Snapper & Jewie Fish of a lifetime..for me. Newcastle / Port Stephens

[Belligero]

Hi All,

Haven't posted here in ages been busy fishing! and working

During the warmer months, I dedicated myself to smashing a few PBs with soft plastics. My targets were bream and flathead. Within a month, I managed to snatch a good-sized bream at 44 cm and caught about 50 others in the high 30s.

Another PB I aimed to push was flathead. Over the course of a month, I progressed from low 70s, to mid-70s, and finally landed an 81 cm flathead.

When winter arrived, the flathead calmed down and the bream went elsewhere, so I decided to challenge a PB and create a new one. I had been sitting on my jewie PB of 93 cm for a number of years. About a month ago, in absolute torrential rain, we decided to fish a spot in Newcastle we frequent to see what we could find. Using small 3" soft plastics on my 2-5 kg 10 lb setup, I snagged something that was not intended for that setup size. This thing fought like a bucking horse. The fight went on and on with multiple chases with the boat. After about 25 minutes, the silver ghost appeared. The fish measured 118 cm. I can't see myself beating that anytime soon.

Next, I aimed to set a new PB snapper on plastics. I had caught fish in the 50s inside Lake Macquarie, but I had never really tried offshore before. Over the past month or two, we made three trips to Port Stephens targeting snapper on plastics. The first few trips yielded barely legal fish. Determined to make a real effort, we left home at 3:30 AM and reached the heads just before daybreak. One of the reasons we don't use bait often is the time it takes catching livies. Although it can be quick, that 30 minutes of getting bait is, in my opinion, 30 minutes of lost fishing time.

We found our usual marks and, fortunately, there wasn’t a boat in sight and the swell was low. After landing a good number of 40-50 cm fish, I landed a 72 cm and a 78 cm fish. Stoked! The fish went quiet, but we still felt they were in the area. On the last cast, the lure hit the bottom, and soon after, I noticed a twitch in the line. I picked up the rod and boom—the 3-5 kg rod was buckling and the 4000 reel was screaming, as was I. The fight lasted a good 15 minutes, but I finally managed to net the fish.

A 91 cm red!

To top off the day, I caught an absolute horse of a squid

Cheers

[Green Hornet]

Looks like you’ve been a busy boy knocking over all those PB’s in a short amount of time. Very impressive.

[Yowie]

Good fish. The jewie is a big fella, however, I think the reddie is also a great one to pull up.  👍

[mrsswordfisherman]

Welcome back @Belligero

Top post and the PB’s must make you very happy 👏👏

[james Cutler]

Great story. Super photos.

Well done.