ARNO BAY & South Australia...you must visit !!!!!

[craigie]

September 2008, the word on Arno Bay (and it's Snapper) reached the pages of Ausfish through the reports and pics of "Big Ash", local Charter operator (& Tractor salesman when the drought breaks :P ).

I quickly put the Information on the grape-vine to get a crew together and head South for a piece of the "Big Red" action (Yes I know a "Red" in QLD is a Red Emperor, but in the South it's all about the Snapper!).

The trip was set down for March/April 2009 and it couldn't come quick enough. The crew consisted of John "The Sav", Bruce "Mayney", Lillian, "Timmy D" and myself.
Not only was this going to be a fishing trip, but for most of us it was our maiden trip to South Australia, so all the regular tourist things were on the agenda. I'll get to them later on.

While we waited for the trip to come around, Big Ash and his charter appeared on the IFISH television fishing program in December 2008. It featured Paul Worstling and Merv Hughes pulling big Snapper hand over fish (fist)............Wow did this help fan the flames of Snapper Envey !!!

With the cheap Jetstar flights booked, accom and car hire booked, little would be left to chance...........only the weather :-/ .

Apart from a late change to the flights (Thanks Jetstar >:( ) all went well and we touched down in Adelaide Sunday evening March 29. We stayed in cabins at the monsterous Adelaide Shores BIG4 that night and then loaded the Tarago for the 6 hour drive to Arno at "Sparrows" Monday morning. By the way you can keep your daylight saving, it's not daylight till 7-45am :o .

We basically drove non-stop, fishing was scheduled for the next day and sightseeing would be looked after when the weather was less fishing-friendly.

First lot of pics show the township of Arno Bay, local jetty, pub (we loved the place ;) ) and the fleet of boats in the harbour that service the local industry of Tuna and Kingfish farming. Also some pics of our Accom, a tidy 2 level bungalow on the beach front -

[craigie]

Although the town of Arno Bay was established as a port to service the grain growing industry, the area is fast becoming an Aquaculture Mecca. As well as Southern Blue Fin Tuna, the floating cages in the following pics also hold Yellowtail Kingfish which have been spawned from brood stock, housed in a large shed on the fringe of town.
The penned fish are all fed on pellets which are sprayed into the pens through a Bazooka like instrument. From what I saw, two truckloads of these pellets are fed into the pens each day :o :o -

[Lucky_Phill]

waiting.......waiting........... so far so good, Craig.



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[webby]

Come on Craige wheres the snaps, you went so far to collect, oh by the way where was my invite ?????

[slyman]

Stop teasing us and get the snaps up! :P

[frankgrimes]

hehe...yeah HUGE build up....where are the snaps?!

Mick

[Tangles]

craigie??????

[JayT]

Cmon bud, I bought the dvd after reading about it on here...top post, now where is BIG RED?

[skipalong]

high anticipation

[deepfried]

Can somebody give him a call too see of he's still alive and kicking. Might need an ambo over there.

[JB]

"Bungalow" LOL , sounds very romantic ... wheres the bloody fish! ;p

[craigie]

Sorry guys, computer issues but will finish the report over the next couple of hrs.

Webby, your first on the list for the return trip !!

By the way, the crabs are on !!!!

[craigie]

Our first day on Charter was arranged for Tuesday 31 March. We had met up with Big Ash at the boat harbor the Monday afternoon when he returned from a day out with 3 guys from New South Wales. They had a cracking day with a heap of big Snapper, one was a whopping 108cm !!! est at 25lb. Also laying in the top of the oversized esky were 2 Jewfish at 10 & 14 kg’s. Both were caught on live bait on the change of the tide. I failed to get a few pics so you’ll have to trust me on this. It was also mentioned that they had tagged and released half a dozen snapper around 90cm.

Tuesday rolled around and before we knew it we were on board and on our way to the fishing grounds. Ash’s boat is a solid fiberglass rig just under 8 m in length and powered by a couple of hundred horse power of diesel inboard with a large padded seat over the engine cover. Plenty of rod holders finished off a nice boat to comfortable fish our crew of 5 and Ash.

