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Oz 2013 report 4


Snatcher

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For this trip I had my UK fishing buddy with me - Steve Pope. Those coarse fishermen amongst you may know the name as he is one of the top barbel anglers in the UK. Check him out here - - Steve Pope Barbel Fishing -


We decided on Little Manly Point Park as the venue,firstly because it is a known big fish spot and secondly thunderstorms were due and this place had two shelters. Also Steve had no waterproofs.


This was our fishing spot


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Check out Steve with the thunderstorm creeping up on us


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On the way to the mark we picked up some fresh squid at the local fish market. I also asked the lad if he had any "fishbits" and he gave me a right good selection of fish heads/bits of swordfish and tuna.


We set up on the bottom with running ledgers with the spools backed right off for safety. Livebaiting with yellowtail here is the way to go for the bigger species but try as we might we just could not get any tiddlers - by fair means or foul !!!!!


The heavens then opened with the storm above us,we were thankful for the shelter

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During the storm my rod violently jerked over and the line started screaming off the reel. This is it I thought as I had a large fish head/squid cocktail on. It was not to be,this large crow had just flown into my line.


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After the storm the sun got out and it got quite hot for an Autumn day. Again my reel screamed off to a fish head bait but the fish dropped the bait again. We tried all methods here including float fishing and lure fishing.


Eventually I did get a decent bite on ledgered squid and after a decent fight on light gear managed to get this bream in. A couple of quick photos and back it went.


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Shortly after this Steve was into a fish which proved to be a flounder - a new species for him.


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Fishing wise it had been poor but the craic and the venue were great. I still have not caught my flathead yet but fingers crossed as I still have 3 weeks to go.


John

Edited by Snatcher

 

 

Fishing digs on the Mull of Galloway - recommend

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Me when I had hair

 

 

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G'day mate, that 'bream' happens to be a squire aka small snapper, Chrysophrys Aurata

True enough Bob, but it IS a member of the Sparidae, despite it being variously known as Aussie Red Snapper, Squire, Old Man Snapper, Cockney, Red Bream, or Small Snapper - so Snatcher was quite right to recognise it as one of the sea breams.

 

True snappers (Lutjaninae) include such fish as Mangrove Jack, Hussar, Moses Perch, as well as a few that actually have "snapper" in their name.

 

Have just been to Jamaica fishing for deep-water snappers, such as Yelloweye (aka Silk) and Cardinal Snappers.

 

Caught in 1000 ft of water, you can only fish for the pot, as bringing them up from a thousand feet kills them - fortunately they are good eating.

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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True enough Bob, but it IS a member of the Sparidae, despite it being variously known as Aussie Red Snapper, Squire, Old Man Snapper, Cockney, Red Bream, or Small Snapper - so Snatcher was quite right to recognise it as one of the sea breams.

 

True snappers (Lutjaninae) include such fish as Mangrove Jack, Hussar, Moses Perch, as well as a few that actually have "snapper" in their name.

 

Have just been to Jamaica fishing for deep-water snappers, such as Yelloweye (aka Silk) and Cardinal Snappers.

 

Caught in 1000 ft of water, you can only fish for the pot, as bringing them up from a thousand feet kills them - fortunately they are good eating.

But he only called it for a bream (Acanthopagrus Australis)..as opposed to snapper, or sea bream.

 

1000 ft...Was reading an article on NZ fishing and blokes fishing that deep and having to wait 5 minutes for 2lb sinkers to find bottom. Imagine the D curve in the line at that depth!

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Cheers, Bobj.

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1000 ft...Was reading an article on NZ fishing and blokes fishing that deep and having to wait 5 minutes for 2lb sinkers to find bottom. Imagine the D curve in the line at that depth!

 

Depends on your end rig.

 

When we fish for skate off the West coast of Scotland, in 600 ft plus, we use a leger, and you have to let that sink slowly, or else the weight overtakes the bait, with the likelihood of the bait getting wrapped around the main line. So yes, 5 minutes would be about right.

 

In Jamaica we used paternosters, and you can let the rig plummet straight down. Once on the bottom, you get hold of the line below the rod tip (rod in a rocket holder) and feel for the bites by hand. The line is braid, so you need a finger stall if fishing for some hours. Some snappers are fierce biting and hook themselves, but one or two, like the Caribbean Queen Snapper, Etelis oculatus, are gentle biters, and need to be struck instantly or you have an empty hook. The rod tip is not sensitive enough, hence the need for hands-on-the-line. Once struck and hooked, you revert to the rod. If you want it easy, an electric powered reel takes care of winding 2 lb of lead and a few pounds of fish up from 1000 ft - none of this "pump and wind" nonsense !

 

It was interesting as something different, but I wouldn't want to fish that way for long - just long enough to add a few more species to our list - which is what we did.

Edited by Vagabond
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RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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