# SA - a few more metro ruggers...and a couple of bigger ones



## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Had a very short window of opportunity this morning - a family commitment at 10am (and the need to be cleaned up for it) meant I had to be off the water by about 8.30am. Conditions were supposed to be pretty good, but a choppy swell and 12knot wind greeted me through a gloomy dawn at 6.30am. After a little hesitation, I launched through the waves and made my way out. With quite a peaky swell, it was too rough to anchor so I decided to drift. I sent out a pillie on one rod and started to cast a gulp minnow on the other but the wind and swell made fishing with 2 rods pretty difficult and after about two casts I retired my second rod. Just as I did, a good run on the pillie - but missed it. Next pillie, another good run and 42 cm rugger snapper was in the net. That was the start of a good session despite the tricky conditions. I had my Gulf St Vincent bag limit for these size fish pretty quickly (max is 5) - a last try for a bigger fish (you are allowed 2 over 60cm in addition to the 5 under 60cm) resulted in a 45cm fish which was returned to the water. Decided time it was I should head back and I was back on the beach (after a nervous return through the waves) at 8 am - feeling pretty satisfied.


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

You are the man Andy.
Nice bunch of ruggers, there is a lot to be said in fishing your own backyard.  
Rapid bay was pretty much a donut except for RobC catching a Kingy early on and that was followed by a lot of nothing by the rest of us pretty much.
I think I will go back to fishing the local spots instead of heading off all over the countryside. :? 
Great catch mate, congratulations.
Was the water at Glenelg dirty?


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## rodandreel (Jun 15, 2010)

Well done .And what a nice feed u will have


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## flea (Jan 24, 2008)

Nice catch Andrew, 
you have the schnapps jumping in the yak :lol:


OldDood said:


> You are the man Andy.
> Nice bunch of ruggers, there is a lot to be said in fishing your own backyard.
> Rapid bay was pretty much a donut except for RobC catching a Kingy early on and that was followed by a lot of nothing by the rest of us pretty much.
> I think I will go back to fishing the local spots instead of heading off all over the countryside. :?
> ...


RobC purchased a yak with Mojo Olddood that's why he was on early :lol:, I thought he must have paddled of into the sunset since his purchase I have been looking for his piscatorial reports ;-) :lol: .

Cheers
Kym.


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## RobC (Jun 13, 2010)

Very nice mornings work Andy 8) hope you're good run keeps going!

Hey Kym...all's great with the Outback, 3rd trip out, still finding my legs, but doing OK so far! Blue is THE colour of the mojo! Hope all went OK for you on your trip down to Adelaide and all that.


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## simond (Feb 15, 2008)

Nice work Andy
Good to see the "local fish" are bigger than the ones we en counted at Wallaroo last week  
Have to get onto those local fish myself ;-)


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

Very well done Andy....and in such a small time-frame.


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## Milky (Feb 7, 2010)

Great session there Andrew - didnt think that was possible so close to home, maybe the Olddood has a point???

Must say I was over the moon seeing RobC catching the kingy today tho - think you should pick the next spot ;-)


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## skorgard (Oct 6, 2007)

Andrew you seem to do it every time. I saw your post that you were going out for a dawn raid - thought of joining you - looked at the weather, thought naaah - my mistake.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

skorgard said:


> Andrew you seem to do it every time.


If only Paul....if only. Plenty of dounuts and lean times like everyone (don't post those) but enjoy every trip and learn a little bit each time I get out with our SA forum mates and from reading about others' successes around the country. Its one of the great things about this place. But its certainly nice to have been rewarded with being in the right spot at the right time the last couple of trips


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## Guest (Feb 20, 2011)

Well done Solatree

Great to see a bag of metro ruggers. Great eating size as well.
They should be in close for at least another 2 to 3 months, especially after any rain/ rough weather.

I have also heard a few rumors of more fish coming from the jetty late at night ;-)


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## kraaken (Jun 6, 2008)

Bloody hell Andrew - nice catch! I was fishing off the beach at Tennyson for yellowfin yesterday morning, looking out at the breakers wondering how the Rapid Bay crew and any other punters were coping with the waves. I think I would've needed a PA to tempt me out into them - reward favours the brave!

And nice catch Rob C...have you cooked him up yet, or was it caught and released?


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## FishSlap (Nov 14, 2010)

Nice one Andrew, some good fish there. Managed to get in some fishing myself this weekend  it's been awhile, there were spider's webs in my wheels....a sorry state of afairs.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

FishSlap said:


> Managed to get in some fishing myself this weekend


Good to hear you got out Brenton - how and where did you go ?


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## Rockster (Sep 7, 2007)

Love ya work Andy, absolutely smashing catch there.  When I saw the conditions that morning I wasn't sorry I was going to work,  but after reading that report .......... 

Cheers


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## KhoisanX (Aug 27, 2009)

Those are superb panfish!

It's been almost 18 months now since I've been a member of this forum. In that time I've seen discussions progress from "how do we catch Snapper from our yaks in Adelaide?" to the point where "Metro Snapper" or something to that affect is becoming more and more frequent in the trip reports. This is called "working it out" and is the ultimate goal; knowing what to fish for, where, when, and how. Persistence is the key, with the learning curve lengthy at times, that's angling.

Payback for all your time spent - congrats on an excellent effort Andrew.

Looks like a few here are starting to put serious work into the "how do we catch a Kingy......" question now! No doubt much entertainment to come yet.

Cheers

Hank

EDIT - 10 mins later......bloody hell, now OldDood and Drewboy too, I'm speechless. Well done fellas, same guys producing the results, go figure!!!!


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Really nice city fish Sola. What water depths are you generally working out there in Adelaide?


