Seaford Early session on Snapper 06/12/2015

[Gray]

I have not had much luck on the reds so far but, decided to head out from Frankston early morning yesterday and got to the ramp around 5am. We turned right after exiting the creek and started sounding around 12-14m depth to mark allot of bait fish on the sounder, but no solid arches. We sounded for about 35mins and finally spotted a nice arch, so we decided to give it go. Got the burley going and set the lines but every time the baits were getting nibbled by something small. Sometimes we were reeling in baits where only the pilchard backbone was left (Can anyone tell me what might be doing this?) After about 1 hour.. a rod finally screams off and my mate grabs it.. it was a solid big red which put up a massive fight.. we got him to the side of the boat only to discover we forgot to bring the landing net… So the only way to get him in is to try and tail grab the big fella and lift.. As I made a grab for it, he give one last kick and the hook pulls out.. noooo off he swims.

Well we are shattered but never mind, we keep fishing and get hassled by a few pinkies chewing up baits. After about another hour a rod screams off and my mate picks it up.. yep it’s another solid fish which took about 10mins to get him to the boat. We wanted to make sure he was fully played out before making a grab to get it on board. Finally he comes to the surface floating on his side and I nervously make a grab for the tail. With a quick lift I pull him over the side and land him on the floor.. WooHoo! A cracking red about 5.5kgs and the first for my mate who has never caught a snapper before. We fished in the same spot for another couple of hours but only managed a few more pinkies which were released.. but the 1 big fish made the day a success.

[Fish-Hunter]

Never mind the lost Red, consider it a catch & release The red you landed at 5.5kg is a solid fish "well done" :thumbsup:

[williwonder]

Well done on the red.
Pickers have made it hard to keep a decent bait on recently.
The small snapper and flatties seem to even have a go at the silver whiting baits, not sure what bait is best to use to keep a bait ready for a red to eat at the moment.

[Scraglor]

Ive found if its still dark, most of the time when a pillie skeleton comes up its due to sea lice.

Great catch on the red though!

[bowl]

Great read... Loved it.

[Nude up]

Nice work pity you left the net at home