Slink Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Hi Raiders , It had been a long time since I have caught a decent bag of reddies , had a number of undersize fish and knew that it was only a matter of time till my luck would change. Anyway last weekend was the first ever local snapper comp that was open to anyone and held on the northern beaches . I had a ticket early and was sticking to a plan of heading to a wider spot around 70 meters off Long Reef at 4:30 am and starting a burley trail down deep with the burley bomb. I had been to the fish market the day before to gat fresh squid , cuttlefish and bottle squid as well as fresh pillies and striped tuna I had salted down from earlier trips. Feeling quite confident I sat for over an hour before seeing any action , then a legal red came up , then another legal around 36 cm , not what I was hoping for but at least I was on the board. Normally I would have moved on after 2 or 3 hours but the tide was changing in a couple more hours so I decided to sit it out and keep burlying . Right on low I managed 2 around 43cms , starting to feel more confident now I set out whole squid on straight lines with pea size sinkers , good choice ! I then had the screaming runs that i had been waiting for , first a 56cm with the nice lumpy head then a 63cm light red coloured model. Now I was left wondering what the other 50 or so anglers were getting amongst as I knew that I had a couple of decent reddies, but there were alot of really good snapper fishermen out all searching for a monster. Everything slowed down a couple of hours after low tide and by now I had been sitting on the one spot for about 10 hours , so I decided to pull the anchor and go in closer to around 40mts. I had found a good looking spot and the sounder was showing bait with what looked like snapper under them. I set the anchor and started to burley again. Just on dark the floater screamed again , I grabbed the rod which had 20 pound braid with 20 pound fluro leader and held on as the shimano stradic was howling . I knew straight away that I really needed this for the comp , the big head shakes were there and I was positive that I had hooked a big red of around 6 kg. The first runs of a snapper are always the hardest and this was no different but every time I had jis head turned and managed a few turns on the reel he would turn and head for the bottom again. After 10 minutes I had colour and backed off the drag , when he surfaced I was stoked and had a hard time getting him in the landing net . He went 6.420 kg and measured 85cms . At the weigh in I had the longest fish and thought that I may of had it won but was pipped at the post by a guy who beat me by 20 grams !!!! Anyway I ended up with second place and a great feed which I gave most of away as many guys had nothing to weigh in. Probably a PB snapper for me , I have caught 2 others around the same size before that weren't weighed that accuratley. Other guys said that had hooked fish during that comp and could not even stop them or even slow them down !!!! There are definately bigger snapper lurking out there right now !!!! Back again this weekend for sure. Cheers Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnv Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 wow Brad there are some great lookin reds there well done cheers john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumb Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Great snapper brad, your more patient than me, I would have moved on and then missed out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvbigfish Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 great catch brad its good to see your patienced payed off , a well earned feed of reds and congrats on a pb unlucky not to take out the comp but good to hear the reddies are coming around , top report cheers paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTROJAN Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Cracker red mate, good effort!! You were certainly rewarded for all your hard work. Its great to see an accurate size to weight ratio posted as quite a few lately have been more like a rough estimate. Nothing like the lie detector to keep us fisherman honest! Second place is just a mere formality considering the quality of that fish!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongrass18ft Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Great effort putting in the hours and getting amongst the big reds There definately is some thumpers around at present to give some line burning action Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigbutcher Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 (edited) SOLID SESSION BRAD - WELL DONE. BUTCHER Edited October 13, 2011 by THE BUTCH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formosan Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Very good effort with the long hours and you got great results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOOS Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Stick some legs on that red and you can make a table out of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisheyes85 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 That's an awesome haul of reds! Great work on landing the big fella on relatively light gear! Am I right in thinking that when you are sending baits down below small pea sinkers you are letting them woft in midwater with the bail arm engaged?? Are you using Circle Hooks or suicides? Thinking of going to more refined techniques then bottom bashing but still a lot to learn! Cheers Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Converted 2 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Hey Mate, Thats great Snapper fishing. Congrats on your Pb. Just goes to show, that you dont have to Win to be a Winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slink Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Thanks Fellas , Going again this weekend to try and upgrade , I know that they are there . To answer Fisheyes question I am floating a bait ( either squid , whole pillie etc ) under the smallest possible sinker depending on current and casting out then leaving the bail arm open for a few minutes till I think that the bait is somewhere near the bottom but not on it . Lock the arm over if you see it belting off earlier then you are on . Happy Days !!! Cheers Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray R Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Good onya mate, what a great day out and congrats to you for your 2nd place in the comp.. Lovely fish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocky64 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 You might of not taken out the comp, but you landed some nice fish, i would of been over the moon if i had a day like that. Well done there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike. Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Mate that is a cracker snapper Good to see that the hours paid off for you, well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windredj Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 how do i find out about future comps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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