Snapper season is here again and it is the best we have seen for 6 years. After a bit of a slow opening catches have gone through the roof on our offshore trips with bag limit catches of big or small snapper being achieved every trip. At time of writing this report we have enjoyed a run of 21 days straight with hauls of 150kgs of fish. This is the best I have seen it for years.
Due to the snapper frenzy we have not concentrated much on King George Whiting but when we do get a minute to fish for them we are snagging good quality fish up to a kilo.
Locally the blue crabs are in full swing as are the inshore KGW with catches of 40-50 per trip keeping punters happy and filling their eski’s.
All I can say is the pictures tell a thousand words.
During the months of March, April and May, Absolute Fishing Charters once again took "Reel Therapy" across to Coffin Bay to conduct their live aboard season.
On these trips groups of six clients are taken to some of South Australia’s most fish rich waters and get the chance to battle with some awesome game fish. Every year we do these charters I think the fishing could not get any better but this year it did. With Bluefin Tuna everywhere these fish became a bit of a bi-catch and we really focussed on Yellowtail Kingfish.
Catches of up to sixty Kingfish in one day were mind blowing with average days of twenty to thirty fish still awesome. Some outstanding catches were a thirty eight kilo Kingfish on a knife jig and five huge Kingfish at Greenly Island while having breakfast. Unfortunately the Samson Fish didn’t really fire this year but the sessions we did have on them and the fish we got were outstanding.
Once again the reef fishing was second to none with huge Nannygai, Blue Morwong, Blue Groper and some feisty Mako Sharks keeping us busy.
Dates have already been released for next year so if you are keen to join us in 2012 don’t hesitate to contact us.
Absolute Fishing Charters have had one of their busiest and most productive Snapper seasons to date. With offshore and local charters departing nearly every day over the past three months.
Catches have been great with big Snapper and jumbo King George Whiting offshore and smaller Snapper, Whiting, Squid, Sharks and Blue Swimmer Crabs locally. Some of the better days saw bag limit catches of Snapper on the first drop leaving the rest of the day to chase whiting.
New techniques were also trialled while targeting Snapper this season with Octo and Lucanus jigs proving very successful.
“REEL THERAPY” and crew once again ventured west to Coffin Bay in March to conduct a series of 3 and 4 day live aboard charters. If last year was anything to go by we were in for some mind blowing fishing action. There is always a sense of anticipation when we fish in these untouched waters as anything can and does happen.
We were not disappointed again this year with Southern Bluefin Tuna in huge numbers. A couple of days with the Adelaide Game Fishing Club aboard catches of between 80-100 fish each day were recorded, tagged and released. The abundance of Tuna led to some crazy light line action with captures of 20kg fish on extremely light tackle. Overall I think the average size was a little down on last year but they were plentiful.
The main target species on these charters are definitely Samson Fish and after a bit of a slow start they really fired up mid March. The grounds around Rocky Is rewarded us with the Samson sessions this charter is known for. In a couple of hours up to 30 fish would be landed, photographed and released in a manner of highly organised chaos. The fish were on average a bit bigger this year, the biggest going a good 38-40kgs. Most fish were caught on knife jigs and with over 300 fish caught through the season all except 1damaged fish were released to fight another day.
Yellowtail Kingfish are our other target species and in my opinion the best fight of them all. Last year we had huge success catching monster Kingies at night in the anchorage at Greenly Is but little success during the day. This year was totally opposite. Consistent catches of Kingies through the day were a regular occurrence. Sessions of up to 35 fish from 15-25kgs in 2-3hrs were really testing the anglers and their gear. These fish also mainly took knife jigs and live baits. We did get some Kings in the anchorage. These fish were of the 25-30kgs range.
As we wrap up another local season to prepare for our long range trips, I am happy to report that Snapper are thick in our Gulf at the moment.
Once the ban was lifted on Nov 30 it became clear good numbers of Snapper were in the Gulf and well spread. Luckily for us our grounds at Tapleys Shoal had a good spread of schooled fish ranging from 1-2kgs right through to the 10-12kg thumpers.
With the best December weather in years AFC was out everyday both local and offshore and the fish didn’t let us down. Big Snapper and Whiting were boated on our 11hr trips and Whiting, Crabs, Squid, garfish and smaller Snapper locally.
