Gents and ladies,
How much fun can you have on one Sunday afternoon.
A mate calls you up and says I've got 160kg of trawler bycatch that I need to run through a mincer. How can I refuse an offer like that I say to myself.
After successfully driving Brooksy's wive from the house and the neighbours from their lunch, a freezer was packed with the secret burley mixture that will prove the undoing of many a snapper across the winter.
Quick check of the weather and a run to Murphies was in order to put the special brew through its tests. I think the attendent at the BP sure wished we had showered or at least changed our clothes before heading off.
At Mooloolaba at 3:00 to about 5-8knots and .5 metre sea. The usual grounds were very bare and two different moves and a couple of hours had bugger all bites let alone fish. Another move and some new ground looked better but still no fish came aboard.
Dark and cold, it seemed that a return home was imminent without any fish but as luck would have my floater goes off. Five minutes later after dragging it from the coral it became wrapped around the anchor rope it seemed luck was certainly not with us. A bit of jiggery pokery and it swam free and a nice 4-5kg snapper came aboard. I'm not sure how the leader held together as it was rubbed raw but, OK we thought, Our luck might be about to turn.
All was quite with only pickers for a while when a drop of the bottom basher produced a solid hook-up as soon as it hit the sea floor. Lots of grunting from both me and the fish resulted in my PB snapper of between 7-8kg coming aboard and me doing the famous Bugman celebration shuffle across the deck.
Brooksy took a dislike to the shuffle or was it my ability to catch fish - either one - and it became worse not long after as a another nice 5kg fish came in on my floater.
I was feeling sorry for the big guy so I offered the next big run on my rod to him but he gratiously declined with the resulting 10secs of confusion allowing the fish to drop the hooks. He finally has a big run and hook-up just minutes later on his floater only to be bricked in the coral.
Undeterred he fished on with the bottom basher and was rewarded with a nice 6kg+ fish that took a liking to filleted whiptail. I couldn't let him have the limelight and duly put a 4kg snapper on the boat deck at the same time which again came from the pillie floater.
Things quitened after that as the Sou-Wester picked up and the current moved from North West to West-South West (strange). some baby reds hit the deck before a couple of perlies to Brooksie on the bottom basher rounded out the night.
Well that's actually not quite correct as a hurl in the backyard of Brooksies place from your's truly pretty much finished it off. I dunno why - don't ask me.
So my question is to Mr Brian Webb - having landed 8kg of red fish which stretched the tape to over a metre and had a head rougher than Touchy's can I finally lay claim to catching - An Ol' Man Snapper?
Thanks for a great trip Brooksy - the rest is up to you.
Bugman
, baitos are like that & are usually the last to know, eh Webby, Well done bug. Cheers Touchy.><>.
