Oh My GOD!!!

[Cheech]

Were to start….

Chong and I did an over at Morton Island on Saturday evening. Very quiet. On the way back we decided to stop off at Mud Island for a quick fish. Nothing happening, so I suggested to Chong that we kill a bit of time with a drift using some soft plastics I bought. We are both bait fisho’s. To say Chong was sceptical was an understatement. As I recall, his exact words were, “ if you catch a fish on those things, I will eat my shorts”. Then within a minute, I was on to a grinner…

Tried another of our spots, and my rod went off big time. Drag screaming. The next 5 or 10 minutes was just a blur. Within 15 seconds Chong had his line in and the engine started. Matt did a great job driving. He had to. I was only using 6lb fireline on my bream gear. We then saw colour. Man, what a rush.

Many runs later we got it to the boat, but problem was my landing net is only a standard size net. Some how Matt got it in the net and into the boat.

The fish went 89cm and 7.25kg. The location was Mud Island. 4.5m of water. Middle of the day. Tide change and almost no run.

Number one on my to do list was to get a Mud Island Snapper. Just never thought it would be a monster.

We couldn’t get the smile off our faces for the rest of the day.

Cheech

[Cheech]

Need a bigger net

[Cheech]

What the...

[rando]

What a top effort on 6lb string , great work fellas, congratulations.
rando

[Any_Weather]

Mate exceptional effort, those plastics are obviously worth a try!!!

[Scott15]

Awsome snapper for the bay!!! very well done

[SeaSaw]

Top effort Craig :o :o :o Thats a great fish ... and on 6lb as well :o and very lucky that hook held up. Great catch on many counts.

Cheers,

Mark

[slacky]

Great fish.

[Fishinmishin]

And what a snapper it was....GREAT JOB mate. You'll be smiling for weeks.
Hope your shorts have some skid marks to add some flavour for Chong ;D.
Cheers, Jay

[webby]

Welcome to the Bay Snapper Club Mate, many have been trying for years and still havent had success. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
But what im really interested in is did Matt eat his short ;D
regards

[skippa]

Cheech, Man what a fish, a bloody ripper and on 6lb line #:o #:o

Geez you'll have to book a spot at Mud now and I bet that pic ends up in BnB #;)

Top Catch mate, well done.

I can see a new avator coming on ;)


Cheers,
Tony #8-)

I bet chong choked on his shorts #;D #;D

[flickflack]

top fish mate

[Brejen]

Top shelf boyz. What a fish and an awesome effort on the light gear.

[smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]

Brett

[straddie]

Saw the title and thought you must have finally got one ;)

Great fish Cheech, good to see your persitance pay off. He's a nice bay knobby and on the bream gear to boot, well done.

[aquarius]

Congratulations Cheech what a magnificent effort on 6lb gear.......You didn't happen to find a hook and plastic in its mouth by any chance because i lost a couple this morning over at Mud.
Hope you frame that pic mate.......thats one mean looking old man snapper.
Just out of interest what plastic did the damage?
Cheers Brent. :)

[Scalem]

What can I say!! Spectacular goings on over at Mud lately, this one just proves it. E-mail this photo to Dave Downie and I am sure you will feature on channel 10 this Friday. Fantastic effort, I am sure you will be on a high for at least the next few weeks, and this URL will be sent out to all your family and friends!! ;D I know I would!! ;)

Scalem

[2DKnBJ]

Champion effort there guys.
Just goes to show it dosen't matter where and when as long as you have a line in the water your in with a chance.
Cheers Dazza

[Darryl]

Well done guys, bloody awesome fish.

Kudos to you.

[dazza]

well done cheech,
top fish
were the shorts served with some sticky date pudding ::) ::)
cheers
dazza

[allniter]

Hooolllyyyy f%$#$g hell !!!!!

Ahhh...... i think THAT one IS a snapper Craig.... ;D

i guess you two won't be taking 6 kg of bait anymore ?.... ;D

Another fisho converted to friggin - fakey - rubber - franger - thingies.

Onya boys, many happy memories for awhile with that fish
Geez by the time i get back out there , it will be barron. :'(

[bidkev]

Well done mate. You've put the time and effort in and it finally paid off. Good on yer, especially with that line.

cheers

kev

[Big_unit]

Thats Gold [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Cheers
James

[gogecko]

Great fish on light gear, mate.


