# SA metro 4/8/2012... Did that really happen?



## Drewboy

A couple of weeks ago I thought to myself, I'd like to scale right down to see what it would be like to catch a small snapper on my lightweight whiting rig.
But seriously, I gave it away as an idea of pure whimsy.
Today I got onto the job of going for the snaps on the big rod and at the same time trying for the occasional KG on the "Dropshot" rod with Diawa Lecalis 2000 reel w/10 lb braid and 8lb leader.
Solatree and Squidley had already recorded some interesting catches prior to my friend Ian and I arriving.
However, I'll let Andy and Chris insert their story if they wish.
After a pair of nice KG's came aboard for me, Ian found himself with a real handful to deal with.
His rod was telling us all that he and it were being tested by something a little larger than usual. 









79cm... Not bad for his third time out fishing for snapper.


















Then Andy and Chris headed home with some great catches also, and shortly after that, a good snap(60cm) jumped onto my bigger rod.
Then my idle dreaming from weeks ago suddenly morphed into reality.
Old Dood had had a similar experience recently and that was what had probably triggered my imagination.
My whiting rig took off in a northerly direction attached to something that I'd never felt on that rod before and no matter how much line I wound back, I knew I was in for a long but careful fight as it truly stripped any retrieved line rapidly.
Letting slip the anchor was first on my agenda as my yak was facing south.
A 180degree turn and making some good ground, I was now a 100metres away from my anchor float.
A fair bit of circle work followed, and at the same time a determination to at least get colour.
10 minutes later and glorious red and white flashed near the surface... with my net resting in the water and then seeing my yak, it dived back to the bottom rapidly.
Then gradually starting the process again and with out rushing things it was finally worn out as I had colour on the surface and into the net and onto the yak very smartly.
A big sigh followed by stunned amazement at just how small the hook was that held onto this 69cm Snapper.









Size 3 circle hook!!!









Great day all round really, especially as the whiting(thanks to wonderful wife with great beer batter skills) went down beautifully just before I wrote this post.


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## Geoffw

What can I say? bloody awesome.


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## solatree

Well done Drew and Ian ! Great fish all around.


Drewboy said:


> Solatree and Squidly had already recorded some interesting catches prior to my friend Ian and I arriving.
> However, I'll let Andy and Chris insert their story if they wish.


Prior to Drew and Ian arriving, I got Splashed, Shagged, Snapped, Shitted & Swallowed - plenty of expletives -


solatree said:


> One of them was in admiration at Ian's fish - which he landed without net or lip grippers. It was a hand under the gills job - and the leader had frayed so much it snapped as we tried to remove the hook. Hopefully Drew has some photos to add.


Here's the rest of the report - viewtopic.php?f=17&t=56286


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## Ado

And I get flathead snapping 2/0 jig heads. I always fish 10lb braid and leader. Am I doing something else wrong?
Great report Drewboy and a cracker red one.


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## Squidley

Haha wow, Ian's going to get some weird ideas about what fishing's like with all the trips like this  That's a beautiful fish! And what a thrilling catch that snacking snap of yours was.

I got this 62 cm model:








But after short-roping my anchor twice trying to line up with Solatree and having one layer too few under my spray jacket I headed in. Great stuff, guys.


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## solatree

Bloody nice fish Chris - You kept quiet about that - thats bigger than you thought at first isn't it ? Well done. Pretty amazing morning all around really - what with the fog rolling in, shags, dolphins - jumping catfish thingy - and all four of us getting 60cm+ fish !


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## Squidley

Yeah, that was a memorable trip. It was pretty cool seeing Ian and Drew emerge from the fog.


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## Drewboy

Squidley said:


> Haha wow, Ian's going to get some weird ideas about what fishing's like with all the trips like this  That's a beautiful fish! And what a thrilling catch that snacking snap of yours was.
> 
> I got this 62 cm model:


Nice Snap Chris... Sorry you had to leave prematurely.
You're right on the money with the whole concept of Ian landing amongst the big fishs so soon.
The many hours spent getting to where we are currently makes for a sense of enormous satisfaction when finally things fall into place.
And things can only get better.


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## Zilch

Sensational ! ! ! 

Well done to all.

Great post Drew 8)

Steve


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## Batron

Drew...... Awsome Dude and great post to . thanks. :shock:


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## kayakone

"... Diawa Lecalis 2000 reel w/10 lb braid and 8lb leader."

The reel I can believe, even the braid, but the leader is too light, and _the hook is ridiculous._ :shock: :shock:

Was that a circle hook? Size? *Anyway, excellent patience in playing the fish, and with the leader like that, and, a bit of luck thrown in.*

Congrats to all SA snap catchers. Truly amazing to get so many large fish in one day.

trev


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## ArWeTherYet

The Snapps are going off in SA. I can remember when I first joined this forum that the SA guys were lamenting that the Snapper grounds were too far out to paddle to, seems that they come in close to.

