Once all the Christmas family lunch festivities and present unwrapping were out of the way, we headed home to pack the boat up for our Annual Sounds Fishing Trip.
The night started as usual, with our mate Brad tying up to us for a few drinks while catching some fresh bait.
As last light rolled in, Brad parted ways to anchor up nearby, maximising our chances at landing a decent snapper. The fishing remained slow for most of the evening with only a few sharks being caught and the rain now setting in. We decided to get some sleep, setting our alarms for the early hours of the morning so no to miss the change of light – as this proves to be the best time for fishing.
It’s now 4am and drizzling as the first alarm goes off. I get up to set the rods, Terri takes advantage and continues sleeping. Things start pretty quietly , not long before first light, one rod starts to peel line. I grab it and start to fight the fish. Not long into the fight, I realise it’s a pretty good fish. i attempt to wake Terri to provide assitance with the net. After she surfaces from the cabin, the fish was now in sight and is captured and goes into the net.
The fish is landed, we get a quick couple of photos, get it measured and weighed, coming in at 26lb and 86.5cm.
We then attempt to release this old fish. Unfortunately, after about five minutes it failed to release and we realise he is going to be coming home with us.
After resetting the rods, not much time had passed and the reel begins to run again. This time, Terri’s turn. She fights the fish to the boat, only to have it come off the hook right on the surface.
At least we got to see it, potentially a 20+lb fish. As the day continued, only a few Gurnard are caught so we decided to gut the fish before heading back in. While gutting the Snapper, we were surprised to find a whole bait with hooks rigged up from a stray line still inside – and in one piece. We discover when catching up with Brad later that this was his bait. He had lost this fish no more than 20 minutes before we landed it! He leaves empty handed this trip.
