Spaniard, Snapper, Sweetlip: 19 April 2015

TR by Tunny, with commentary and photos by Diesel

Trip date: 19 April 2015

Participants: Diesel, Scatter, Stormin, Paul Siboni, Tunny

Launch Site:  MG

Conditions: Wind NE less than 10 knots, dropping later.  Swell 1.4 m

Keen Angler Program: None

Diesel got almost all the fishing action in the first few hours, which he described as follows: I arrived at MG just after 5 am and went and checked out the surf. It would be an easy launch with half metre waves and lots of churned white water, the Sand Monster at work. Tunny arrived soon after, closely followed by Paul  and Stormin . We all said our good mornings and then got down to the preparations for a day on the bay. The launch was uneventful and we all made it out back to set up our trolling gear then headed for the shoal. I arrived first and put out a floating bait of cut Mack Tuna  and loaded the paternoster with Mack Tuna cut baits and squid and got under way. Just before 6 am I had a big hit on the paternoster and after a short battle I boated a 40 cm Sweetlip Emperor which was a first for me. Over the side went the paternoster again and within 10 minutes I had another big hit on the bottom bashing gear. The struggle was similar to the last one but this one turned out to be a 43 cm Snapper. In the hatch it  went, the day is getting better. All went quiet for 20 minutes then mother of all hits got my attention. A big hit and a short run which I pulled up quickly. I managed to get a few metres back then it reefed me and nothing I could do would move it. The stalemate lasted 15 minutes and then it broke me off.  I picked up a few rubbish reef fish in the next hour but it seemed my day was over and Tunny's was just beginning.  Tunny's comments as follows:

By 8 am nothing else had been caught.  I had been trolling Halco lures and jigging soft plastics without success.  Although I normally troll a weighted pilchard I decided to switch to hard body lures and soft plastics given the recent successes of Stormin and Eyetag who used lures and soft plastics to nail Tuna in the bay.  I started to doubt my choice with the success Diesel was having with bait.  These doubts were reinforced when Scatter who had been trolling a weighted dead bait reported a very strong run but the fish, which he suspects was a large Spaniard, bit through the wire.  I trolled my Halco and jigged the soft plastics at Jew Shoal for another half an hour when Scatter and Paul announced they were heading back to MG. Stormin, Diesel and I decided to go back via Little Halls.  

About 300 m from Jew Shoal my reel started screaming, with a very strong fast run as about 100 m of line was stripped off.  The fish felt a lot stronger than anything I had hooked recently and the initial run was followed by three shorter but equally strong runs.  I radioed that I was onto something decent and Stormin replied that he had also hooked up but had been bitten off.  After a good fight I had a large Spaniard next to the Kayak.  Diesel paddled closer to capture the fish being gaffed and lifted into the hatch.

Gaffing the Spaniard (photo by Diesel)

Going into the hatch (photo by Diesel)

Stormin and Diesel continued on to Halls reef while I headed towards MG trolling the same Halco lure. There were a few birds diving near the river mouth but I arrived back at MG without any further action.  Paul was just about to head in and Stormin and Diesel arrived about 15 minutes later.  The beach landings were uneventful.

Diesel's fish

Into the Yeehah Zone