Solid Snapper from Cowan Creek

[ginko]

It's been a while since I got out in the tinnie, so I headed to the solitude up Cowan Creek for the early morning on Sunday. Freezing, but a beautiful sunrise.

My first stop had deep clear clear water, and no fish.

So I hit the sand flats, following the lead of some gulls. But nothing there by tiny whiting and the odd stingray. Just as I was heading off the flats, some very fast pelagics zoomed in cleaning up the bait fish, but zooming out again before I could get any cast in front of them.

With everything gone quiet there, I decided to try a spot I'd noticed on the fish finder the last time I was in the area (that day's trip also happened to be on a rising tide).

The tide was pushing into a rock face in front of some very deep water over a rugged bottom. I got there, and dropped a mesh bag with salmon frames along with my anchor, and then put out a weighted hand line with a nice piece of Sergeant Baker (I hear this is good bait) and an unweighted arrow squid on the heavy rod. I then cast on the surface with lightly weighted squid strips.

10 minutes later, the baitrunner just screams off. I felt very good about not striking straight away, especially as I had a #6 circle hook on the other end...

After slowly tightening up on the fish, there were a few hard runs, but then the fight seemed to go out of him, and I just reeled in the fish. I was wondering what the hell I had on... I was figuring kingie when it went off, but then maybe jewie after the first run, but when it ran out of steam I just did not know... I pulled it up, and there was a solid snapper.

I lifted it by the trace into the boat and let out the war whoop of victory. Evidently that woke up the fish, and it proceeded to trash madly about my little tinnie. At one point, I feared it was going to jump back into the drink.

A couple of bonks on the head with the cudgel stopped all that, and it was bled and into the bucket.

I later picked up a bream and a leather jacket on the same unweighted line. (yes, a leather jacket on a #6 hook!). The weighted Sergeant Baker was untouched, and the jackets repeatedly attacked the unweighted and lightly weighted (cast & retrieve) squid if it went deeper than about 2 meters.

The arrow squid was caught during the week and never frozen, and then about 1/3 of the tube (stripped of wings and skin) was fed carefully onto the hook. I cut strips on the trailing edge of the strip and tested it in the water, trimming with scissor to make sure the strip wouldn't spin in the current. I had # 6 Gamakatsu circle hooks, about a meter of 25lb trace, and 20lb braid. The water was about 20m deep and pretty clear, and I was about 15 m from the shore. The fish was just over 2kg, 56 cm long.

The snapper was delicious, especially as my wife treated me by cooking my catch for me!

[rjc123]

ripper of a snapper for cowan

[user1829]

great stuff!!!

that is great news

but can i ask about the hook? #6 is very small isn't it?

[ginko]

1829,

Technically I guess I should have written #6/0 hook, which is about the size of my thumb. There are also #6 hooks which are about the size of my 2 year-old's index finger.

[Tomcat]

Ginko nice snapper! I was the guy that was 15 metres away when you caught it, well done, I got one simular not far from where you were a month ago.

[user1829]

Technically I guess I should have written #6/0 hook, which is about the size of my thumb. There are also #6 hooks which are about the size of my 2 year-old's index finger.

ahahh! thanks for clarifying

[luvbigfish]

great effort snapper from cowen , well done

cheers paul