# 7.6kg Snapper by Matt on his first time out



## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Some of the family flew in from NZ for a few days holiday and I asked if Matt would be interested in going out kayak fishing with me on Sat morning, 
He had a few options, [1] off to Brisbane to see the Art Gallery with Mum and Dad  or [2] the Gold Coast Show with my daughter and her girl friends :? , it was a hard choice I know, :lol: :lol: 
But with a bit of reassurance to every one that I would look after him and not take any risks, it was on. 
The weather was looking good for Sat NW at 5 knots changing to NE later in the morning,
We arrived at Kingscliff at 6.45 am thinking we would get a easy run straight out the creek mouth to the reef with no swell, not to be, I could see us getting into trouble with Matt's first time in a my old Scupper Pro but he said he was confident after a few instructions and a bit of a paddle around the creek, I think I was more nervus than he was, :shock: :shock: 
I needn't have worried, he did a fine job paddling out through a bit of swell and didn't look like falling off, 
I set him up with one rod with a X/ Rap lure, no gaff, pliers or knife and I was trolling a smaller X/ Rap in the pilchard colourers. 
We had only paddled 5 min and he was on to a fish, you ripper a small bonito, it was good to see him catch a fish   
We paddled around for another hour with out any hits so decided to jig up some livies and to see if we could get better results, I had only started jigging when I noticed Matt was on to another fish so I headed over to take a few pics, just another bonito I am thinking, as I got closer I could see it was a bigger fish with a good bent in the rod and he was doing every thing right taking his time and working the fish back to the yak every time it went for a run. 8) 8) 
Five min later he said he could see the fish and it looked like a Snapper, my first thoughts were a small snapper hey that would be nice to add to his first trip out, then he said it a big one, by this time he had it up to the yak and the line got rapped around the rod tip at the leader knot and the snapper went for one last dash and I thought it was all over, it just about rolled him out of the kayak, I don't know how he hung on Gee he has good balance, :shock: :shock: :shock: 
By this time he had the Snappers head out of the water, Holy hell that is a big fish and I didn't give him a gaff what do we do now, we don't want to lose him, Matt managed to slip his hand into his gills and get a good hold on him and I paddled in to give him a hand to remove the lure hooks. 
I am Gob Smacked what a Snapper and what a job you did to land him, well done Matt.   
The next two hours went by with out much happening except for a pod of dolphins and a small turtle cruise past, the wind stared to pick up as predicted about 9.30 so we packed up and headed in with one very happy fisherman, he said we don't even get them that big in NZ, 
By the way I came home with out a fish not even a bump,
I know which X Rap I will be using next time. ;-)


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

I have two more good pics of Matt.


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## Shorty (May 11, 2008)

Well done to the young fella,,,he should break the 10 kg barrier very soon


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

You would make a good fishing guide Stu, putting the young fella onto a big Snapper like that one ;-) Nice report  BTW, how did you go on re-entry to the shore - no dumpings this time?


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## couta1 (Sep 10, 2005)

good fish mate...sure you want to go back to NZ??


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## Dave73 (Dec 3, 2006)

Top effort, looks like a great day..

Nice looking scupper pro also... 8)


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## tugga (Mar 24, 2008)

Bloody well done Matt !!! It's hard to beat a fish like that.


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

hmm, i'll be in kingscliff by the end of this week. any places there to hire a yak?


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## SharkNett (Feb 20, 2006)

Great report and effort by the young fella. You should realise tho you are only encouraging more southerners to make the place more crowded.


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## kingbull (Jul 29, 2007)

thats a nice looking snap. good work.


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

Awesome fish!

The last photo in the first post looks like there's a shark coming up fast from the other side of the yak.


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Bugger me dead that is a nice fish.

Let me guess the snapper hit after he stopped or at a change in pace?


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

damn fine effort.
can you take me out some time :lol:


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## samrota (Mar 27, 2008)

Well done. Bloody nice fish there


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

that is truly awesome.fingers in the gills was a masterstroke congrats


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## Joffa (Nov 8, 2007)

4th Photo.......Looks like something big coming in for a bite! Awesome Red!


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## couta1 (Sep 10, 2005)

4th photo...i reckons its a water smudge on the lens???...what u think spottymac


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

4th photo, looks like a Bonito and an X Rap to me...

Incredible fish man, amazing stuff and kudos for the non assisted lifting on board.

Very nice of you Spottymac btw!


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Very nice fish there Matt. Stu what colour was the succesful XRap?


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## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

Great fish Matt!
Good on ya Stu for showing him the ropes!!


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## jimbo (Nov 19, 2007)

Well done Stu
We took a first timer out on Saturday and he caught one around 3kg, also a nice fish.
Me ? Still fishless, thats about 8 trips in a row now i think !!!!
And to make things worse, i lost a nice jew off the rocks during the week also ! Aaarrrgghhh !


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## Wattie (Apr 30, 2007)

Great fish and a great report. 

Well done to all ;-)


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## AGE (Oct 7, 2007)

paulo said:


> Very nice fish there Matt. Stu what colour was the succesful XRap?


Also curious. What colour and depth Plllllllllllllleeeeeeease!!!!!


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

That'll do me :? . I think I'll stop reading trip reports now. It's not good for my health.


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Paul 1 and 2- Matt was using a SXR14S Silver XRap, he may have stopped paddling when the snapper hooked up I am not sure I was re rigging at the time to jig for a livie,

arpie - didn't use S P the big HB did the trick

Paffoh - the 4th pic is a bonito Matts first fish,

Davey.G - I am not sure about yak hire in Kingsliff, Give Graig a ring at Adventure Outlet he has a Prowler for hire set up for fishing. 0755712929, I might be able to catchup with you for a fish and you can use the Scupper Pro.

Cuda - I have only ever caught one snapper of about that size before, I don't think I would make a very good fishing guide.
Matt handled the re entry to the creek mouth like a pro, 8) I almost stuffed up and ended up on the rocks. :twisted:

Couta - had Snapper for tea last night   its the best,

My apology for the late reply on your Q but where dose the time go, :? :?


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## petanquedon (May 27, 2008)

Another convert?

Looked like a great day.

Did someone point out to him that it is bad etiquette to out fish the host?
:lol:


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## Joffa (Nov 8, 2007)

Im gonna cry.....Port Philip better turn it on soon!


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

bloody beauty, what a top result for a first time yakker... 8)


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Great post, and a top result!

I must say I have been very wary of lifting fish by the gills....and I learn from this, that with snapper it must be fairly safe.

Just a word of warning though, if catching an Estuary cod.....do not put your fingers in the gill slots...whether the fish dead of alive, it is very very hard to get your fingers out again, and I suspect the chances of injury, are quite high. Lots of very nasty sharp almost tooth like projections in there!

Well done again, magnificent fish!

Cheers Andybear


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