After a long time sitting idle in the driveway
it was time to take the boat out and have a crack at a winter red.. We loaded
up the boat and headed to Western port bay to catch the last change of tide for
the night. Conditions were looking perfect with a high barometer and light
winds. Arrived at Hastings ramp around 8 pm with only a few trailers in the car
park we launched, it was around a hour before the low tide.
The night was cold and the slight southerly was
giving it a chill factor but the conditions on the water were great! A slight
wind against the run out tide created a minor chop on the water but a beautiful
clear sky with not a cloud in the sky was to be enjoyed.. Bait being used were
fresh squid and squid heads and the good old servo pilchards. Didn’t take long
before the first bit of action with rods being nibbled all night long, Plagued
by couta before and after the tide change kept us busy checking and changing
bait and rigging lost hooks, sea lice on slack tide that night didn’t help too!
Local fresh bait is always best
Once the tide changed lice were gone and the
action was quite, listening to the footy with the Hawks smashing the pies keeping
us entertained.. After another couta reeled in I rest the rod with a pilchard
and before I could put it in the rod holder I had an inquiry… Unlike the mid November
peak snapper I find the winter snapper to be a lot more finicky with their
taking of the bait.. with the rod still in my hand the fish took off!! Massive headshakes
but after a couple of minutes and some big runs we had the fish on board.. a
very healthy looking Snapper of 77 cm.. weighed it at home on the digital
scales it went 5.90 kg..
77cm and 5.90kg
With not much action after that we decided to call it a night after a hour, and headed back to the ramp around 12.30 am, as the slight wind was with the tide it made for a nice and flat bay.. With lights reflecting off the mirrored water and a happy crew we had successfully accomplished our first trip for Snapper this year!