Hi All,
This was my last trip to Harry's:
http://ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthr...ones-out-there.....
Yesterday, I launched solo from Manly a little after 5am, arriving at Harry's a little before 6am (slow ride in the dark....). Headed straight for my favourite area to find a boat already anchored smack bang in the middle of it. Made drifting a little more difficult than I'd have liked, but hey, that's the luck of the draw. Sounding around, the best shows of fish were nice and close to the anchored boat. Luckily, they seemed like a reasonably friendly couple of guys. I also made sure that if I did drift close to them, that it was near their bow, and nowhere near their lines or burley trail.
Anyway, after about 45 min or so of drifting, casting and retrieving, I finally felt that little tap, following by a screaming drag. This was on exactly the same combo as last trip, right down to the 10lb FC leader, but this time I was much more relaxed. The fight was very similar to the bust-offs last trip, impressive first run, coupled with numerous short powerful lunges. This time I let it run, and only put in a bit of grunt when it wasn't running. Of course, I started to get pulled/drift towards the anchored boat, so while solidly hooked up (but with fear of my leader giving way), I had to fire the engine and slowly try to motor away with the tiller steer between my legs. Had to do that a couple of times as this fish seemed to have endless energy reserves. One thing I remembered from countless hours of watching fishing DVDs was tips regarding loosing snapper at the boat based on their last lunges for freedom. So, as soon as I saw colour, I backed the drag off, andit ran again. Another minute and it was close to the boat again. Again, it ran. Finally, it was time to net the fish. This was perhaps the most nerve wracking of moments. Me, with a 7'6" 4-8kg stick in one hand, a net in the other, and an anrgy fish just out of reach. Eventually it made the net, and my day.
74cm!!! Best on plastics by a very long shot.
I'm now convinced that whatever busted me up last trip was snapper as the runs were almost identical. Although, they seemed bigger fish than this one!
About 10-15 minutes later, it all happened again, and I was even more relaxed and confident this time, although this fish was somewhat smaller. It came in at 52cm.
It went quiet with me going an hour or two without a touch. By now the anchored boat had left, and I had the freedom to sound and drift to my hearts content. I found some great shows, by just couldn't entice them to bite. My girlfriend had informed me by phone that we were having friends and family over for fish burritos (http://aussiewife.blogspot.com/2005/...-burritos.html).
For some reason, I was worried that the two fish wouldn't be enough for 6 adults (??), so I convinced myself to stay until I had a third in the esky.
By now the tide had just turned and this is when I often get some good hook ups out at Harry's. I also changed the plastic from the 140mm Glo Wriggler to a 4" Gulp minnow in New Penny.
As I jigged through a nice show of fish, BANG! I was on again. This one put up a really good show. It just kept going. Perhaps not as much as the 74cm model, but gave a really good fight. On the mat it went 56cm. That was it. Didn't even make another cast, it was time to head for home.
So, at the end of the day, I had three in the esky (52, 56, 74cm) and only caught two undersized ones.
The anchored boat also seemed to do quite well. I saw them boat at least 3 good fish. Not sure if one made the 70s or not (one certainly could have), but definitely a couple in the 60s.
Later in my session, a 'glass boat with Ausfish stickers turned up. I watched him boat a nice 60+cm snapper (62cm, I think he said) followed very quickly by a 60cm Jew. I had a quick chat on my way out of there, and he mentioned that he was going to do an overnighter there, so I hope he posts up a report!
There's definately some good fish out there at the moment. We were away from the crowds, I certainly think that helped a lot.
Anyway, thanks for listening once again to my long winded report.
Double chins and fish:
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Originally Posted by Angla
