The hunt for Red in October

Now that we had decided to do a dedicated weekend for snapper early in the season, having fresh squid and salmon gave us some confidence for the weekend. Friday night and saturday's weather did not fill us with the same confidence. Friday afternoon saw me running around getting food, packing the car and getting Dad's dog so we could take him with us. I also managed to get both of the kayaks on the roof of my x-trail, layered one on top of the other. A fair effort, although I had to make sure I didn't go above 90km/h on the way down because I didn't trust them! As it was, they were very solid.

We arrived and unpacked. It was blowing a gale, a fair swell, raining and the sky was lit up with lightning. Not the best night to go out, so we stayed in and rigged up all of our rods for the weekend, packed the boat and watched a movie.

Saturday morning was slightly better and we launched about 5am in the boat. Headed to Snapper Rock where we sounded up some fish. Chucked out 4 rods, all baited with fresh squid. Barely anything at all except for one tentative touch I had definitely from a snapper and quite a few flatties. We moved around a fair bit but the wind against tide made it uncomfortable and we were back in by 11.30. At the ramp one of the guys had some snapper and I had a chat to him - After I spent all week catching fresh squid and salmon he had caught them on servo pilchards! A good lesson though, not to have just one bait on offer, particularly early in the season.

After mowing the lawns and a bit of a rest, we launched again at 6pm and headed up towards the top of Mosquito Channel. We sounded some up again and chucked an array of baits out - Pilchards, squid and salmon fillets. Dad had a few good bites on the salmon fillets and even hooked up once, albeit briefly. The snapper are still very timid, particularly in the 15 degree water. Finally Dad had a good run and hooked up, although after 5 minutes it was obvious this was a flat fish. Finally a monster skate came to the side of the boat and in an effort to keep it there he had his silstar rod almost vertical and then SNAP - The rod was broken. Oops! Just after dark I had a fish pick up and run slowly with a pilchard and I left it with almost no drag on however when I reeled it in the head was gone (Pilchard bitten in half) and the hook was clean - How did it not hook up?

A sleep in on sunday then a rethink and launch of the kayaks at Reef Island. A great morning to be on the water with very calm conditions and light winds. I was up for an explore so chucked a 4" nuclear chicken out on the paddle over, to no avail. We did spook many fish in the shallows on the way out (Flathead???) as there were puffs of sand everywhere. When we arrived I chucked a squid jig around and went to the island itself for an explore. A little while later I came over to Dad who had thrown out some bait and already had a health 34cm whiting in his keep net. This was enough to make me pull up next to him and do a re-rig and chase sone 'ting. About an hour later and 3 or 4 moves we had not added to his tally. The wind was up a bit, making it coolish (t-shirts and shorts on) so we headed in. As we only had the one whiting, we felt sorry for him and let him go. It's the first time for the season I have "kayakers legs" with them very red and a bit sore today. It must be Spring! To top off the trip, on the way back Dad didn't tie his anchor on and when a wave hit him on the way back in it fell overboard, never to be seen again. Then we packed up and as I was finishing up upstairs Dad said "The dog might enjoy a run around". I told him to leave my dog in the backyard because I don't trust him not to run away. Turns out Dad should have done the same thing. 2 hours later and multiple trips along the beach, up towards Corinella and even to Grantville for lunch we finally found his dog running along the beach having a great time.

I might give the snapper another week or two to start feeding vigorously then get amongst them, hopefully with more success than that trip!