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Snapper on Rapalas
- Category: Brooms Head
- Published on Saturday, 25 September 2010 12:07
- Written by Josh
This morning's yak fishing excursion out at Brooms Head was very nearly endangered by kangaroos, many of which were precariously perched on the side of the road, some of them leaping out in front of the car on cue and causing a couple of very near misses. Early mornings often make for a harrowing drive into that place, renowned for the volume of dumb road-dwelling kangaroos (the sheer amount of roadkill an obvious portent). After having dodged and weaved my way to the beach I unpacked the yak and launched into reasonably low seas. My attention drawn by some humpback whale activity a few miles out, I set sail to see what I could see, trolling a large blade lure along the way. I never did get close enough to the whales to take any photos, nor was I quick enough when a pod of dolphins swam passed a little while later. I did, however, snap off a few shots of what is possibly my personal best snapper (I don't care enough to measure them), which I hooked up trolling an hour or so afterward. That was followed by another good specimen, yet another fine double hook up result! Here's how it happened...
I was trolling over familiar territory when I spotted activity on the sounder in the form of a large baitball surrounded by fish arches. I leaned forwardf to take a mark and just after I'd pressed 'enter' to save it my rod bucked into life. Whatever had taken the blade ran hard and pulled like a tuna - hard enough to snap the 15lb line (which in hindsight, may have been damaged by reef earlier). Dammit!
By the time I'd tied on another lure I'd drifted stray of the area, but guided by the sounder/sonar, was confident of finding the fish again, which I suspected may have been tuna. This time I would troll through the action with Rapala lures trolling from either side. Sure enough, right as I entered into the mark my heavier rod was smashed and once again I had instant doubts that I'd hooked a snapper. Shark maybe, tuna if I'm lucky I thought. But no... much to my surprise a big old snapper surfaced a few minutes later, proving quite a handful to land at first.
As I dealt with the fish I started wondering on the fate of my other lure, figuring it would simply be dangling 8 - 10 metres behind the yak. But as I started reeling in I soon realised that there was more weight on than that of just the lure. A few headshakes later and my smile grew even wider. Another nice fish boated!
With fish in the bag I started noticing the wind getting up, coming in from the nth east, making for a perfect run all the way back to land. It was a bit of a bumpy ride coming in through the surf, but nothing overly challenging.
4 hours ago