Andrew

[StevenM]

Bloody nice fish cheech, extra points on the light string.

Cheers Steven

[Jeremy]

congratulations Chris. Top fish. All the sweeter as you have put in the hours and worked so hard for a bay snapper.

Jeremy

[Wyoming]

Cheech - Congrats on a great catch! I was there at the time, perhaps a little later and I got a couple of squire keepers while doing the Foggy drift pattern, then my mate and I got 3 in about 15 seconds right in the shallow area, then I was on to a steam train for 10 minutes - finally, the knot at the hook let go! I hate that. Ireally need to catch a fish of that caliber and I need to do it soon.

[Fishin_Dan]

Congratulations in a BIG way Craig!!! That is a top snapper! There are definately some big fish out at Mud! It's just a shame some of them are catties! ;D

You've been fishing that island for a long time! It's definately a deserved fish. You've worked hard for it!!!

Congrats again mate!

(P.S - Never thought I'd hear of you two using plastics ;) )

[DICER]

after eating those shorts I think you should offer some dental floss (aka 6lb fireline)

absolute stunner of a fish for effort.

[Billo]

:o :o :o

OMG ..>What a SNODGER !

Top Effort !

[-spiro-]

Good on you Cheech :o That snapper is a HORSE ;D

[Commodore]

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Well let’s see…….

1.Cheech, top effort, for those who know a fish of this size in shallow water does not like to co-operate at all. Craig did a fantastic effort in getting this beast to the boat, drag setting perfect, constant pressure, and lots of winding, mate I have caught some big fish on heavy gear but that effort, you get the gold from me. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[smiley=chef.gif] [smiley=chef.gif] [smiley=chef.gif]

2. ½ jar chilli, 1 bottle soy, 4 bunches spring onion, 3 litres plum conserve, bucket on mixed veg, 4 tent pegs, 1 pair of dirty filthy bait covered fishing shorts.

Place shorts on ground, use tent pegs to secure, get mower (with mulcher blades),
Mulch shorts into pieces. Empty catcher (don’t worry about a few stray grass clippings, they add to the flavour) into camp oven, put the rest of the ingredients in and 7 litres of water ( you may need a big camp oven) place on gas ring burner on high four approx 16 hrs until short pieces have bio degraded into the natural form of cotton, polyester and so on, serve on a bed of rice, yum yum. :P :P

PS: you may need some very strong beverages to wash it down with.

3. I went to the tackle shop today and bought:
15 x 3” snapgrub drop twangers ;)
32 x 2” berkley twitchy slippers ;)
10 x 4” purple power head split tails ;)
26 x jig head things ;)
Been a bait fisherman on the bay for a long time, will never leave for a fishing trip from now on with out a selection of plastic things and a clean pair of shorts. ;D ;D ;D

Hook up
Chong
;D ;D

[roz]

Well done,

Landing a fish that weighs more than the breaking strain of the line is top stuff.

roz

[maztez]

congrats on a top fish gives you a reel buz especially on light gear well done ;D ;D
Terry

[jackash]

THAT IS AWESOME.... GOOD ON YA CHAMPO!!! Haha luckwas on ur side that day... wish i could have a few days like that.... good on ya.
Cheers
JAckash

[Commodore]

WARNING
For the above recipe: Fishing shorts

Please be aware that eating your shorts in this manner can bring on the urge to use the loo [smiley=worried2.gif]. Please also note that due to the ingredients involved, such a movement can cause difficulty in passing. [smiley=bigcry.gif]
Thankyou for your attention

[mattooty]

Bloody great fish!!! What plastic did you get him on?
Congrats mate!
Matt

[philip_thomson]

Good stuff Craig. congratulations ill have a coke for you tonight to celebrate :-?.

hope its the first of many to more to come.

Cheers Phil

p.s. glad you enjoyed your shorts chong ;)

[Cheech]

Thanks heaps everyone. It's great to have this site to be able to share our experience. It really was an experience.

Was using Berkley powerbaits saltwater Pilchards 4 inch.

