Fast Break
07-06-2009, 08:47 PM
Did a trip to the 36ers off of the Gold Coast on Saturday. On board my boat was a mate of mine and we teamed up with my brother (Mark) and his son (Alex) in their boat. Hit the ramp at Loders Creek at 4.30 and headed out keen to be at the 36ers for the pre-dawn bite. Once outside of the seaway a quick radio conversation between boats decided our destination and we cruised out in great conditions.
Arrived at one of our marks full of anticipation and excitement. My mate was using bait and myself, Mark and Alex were using plastics. The pre-dawn past and the sun rose and we had not even lifted the esky lids, all that was caught were a couple of sweep (Bait) and under size snapper. Disappointing start to the day.
After the first couple of hours I had caught 2 squappers at 36cm, so nothing to shout and cheer about. Alex then hooked up on a good fish and after a bit of an arm wrestle he landed a nice 60cm snapper (Personal best for him). He was stoked to say the least. Soon after dispatching the snapper to the esky Alex hooks up on a real good fish. From the strong runs we knew it was not a snapper and we called it for (and praying for) a cobia. Alex went head to head with the fish for about 40 mins unfortunately it turned out to be quite a large size reef shark. Great fishing by Alex to land the shark, a quick photo and then the line was cut and off it swam.
Still the rest of us had not added anything else to the esky. Once again Alex hooks up and catches a monster pearly that was the same size of the snapper, great fish.
After another hour of nothin we decided to move to another mark we had. Straight away Mark and Alex's plastics got nailed and they proceeded in pulling in squappers. I was in my boat not 10 metres away using the same rig and plastics and did not get a fish. (I guess that is how it goes sometimes). Mark and Alex caught 6 squappers in the 40cm-45cm range (For the esky) in as many minutes and several 34cm that were released accordingly. Mean while in my boat my mate had caught 2 squappers at 37cm using bait.
Conditions were perfect and it made for a great ride back to the ramp.
A great day was had by all even though my boat only managed to land 4 squappers for the esky. Mark and Alex won out on the day and I have attached some pictures of their catch. The stand out fish are the snapper and the pearly it is a horse.
Arrived at one of our marks full of anticipation and excitement. My mate was using bait and myself, Mark and Alex were using plastics. The pre-dawn past and the sun rose and we had not even lifted the esky lids, all that was caught were a couple of sweep (Bait) and under size snapper. Disappointing start to the day.
After the first couple of hours I had caught 2 squappers at 36cm, so nothing to shout and cheer about. Alex then hooked up on a good fish and after a bit of an arm wrestle he landed a nice 60cm snapper (Personal best for him). He was stoked to say the least. Soon after dispatching the snapper to the esky Alex hooks up on a real good fish. From the strong runs we knew it was not a snapper and we called it for (and praying for) a cobia. Alex went head to head with the fish for about 40 mins unfortunately it turned out to be quite a large size reef shark. Great fishing by Alex to land the shark, a quick photo and then the line was cut and off it swam.
Still the rest of us had not added anything else to the esky. Once again Alex hooks up and catches a monster pearly that was the same size of the snapper, great fish.
After another hour of nothin we decided to move to another mark we had. Straight away Mark and Alex's plastics got nailed and they proceeded in pulling in squappers. I was in my boat not 10 metres away using the same rig and plastics and did not get a fish. (I guess that is how it goes sometimes). Mark and Alex caught 6 squappers in the 40cm-45cm range (For the esky) in as many minutes and several 34cm that were released accordingly. Mean while in my boat my mate had caught 2 squappers at 37cm using bait.
Conditions were perfect and it made for a great ride back to the ramp.
A great day was had by all even though my boat only managed to land 4 squappers for the esky. Mark and Alex won out on the day and I have attached some pictures of their catch. The stand out fish are the snapper and the pearly it is a horse.