Big Day Out In Search Of Snapper

[james7]

Headed out of the Hacking in search of snapper. It was overcast, but the conditions looked okay.

It was very calm when we arrived down south. We had high hopes for a good day.

First drop, Syd picks up a small snapper. Great start!

Unfortunately, it went quiet. We moved and moved again, but nothing!

The weather to the north looked threatening.

We had a few "visitors" Syd even made a new friend.

Does anyone know what type of bird it is?

All of a sudden, wham! My rod buckles and up comes a good mowie. I was rapt!

Over the next hour I bring in another two good mowies. One of them a pb for me.

Here's Syd jealously holding one of my mowies.

Again it goes quiet. We moved out to deeper water.

We both caught a few little nannygai. Where were the snapper?

I start bringing in another nannygai when wham, half way up the rod bends over once and then goes light.

This is the result. Some toothy critter decided to have nannygai for lunch.

It goes quiet again, but a few albatross turn and keep us company for a while. They're beautiful birds.

A few mutton birds stayed with for most of the day They are almost as annoying as those jackets although, at least jackets are good to eat! If any of you ever meet Syd, just ask him what he thinks of mutton birds ... then cover your ears. As this is a "family site" I can't repeat what he'd say. There was some very colourful language drifting across the water yesterday!

Back to fishing, Syd says he thinks he's got something decent because it's got "weight".

This is what he brings up.

It's like a coral trout ... without the "trout"!

We continue moving in search of snapper. Unfortunately we find these line snipping little buggers instead!

The jackets attacked anything in the water. This poor little fella got eaten alive on the way up.

It was not a good day for Syd or myself as far as losing rigs. Between us, we lost about fifteen sinkers to either jackets or the bottom. Syd also broke the tip off one of his rods.

We've got to get some lead from somewhere to make a few more sinkers. Anyone got any spare lead?

We eventually come to the conclusion that we're not going to find any snapper and that we're both sick of making up new rigs just to have the jackets snip them off, so we move in close to the National Park cliffs and drift for some flatties.

We pick up a few here and there. The wind was increasing and the sky to the north looked ... "interesting".

With about a dozen half decent flatties each on board we start the long trip back north.

Here's Syd holding two of the flatties. None of the flathead were huge, but all were a good eating size (40-48cm).

And here's Syd with two of my mowies.

My best Morwong went a tad over 56cm. A pb for me!

I'll have to check the Raider records and see how close it is to the biggest.

Now I'm not saying that Syd is a "clown" but ...

... he reckons this is why morwong have big lips!

I have no comment!

It was a "great" day and a "frustrating" day all rolled into one. We both wanted some snapper and only Syd caught one small one. I did get a pb mowie - that was great! Syd broke a rod tip and we both lost a zillion rigs and sinkers. Conditions varied between great and quite uncomfortable and those bloody mutton birds drove us crazy. However, it was fantastic to be on the water again and end up with a good feed for both our families. Can't complain about that!

Cheers

Peter

[Ray R]

Good onya Peter and Syd, another fun time on the water and a stack of niice fish and some top pics.

Wonder if that brown bird is a semi-fledged Albatros, someone will know for sure..

Congrats buddy another top trip for you guys..

[luvbigfish]

what a top report and nice pics , a great feed of fish there congrats on your pb and well done to the both of you.

cheers paul

[fishmaniac]

Hey mate,

A nice haul of fish. I think the brown coloured bird is a baby albatross. Somedays when tuna fishing we have seen them half brown and half white (as they loose the last of their brown feathers).

[Hodgey]

What a tasty table-load of fish! There are some quality fillets on there. Apart from losing a fair bit of tackle, it sounds like a great day on the water. Congrats on the new PB Peter Those bloody leatheries are as bad as piranhas! Fantastic photos as always mate. I'm with the others ... I reckon the bird is a juvenile 'tross

Cheers

Skip

[wannabefisho]

Nice feed there lads. Gee a 56cm Mowie is a horse of a fish.

[gje]

Nice catch fellas. I would say the bird is a young Northern Giant Petrelor Southern Giant Petrel. We have seen one or two over the last couple of years outside Port Hacking.

