Snapper off metro Adelaide 17 Feb 11

[coraltrout68]

I was lucky enough to fish for snapper off Metropolitan Adelaide today. As we all know we can't fish (take) snapper in Queensland for the next 6 weeks, so I was looking forward to getting a few SA Big Reds.

We left the West Beach boat ramp at the fairly relaxed time of 8.30am.

About 15km later we anchored up and immediately started to catch undersized snapper. There must have been thousands of these small fish as all baits got cleaned up in seconds, including live slimy mackeral. The only decent fish was caught on a soft plastic, unfortunately the hook pulled.

Around 11am the decision was made to make a move and 15 minutes later we were fishing on a new ground. Hopes were high for this new spot as the skipper caught a 22lb snapper on the same spot the day before.

I was happy when our baits were not attacked by a horde of unsized snapper.

I had a snapper line out and I also had a line in for whiting and it was the whiting rod that got the first bite, but this was no whiting, the line was peeling off the reel and the rod was bending in half. I had to contend with a large fish on a whiting rod, light line and a small hook. Add to this the line tangled around two other lines a berley pot and the line was under the boat.

I was able to get to the other side of the boat and it was not long after, that a large snapper popped its head out of the water. A couple of minutes later the fish was in the net - it was 85cm long and 16lb. I was stoked as it was caught on a whiting rod and reel, 12lb mono and a size 4 hook.

The next fish was thankfully caught on my snapper outfit and after a short fight a 87cm fish was netted - caught on half a slimy mackeral.

The skipper then caught an 83cm snapper, this fish didn't put up a fight at all and it wasn't until it was netted and on the floor of the boat that it went crazy.

The last fish was caught at 2pm on a half slimy mackeral, this time the snapper fought really well. This was the best fish of the day - 90cm and 18lb.

As we had our limit of fish over 60cm the call was made to head in.

Thanks Chris for a really enjoyable day.

P.S. SA have a one month snapper closure - over the month of November (spawning time).

Sorry about the photos - as big as I can get them.

Hopefully I can get out again before I head back to Brisbane on Sunday.

Shane

sum

65339

65340

[TREVELLY]

Your just posting this to stir us up.

nice fish by the way.

[coraltrout68]

Your just posting this to stir us up.

nice fish by the way.

Correct - but it helps when you have a few quality fish to show off.:)

[bugman]

Probably one of the best managed fisheries in the country - SA snapper.

Maybe the QLD Govt could take some lessons.

Brett

[GLXMAN]

Great fish Shane,
I live here and cannot catch them during the day, (except for the little ones),

Regards,
Gary

[lethal098]

Awesome stuff, I miss those SA reds, such fun!!

cheers Lee

[tropicrows]

Great catch Shane, that's my old stomping ground. What general area did you fish, I caught a few reds down south, out from the old port stanvac refinery.

[Defore]

Tropicrows would that be off the Barges about 8km out.
I've dived there a couple of times and once had a nice school of snapper come swimming thru in a hurry, was worried about what was chasing them.

Ian

[coraltrout68]

Great catch Shane, that's my old stomping ground. What general area did you fish, I caught a few reds down south, out from the old port stanvac refinery.

We launched off West Beach and fished the grounds off West beach.

[coraltrout68]

Great fish Shane,
I live here and cannot catch them during the day, (except for the little ones),

Regards,
Gary[/quote

This was the first time I have caught snapper off Metro Adelaide, I use to catch my snapper off Ardrossan before heading to QLD.

[tropicrows]

Ian,
the barges are off Glenelg about 4 km out. I fished another 5 or 6 km south of there. I have caught reds from the barges but it's a bit like Harry Atkinson up here boats everywhere.

[craigie]

Thanks for the report Shane !
Good to see such great fishing so close to Adelaide.

Have been down there for the hot snapper/KG Whiting fishing at Arno Bay, hope to get back there again this year (first week of December after the Nov closure).

South Australia are in a great position to keep there Snapper stocks healthy. Not quite the fishing pressure to that in South East Queensland, except when they get all the Victorians crossing the border !!
The fishing population was wise enough to have accepted the one month ban on taking Snapper, which goes for all stakeholders. Also like their policy of only 2 fish over 60cm. Helps protect the larger fish to ensure they are available for future generations.

When I was last down in SA, i got to have a chat to a young bloke that worked in the Commercial fishing sector. His account of one of their Snapper trips had me cringing. 3 man crew, Pulling up 2 fish at a time for several hours (until they could no longer lift an arm) with most fish going 20 - 30lb. The whole deck of the boat was covered in big snapper !!
Reminded me of Stories I had been told of the South East Queensland Snapper fishery back in the 60 and 70's !!

Cheers
Craig.