A nice bag of reds

[GoingFishing]

Gday Raiders

Its been a while, life sure catches up with you.

I usually go out every weekend (weather dependent of course) but since last year, home renovations, a new baby, bad weather and corona virus lockdown have meant that i have only done two trips since October, and to add insult to injury, both trips were absolute disasters.

The first trip, chasing an early season Beakie in the second week of Jan cut short when i lost control between the steering and the engine about 2 miles south east of browns mountain......yes... browns mountain. Waited 2.5 hours for Marine Rescue to arrive, followed by a good 2 hour tow back to botany ramp.

After running a diagnostic test the issue was narrowed down to a loose cable connector somewhere between the steering and the engine. A 10 minute fix but still a painful experience. 

 

The second trip was also cut short when in absolute desperation i tried to make the most of a free day with about 1m waves but with "questionable wind forecast" the rope holding the sea anchor snapped and the drift was too fast to even get my baits to the bottom. 

Then, came corona virus, locked in the house, new born baby, working from home.

Initially i thought working from home would drive me mad but i am loving it. I am getting so much more time with my wife and especially my kids. Silver lining i guess. Ive also dedicated some time to getting the garden taken care of. heres a little pic of my working from home desk. Its about 1 minute travel from home, enjoys fresh air, garden view and includes the joyous sounds of local birdlife all day.

 

So, after weeks of lockdown, i finally caved and went fishing with my dad, i was looking forward to a feed of fish but mostly for my mental health.
Luckily we had no need to visit any bait or tackle shops, or even the fuel for the boat as we had half a bag of pillies and 1kg of prawns and a full tank of gas from the last trip which was cut short, and the plan was to collect some slimeys for strip baits anyway.

Got to the ramp extra early to avoid everyone and anything, boat in the water at 5am we headed out to collect slimeys. By sunrise we had collected enough slimies for quality strip baits for the rest of the day, and we also had the pillies and prawns.

The hybrid snapper/paternoster rig wreaking absolute carnage on the fish, at one stage i could not even bait up the rod in my hand without another rod going off. Wherever we went the sounder was lit up like a christmas tree.

Well we managed to find the fish alright, we both bagged out on reds, most fish between 40-50cm range.

A quality day on the water, dolphins, seals and some good fish. That ought to hold me for a while ! 

Thanks for reading

Sam

PS - Due to exceeding file size i have added more photos below in a separate post.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by GoingFishing

[GoingFishing]

 

[GoingFishing]

[Yowie]

Good box of reds.

Sometimes you can have a shite time fishing, when things just don't go right, then you have that day that you remember for some time after.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Great post well done on the reds Sam. A newish boat like that shouldn’t have broken down that way  especially when you pay that much money.

[zmk1962]

Oh man! When it rains it pours - you’ve been through the wars mate. As Yowie said - lots of memories will remain (you will never forget that loose wire!) I feel it’s these stories and experiences that enrich our lives - you can definitely  say “I have lived”.

BTW awesome comeback with that catch.  And congrats on the garden and home renos. Looking good.
 

Cheers Zoran 

Edited April 20, 2020 by zmk1962

[New Signing]

Cracking day on the reds mate. Shows the importance of having your sounder tuned in

[GoingFishing]

10 hours ago, Yowie said:

Good box of reds.

Sometimes you can have a shite time fishing, when things just don't go right, then you have that day that you remember for some time after.

Cheers Yowie, your right. A good day always makes up for the difficult ones before ! 

3 hours ago, flatheadluke said:

Great post well done on the reds Sam. A newish boat like that shouldn’t have broken down that way  especially when you pay that much money.

Thanks mate, i agree absolutely. At the end of the day no matter how good the manufacturing process is, at some point there is a human element involved in the installation. Thats where opportunity for error comes in ! Loose cable!

1 hour ago, zmk1962 said:

Oh man! When it rains it pours - you’ve been through the wars mate. As Yowie said - lots of memories will remain (you will never forget that loose wire!) I feel it’s these stories and experiences that enrich our lives - you can definitely  say “I have lived”.

BTW awesome comeback with that catch.  And congrats on the garden and home renos. Looking good.
 

Cheers Zoran 

Thanks Zoran ....Its all part of life mate so not complaining ! ( actually when it stops me from fishing i am complaining 😂) but loving the memories . How good would it be to have had an electrical engineer onboard !!!! Its been a rough year so far but cant wait to put it all behind us and finally get out fishing with you mate.

1 hour ago, New Signing said:

Cracking day on the reds mate. Shows the importance of having your sounder tuned in

Cheers, absolutely fishing for reds with no sounder is a waste of time !

[kingie chaser]

Nice catch Sam, I love to eat snapper that size.

Cooked whole to get the most out of them 👍

 

So is that top picture being towed back from Browns?

I presume if that's the case the 10minute fix was on dry land then??

 

Man that is a long way to be towed, 40km!!

[GoingFishing]

1 hour ago, kingie chaser said:

Nice catch Sam, I love to eat snapper that size.

Cooked whole to get the most out of them 👍

 

So is that top picture being towed back from Browns?

I presume if that's the case the 10minute fix was on dry land then??

 

Man that is a long way to be towed, 40km!!

