Boys Day Out

34"58.849 138"28.078 WGS66 to wgs84 is 34.58 762 138 28 160

http://www.cajunline.com/technology.html

Read the guys feedback Crispy. Can tell a whole story.Personally, never used Pelagic gear but haven't heard a lot of positives from other users either.I think it would be buyer beware.PLEASE NOTE THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION ONLY

Victoria do great things with the funds from Fishing License Fees. The monies go into a fund that is only to go back into fishing. Under South Australias Present Labot Government, it would not work as the funds ( If we had a fishing license ) would just go into general revenue.

Bend over UHF and apply liberal amount of lube, call me cynical.I'd love to see revenue raised V revenue spent..."We swear, none of this will ever go into general revenue..."SA Xlotto, all money will go to hospitalsRego, for roadsFuel exise, for roadsA once off emergency services levy to pay for a new communications systemI'm painting a picture here...

I choose to save my $15 for a couple of pints

Hey Crispy go with the L.E.D. Flood light and plenty of berley, no probs you'll clean up. :woohoo:

Some tips:[ul] [li]Make sure you dab them head on otherwise they'll just swim straight out of the net.[/li] [li]Don't lurch at them by splashing the net in the water in a hurry otherwise they will dart away too.[/li] [li]Gently place the net in the water, and then take them head on. If you have a number of fish in close proximity there is no need to empty the net after every scoop. You can quite easily net up to a half dozen at at time.[/li] [li]Set the alarm on your sounder if you have one because it's quite difficult to judge the depth of water at night.[/li] [li]When you spend the night going around and around in circles it is very easy to lose your situational awareness. Be careful! Not that I've ever dabbed gar in a metro area but it would be very easy to run into another boat, pylon or other obstacles because you can become so focused on chasing the gar that you forget about what's going on around you.[/li] [/ul] Dabbing gar is a lot of fun. Even my missus, who doesn't really care too much about going fishing really enjoys dabbing for gar.

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.

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

Don't know Jaggs. I know of at least 2 of the fish were caught on the charter boat. Not sure if it was only K&R charters that were out there or if the others were as well. I also know it ticked a quite a few competitors off. Heard it in the Marquee more than once. What the discussion was about was that the charter operators know where the fish are, and know the drops cos they do that for a living. Personally, It doesn't bother me. If I catch a big fish from my little rig, then I have done it all myself and not relied on someone else.

Hey All,Going to put Day 3 post through tomoz. Too stuffed tonight and going to bed!

Update: Have just been informed that the Second place on the leaderboard that I posted earlier has been replaced by a 13.28kg fish caught by M Burk of, you guessed it, Whyalla.

Fishie Wrote:I have heard that Fishie. The Comp organisers state that you need to fish outside the actual Aquaculture lease well away from the pens! Makes it a little harder. Went up that way yesterday and saw that most of the pens are gone. There were I think 5 in total that were up the top of Fitzgerald bay and I'm not even sure they were in use.From what I've heard, the big boy on the board came from the vicinity of the Lighthouse / Ledge.

Cheers BDO!