Was our first plastics session in the bay, but you can bet that it is not the last. Matt is a classic with this. First experience with plastics, and now he is dead keen to get out and try again. I can see more expense coming up.

Was thinking about it, and that next time I would be better to use heavier gear, but then, I wonder if having such light line was the difference in the fish deciding to take it or not. Who knows,,, I do know that I was very lucky. With that remains of the lure, it actually fell out of the fish's mouth when it was on the floor of the boat. We think it was only the constant preasure that kept the hook connected.

How strong is fireline,,,,, great stuff. Was also using 12lb vanish leader.

Anyway, thanks again for your well wishes.

Cheech

[stu68]

Well done.
you da man!!!

[James_V17L]

Fantastic effort Cheech...I've been spending a bit of time at Mud the last few months but havent quite landed any decent fish yet...
Again well done...James

[foggy]

Excellent work guys. There are sound good fish out there as is the lates reports coming from mud. We have been hammered so many times out there in the last three weeks. Good to see somone get a brute of that size. There is nothing better than the first run of a big snapper on light gear.

Another fisherman coverted to the dark side.

[Burley_Boy]

Super fish guys, congratulations. :)

[outsiderskip]

nice snapper this time of the year



cheers pete

[Poodroo]

Congratulations on a great catch. I am still working on mine but will get there soon. :)

[Knackers]

What a ripper!! Fantastic effort Cheech, your perseverence has finally paid off. Isn't the adrenelin rush something. There's not much else I can say as it's all been said.
Well done
Knackers

[1337]

Any idea how much drag pressure was put on the fish fella's? Were you really pushing the light gear or did yah have it just right and enough to tire him out?

6lb fireline breaks a fair bit higher than its rating suggest. Prob around 10lb plus. It's your knot tying ability to the vanish and the fact that the vanish was up to the job which must be commended. What a fish!

Regards
CT

[adriancorrea]

Congrats craig and matt
Top effort fellas, as everyone else has said

Tight Lines
Adrian

[Commodore]

CT,
Not sure how much pressure Craig had on but I know he didn’t what to apply any more. :o The beast made a couple of big runs for some structure at the end and Craig did really well to keep the pressure on and keep the hook set as line peeled from the reel. His rig was smoking at the end, was a pleasure to watch given the result. :) :)
Thanks for the comments.
Chong

[Cheech]

CT, I was very aware of the line so only had on as much as I dared, and then minus a little. Just after the hookup I realised I had it way too light so gave a quarter to half a turn. And that was it. Did not add any extra. I was happy for it to peel if it wanted to peel as I so didn't want to loose it with a pulled hook.

If anything, I probably overdid the winding. Was not a traditional pull then wind, pull then wind as you would with heavier gear. Was more a case of a lot of winding and hope like hell that the drag continued to do the job. That way every possible opportunity that I could get some line back, I got some back.

I would have eased it off a bit more when the fish was closer to the boat, but I really did not have it that tight to warrant it.

We used the boat to help get line back. Made all the difference.

Still blown away by all this. 2 weeks ago I won the $200.00 raffle at work, then the fish, and then I drew the Diva in the $5.00 sweep. Been a pretty good couple of weeks.

Cheech

[bigpoly]

Photo of man eating shorts would have been good. Well done. What a bloody great fish. How good is it to be able to pull something like that so close to Brisbane.

[straddie]

:o ;D

[Steven78]

I will have 5000 of those (:

[Commodore]

Going for a fish in the am with NO BAIT :o :o only fake fish, well see what that does to the share price ;D ;) ;D ;)

[F1SH_BOY]

WOWOWOWO :D :) ;D ;D WELL DONE 4 A BAY

[yabbycod]

mate, what an effort on 6lb line. i have been playin with soft plastics for a while now and thankfully i havent eaten anyones shorts coz they do work thats for sure. Mate, go and get your self Adam "maddog" royters cd on berkley soft plastics and watch what he does with a flathead off the beach, simply nice work mate, fortunately i do know the feeling.
job well done.
alo

[yabbycod]

choice bro

[fishenmick]

Fantastic effort fella's. It has all been said. Hope to get out there myself in a few weeks when I get home.

Well done considering the tackle.

Mick