It was a chilly but really pretty Saturday morning in Nelson Bay. I told my brother we wouldn’t go fishing without him while he was away at camp. After all, fishing isn’t as fun without him! But Dad had other ideas. Or maybe it was the other way around. We’re still laughing about that.
The water was a bit rough and cold sprays kept hitting the boat. At first, we didn’t catch much except for lots of spiny dogfish. They were twisting and spinning around, and I kept thinking, “Are these fish just messing with us?” We joked a lot and tried not to let our fingers get too frozen.
After ages of catching nothing but spiny dogfish and waiting quietly, my rod suddenly bent hard. I thought it was another spiny dogfish. But when I started reeling it in, I realized it was something way bigger. Up came a beautiful snapper! She was a female and absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t believe it.
Dad quickly Ikejime’d the snapper, a technique he had learned from one of Dan Govier’s presentations. It was kind of amazing to watch him do it, like magic! I felt proud and excited all at the same time.
On the way back to the ramp, we laughed a lot and kept talking about how many spiny dogfish we’d caught before the snapper showed up. It made the whole morning feel like an adventure, not just about catching a fish.
By the time we got back, the sun was shining, the water was sparkling, and our chilly, bumpy morning had turned into one of the best fishing trips ever. I can’t wait to tell my brother all about it. He’ll never let us forget that he missed the snapper, and Dad looked like a fishing ninja doing his Ikejime trick.
Nelson Bay really delivered that morning cold, rough, full of spinny dogfish, and finished with a snapper we’ll remember forever. Not to bad for October!