Cheers,

Scoop

[finin]

Nice catch there. Unfortunately everyone is wrong except scoop on the immature bird being an albatross, it is actualy an immature Southern Giant Petrel, Northerns have a different coloured bill and eyes, albatross do not have a tube nosed bill, the tube used to filter sea water extracting the salt.

Edited October 30, 2010 by finin

[johnv]

wow what a great read there was real interesting well done, even a real nice feed good onya boys

cheers john

[mark_s]

wow what a great read there was real interesting well done, even a real nice feed good onya boys

cheers john

Good catch there and great report. I was out in the middle of bate bay today. It was a late start and then I had to hightail it home when the wind picked up around 1030ish. Ended up with just two flatties but one needed to be measured twice so he went back. I had earlier tried to pick up some yakkas but there were literaly none to be found - there were plenty last weekend but they vanished during the week.

[mako1]

Great report Peter.

Sounds like a great day out and some nice fish for the table

[leonardgid]

its all ways great to see a good catch of anything these days.

[Yarraone]

Sounds like a great day when you bring home quality fish like that ..Great report by the way

[slinkymalinky]

Nice work boys. That Mowie is a top fish Pete. Have you got a pic on a brag mat... the record is currently 56 so at the very least you can have equal first... if you have a pic on a brag mat, given that it's close, and it's a touch over 56 then you can have it all to yourself

Shame about those Jackets everywhere. Wouldn't want to fall in the water.

Cheers, Slinky

[bangus]

Headed out of the Hacking in search of snapper. It was overcast, but the conditions looked okay.

It was very calm when we arrived down south. We had high hopes for a good day.

First drop, Syd picks up a small snapper. Great start!

Unfortunately, it went quiet. We moved and moved again, but nothing!

The weather to the north looked threatening.

We had a few "visitors" Syd even made a new friend.

Does anyone know what type of bird it is?

All of a sudden, wham! My rod buckles and up comes a good mowie. I was rapt!

Over the next hour I bring in another two good mowies. One of them a pb for me.

Here's Syd jealously holding one of my mowies.

Again it goes quiet. We moved out to deeper water.

We both caught a few little nannygai. Where were the snapper?

I start bringing in another nannygai when wham, half way up the rod bends over once and then goes light.

This is the result. Some toothy critter decided to have nannygai for lunch.

It goes quiet again, but a few albatross turn and keep us company for a while. They're beautiful birds.

A few mutton birds stayed with for most of the day They are almost as annoying as those jackets although, at least jackets are good to eat! If any of you ever meet Syd, just ask him what he thinks of mutton birds ... then cover your ears. As this is a "family site" I can't repeat what he'd say. There was some very colourful language drifting across the water yesterday!

Back to fishing, Syd says he thinks he's got something decent because it's got "weight".

This is what he brings up.

It's like a coral trout ... without the "trout"!

We continue moving in search of snapper. Unfortunately we find these line snipping little buggers instead!

The jackets attacked anything in the water. This poor little fella got eaten alive on the way up.

It was not a good day for Syd or myself as far as losing rigs. Between us, we lost about fifteen sinkers to either jackets or the bottom. Syd also broke the tip off one of his rods.

We've got to get some lead from somewhere to make a few more sinkers. Anyone got any spare lead?

We eventually come to the conclusion that we're not going to find any snapper and that we're both sick of making up new rigs just to have the jackets snip them off, so we move in close to the National Park cliffs and drift for some flatties.

We pick up a few here and there. The wind was increasing and the sky to the north looked ... "interesting".

With about a dozen half decent flatties each on board we start the long trip back north.

Here's Syd holding two of the flatties. None of the flathead were huge, but all were a good eating size (40-48cm).

And here's Syd with two of my mowies.

My best Morwong went a tad over 56cm. A pb for me!

I'll have to check the Raider records and see how close it is to the biggest.

Now I'm not saying that Syd is a "clown" but ...

... he reckons this is why morwong have big lips!

I have no comment!

It was a "great" day and a "frustrating" day all rolled into one. We both wanted some snapper and only Syd caught one small one. I did get a pb mowie - that was great! Syd broke a rod tip and we both lost a zillion rigs and sinkers. Conditions varied between great and quite uncomfortable and those bloody mutton birds drove us crazy. However, it was fantastic to be on the water again and end up with a good feed for both our families. Can't complain about that!

