The coldest AND the wettest!

Wow. Earlier in the year, Dad and I headed out Friday night after work to catch some gummy sharks. Whilst we were successful, it was freezing and we later found out that it was the coldest night of the year. Fishing last saturday for some reds, we also have now fished on the wettest day of the year. It rained, was windy and there was a substantial swell but we thought 'anyone who fishes in these conditions deserves a snapper'. We boated 5 to 42cm (Dad caught the first one @ 30cm and went quiet after that, despite having bite after bite!) but nothing decent. We also fished sunday morning where Dad resumed showing off his cod-catching prowess and I got a small gummy and a banjo. Nothing much for the weekend, the season is running out, let's start to pray!

The boys are back in town

'The boys' hit Coronet Bay last weekend. It was a fun-filled weekend tha included some bocce tournaments, wii golf games, cards and of course some fishing.

Quite windy for most of the weekend but managed a few hours on the water saturday morning. 4 in the boat for the first time ever, and apart from driving soooooo slow it was still quite comfortable and handled the conditions well. Naim, Tim, Brad and myself hit the water at a chilly 4am. The fish didn't play the game until about 6am when Tim pulled in a pinkie. In the following hour we missed many bites (Smaller pinkies I think) and kept 4 between 35-40cm.

A move as the outgoing tide slowed to 14m just off French Island saw some great gummy action. Naim scored 2 (See pic) and I scored 1. Naim's best was about 6-7kg. We also pulled in port jackson sharks, banjo sharks, cod and leopard sharks. All on board probably caught between 10-15 fish each (Including the undesirables) except poor old Brad, who didn't trouble the scorers.

Baits used were pilchards and squid, with almost all fish caught on pilchards.

The fish are on but the poll is closed

Went out for a solo session by myself last Tuesday. Hit the water at 6.30pm, off by 8.30pm with a bag-out catch. Only pinkies from 38-49cm (38, 38, 42, 44, 49) but they fed the in-laws who are now happy after 2 years of promising them some fish! Also a few banjoes and port jackson sharks, and had I stayed out after dark I'm sure there were some bigger ones around.
The action was so hot I only sat down once in the 2 hours!
As for the poll, it looks like 'By December' was the main choice, but unfortunately Parksy doesn't have any scheduled trips in the next week so that option is out.
Heading to Sandy Point mid December so might be lucky and hook a red there in amongst the whiting and gummies!

If at first you don't succeed....

The second session of the season today, this time out on Westernport. Hit the water at about 5.15 and headed over to a reef in about 11m of water near snapper rock (Sounded promising!). First run at 6am. By 7am, I had 4 reds, 38cm, 42cm, 44cm and 55cm (About 2kg - See pic) so the first official snapper for the season! It all went a bit quiet after that so we moved the other side of the rock, but nothing for 45 minutes. Headed into Mosquito Channel where the tide was heading out pretty strongly, so we upsized our lead and waited. After a few tentative bites, Dad hooked up solidly to what was a good red - Would Parksy finally land a snapper?????

This questions was answered quite quickly when it went for a head shaking run and snapped his line, just as I was getting the video camera to film it for historical purposes.. Might be time to change the mono after numerous years of wear and tear! Not much after that except 3 15kg Port Jackson Sharks (See pic) and about midday Dad landed a solid 3 foot gummy shark. Rumour has it Glen and Dad launched a couple of hours ago (Keen to get back out there) and have already hooked into some nice pinkies.

Hopefully it will be third time lucky!

C'mon Parksy

Just a little sample of what is out there!

I think your biggest problem is your fishing partner. You never going to break your duck if keep fishing with Trav... a nice new colour sounder might help too!

The First Trip Report!

Got up at 2am this morning with Dad at my house by 2.30 and on the water by a bit after 3, but we still didn't avoid all of the boats! Launched quite easily still and on the Carrum Outer Artificial by 3.30. Not a touch before daybreak, then I had 2 tentative bites (One on silver whiting, one on pilchard) that took the baits, bit them in half and spat them out. The fish were timid (Possibly due to the 130+ boats around that I counted). Dad started fishing with unweighted cubes and picked up his first 2 for the season - both @ 28cm and released. I fished a 'Nuclear Chicken' soft plastic for many, many flatties to 35cm, with all fish released.
The quest for the Big Red continues!

The next session

Heading out tomorrow from Patterson River at 3am for a 5.15am tide change and then daybreak. Hopefully there will be a few decent reds around as the reports have started to come in pretty strongly. Going to try some silver whiting, gars, squid and 140mm squidgy wrigglers in the first attempt for the season at Parksy's first big red!

The last success

snapper_sand_nov06
Originally uploaded by the_trav_1983

A few snapper I caught from Frankston, PPB on November 2006 - I think it was the last time either of us got onto some decent reds!

Just heard of a lot of reports coming out of Westernport so it may be time to dust off the rods...

The mission......

Dad is about to turn 50 next week and the poor bloke has never caught a snapper. The mission of this blog is to make sure that he catches a big red asap. His current pb stands at 47cm which is just shy of the 50cm 'officially a snapper' range. We're going to hit Westernport and Port Phillip Bay hard this year in an attempt to catch one.
This blog will be a diary of our experiences on the trips to catch some, and will hopefully receive some hints and tips along the way!
Even if we never get one, it's going to be fun trying!