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Whyalla Snapper Comp - Day 3


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Sorry for being a bit late people. But better late than never.....Day 3. Surfaced at 3.30am and checked the weather. Not much wind. Just a very light breeze, so away we went. Once again, we went out to hit Lowly. Conditions looked pretty good. Or so we thought. Launched and motored out of the little Marina at Point Lowly and encountered a bit of swell. Which turned out to be quite a lot of swell. Anyway, having already launched, we headed out through the Rip. Being still dark, and not being able to see the waves, I thought we might have had at least one seasick passenger but we didn't. We ended up on the Western edge of the Rip sounding around. Only a small bit of activity on the sounder, we tried to have a crack. Dropped the pick but we were getting thrown about like a toy boat. As the sun began to show on the Eastern Horizon, we made the move to the Rip and began to drift. It was strictly a 'sit-down' drift as the swell was of the washing machine variety. We only ended up doing one drift pass before we re-positioned and dropped the pick. Right in the middle of the Rip. Baited up and sent em to the bottom. Lots of Shitties around still so got the underwater camera ready and dropped it over the side. Immediate results were that we could see the masses of Shitties. Decided to record a bit when I noticed something weird on the screen. Thought it was structure which prompted a quick attempted recovery. Strange thing is I felt something having a go at the camera. I told the lads on board to keep their eye on the cable and see what it was. Then I saw a flash of Snapper flank go past the lens. I pulled the camera up and saw a Rugger had taken a whole Slimey Mackerel then wrapped itself around the camera cable. It turned out to be our first... and last Red of the trip. Final weight of it was 1.66kg. We stuck it out in the rip until the tide began to really ‘rip’ through so much so that we couldn’t keep a 12oz sinker on the bottom. Then it was time to recover the anchor. By that time, BigRed had launched with Spedo, his brother-in-law and his niece on board. After a quick discussion, we decided to head for Black Point for a look-see. Not much around except a few Dog Sharks and crabs. Conditions had improved somewhat so, again after careful deliberation, we decided to head first for the drop called community and have a go, then, if nothing happened, to head for Mareks Reef. We were anchored up only for a few minutes when a larger boat came our way. It turned out to be Fisheries. Great to see that they were out and about! Having declared our only fish, the two officers onboard motored away, heading for Point Lowly.We weren’t there long before one of the reels on BigReds boat began to let out line. It looked like it might have been a decent fish. After a short fight, the beastie surfaced. It turned out to be a Ray. It was released. By that time, the Shitties had moved in in force. But they say persistence pays off. My oldest lads mate that was with us pulled in a nice KGW. Unfortunately it went 30cm so it was promptly released. More Shitties were caught but after a short time, the Shitties became good-sized Garfish. These were being caught on the bottom rather than float rigs. We did have a Shag move in and steal a few fish but the lads had a few laughs with it before it had had enough and left us alone. My Cousin landed a nice 32cm KGW which went in with the Gar and Rugger.The Gar went quiet but the legions of Shitties that seemed to be everywhere were relentlessly taking every bait offered. By this time, it was 2pm and the conditions had changed to breezy and the swell was beginning to come up again. We upped the pick and made the run back to the ramp at Point Lowly. We recovered the boat and headed in to the Marquee at the Whyalla Marina where I weighed in my Rugger and the rest of the crew weighed in a few Garfish and the sole KGW that was caught. Then it was time to wash the rig and gear and head back to the Caravan Park to get cleaned up in time to attend the presentation. And that saw the close of the 2012 Whyalla Snapper Championship.Final Results: (Top 10 Heaviest)1. S Stone (Whyalla) 15.26kg2. J Parker (Whyalla) 14.36kg3. A Sammut (Whyalla) 13.68kg4. M Burk (Whyalla) 13.28kg5. W Barry (Victoria) 13.10kg6. S Schultz (Whyalla) 13.08kg7. S Ahretis (Victoria) 13.00kg8. J Malone (Pt Lincoln) 12.90kg9. Matthew Jaritz (Whyalla) 12.34kg10. B Stone (Whyalla) 12.32kgThe next 10 Heaviest:1. Michael Jaritz (Whyalla) 12.28kg2. J Jaritz (Whyalla) 12.16kg3. D Ellis (Pt Augusta) 12.14kg4. R Mitchell (Whyalla) 12.00kg5. A Grillett (Whyalla) 11.98kg6. C Thompson (Whyalla) 11.90kg7. P McVicar (Victoria) 11.86kg8. D Parker (Whyalla) 11.74kg9. O Jaritz (Whyalla) 11.70kg10. P Hanold (Andamooka) 11.48kgQuite a few big fish caught throughout the weekend. Pity we did not find any. Hopefully the weather will play the game next year and we can get on the board.Boyo

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its definatly not easy to catch a snapper these days.. i sitll believe it has less to do with skill and more to do with luck.. credit to the people that looked at the weather and decided to stay close, fish the calmer waters, of just stay ashore and wait for a window.. sure some of the boats are big enough to tackle the waves, but judging by the size of some of the trailers in the parking lot, some silly people around.. even a friend of mine fishing with her hubby and 7 yr old daughter said it was a bit rough.. she got a bit upset with me when i said she had no buisness being out there in a 17 ft boat.. even more so with a young child on board... she got the huff with me... i guess im not as silly as i thought i was... no way would i have been sitting in a boat in that weather.. the rocks were awesome though... even at midnight it was sloppy and crappy under the full moon...i even found a bloke selling sausages at that time.. which was more than welcome.

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I think you're right RN. Right Place, Right Time, all Luck. Certainly saw some tools out there in small rigs. Thing is, with their perserverance, a lot of them got fish. Although we did not fair well, it was not from lack of trying. More like Right time, Wrong place. I have seen fish caught in the rip not more than 30m from us and us not even getting a sniff. But thats fishing.And having a crew of 5 in my 15.5 footer, I was quite reluctant to head out deeper.

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