Just when I thought the offshore fishing was at its peak large schools of good sized Rugger Snapper and 40cm plus Whiting joined the bigger fish and made for outstanding catches throughout January and February. On several occasions offshore I only had to visit 2 of my spots in the whole day to get our bag of Reds and Whiting.
In wrapping up I am happy to say the 09/10 Snapper season was right up there with the best I have experienced. Consistency in the weather and fish catches made for great chartering and happy customers.
Absolute Fishing Charters once again ventured West in 09 basing itself out of the port of Coffin Bay. During the months of March, April and May they ran 3 and 4 day trips out to the fish rich waters of Greenly and Rocky Islands. Samson Fish, Yellowtail Kingfish and Southern Bluefin Tuna were the target species. With a great run of weather producing awesome fishing conditions on all but one of the trips catches were above average. Teaming up with Bruce Baddley from Ray and Ann’s Tackle on two trips catches of up to 60 Samsons in a couple of hours (all released) proved this area is a world class fishery. Kingfish catches were also consistent throughout the season with fish ranging from 30kg to a massive 43.8kg being landed on all but one of the trips.
The trend this year with large numbers of Samson’s being caught was to down size line class and also utilize the large numbers of big soft plastics on the market.
Big flick baits fished on 30lb Saltiga outfits proved that the days of using 80lb gear are numbered.
Tuna were once again thick this year with fish ranging from 30kg right down to 6kg proving great fun on light gear.
(Please note 95% of Samson Fish caught are returned to the school quickly reversing the effects of barotraumas
UPDATE
The 08/09 Snapper season has started nicely for Absolute with bag limit catches of large fish on each offshore trip. Snapper to 10kgs are smashing baits without hesitation catching some of my more relaxed clients off guard. These fish are in great physical condition leading me to believe spawning may not have taken place yet, so December could prove quite fruitful. Sharks, Whiting, Mackerel and Flathead are also in good numbers.
Locally, Garfish are thick around Glenelg and Squid are prolific when the water is clear. I have not had a chance to fish local Snapper since the ban was lifted but reports filtering in are pretty good.
WRAP UP
Finally the winter months are over triggering the annual migration of Snapper, one of South Australia ’s most sought after table fish up into the Gulf waters.
August and September saw a sprinkling of quality Snapper with hoards of juveniles making short work of well presented baits. Luckily good catches of thumper King George Whiting kept smiles on faces.
With the water temperature warming up October saw Snapper and Whiting catches improve dramatically. Kilo Whiting were a common occurrence in bag limit hauls of very large fish. Snapper up to 15lb were also finding place in the esky.
November saw the enforcement of the Snapper ban which prohibits the targeting and catching of these popular fish. King George Whiting became our target species with large hauls of XOS fish providing exciting action on offshore charters. Squid, Whiting, Snook and Salmon were part of mixed bags caught on our local charters.
LONG RANGE TRIP REPORTS
Absolute Fishing Charters have just returned from a stint in Coffin Bay doing a series of 3 and 5 Day Livaboard Charters.
During the 4 weeks away we encountered some of the best fishing action I have ever been involved in. On the 5 day charter from Adelaide to Coffin Bay we caught Snapper and Whiting at Tapleys Shoal, Nannygai and Snapper at Wedge Island then further west we struck Southern Bluefin Tuna. For the remainder of the charter we wore ourselves out catching these little steam trains (30kgs) and plenty of oversize Nannygai, Trevally and Blue Groper.
The following charter was the first of 2 booked by the Adelaide Game Fishing Club. With 6 members aboard for 3 days we fished Greenly and Rocky Island s off Coffin Bay for a total of 116 Southern Bluefin Tuna(tagged and released), 6 Samson Fish to 30kg(tagged and released) and plenty of jumbo Nannygai, Trevally and Blue Morwong.