Nice fish, well done.

"2000 reel w/10 lb braid and 8lb leader" Same same. Sometimes I'll drop down to 6lb leader when I'm feeling game.


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## Drewboy

"AreWeTherYet" wrote
"2000 reel w/10 lb braid and 8lb leader" Same same. Sometimes I'll drop down to 6lb leader when I'm feeling game.

That would be tempting fate for me.


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## Squidley

I bet most of the fish's lip was thicker than the gap in that hook. Good thing the line wasn't strong enough to straighten it out


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## Drewboy

kayakone said:


> "... Diawa Lecalis 2000 reel w/10 lb braid and 8lb leader."
> 
> The reel I can believe, even the braid, but the leader is too light, and _the hook is ridiculous._ :shock: :shock:
> 
> Was that a circle hook? Size? *Anyway, excellent patience in plating the fish, and with the leader like that, and, a bit of luck thrown in.*
> 
> Congrats to all SA snap catchers. Truly amazing to get so many large fish in one day.
> 
> trev


Yep, Hence the title... "Did that really happen?" I'm still pinching myself.

Thanks for the compliment kayakone, but I think there was a good amount of luck involved. One real burst of frantic energy and I wonder if it would have broken the braid or leader easily.
I'm still getting over the hook that did it. Size 3 circle.


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## Drewboy

leftieant said:


> That's a very good catch, and especially on the light gear. Well done.
> 
> I was fishing that general area earlier in the year (late Feb), and had a similar experience. We'd launched from West Beach, and were somewhere between Glenelg and Brighton in about 15m of water. I had a whiting rig on a 1-2kg dropshot and a 2000 series reel, with 6lb braid. I managed to get one snap in the high 40's on the whiting rig (No 6 long shanks on a patenoster rig with cockles), and then switched to chucking around soft plastics on the same rig, getting another high 40's fish.
> 
> It was no 70+ fish, but it certainly gave me some curry!
> 
> Gotta love light gear fishing. Fantastic.


The best bit was that the bigger snap came in courtesy of a squid's tentacle that had been carefully threaded onto the whiting hook only 45 minutes after it had been a nuisance sucking on my pilchard on the snapper rig.
The rest of the head had also brought in the 60cm Snap 30 minutes earlier.


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## Ubolt

Well done on a great capture on light gear. I throw soft plastics at snapper on my bream gear. My old man always says what would happen if you hooked a big one. I would like to think I could


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## Meadows

Wow...nice work.


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## Drewboy

indiedog said:


> You guys are going nuts. What's turned the fish on like that? Or have you all just cracked the secret?


Like most things in life, a serious investment in effort will eventually pay dividends. Mind you, that also depends on lady luck and one realizing whether or not you are on a hiding for no good reason.
Not so it seems.


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## OldDood

indiedog said:


> You guys are going nuts. What's turned the fish on like that? Or have you all just cracked the secret?


Well actually Indiedog I think we all have a very knowledgable garbo to thank for our recent catches.
He very generously gave me a few tips a couple of years back and the word has got around.
Jon the garbo is a fishing magician.
He also got this guy started - http://www.snapperfishing.com.au/
Regards,
Mark.


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## Drewboy

Apologies to Jon, along with my yellowfin whiting friend at Seacliff, who both initially got us started on a good region, for not acknowledging their part in enabling us to pursue the snaps.
As well as these guys, another notable clue from a worthy source more recently has been very thankfully received.
There is black art that these guys(particularly Jon) and one or two of his cohorts understand that puts us mere mortals well and truly in the shade.
It's just up to us to jump onto the scent and work with it and then fine tune it as best we can. 
Every week is a another building block.


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## Ubolt

Has anyone done that snapper tutorial thing. It's really intriguing


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## GlenelgKiller

Drewboy said:


> Apologies to Jon, along with my yellowfin whiting friend at Seacliff, who both initially got us started on a good region, for not acknowledging their part in enabling us to pursue the snaps.
> As well as these guys, another notable clue from a worthy source more recently has been very thankfully received.
> There is black art that these guys(particularly Jon) and one or two of his cohorts understand that puts us mere mortals well and truly in the shade.
> It's just up to us to jump onto the scent and work with it and then fine tune it as best we can.
> Every week is a another building block.


Very cryptic ..... and laced with mysterious undertones :lol: is there an initiation involved (im only willing to go so far!). I wouldn't have thought heavy robes were safe kayaking attire!!