We steamed for approx 45 mins to Ash’s go-to-spot. A Wreck in only 80 feet of water, it’s the same location he took the IFish team back in December last year.
What a joy it is to fish so shallow compared to the 50 – 80 m depths we have at the Barwon Banks in our neck of the woods.
Regardless of the depth, the fishing was very slow to begin with, in fact the first 3 hours failed to produce a fish ??? Ash was still confident of a good day and the sounder showed the structure below loaded with life. A thick band of yellow and red on the Furuno indicated this location was holding plenty of fish. Anchored on the same location was another Charter Boat from the nearby town of Cowell. The slow fishing sent them packing around midday and we were the only boat as far as the eye could see, a far cry from the Mud Is car park and the 20 other boats that greet you when you run the 60k’s out to the Barwon’s !

Persistence paid off and the Snapper started to bite ! Sav is first to bring a “Red”aboard. 80 cm and around 6kgs gets the ball rolling. Timmy hits a purple patch and lands a string of nice fish all around 7 – 9 kg’s. Lillian next for a P.B with one similar to Tim’s. Ash chips in a few “Ruggers” (Just legal Squire in SA terms) and the esky is looking a rosy red !! The plan was to keep enough fish for a few feeds and tag and release the excess fish. Two of Tim’s 90cm beasts are given a strip of yellow bling and sent back to fight again another day.
I had persisted with plastics for this period but it just wasn’t happening, Ash’s story of a 13 kg red 2 days earlier on a plastic had me inspired but the ribbing from my crew mates eventually took it’s toll and I was now changing over to the stinky stuff. Earlier we had decided to have a competition, whoever landed the longest snapper got free drinks at the pub when we got back in. Timmy seamed to have this sewn up………..

The hot bite slowed and we landed the occasional fish amongst the odd bust off. During the hot bite we lost stacks of quality fish, they had a knack of finding the structure of the sunken wreck. Ash quickly brought to our attention a large dark shape that had appeared out of the depths. As it got higher in the water column it became obvious it was a shark !! Not just a shark this was a Jaws like White Pointer around 15 feet in length !! Holly Smelly Ka Ka Batman !!!! Would be safe to say he was the culprit for a couple of our lost fish. After a casual lap around the boat it disappeared.
Ash said it’s a regular visitor and had told us about it prior to the trip. Wow, that alone was worth the price of admission !!!!

We had been throwing a range of baits down to these Snapper. Whole King George Whiting frames started us off, while ash caught a range of livies including Slimies and Yakka’s. Some of the Slimy Mackerel were 40 cm long, would have been deadly on our QLD Spanish Mackerel !!
The baits were fished on a 2 hook snooded rig on 30lb threadline outfits. All lightweight and comfortable to fish with for long periods.

Time was getting on and Lines up was looming, Ash rigged me up a live Yakka and I sent it down for one last chance at landing my first SA Red. Not 30 seconds later and my outfit loaded up under the strain of a solid fish. I was not getting the obvious Snapper signs of head thumps through the rod tip, this fish proceeded to swim off pulling a steady drag. It slowed after a short while And I wrestled it up toward the boat………it was a snapper and a nice one, most certainly well above my previous PB of 5kg’s. The OS environet goes under it and it’s hauled aboard. The bragmat reveals it to be 94cm (approx 9kg/20lb) and the new tournament leader……….Sorry Timmy !!
Plenty of fish onboard so this one gets tagged and quickly released.

We pull stumps and a great day is had by all and although Bruce doesn’t stay connected to big red this trip tomorrow is another day.
Day 2 to follow soon……….

Below are pics from first days fishing.

[craigie]

A few more pics from day one fishing the sunken wreck for Snapper -

[Benno1]

top shelf snapps Craigie!!!...good to see your fishing party all got a turn catching them...congrats on all the pb's :P
cheers for the piccies and report :D

Mrs Benno1
Sunny

[-spiro-]

Hey Craigie was it better than the trip with Streaker a few years back? Remeber you blokes snagging a few good ones...
What was a share worth on a trip like that?
Sweet fish and story mate WELL DONE!!!!!

[craigie]

With the first days fishing behind us, we lock in for another day out for the following day, Wednesday 1 st of April, April fools day !!
Weather is still holding although the forecast is 15 – 20 knots early dropping back to less than 10kn in the afternoon.
After the slow morning the previous day, Ash suggests a late start avoiding the slack period of the tide and hopefully catching the calmer seas conditions predicted for the afternoon.

