Going old school - an epic day catching big snapper by handline in the little Osprey 450sc
Autumn is one of my favourite times to fish especially in the Harbours, the smaller fish start to thin out and the bigger snapper feed up for the winter before leaving. Having a perfect little weather window Pea was keen to go chase a few snaps by handline. I have had a couple of pretty epic handline sesh's over the past couple years, one with the Sis and the other with Stevo. Both times we got some nice fish to 75cm with the average fish being 50cm - that's not bad fish on the handline. The tide wasn't actually working with us this time but we still started at a spot I normally fish the outgoing. With the tide only an hour in we launched the little Osprey and headed off with handlines onboard. We had a few Yellow tail left overs from fishing the other day so we had some good bait onboard with us. Cubed mac's or even half yellow heads would be our big snapper bait for the day. We also get quite a few kahawai at the same spot this time of year so we will also have some nice fresh cubed baits if needed. We arrived a couple hours on the high and dropped the berley and pic then set up our hand lines.
We were sitting in a nice little quiet 4m back channel so it allowed us to use just a 1oz sinker - pretty much handline straylining. The water was still a little warm at around 21deg so I knew we would still have to dodge a few small fish. I started with cubes of pillie and Pea cubed mac's which would hold a little longer if the pickers were in residence. We also ran a rod with a sabiki rig in case fresh yellows turned up in the berley trail. It didn't take long for our first few bites to come on, there were definitely pickers here. The pillie didn't last long with just a couple nudges and it was gone. The first half hour was pretty quiet but once the berley really kicked in the bites started to turn to grabs. Pea was first to hook upon just a little fella around 37cm which he decided to let go. I was next to hook up but the pinging of the line through my fingers told me it was a lot better fish. Handlining is not only fun but it can put you to the test quite well.
It was a nice fish and very nice first fish around 60cm, it was in prime condition being this time of year so it went straight in the bin. Pea's next fish was a big boy and with the ouch ouch ouch and pinging of the line through the fingers he was having to play this bad boy. It took awhile to get under control and once it poked its head from under the boat, we then knew why. Pea had just fought a little rat king about 65-70cm on the handline - he swam away and wondered what all that commotion was all about. The fish were turning up thick and fast and Pea even started to hookup on the yellows for fresh bait. These fresh harder baits were doing the damage on some solid snaps. We even hooked a couple solid kahawai which gave us a run for our money - sore hands and all. Soon it was just mayhem and there were plenty of snaps 50-60cm hitting the deck of the Osprey. Being in 4mtrs of water we were able to pick and choose what fish to keep and let go if we wanted. Our hands took a bit of a hammering with big grabs and having to play a few of the better fish.
It had been a pretty epic few hours on the hand lines and another awesome day back out on the little Osprey, plenty of solid fish, smiles on the dials and a few nice fish for the bin
Tight lines
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1 авг 2024
