The calm before the storm

As I'm staying at the house in Coronet Bay this week, I am trying to make the most of the snapper season. Unfortunately the weather was predicted to turn last night. Earlier in the week I had put the call out to some friends and Brad responded, bringing his father in law along with him. Although the weather was meant to turn, they were both very keen to get out so we headed to a desolate Corinella ramp about 6.45. We motored around in front of Coronet Bay and it was a very different story to last time - Only 2 boats in sight, and nobody within 1km. Also, dead calm water with no wind! I sounded around a bit and almost immediately marked up some fish.

I dropped the anchor and threw out the burley pot. As we threw our baits out I informed the guys that it may be a wait as last time the reds didn't come on until dusk. As I finished saying this all 3 rods took off simultaneously, making a liar of me! Rod and myself landed ours, with Brad missing the strike. 2 good fish, about 2.5-3kg.

In 15 minutes we had bagged out, with our pilchards getting smashed basically as soon as they hit the water. It was absolutely amazing fishing. By this time we had to release any fish over 40cm (Which most were - About 55-60cm the norm). My Dad called 6 times for a report and I was on a fish every time. The boys were still having fun and I grabbed my bream rod (It had come along to try and catch some salmon for bait!) and threw an unweighted half pilchard on a 3/0 gamakatsu. Within 30 seconds the 4lb line was screaming off my reel, and 5 minutes later the following red came along:


This continued for some time and was great fun. Rod remarked that he never caught fish this big, let alone released them! We kept quite a few for a feed for their families, but in order to stay within limits we threw many more back than we kept. I estimate we caught 45 reds in an hour and a half. Then the wind hit hard and some dark clouds were coming in, so we headed back to the ramp to clean the fish and get back to the house.


It was the most amazing snapper fishing I have ever had - It wasn't just a school every 30 minutes or so; it was non-stop! The whooping and hollering from Brad and Rod and the screaming of the reels did attract a couple of other boats, but it was an almost empty 'port and excellent conditions. A great evening on the water.