After Yesterdays Snapper flurry we are excited about the fishing adventures that await us today. All aboard and we steam to a new location a good hours run to the south. Today’s game plan is to target Snapper for the first few hrs then hit the gun King George Whiting grounds through till dusk. None of us had caught KGW before so it was looming as a day of ‘Firsts’ for us all !

We anchor up and again the plastics and KGW frames are hooked on and sent down for a Snapper. The action is instantaneous, the “Ruggers” are in piranha mode and the throwbacks come thick and fast. Even so, the plastics are being hit but I can’t pin a hook in one. The 7” nuke chook gulps fail to do the do on a SA Snapper on this particular trip. I try a range of Ash’s faithful squidgy’s, and although they are constantly attacked and torn apart, I am unable to get a fish attached. Again the plastics are “Shelved” and I join the rest of the crew pulling a steady stream of snapper around the 35cm mark. Legal size in SA is 38cm with a max of 2 fish over 60cm with all of November closed season. Talking to a couple of locals, November used to be a wholesale slaughter with tales of the boat deck covered with 25 – 35lb fish coming up 2 at a time. We know this type of fishing is not sustainable, I have been told of similar times in the Queensland Snapper fishery (slightly smaller fish) which have unfortunately long passed. Let’s hope the SA government closely monitors the sustainability of this iconic species. Low Population and isolation are two likely reasons they are in reasonable shape but I did hear reports of interstate fishing clubs raping and pillaging in December when the fish are schooled up…………anyhow time to get off the soap box and talk about our trip……

We bag a few keepers size “Ruggers’ before Bruce is hooked solid to a better fish. With Ash ready and waiting with the net, Bruce lifts and winds a nice Snapper to the boat. Onboard it’s measured at 75cm, another PB for the trip ! Smiles all round as Bruce has shaken the hoodoo and is on the board with a good fish.
With 4 or 5 keepers in the slurry, the skipper makes the call for a change of tactics and species. Its lines up and we steam to the Whiting grounds.

It’s a 40min run to the North West before Ash takes the hand off the throttle. The conditions are a bit sloppy with a steady 15kn of breeze. We again anchor, this time in 30 – 35 feet of water on a rubble weedy bottom. Ash ready’s the rigs, 2 dropper, size 6 long shank to be baited with a cocktail of Squid and Cockle (Pippy). Ash attaches a Squid jig to the top of his rig which proves to be deadly on the Southern Calamari.

We are fishing 3 each side of the boat, Bruce, Ash and I are off to a flyer we each put 2 or 3 quality KGW’s into the ice slurry before the “B” team are off the mark. Just as the sledging starts the fish are now coming from predominantly the others side of the boat and Sav, Lillian and Timmy are on the fish !

The action was steady for the 2 or 3 hrs we targeted the whiting. As a bonus Ash bagged 5 squid of which a couple were monstrous the size they were famous for sinking the old clippers according the seafaring legends !!

Most of the Whiting were in the 40 – 45 cm size bracket. Quality fish and well above the 30cm limit. They fight well and go nuts when you get them onboard. Quite slippery to hold and wiggle everywhere like an eel. We have all ticked of KGW on our hit list ! Think we ended up with 35 in total.

With the wind dropping out as forecast, it was a smooth 20 min run back to the harbour. It had been another long day as it was after 8pm when we docked.
Ash has a good rapport with the publican “Boof” so we were able to use the pub’s lit cleaning tables each night which was handy to as much tapped Coopers Pale Ale as required !! The lads were taking a shine to this brew !

From this point on the weather forecast went down hill but we were thankful for 2 great days on the water. Plenty of things were planned for the rest of the holiday.

Pics of day 2 fishing for Snapper, KGW and Squid -

[craigie]

G'day Spiro,

Yes remember the trip out with streaker as if were yesterday..unbelievable !
We caught close to 40 snapper that day ! only kept 15.

Arno Bay Snapper are bigger !! But in the month of April they are fewer. It would appear Oct or Dec is when the action is full on.
It's all about the weather and March / April is usually o.k.

The idea is to book in for a week, do a few Tourist things and hope you get 2 or 3 days to fish. We had planned to fish 3 days out of the 5 we were in Arno, as it turned out we got 2.

I would go back !

