OUT ON the water, fishos were greeted with some perfect conditions - clear blue sky, spring-like air temperatures ... where else would a fisho want to be?
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I personally took the opportunity to spend some time targeting snapper with my father-in-law, Rob Mclauchlan.
I wrote a column a little over a month ago about fishing for snapper with soft plastics ... well, long story short, Rob is a bloke who is a little stuck in his ways, and it was time to break the bad habits and show him how to use these plastics he always thought caught more fishermen than fish!
We headed straight to a GPS mark, not too far off Valla, a spot he would usually anchor up on and run a burley trail back and fish dead baits ... where instead we went up current and cast our lightly weighted soft plastics out and began our first drift.
I had a couple of bumps in as many casts, and I look around to see Rob hooked up and his line screaming off the reel, the heavy head shakes and blistering runs were typical of a big red, but it wasn’t to be, it was a monster silver drummer and Rob’s first fish on a plastic out at sea.
We continued to throw our lures and ended up with half a dozen snapper and pearl perch around 2kg for the plate, and released just as many to grow a little bigger.
The silver drummer Rob caught was on a Nuclear Chicken soft plastic. We collected some crucial weights and measurements and turns out it is a pending NSW Mid North Coast and a official Urunga Anglers’ Club record. Measuring in at 750mm long and also 750mm around the girth, this monster weighed in at 9.2kg.
Congratulations Rob, that is a fish of a lifetime and not the usual lure by-catch - but a welcome one none the less.
I’m guessing next time we fish together we’ll be doing a bit more with the plastics.
* In the rivers the word is that luderick are being caught on green weed and cabbage, flathead are a little scarce and the bream are a tad flighty and not interested in baits or lures. This is probably due to the crystal clear water. We are in need of a bit of fresh water to push down and stir things up a little.
The rivers should start to improve over the next couple of months as the weather warms up again. Meanwhile, I’d be targetting big winter mulloway on lures and live baits at night on a change of tide around structures like bridges and rock walls.
Until next time good luck, and remember to only take what you need.
