Northbridge Afternoon Dabble

[g.t.]

Greetings Raiders!

Can I first just say, what a fantastic site I think this is- Thank you sincerely for all the fantastic tips I've gained from the extensive hours I've spent reading all your posts.

I've been "leeching" info as a timid "reader only" for some time now (long before I signed up as a member), and I've gained a hell of a lot of inspiration and invaluable tips from the incredible calibre of fellow fishos on this site. I really hope I can contribute some reports more frequently to kurb my "leeching" ways, and help return the favour you've all shown me!

Anyway, onto my first report....

Thursday arvo I headed down to my grandfather-in-law's house down in Northbridge; a great house on the water with its own jetty out the front... and yes, I'm very jealous! The idea was to have a quick bash with my brother in law and his grandfather, both of whom are keen fishos, casting off the jetty towards the moorings immediately out the front.

We started fishing an hour before high tide, using mainly servo purchased prawns, something I've been doing very well at weaning myself off, thanks to the many bait catching tips I've read on this site. As I've become accustomed to in Middle Harbour, we had the normal constant attention from the "pink squire brigade". We would have caught at least a dozen of these 20cm snapper wanna-be's, which although annoying at times, were still good fun on the 4pd bream gear I was using.

Getting a little sick of the constant bait changing, I pulled out a squid I'd caught and frozen a few days prior, and cut it into some tasty looking strips, hoping it may last long enough for a larger specimen to come along. At the same time, I threw out some home-made burley to get the party started. Not long after the burley went out, a fairly sizable school of small bait fish arrived, followed by a fairy penguin feasting away at our feet- bloody marvellous. With this the bites got considerably better, and the next 2 fish were couple of 25-30cm snapper, which actually gave a good account of themselves. The next fish landed was an unwelcome surprise in the form of a pineapple sized puffer fish, that fought like a bucket of water, and was a real pain to de-hook- This as it turns out got me unstuck if you read further...

Having re-baited with a squid strip, I cast out again, took up the slack on the line, when BAM! I'm on again, and this feels better!!!! My 2500 reel with 1kg of drag set was having a fair bit of line peeled off it, and I was getting a bit worried as my braid was a little depleted and in need of a re-spool. Thankfully he ran out of steam, and after a fun little battle, I got him back near the jetty. I was ecstatic and amazed to see him to be a 40cm-ish snapper (I'd never caught any snapper larger than 30cm in MH). So here's where I came unstuck... Just as I was about to land him, he gave his last little fight, and with surprising ease, the 10pd Vanish leader snapped an inch from the hook, and off he went. BUUGGGGER!!!!

Upon inspection, my leader was really frayed and scuffed for about an inch above where it snapped. That bloody giant puffer had done a number on it (or perhaps I had, removing the hook), and I made the beginners’ mistake of not checking it afterwards. I won't make that mistake again....

We finished up around 1830, with other sundries including a good sized male blue swimmer, and a couple of undersized bream. All in all, a fantastic, relaxing arvo, and great to spend some quality time with some of my favourite in laws. I thanked my grandfather-in-law for having me around, and he thanked me for "leaving some in there for next time".

Thanks for reading, and I'll have photos next time I promise!

Edited January 4, 2008 by g.t.

[plazmaman]

Nice Story

Good to see little snapper swiming around (and getting big'er)

and not in a prawn net.

[tricks]

nice report champ well done

shame on dropping that snapper

better luck next time mate

[roosterman]

great report,

sounds like a great fishing session there.fishing should be about having a good time and when good friends and family are with you the fish are just a bonus .

look foreward to seeing more good posts like this and pics are always great to see...

cheers... steve....

[arpie]

A great report to read, g.t. - shame about the snapper getting off. Those puffers are real pains, eh? If using beach worm (especially) it pays to check your leader every time you rebait, as the mongrels will chew well above the hook, to get the last bit off!

Sounds a terrific place to visit & fish!

Cheerio

Roberta

to Fishraider!

[jewgaffer]

Quote g.t. "Getting a little sick of the constant bait changing, I pulled out a squid I'd caught and frozen a few days prior, and cut it into some tasty looking strips, hoping it may last long enough for a larger specimen to come along ".

"At the same time, I threw out some home-made burley to get the party started. Not long after the burley went out, a fairly sizable school of small bait fish arrived ",..........

.........................................................................................................................................................

First of all to the site g.t.

You say you were inspired by what you learned from Fishraider members' posts before you joined the site.

Let me tell you something. In your report you reminded our members of the benefit of using squid strips as a longer lasting bait and course of the importance of using burley to keep the action ongoing , and of course in so doing stimulate changes to the pecking order.

I would just add that in similiar fishy situations squid strips could be cut long and thin with a trailing length and good quality, raisor sharp worm hooks could be used for more effect.

As to the home made burley, you could use the same squid you fish with as your main burley ingregient, minced up and marinated overnight in as much squid ink as you can extract .

Cheers in spite of my spending the past three weeks in a wet and windy and almost unfishable Qld and thank you for your interesting report

jewgaffer