases, barometric influence of piscatorial behavior, baits and rigs etc ........

On average I've been picking up lots of little undersized squire with a few welcome tuskies thrown in and maybe four fish in total to take home for my efforts. My main inspiration has been Netmakers great advice to have a large dead sticker soft plastic whenever drifting and Tugger's and Callum's floatlining technique proving to be effective as well.

The patterns I've seen emerging is that 80% of the time I can't find fish at all :dry: they're not around when the tide is still ( only small pickers and sharks ) they're not there when the current rips through and pretty much the only real success I have had is the hour before and after a tide change.

I managed a good Jew by sounding a school and dropping a big peeled prawn rigged on a heavy weedless jighead on its head but since then Jew have evaded me.

Last night was 100% fishing efficiency according to my iphone app and I stuck it out from midday till 9:30 pm through a fairly breezy lumpy evening And a couple of hours of no bites whatsoever bar the ever present gummy sharks.

Soft plastics accounted for a 45 cm flattie and millions of teeny weeny squire.

Eventually I had two rods out loaded with a whole 6" squid...... One sitting at ten metres and one about 6 metres down in 15 metres of water. 6 metres won.

Good hit on my bait feeder ... Let it run for what felt about ten seconds..... Cranked the handle to engage heavier drag and set the hook and I was on. Nice fight with a good amount of line taken and I tried not to rush the fish but at the same time mindful of being sharked on a good snap not long ago..... All the while I'm not getting too excited because there's so many gummy sharks out there and they fight similarly minus the initial screaming run.

When I saw it was a snap I was so stoked!! So many hours lately spent chasing a good knobby and I was sure it will be one of those times the leader will snap boatside or I'll miss the netting or stuff it up somehow . :b

Luckily it wasn't a tale of a fish missed and it's now sitting in my esky with ten kilos of ice awaiting tomorrow nights chilli garlic and butter fry up.

I hope maybe this post will help a few get onto them as well because I've been searching the net, trying out a whole heap of techniques and sitting through hours of tide changes etc trying to piece together enough info to put a feed in front of the family.

Great feeling

By the way, if this thread reads a little disjointed its because I'm typing on my iphone. In the bath. With one hand.

Feel free to edit Ellicat

Sorry for the bloody reality pic xx

[samsteele115]

Well done! How big did it go?

[max pwr]

Oh, forgot to add..... 84cm to the tip... 73 fl

[ellicat]

Well, I'll be stuffed.

That's a rip-snorter for that part of the bay. :woohoo: Glad I dropped the hint :cheer:

Thanks for the extra tips too. That should have Ted druelling for another catshark session

... but even better might have motivated me to get into it as well.

[kmcrosby78]

Awesome bay snap there Steve, just reward for all of the hours and effort you have been putting in. I had two donut trips in a row in the river before a decent session last weekend. Just goes to show you won't catch them sitting at home. Well told story too - thanks for the effort.

[kmcrosby78]

Actually a quick question on the squid if you don't mind Steve - bought one or one you caught? ie. fresh or frozen? Really need/want to get me a big bay snap this winter - my 'snapper' PB is still a lousy 43cm!!!!!

[max pwr]

Mate, it was frozen squid I get off The Local Fisho.... That's actually the name of his shop.

I'll give him a plug actually, all his bait is food grade and he's a keen angler who fishes southern bay and is always up for a bit of a chinwag and some good fishing goss on what is biting.

He's next to the pacific h/way at loganholme.

I haven't eaten his fish and chips though it looks top notch but did get some kickass king prawns from him a few weeks ago.