Cheers

Peter

well done

[james7]

Nice catch there. Unfortunately everyone is wrong except scoop on the immature bird being an albatross, it is actualy an immature Southern Giant Petrel, Northerns have a different coloured bill and eyes, albatross do not have a tube nosed bill, the tube used to filter sea water extracting the salt.

Thanks finin and scoop for identifying the bird. I thought at first it may have been a young albatross, but the beak did look different and it was very aggressive to any albatross that came close to it.

Nice work boys. That Mowie is a top fish Pete. Have you got a pic on a brag mat... the record is currently 56 so at the very least you can have equal first... Slinky

Thanks Slinky. I'll submit it in the record section.

Cheers

Peter

Edited October 31, 2010 by peterS

[musty]

Great catch guys!

How far out, what depth where u guys at roughly?

Thats some great lookin water colour...

Im thinking Marlin shouldnt be too far away now

Musty

[clontarf_king]

Your a pretty cool guy, good theory on why muwong have big lips

[james7]

Great catch guys!

How far out, what depth where u guys at roughly?

Thats some great lookin water colour...

Im thinking Marlin shouldnt be too far away now

Musty

G'day Musty

We covered a lot of territory out there for very little result considering the loss of rigs and sinkers. Most of the time we were in 45m-65m. We did venture out wider to a depth of about 85m, but only found jackets and small nannygai. I suppose we were about 3-5km out.

Cheers

Peter

[musty]

G'day Musty

We covered a lot of territory out there for very little result considering the loss of rigs and sinkers. Most of the time we were in 45m-65m. We did venture out wider to a depth of about 85m, but only found jackets and small nannygai. I suppose we were about 3-5km out.

Cheers

Peter

Thats not out of range for the small blacks when they are in full swing. We've caught them in that range and last year i seen one cruising 150m north of Jibbon bommie! Better luck next time and thats for the reply

Musty

[Keflapod]

G'day Pete and Syd,

You guys go to a bit of trouble to present an outstanding report every time you post.

Your photos are amazing and first class.

You present your reports in an informative, interesting and entertaining way.

We even learn about birds and corals....and even fish....

To top it all off, you always get a real quality feed of fish. Congratulations on the record mowie and a big thank you for the report.

Even though I haven't fished on the ocean in 3 years and it's been a lot longer than that since I've pushed southwards beyond Jibbon Bommie, I feel like I was there last weekend. Keep up the good work Pete - and even though I can't see myself fishing down your way, your reports are still very much appreciated....

Tony

[james77]

That's a big mowie.

Good lot of flathead too. Shame you lost all those rigs. Those jackets eat anything.

The water looked calm. Nice photos.

How far from the Hacking were you.

J

[james7]

How far from the Hacking were you.

J

I'm not quite sure how far it is from the mouth of the Hacking to the Hump, maybe 18kms? Anyone know the correct measurement?

It usually takes about 35-50 minutes to get down there depending on the conditions.

You guys go to a bit of trouble to present an outstanding report every time you post.

Your photos are amazing and first class. You present your reports in an informative, interesting and entertaining way. We even learn about birds and corals....and even fish....

To top it all off, you always get a real quality feed of fish. Congratulations on the record mowie and a big thank you for the report. Even though I haven't fished on the ocean in 3 years and it's been a lot longer than that since I've pushed southwards beyond Jibbon Bommie, I feel like I was there last weekend. Keep up the good work Pete - and even though I can't see myself fishing down your way, your reports are still very much appreciated....

Thanks for kind words Tony. It was a good day despite Syd's cursing and swearing at mutton birds, leatherjackets, the reef, the choppy conditions on the way back, his broken rod ... and me!

Cheers

Peter

Edited November 3, 2010 by peterS

[piratin]

I'm not quite sure how far it is from the mouth of the Hacking to the Hump, maybe 18kms? Anyone know the correct measurement?

It usually takes about 35-50 minutes to get down there depending on the conditions.

Thanks for kind words Tony. It was a good day despite Syd's cursing and swearing at mutton birds, leatherjackets, the reef, the choppy conditions on the way back, his broken rod ... and me!

Cheers

Peter

It is about 12 mile down. Easy on a nice morning. Just watch the nor easter when heading back up.

[tsuribaka]

Always top reports from you guys and great pics. Well done on the feed.