Thanks Kingie Chaser. i find snapper best eating from 40cm and up. I dont like deep fried food generally but i also find that i prefer fried snapper over baked. Baked snapper tends to go dry for me. perhaps im not cooking it right ?

Yes that photo is being towed back. Its a long way for a tow and even longer when you consider the average age of their crew is circa 70 and there was one lovely gentleman who must have been nudging 80 years old......

I made a sizeable donation to the Marine Rescue, almost triple what their estimated cost was.

PS - Yes the fix was back at dealers service centre. I'm mechanically illiterate !

[Rebel]

Great story and Super photos.

[GoingFishing]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

Great story and Super photos.

Cheers mate. 

[M1100S]

20 hours ago, GoingFishing said:

Wow that is a nice catch

 

Now i know no one gives away their spots but can u get snapper like that not far away from botany heads .

 

seeing you leave from botany ramp and its only 25m depth one could deduce you were possible not too far out from the heads. 

 

Reason i ask i mainly fish by myself, and jusy recently got the boat and  still getting confidence outside past heads. Im sure boat can handle outside as its a surtees 540 hardtop.  I was hoping you can get snapper like that close im the reefs or does one have to vemture miles off the coast to get snapper like that

Edited April 21, 2020 by M1100S

[Welster]

What a cracking session Sam it's great when a plan comes together.  You have the perfect spot to bbq some fish for lunch at work.  
 

I also succumbed to the temptation yesterday and headed out from the Hacking with my dad to catch a feed. 
 

[GoingFishing]

3 hours ago, M1100S said:

Wow that is a nice catch

 

Now i know no one gives away their spots but can u get snapper like that not far away from botany heads .

 

seeing you leave from botany ramp and its only 25m depth one could deduce you were possible not too far out from the heads. 

 

Reason i ask i mainly fish by myself, and jusy recently got the boat and  still getting confidence outside past heads. Im sure boat can handle outside as its a surtees 540 hardtop.  I was hoping you can get snapper like that close im the reefs or does one have to vemture miles off the coast to get snapper like that

Thanks mate. Surtees make a nice boat ! Congrats. I will send u an inbox with some details for your next trip

2 hours ago, Welster said:

What a cracking session Sam it's great when a plan comes together.  You have the perfect spot to bbq some fish for lunch at work.  
 

I also succumbed to the temptation yesterday and headed out from the Hacking with my dad to catch a feed. 
 

Thanks Welster. It was so good to get out after so long. Yes the garden is looking greener than ever after all the extra time it's being given !!! 

 

Ps. I hope you managed to find a few?

[Franco]

On 4/20/2020 at 9:26 PM, GoingFishing said:

The hybrid snapper/paternoster rig wreaking absolute carnage on the fish, at one stage i could not even bait up the rod in my hand without another rod going off. Wherever we went the sounder was lit up like a christmas tree.

What an awesome catch, Well done!

Just wondering what rig you use and if you use pillies, prawns and slimeys??

[GoingFishing]

Thanks Mate

I used a combination of paternoster rig and a hybrid snapper/paternoster. I have previously posted a article on the hybrid.

Bait used was whole pillies and butterflied slimey fillets

[Franco]

2 hours ago, GoingFishing said:

Thanks Mate

I used a combination of paternoster rig and a hybrid snapper/paternoster. I have previously posted a article on the hybrid.

Bait used was whole pillies and butterflied slimey fillets

I found your article  thanks. I might try it out.

If you don't use an elasticband for the pillie tails can you just trim the tail to stop bait from twisting around?

[Welster]

19 hours ago, GoingFishing said:

Thanks Welster. It was so good to get out after so long. Yes the garden is looking greener than ever after all the extra time it's being given !!! 

 

Ps. I hope you managed to find a few?

Hi Sam, We didn't try for snapper just a feed.   I was a bit hesitant to post it up. 

[GoingFishing]

2 hours ago, Franco said:

I found your article  thanks. I might try it out.

If you don't use an elasticband for the pillie tails can you just trim the tail to stop bait from twisting around?

A big bait like that I usually just leave it in the water until it's taken or fallen apart. So the retreive rarely gets a spin.

 

[GoingFishing]

30 minutes ago, Welster said:

Hi Sam, We didn't try for snapper just a feed.   I was a bit hesitant to post it up. 

 

Awesome bag mate....great work

[zmk1962]

1 hour ago, Welster said:

Hi Sam, We didn't try for snapper just a feed.   I was a bit hesitant to post it up. 

Mate. That’s a great catch and knowing you I’m sure you followed covid protocol. Why the hesitation? 
Maria and I are packed for a flattie food sesh tomorrow. 
cheers Z

[Welster]

Thanks Zoran.   Yep just the two of us no need to buy bait or fuel so straight there and back.   Many people are stuck at home with little chance of doing their normal thing so I didn't post. I decided to stay away from the water over Easter but when I had the Monday off I took the opportunity.

The only bit of gear I lost all day was a squid jig so that was an added bonus. 
 

Mum put in a request for Calamari and flathead so that became our plan. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Welster
Typo

[zmk1962]

Mate. You more than delivered on that request- Uber Welster!

hoping for some action tomorrow. 

cheers Z

[Welster]

Just now, zmk1962 said:

Mate. You more than delivered on that request- Uber Welster!

hoping for some action tomorrow. 

cheers Z

Good luck