Looks like we are fishing in a Bakery rather than a Snapper comp! Our lot pulled another Donut! And as far as I know, BigRed, UHF and Spedo faired no better!Having spent a lot of the night awake and constantly checking the weather, we finally got underway at around 8. It blew its guts out pretty much all night and it was still blowy at 6am. By 7.30, the wind had dropped very slightly so we made our way down to the Marina. There were a lot of white horses and it looked to be quite rough so we decided to hit Lowly again after we had checked out the Leader board. As we pulled up, we saw a couple of blokes having their photo taken with their catch. Certainly lifted our spirits. Considering the blokes reckoned that they caught them out at Point Lowly! Turned out one of the fish went 15.26kg. The leader board at that time was:1. S Stone (Whyalla) 15.26kg2. S Shultz (Whyalla) 13.08kg3. J Malone (Pt Lincoln) 12.90kg4. B Stone (Whyalla) 12.32kg5. O Jaritz (Whyalla) 11.70kg6. P Hanold (Andamooka) 10.10kg7. A Roberts (Kapunda) 7.62kg8. T Rose (Whyalla) 5.94kg9. K Shannon (Kapunda) 5.48kg10. A Spackman (Whyalla) 5.32kgSo, out to Point Lowly we went. Uneventful launch but the water looked rough there as well. Which it did turn out to be. First stop for us was Diver's Reef. There were a few boats out there but they were getting thrown about a fair bit. Looking over towards the Lighthouse, it looked a lot more settled so we headed over there. Was a very interesting short trip. The Rip was very rough with swells ranging from 2 - 3m. But as soon as we managed to get out of the Rip, the swell was lucky to be 1m at its worst. Sounded around for a while, locating a few small scattered schools on the sounder and a deep channel. Dropped the pick and started to Burley up. Not long after we got there, the bites began. My lad hooked up to what we hoped was a Pinkie! Well, it turned out to be a dreaded Dog Shark. Quick De-Hook and back in the drink. Baits were still getting hammered but it turned out to be Shitties. Decided to have a quick flick with Lucanus jigs but that generated no interest. Got the same result with Soft Plastics. The Shitties got thicker so our next move was to head out deep to one of the Charter drops that the comp organisers give out every year. Found the mark no problem. Didn't look to be much structure though. But, never the less, baited up and cast em out. Very strong current! But it wasn't to be as this drop was also infested with Shitties. Stuck it out while we had lunch, then moved back for another drift through the rip. The wind came up and by the end of the drift, we were, again, fishless. Rather than reposition for another drift, we motored across to the Pt Lowly Tyre Reef. Found some fish up close on the structure and a few out wide. Dropped the pick and sent the baits down again. By this time, the wind was quite strong, as was the current and the anchor dragged.Repositioned and dropped the pick again only to break the trip ties and drift away again. BigRed, UHF and Spedo came past at that stage as said they were going in. But we went back to Diver's Reef and had another crack. Again, a lot of small bites which turned out to be Shitties. The swell in the Rip got worse so we decided to roll up and head in, effectively calling it a day.Went back to the Ramp to wash the boat and saw more fish being weighed in. Anyway, below were the standings at 5pm:1. S Stone (Whyalla) 15.26kg2. S Schultz (Whyalla) 13.08kg3. J Malone (Pt Lincoln) 12.90kg4. B Stone (Whyalla) 12.32kg5. M Jaritz (Whyalla) 12.28kg6. D Ellis (Pt Augusta) 12.14kg7. R Mitchell (Whyalla) 12kg8. A Grillett (Whyalla) 11.98kg9. D Parker (Whyalla) 11.74kg10. O Jaritz (Whyalla) 11.70kgOur plan of attack for the 3rd and final day is to get out and hit em from super early am as the wind is forecast to drop to 8 knots. Who knows what tomorrow will bring but from all we’ve heard, the fish are being caught early morning. Fingers crossed, we can get amongst them.Boyo

Boyo some cracker numbers there mate1. S Stone (Whyalla) 15.26kg 2. S Schultz (Whyalla) 13.08kg 3. J Malone (Pt Lincoln) 12.90kg 4. B Stone (Whyalla) 12.32kg 5. M Jaritz (Whyalla) 12.28kg 6. D Ellis (Pt Augusta) 12.14kg 7. R Mitchell (Whyalla) 12kg 8. A Grillett (Whyalla) 11.98kg 9. D Parker (Whyalla) 11.74kg 10. O Jaritz (Whyalla) 11.70kg May you have better luck on day Three mate

Well, today was the day that was. Or rather wasn't! After waking up at 6am, and preparing for a 7am start to the 21st Annual Snapper Comp, we were greeted with a stiff breeze coming from the North West. Phoned UHF for a quick discussion regarding the days plan of action. We decided to hold off for a bit and see what the weather was doing. As it turned out, the wind did not back off. In fact, it felt like it got stronger. It did swing around from the North West to South Westerly. As far as fishing at Whyalla goes, the Southerly winds, whether it is from the SW, S or SE, and if it has some strength to it, it usually spells the end of fishing for smaller boats. Big Red, UHF and Spedo launched from Point Lowly at around 10 and headed for the North end of Fitzgerald bay. We launched almost an hour later also from Point Lowly. The wind was around 14 knots. By 1 o'clock, BigRed, UHF and Spedo had accounted for a few Dog Sharks but so far we had drawn a Donut. We did attempt to anchor up once, but the wind was quite strong and the anchor refused to stick. We did find a couple of reasonable sized schools and drifted baits through for a continuation to our Donut. The wind continued to rise and by 2pm, Whyalla Sea Rescue had issued an All Weather alert to all craft with suggestion for all craft to return to the ramps. By that stage, we had already returned to the Ramp at Point Lowly. No day's fishing is complete without at least one peanut cutting boats off and in this case we were not let down. A boat of around the 6m length cut through the queue of boats waiting at the ramp. We got the boat back on the trailer at 2.30 and were greeted by fisheries officers who enquired about our catch. However, with nothing to declare, we went on our way. By this time, the wind was blowing hard at plus 30 knots. Shortly after, the Police arrived, we assume, to ensure all craft returned safely. Travelled back into Whyalla and checked out the leader board. 5 fish had been weighed in with the leader being 7.62kg which was caught by a resident of Kapunda. Of the 5 fish on the board, 2 were caught by Kapunda Residents and the other 3 caught by Locals. Not sure how BigRed, UHF and Spedo faired in the end but we returned to the caravan park for a few ales and to prepare for our next assault. The forecast not looking real good so we will have to play it all as it comes.

Old story you only get out what you put in maintance well looked after