# SA Seacliff surprises



## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

Old Dood and I had arranged to sniff around at South Glenelg for possible Snapper, but the waves were breaking in the beach rocks and so we rerouted our plans further south. 
Seacliff.... dawn start and very little to get excited about at the beginning.
A couple of juvenile Snook followed by a baitfish size Mackerel.
Lets turn this small-fry into an asset I thought,and so that's what it became.... a Mackerel baitfish... first time for me.
Only problem was... the rod most available only had 100 metres of 15lb.line on a smallish spool.
Oh well, hope for a "smaller" big fish.
Mistake.
After 20 minutes of little or no activity, I decided to to drop the fish closer to the bottom 40 feet below, by putting some split shot on the beginning of the 40 lb leader.
5 minutes later everything erupted as the line started screaming and the rod was bent hard.
I had enough time to grab it out of the rod holder whilst wrestling with what ever it was on the other end, only to witness what was left of the line rapidly accelerate to the end of the spool.
It must have been a shark, we reckon, as the line went slack with about a meter left on the spool. I then wound the loose line in to discover a chomped leader.
Lesson: If you want a bigger fish... expect perhaps a much bigger fish and gear up accordingly.

Later on Old Dood got onto a monster 85 cm Snook and with that called it a day, so he set off with a very contented look on his face.









I was keen to notch something of value up on my score card, so I trolled for about an hour longer and managed to get onto Old Dood's Snook's brother... another whopper 85cm.









It was a fierce piece of work to look at and even after handling many of them in the past, this one actually had me concerned that I could get damaged just bringing it into the kayak.









After that satisfaction, I decided to head in and visit the Yellowfin Whiting close inshore.
All I had was freeze-dried tube worms, but that was worth a try.
As I arrived, I recognised a friendly face... Brenton a regular on the beach, standing in the shallows, casting at the Yellow fins and doing alright. He was pulling double headers as well.
I tried for about 10 minutes with the reconstituted worms and he could tell I wasn't having any luck.
Asking if I'd like some of his bungum worms... "does Dolly Parton sleep on her back" ...I felt like saying. Generously, he handed over about 5 long worms. I was made.
Standing up on the AI and casting at these flashy fish was a real hoot, especially with great bait. (Note: Soft plastics just don't seem to work with these fish at this spot.)
Very soon the double headers were soon coming my way too, and this really put a a broad smile on my face.









An otherwise dreary start to the day reversed itself nicely.


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## Windshear (Aug 22, 2009)

Awesome feed of whiting there, I am soooo envious Drewboy! Pardon my Northerner ignorance but are the snook edible or just used for bait ??
Regards
Andy


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Well done on the Whiting Drew,
That will teach me for leaving early.  
Where do you get bungum worms from? I do not know what they look like. I am surprised the freeze dried tube worms did not work. :? 
Did you leave them to soak for at least a half an hour first.
I was'nt going to go fishing today but you have me motivated again.
I think I will go to the O'Harbor Silt grounds, dig up some tubies and then try my luck for Yellowfin when the afternoon tide comes in.
Fishing really is addictive! :lol:


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## suehobieadventure (Feb 17, 2009)

Well done some nice fish there, makes me jealous as all I am doing now is overtime and work work work !! Did manage to get on the river at 6 am yesterday after a camp at the chritmas party riverside location. The river is really badly overgrown with weed making trolling almost impossible. Switched to bait fishing for zip. Nice day though. Looks like I should have headed south but the overtime shift last night was well paid so christmas is getting paid for a bit faster :lol:


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Hi Sue,
Bad luck on the river fishing. 
What sort of weed is on the river, Duck Weed I assume, not something horrible and exotic?
There used to be a myth in SAWater that the lockies would muck up the water levels befor Christmas to make sure that all the holiday makers would't pinch all the fish. :lol: Well I hope it is a myth anyway! :twisted: 
Keep perservering,something always turns up.  
Regards,
Dunny


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Windshear said:


> Awesome feed of whiting there, I am soooo envious Drewboy! Pardon my Northerner ignorance but are the snook edible or just used for bait ??
> Regards
> Andy


Snook are edible, well they are OK fresh or smoked anyway. :lol: 
I would have swapped my snook for Drews yellowfin though anyday.