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## kanganoe

Thats an awesome run of metro fishing you blokes are enjoying.You may need counselling when it comes to an end.


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## Squidley




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## Squidley

indiedog said:


> Any tips for the mortals?


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## GlenelgKiller

Squidley said:


> indiedog said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any tips for the mortals?
Click to expand...

Gold!


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## OldDood

Ubolt said:


> Has anyone done that snapper tutorial thing. It's really intriguing


I have not done the course, but I know Wayne Smith personally.
Wayne is the real deal. He is just a tiny bit compulsive. :lol: He has honed every part of snapper fishing to a very pointy end.
The main reason I would not do his course is because it would turn snapper fishing into snapper shopping and that would be boring.  
P.S. He has told me none of his secrets nor would I ask as I want to find out for myself.
Regards,
Mark


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## OldDood

indiedog said:


> OldDood said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well actually Indiedog I think we all have a very knowledgable garbo to thank for our recent catches.
> He very generously gave me a few tips a couple of years back and the word has got around.
> Jon the garbo is a fishing magician.
> 
> 
> 
> Any tips for the mortals?
Click to expand...

I could give you some tips but then I would be forced to kill you by the Secret Society of Snapper Masters. :lol:


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## solatree

indiedog said:


> You're all bastards down that way. :lol:


Thats really unfair.....

Dunny is bastard, thats true and Drew is mostly a bastard much of the time, and I'm a bit of a bastard occasionally, but Squidley is not a bastard at all - he seems quite a nice bloke.


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## Squidley

yeah the owl thing is a real tip


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## Murphysegg

> is there an initiation involved


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## GlenelgKiller

As long as it isnt this!


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## Ado

Is that Stuart Broad?


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## GlenelgKiller

Ado said:


> Is that Stuart Broad?


Cracking one through the covers


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## Squidley

I do most of the paddling, though Andy tries it out sometimes


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## solatree

Squidley said:


> I do most of the paddling, though Andy tries it out sometimes


only when its really rough do I get the paddle out - then its the way to go !


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## OldDood

Squidley said:


> yeah the owl thing is a real tip


Andy, I am not sure about Squidley not being a bastard?
I think some of his clever posts, like the one above, would qualify him as a smart bastard or at least a sly bastard. :lol:


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## Guest

Well done, you guys are on fire.

Although I was catching snapper before it became cool ;-)


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## Drewboy

Kelvin said:


> Well done, you guys are on fire.
> 
> Although I was catching snapper before it became cool ;-)


Ah yes Kelvin, I can still picture that first fish... I may be wrong but did you catch it inside the blocks at Glenelg two and a half years ago? Whatever the case, it certainly impressed me.
Drew


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## solatree

Drewboy said:


> Apologies to Jon, *along with my yellowfin whiting friend at Seacliff*, who both initially got us started on a good region, for not acknowledging their part in enabling us to pursue the snaps.


I took that "Yellowfin Whiting Friend" to be the one and only Kelvin - because, yes, I too recall Kelvin's first metro snapper - an April catch in 2008 - followed by a couple in April 2010. And info he provided in his posts helped me on first two metro snaps - also April 2010. And so we learn't from what Kelvin started. He also taught Drew how to catch YFW !


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## Guest

I'm sure you guys could teach me plenty. You have really taken it to the next level.

Who would have thought 5 years ago that the metro shallow water snapper fishery could be so good?


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## Drewboy

Kelvin gave me a master class yonks ago on yellowfin at Seacliff and I enjoyed the whole concept immensely.
As much as I liked sight fishing for yellowfin, I sucked at it.
Best score ... maybe 8 fish. And as recently as last summer I still hadn't distinguished mysel much at all.
But I am thankful to Kelvin nevertheless.
However the fellow I was raferring to was another yellowfin fisherman who seemed to be there every weekend.
He was a very generous chap... Gave me a bunch of blood worms on one occasion that helped lift my average.
It was he who told me about The Snapper between Glenelg and Brighton at about the same time Jon told OldDood.
Jon was feeding Mark further "bag out" snippets that made us all sit up and pay attention.
Particularly with relation to timing... And this is when we started recording small successes.


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## kayakone

Kelvin said:


> I'm sure you guys could teach me plenty. You have really taken it to the next level.
> 
> Who would have thought 5 years ago that the metro shallow water snapper fishery could be so good?


Ditto for Redcliffe Qld. Beekeeper and his mates (maybe AWTY too, and others) have been catching big snapper in 3 - 6 metre water for years (if you call 94 cm big - on that day, 30 mins later, he caught a 90 cm one). But mostly on SP's. It does dispel the deep water snapper myth.

trev


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