Team 2 from the Adelaide Game Fishing Club were the next to join the boat. With 6 members again we headed for Rocky and Greenly Islands for 3 Days. Little did I know what surprises this trip had in store for us. Once again we got stuck into the Tuna with 81 tagged and released. The Samsons were a bit quiet with only one caught and released with a tag. Plenty of Nannygai, Trevally and Groper made up for it though. The surprise came on the last night when we anchored over an offshore reef and burleyed up to try to catch a shark. A small Bronze Whaler (5ft) was caught, tagged and released around tea time then things went quiet so most of us drifted off to bed. Around midnight our quiet time was turned into mayhem when a 150kg 9ft Mako Shark decided to take one of the baits and proceed to do a series of cartwheels with the third one landing him in the boat. There is no better alarm clock than a crazy Mako thrashing around 6ft from your bed.
The next charter was our return trip from Coffin Bay back to Holdfast Shores. On this trip we encountered amazing weather with glassy calm days enabling us to sight cast at schools of busting Tuna with soft plastics. I don’t think there is many places in the world were this can be done. Over 65 Tuna were caught and released along with Samson’s, Huge Nannygai and Blue Morwong. We then headed east stopping at the bottom of Thorny Passage, Wedge Island and Tapleys Shoal for great catches of Snapper, Nannygai and King George Whiting.
Absolute Fishing Charters is now taking bookings for next year’s Long Range Charters, so book now to avoid disappointment.
LOCAL
On the local scene since getting back we have been getting stuck into a great run of King George Whiting (51cms) and Rugger Snapper both locally and at Tapleys Shoal
Ryan
-Now that the holiday season is behind us I have found some time to update my Recent Catch Report.
The build up to the opening of the Snapper season was great with generous numbers being caught and released both Locally and Offshore.
Friday the 30th of November saw the opening at midday and we had our bag limit of fish over 60cms by 12.45. We continued to catch and release fish up to 10kg for the remainder of the day seeing nearly 40 Snapper landed for the afternoon.
Unfortunately the dodge tide came around 4 days after the opening slowing things down a bit making me work a bit harder to get the fish aboard.
The remainder of December saw good catches of Snapper to 10kgs on most days with a few quiet days thrown in. Consistency was not as good as last year leading me to believe the best was yet to come.
January saw the first sign of the Summer Whiting Run with good hauls of fish up to 55cms. The Snapper were also starting to play by the rules, but still no fish over 10kgs. Some days saw me scratching my head as I could see fish on the sounder but couldn’t make them eat only to have them come on the bite for several crazy sessions were we would bag out in under an hour.
Locally the Whiting were starting to show up, we caught Snapper on the deeper drops and cleaned up on Squid and Snook at Marino.
With the persistent South Easterlies blowing throughout February fishing conditions were made very tough. Luckily my prediction was correct and as soon as the Blue Swimmer Crabs turned up locally the Snapper fired up.
Nearly every day I have been able to get out good catches have been achieved. Locally I have been loading up on Whiting, Garfish, Crabs, Hammerhead Shark, Squid and the odd Snapper. Offshore Snapper to 8kgs and Whiting to a Kilo are filling my eski.
Hopefully these painful South Easterlies will disappear and give me a clean run through till the end of March. In April I am taking Reel Therapy to Coffin Bay for a number of Three Day Livaboard Charters chasing Tuna, Kingies and Samson fish. There are still some spots available on one of these trips and can also put together another trip if you have a group. If interested please don’t hesitate to call me.
Enjoy your fishing.
Ryan.
- Tapley Shoal - being a dodge tide I thought the fishing might be a bit slower, but some nice medium snapper were still loaded into the fish eski. It’s great to see the youngsters getting out and being interested in fishing. There’s nothing that makes my day more than seeing a kid catch their first Snapper.
- October saw some great catches aboard “REEL THERAPY”. Snapper up to 8.5kg and Whiting to 1.1 kg were boated. Unfortunately I didn’t get a shot of the Whiting, but here are some of the Snapper.
- A trip across to Tapleys Shoal on the
17/08/07 saw some nice Whiting and a few Snapper caught.
Take a look at this WHOPPER a genuine 1kg fish at over
53cms.
"I think the picture says it all."
-
Queens Birthday long weekend
Due to the great weather over the June long weekend AFC were
able to spend both Saturday and Sunday over at Tapleys
Shoal.Both days saw great catches of whiting plus a few
snapper to 6kgs thrown in. The sighting of a Southern
Wright Whale off Glenelg on Sundays return trip was also
a highlight.
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