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

Hey Andy


Windshear said:


> Awesome feed of whiting there, I am soooo envious Drewboy! Pardon my Northerner ignorance but are the snook edible or just used for bait ??
> Regards
> Andy


Eaten fresh they are well received, but they can't be frozen and then cooked without flavour loss.
However, as a smoked fish they are certainly one of the best fish going.
Snook this size may work best as smoked cutlets... although I haven't done them like that, I can't see why not.
Has anybody else?


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Drew and Old Dood - what whopper Snook - great fun on light gear. What lures did you get them on ? And a terrific bag of YFW Drew. Well done !


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

solatree said:


> Drew and Old Dood - what whopper Snook - great fun on light gear. What lures did you get them on ? And a terrific bag of YFW Drew. Well done !











Hey Andrew, 
The lure I used was an 80mm(bib to tail) green Mag Minnow called the "70 Diet". I've gotta say, it seems to catch more fish than any of my lures.
Whilst drifting, I think Mark had a brown soft plastic minnow bumping along on the bottom, in about 10-15 feet of water.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Cheers Drew - We should organise a summer Yellowfin session. Old Dood knows a few spots. Like you, I've tried to get them on lures - a few half hearted nibbles on gulp worms. Did get one in the Seacliff shallows on a fresh squid tenticle a couple of weeks back. Very tasty. Has whet my appetite for more.


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

leftieant said:


> An excellent outing Gents, and glad to hear that Seacliff is starting to fire.
> 
> I'm in the negotiation phase with the better half for a Feb visit back to Adel, the kayak will be coming, and I'm looking forward to a Seacliff session - or five.


Great to hear Ant... make sure you keep us all posted.


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

solatree said:


> Cheers Drew - We should organise a summer Yellowfin session. Old Dood knows a few spots. Like you, I've tried to get them on lures - a few half hearted nibbles on gulp worms. Did get one in the Seacliff shallows on a fresh squid tenticle a couple of weeks back. Very tasty. Has whet my appetite for more.


Hi Andy,
Haven't had a lot of luck with the yellowfin lately. It might improve late in January when we get some big afternoon tides.
I will keep you posted if things improve.


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## sayaka (Oct 10, 2008)

hey drew were u sailind around 2.30 while the kayaks were racing i saw a red adventure and thought it was u but u were a fair way out. i was at seacliff got 2 big squid, 2 smaller ones, 4 yellow fin whiting and a kgw, 2 tommie ruff and a flathead on a nuclear chicken worm sp. tried trolling for snook but got nothing. where did u guys get th snook ??
rob


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

sayaka said:


> hey drew were u sailind around 2.30 while the kayaks were racing i saw a red adventure and thought it was u but u were a fair way out. i was at seacliff got 2 big squid, 2 smaller ones, 4 yellow fin whiting and a kgw, 2 tommie ruff and a flathead on a nuclear chicken worm sp. tried trolling for snook but got nothing. where did u guys get th snook ??
> rob


Straight out the front of the yacht club Sayaka about 1/2K max.
What kayak were you in?


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## sayaka (Oct 10, 2008)

i was in a revo but we also had the profish out to. we drifted toward the jetty in the later part of the day for whiting.I was trying out a new live well works well, kept squid and fish alive all day, should come in handy over xmas for live bait.
rob


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

sayaka said:


> 2 big squid, 2 smaller ones, 4 yellow fin whiting and a kgw, 2 tommie ruff and a flathead


Yum-o ...what a great seafood basket !


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## Swamp (Nov 20, 2007)

dragged the old condor down there yesterday evening. ;-)

Snook were firing, my brother and I got about a dozen between us. Some monsters too, we didn't measure them but they would have been similar size to the ones in this report. Got a feed of squid too with a jig dangled over the side on a hand line.


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## kanganoe (Apr 30, 2008)

Thats a $5 snook!


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## brenton (Sep 1, 2009)

Nicely done,i don't mind a feed of snook when they are fresh either.
cheers brenton


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## Del (Jun 23, 2009)

plan to head down there over this time period.. or hte first week of january.

love a good bit of smoked snook!

never tried the yellow fin whiting tho.. they sound a bit picky to catch..


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