Went out to mud island yesterday morning with my brother. Ended up setting anchor on the north east side of the island. Most surprising catch of the day was a 80cm catfish. I have never seen one this big before and first thoughts were king fish till i got it to the boat, imagine the disappointment. Though was a great fight.
Managed one legal snapper of 40cm for the trip. Though there were several times i had much larger ones on and after their initial huge run they would just spit the hook. I actually got one to within metres of the boat to see it spit the hook at me. I dont know what i'm doing wrong here as it was happening quite a bit on the larger fish. Managed about 40 around the 30-34cm mark but just couldnt land the big ones.
Anyone with some words of wisdom that may help in future trips would be greatly appreciated.
i often have the same problem myself- i think its just a matter of keeping some pressure on the line, if theres any slack i think its likely the bigger fish will have a good chance to spit the hook. thats my theory anyway not that im putting it into practice.
you get some nice catfish out there big silver ones and they go hard you get them to the boat and they go again seen them up around the metre markOriginally Posted by boomstix
well done on the other fish
shane
Thanks for the report.
Have caught heaps of catfish over that size over the years, especially close in to the bank.
Whilst the ultimate realisation that it is a catfish is always disappointing, they do put up a terrific fight and give some real thrills until that first sighting.
A 40 cm snapper is still a good fish to be taking home.Well done!
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Your not wrong about the terrific fight in them. I think I worked my way around the boat 3 times with that sucker (no idea how i didnt get it tangled in the anchor rope). It got boatside several times just to take off again on another powerful run. Like you said Charleville great fight till the realization of what it actually is. Specially on light tackle.
May i suggest using a mustad penetrator hook.
Snapper have a very bony mouth and most times the bigger fish will hold a bait in there mouth just to see if its safe to engulf.
Those Penetrator hooks are super sharp.
40cm squire is a great pan size fish.
Good luck with your next trip.
Cheers Brent
That is very good advice. They are very good hooks.
For a similar reason, when I use ganged hooks (which is most of the time), I use Gamakatsu Gangsters.
I was "forced' to buy Mustad ganging hooks last week because my local tackle shop had no Gamakatsu Gangsters and I am nowhere near as happy with them as I would be with Gamakatsu Gangsters.
As single hooks, the Mustad Penetrators are very good.
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Maybe fish with small circle hooks. They work well on the soft mouthed fish like pearlies offshore??
use a baitrunner and let them take off before setting hooks
Thats great advice. I am yet to straighten one and they certainly pin fish well
With Snapper in open water I tend to keep even pressure and keep soft hands and dont put too much jerky stress on the fish.
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try circle hooks. dont strike, just wind maintaining pressure
baitrunner reel with 5 or 6/0 gamakatsu octopus circle hooks.
works excellent when u get one on.
cheers
greg
Brilliant, thank you all for the advice. Just gotta wait for some decent weather again...
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