December 2008
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.

October/November 2008
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.

8th May 2008
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

22nd February 2008 -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.

7th October 2007 - 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.

4th October 2007 - 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.

17th August 2007 - 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."

9th June 2007 - 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.