We flew jetstar to/from Adelaide then hired a car, went to Pt Lincoln, checked out the local towns along the way. Went to the international rugby 7's in Adelaide, went off drinking wine in the Barossa Valley. Ate oysters till they came out our ears, total 10 days for everything (inc drinks) fishing at $180 each per day...approx $1800 each.

Next time we might look at Tiger Airlines (cheaper than jetstar) that fly from the Gold Coast as they fly to Port Lincoln . Only and hour and a half from Pt Lincoln to Arno.
Can do Charters out of Port Lincoln as well. Think they target big Tuna, Yellow tail kings, Samson etc.

f you like Oysters, the next town North of Arno is Cowell. The place is full on Oysters. Massive things and cheap. Buy unopened for $5-50 a dozen and shuck them yourself. We picked up 10 dozen and took them with us as we traveled. Natural or kilpatrick they were sweet !

Cheers
Craigie.

[Angla]

Tops piccies and story too. Thanks for that.

I am a little envious now.

They do great snapper at Arno Bay and I hope they can keep the fishery alive and well at this sort of size.

Cheers
Chris

[craigie]

A few random pics of what we ate & drank.
Ate a heap of our fish down there and smuggled a bit back on the plane :-X

[craigie]

Just a few more random pics -

. monument to "Makybe Diva" Port Lincoln foreshore park
. All the crew at Wolf Blass Wine Tasting, Barossa Valey
. Lill aboard the big Rockinghorse
. A day at the Adelaide oval rugby 7's
. Fantastic old pub down at Cowell, all the old pubs are the same design.
. 40lb Snappa on the wall of Arno Bay Pub
. Timmy winning the meat tray !!
. "Snowtown"....remember the bodies in the barrels murders :o :o

[Lucky_Phill]

Craig, that pic of you at the 7's .... you are looking distinctly Mike Gatting !

Thanks for the pics and report.


Phill
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[slyman]

Awesome! thanks for sharing mate! apart from the snapper, the Coopers is the other reason I'd head down that way and pay a visit to the brewery.

[Bigash]

Thanks Craigie
you guys were a delight to have onboard.
i hope you had fun.
you look like you certainly had a seafood bonanza???
the shark has shown its face a few more times & also a smaller 1 aswell, we just keep feeding them snapper..not by choice i might add.
heres a pic of the mullie from day you got there.
Cheers
BigAsh
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj291/Big-ash/090330StuartSeymourMullaway.jpg

[bugman]

Craig,

Seriously do you ever work - how many fishing trips - and I mean trips! can one person fit into a year.
Not sure why you went to SA to get those squire when Webby pulls bigger ones from the mouth of the Brissy river.
Catch up at the next Tewantin drinks.
Brett

[vertico]

yerh top stuff craigie, btw where was my invite mate :p
sean
did the plastics land anything massive ?

[Mayney]

Craig,

Great report - Thanks. You didn't mention your ability to consume continuous amounts squid and fish and also your winnings at the TAB.;)

It was a fantastic trip full with "Firsts and PB's".

The town of Cowell, just north of Arno is not only famous for its oysters but for its Blue Swimmer crabs. Although we spent the day eating oysters and enjoving a beer and a bet in the Pub, the word was that the crabs were "on" and were climbing up your anchor rope to get into your boat. The local tackle shop sells rakes to collect the crabs. Apparently it is as easy as wading out and raking them up off the bottom. The tackle guy reckons that if you drop a pot off the jetty, you could get 30 crabs in an hour or two.

The publican supported the crab story and being as friendly as all the other people we met, offered us the use of a rod to catch some bait and the use of the pub pots to try our luck - We decided on Coopers Pale Ale and Melbourne - race 4 - horse 7

Fella's - Get your mates together and do the trip. Five (5) is a good number of people. Don't know about Craig's idea of flying to Port Lincoln as the flights from Adelaide to Port Lincoln are $140 - $200 return and you still need a hire car to get to Arno. I suppose you could stay in accommodation at Port Lincoln and just hire a car for the days you have a charter in Arno. The blokes on the Charter before us rated Ash's charter much higher than the one they did in Port Lincoln. In fact, I don't think that they got much at all out of Port Lincoln. We hired a Tarago from Adelaide which cost approx. $1000 for the 9 days between the five of us.

Put your $900 Rudd loan money towards a trip like this, before you have to pay it back.

