hi all. back again. went to west peel arties today and drifted from end to end about a dozen times, moving my drift a little wider each time. got there about 8am. 1st drift produced a porcupine fish on the new zman creaturez. also had a deadstick out the back with a 4" atomic shad on it. 2nd drift and the deadstick goes off and a short while later a 51cm snap hits the deck. quickly removed the hook and cast out back and before i could get the fish in the box it goes off again. it was a bigger fish i would have put at about 60-65cm. 3/4 of the way up and i lose him. bit the line off above the snap - bugger. the next few drifts were pretty quiet with only a few little fish and then the deadstick goes off yet again. this turned out to be another 51cm snap. oh well, theres a feed. anyway i noticed that the deadstick seemed to be doing all the work today and i figure that with fast moving current the deadstick gets more time in the zone than the plastic i am casting out front and retrieving. so i put the other rod in the holder too and kicked back enjoying the comfort of my newly updated skipper seat.
just before 12 my "whiting" stick (mossy and salty know the one - with the $17 abu reel on it) buckled over to the water line. grabbed the rod and set the hook and knew immediately i had a pretty good fish on. managed to wind in the other line with 1 hand whilst hanging onto him at the same time - mostly due to the fact that he was still running away from me at a rapid rate - it had 70 foot of line out so took a short while to wind in. i was starting to worry about being spooled when he pulled up and i started the return journey for him. 10 minutes later, maybe more(time flies when your having fun) a 72cm hit the ice and completed the feed. fished another hour for zip and with the wind picking up decided to go home. dropped the 2 smaller fish at the in-laws on the way and had the joy of seeing my little girls eyes light up when i got home. she loves her snapper - and dad has to cook it too!
first over 70 for 2012 and damn happy to get that monkey off my back.
cheers
davo