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

spooled1 said:


> what water depths are you generally working out there in Adelaide


I caught these fish in about 3.5m-4m of water Dan - they come in close when conditions are right, especially after rough conditions. The AKFF Kayak crew in SA have got them up to 80cm in these depths at the right times, generally within 500m of the shore - my best is 69cm. Fish that size are great fun on light gear in the relatively shallow water.

The stink boats generally head out deeper to the artificial reefs/wrecks in the gulf to hunt snapper in about 15-20m but these are quite a bit further offshore.


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## FishSlap (Nov 14, 2010)

solatree said:


> FishSlap said:
> 
> 
> > Managed to get in some fishing myself this weekend
> ...


......Sorry it's taken awhile to reply, just back from the road trip from hell.
Ardrossan as the weather and tides were in my favour. On the water at dawn which was just before high tide. My aim was to catch a snapper so no mucking about trolling/flicking round for ST. Anchored straight away and put out some burley. Fished using pieces of mackerel on a circle hook with a running sinker. Would have caught about a dozen undersized ruggers in less than a couple of hours before I decided to concentrate on flicking a gulp minnow round some structure (in the burly trail). Leaving the gulp for a few minutes on the bottom and using a fairly slow retrieve seemed to attract some attention and finally got one 40cm keeper.  Busting my cherry with the first snapper landed on the yak! (ones you have to put back don't count) 
Later I caught 3 good sized trevally on a smaller circle hook. One almost matching the snapper for size which certainly provided some fun on lighter tackle.
Off the water at 9am, after casting off my favorite squid jig on the return journey  
Not to worry, a nice feed of fish was had. Beer battered snapper on Saturday night and thai red curry trevally the next will certainly ensure I get a leave pass to fish again in the near future


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Good catch Brenton - I like the trevs - and reckon they eat as well the snaps. Interesting that you did well on the gulp. I think when the small one around, its harder to get the baits to bigger fish. I reckon fish heads are then a good option if you have them.


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## Milky (Feb 7, 2010)

I'll tell you in the morning, will try using tommies



solatree said:


> Good catch Brenton - I like the trevs - and reckon they eat as well the snaps. Interesting that you did well on the gulp. I think when the small one around, its harder to get the baits to bigger fish. I reckon fish heads are then a good option if you have them.


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Milky said:


> I'll tell you in the morning, will try using tommies
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Good luck Adrian,
Hope you and Drew have a fishful session.
Get the burley trail going and cube every 20 or so seconds! Drew knows what I mean.


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## Milky (Feb 7, 2010)

Think they have headed for deeper waters - Drew and I drew a blank - huh that sounds ominous

Anyhow as Drew was putting his kayak away I was mucking about 75 m from shore I acciedently dropped a crab net overboard and leant over the side to retrieve and next thing I was practicing how to swim whilst tangled in fishing line (and fully clothed) Once the initial shock disappeared I gather my composure and hauled my butt back onto the PA which remained right way up thru the process. It was Saturday morning and this was right in front of a Café so &#8230;&#8230;


A few squid and crabs was all we were good for today.


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## Murphysegg (Oct 21, 2010)

> Anyhow as Drew was putting his kayak away I was mucking about 75 m from shore I acciedently dropped a crab net overboard and leant over the side to retrieve and next thing I was practicing how to swim whilst tangled in fishing line (and fully clothed) Once the initial shock disappeared I gather my composure and hauled my butt back onto the PA which remained right way up thru the process. It was Saturday morning and this was right in front of a Café so &#8230;&#8230;


I'm sure no-one was looking :lol:

I'm always conscious of coming into shore in that area in case you end up in the drink. Maybe you should have pretended it was intentional by doing a couple of circuits of the PA :lol:


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## sandyfreckle (Feb 17, 2009)

That's a nice handful of ruggers there.

Mmmmm such beautiful sweet flesh when they're like that!

An excellent result for what ended up being less than 2 hours fishing - am I right?

Cheers. Well done.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Out again this morning after the rest of the SA crew had done well during the week.

Not that optimistic after hearing of Milky and Drew's Saturday exploits


Milky said:


> Think they have headed for deeper waters - Drew and I drew a blank


Met up with Rodandreel and Skorgard at the launch and then Murphysegg out on the water. It was a pretty blowy ese and the drifts out to sea were surprisingly fast. Even the charter boats were tracking us.








Not a touch for the first hour and half so decided to anchor and berley. The others left me at about 9am and 5 mins later - my first bite and a good fish - 63cms. Five mins later, my second bite and a 53cm fish. That was it. Packed it in at about 9.40 with 2 nice fish in the hull.


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Great work Andy!
Perserverance and Burley pays off.  
I went out in a stinker all night at outer harbor for a donut, a very humid and uncomfortable night. To top it off we were plagued by mossies up to 7 kms off shore.  
Wish I had come out with you in my nice comfy outback. :lol: 
Sounds like I might be tempted for a morning session before work this week if the weather holds.
Mark


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

Top stuff Andy ... as always....I tip me lid to ya.


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## Murphysegg (Oct 21, 2010)

Good onya Andy. I admire your persistence with that howling Easterly. The conditions were deceiving from the shoreline. I came in with Donut & a bit Soggy.


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## skorgard (Oct 6, 2007)

Well that will teach me to throw the towel in early. You must have had the first one within a few minutes sof me aying cheerio. Or perhaps I am a negative FAD?

Well done as usual.


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## nugget66 (Jan 2, 2011)

Andy , bloody brilliant catch there mate . To put up with the sloppy conditions paid off , well deserved reward for your effort especially with the short time frame you had to fish in . Good to see you still hittin em hard . Keep Fishin Mate Nugget


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