Cheers

Bruce

[Lacey Blue Dog]

Thanks CRAIGIE for the great report and photos I have a mate who lives on the Mornington Peninsular in Vicco who drags his 21 foot Carribean once a year to fish for those big snapper and has a ball every time. Once again great Report
BlueDog

[craigie]

Phill,

Did Mike Gatting ever score runs at the Adelaide Oval ?
I could have played the imposter and got into the members or something ? Would have to brush up on my accent.........."Nice ball Warney, I didn't see it spinning that much" :o !

Sly,

Coopers brewery tour is high on our list as well !

BigAsh,

Yes mate it was all good ! Only a matter of time before the next group locks in.
I'm thinking early December ? Bruce, Webby, Bugman ?????

Brett,

No matter how many trips I sqeeze in, your always one ahead of me and you have the family to also juggle ;D .
If Webby's pulling 20 lb'ers along the rock wall I'm available any time any day !! Especially if it means taking more time off work ;D ;D .

Seano,

Plastics were a donut on this trip . Both Ash and I gave them a good go on both days for zero fish in the boat. I belive the Snapper to be a bit shut down during our stay as Ash regulary brains them on the Squidgies. I was shocked I couldnt' nail anything on the 7' Nuk Chooks.............Regardless I would try them again .

Sorry mate, didn't realsie you were a long distance travelling fisho with a 'Leave Pass' .

Bruce (Mayney),

Lucky I didn't start Crabbing, would have been carting them all over the state with the Oysters and fish fillets :-X .
Will save that for next trip !!

How about some of the differnt things we experienced -

The popularity of the "Schnitzel" !! Must be the German heritage in South Australia as every pub had a magnificient Schnitzel meal on the menu. A sensation at a good price ;) .

Bit of confusion when buying bees at the bar, a QLD "Pot" (10 oz) is called a Schooner in SA............ A QLD Schooner (15 oz) is called a Pint in SA and also found in Arno that a QLD pint (20oz) is also called a Pint/Bucket (20 oz):o :o ;D .
Hmm Buckets of Coopers Pale Ale :P :P :P

Beer Glasses are left laying on their side atop the bar when patron's have had there last ale and are pulling stumps for the session.

Anything else Bruce ?



Blue Dog,

Your Vicco mate is very fortunate.
Doesn't take many fish to give a few good feeds when the Snapper are so big:o .

From what I hear it's becoming a well worn path for Fishing clubs to cross the borders and give the SA Snapper a touch up during the summer months.
I get a little concerned when I hear of the "freezer" brigade flogging spawning fish but I'm sure there are plenty of locals loading up as well. I'll get off my soap box again, as along as the catches are within the regulations I shouldn't take offence at this.

I wish the QLD Gov't had restrained the catch of Snapper back in the 70's (min 25cm, no bag limit), those days of excellent catches (especially the close grounds like the Bay Islands, Pt Lookout, Gold Coast) are long gone with new strickter limits (Posession limit 3-5 fish ? min size 38 - 40cm ?) but South Australia still has a chance to keep their Snapper fishery sustainable at current levels. Can they learn from our mistakes ???? Daily bag limit of 10 fish, maybe too high :-X .

Sorry Blue Dog :-[ , none of this is directed at you or your mate, half his luck to have access to such a good fishery. Well worth the drive to catch such quality fish. I get a bit excited about issues at times8-)

Regards
Craigie.

[thesav]

Craigie
Thanks for the report - absolutly brilliant as usual. Trip was definetly a highlight for me with 3 PB's, Rugby 7's - wern't those Kenyans fantastic, wine tasting in the Baroosa, Oysters, oysters, oysters, the local at Arno, Coopers Pale Ale etc.
Thanks for organising, I think I sent an email to Mainey outlining total costs for the trip and it came to about $1700 which included spending money (I didn't win as much as you on the horses).
Catch you soon.
Regards
TheSav

[ddobson]

Now thats a good thread as i have wanted to go down and have a stab at those red brutes and take a team of snapper nuts down but i am the only guy i know that eats, sleeps and catches snapper every second arvo and would love to go down there very soon. Crap i am drooling at the moment. I am going up to cairns fishing this month and next trip will be down there for shure. Cheers boyz well done on getting some of those southern monsters.