Softbaiting for big snapper - an epic day out on the Osprey 450SC in the far north
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2023
- Well the wind had died away for us at last and it was time for one of our favorite things to do, and that was to head along the coast and softbait for big snapper. The plan was to flick a few softies around the shallows before making our way out to the deep. We love deep water softbaiting, there's nothing like dropping the softie in 30mtrs plus and it only makes it half way before getting smashed. If the schools are there this is what normally happens for us. If they're not in big numbers, just drifting in while dragging a softie along waiting for it to get smashed is just as much of an adrenaline rush. One min you're bobbing the softie up and down, the next min the line goes tight and the rod buckles over like a horseshoe.
We launched out of Houhora mid morning with lots of kahawai breaking the surface in the Harbour. We did try a bit of a troll on the way out but had no joy, we didn't want to muck around to much in here now that we had calm registering on the weather table. We pushed the throttle down and the Osprey headed north. With only a couple mins run around from the ramp we stopped at our first little wash rock that sits nicely on a corner of a bay. This has nice current and lots of food for the hungry snapper to mooch for. Stevo flicked his softie out a few times before I even had my softie rigged.
My first flick was instantly grabbed by a waiting snapper, it was nothing big but hopefully it was a sign for what was to come for us. It was a nice little snap around 50cm, being the first fish of the day I released it only to hook up again on my next cast. I do love this little rock, it has always produced a couple nice fish for me. It was another nice little fatty again around 50-55cm which I slipped back over the side. I do love my fishing and love catching them, but there is something special to see a nice fish swim away... Stevo was quiet up front, but it also went quiet for me after those two nice fish so we kicked the little Osprey back into gear and headed along the coast to our next little set of rocks.
This next spot looked fishy as hell, that's one thing I love about the north, just about any little set of rocks along the coast has potential for a big snap on a softie. We had a rock that sat about 70mtrs offshore, so we set up our first drift just on the outer corner. Once again Stevo had his softie in before I could even reach my gear, this time he hooked up but just onto a little fella. There was plenty of sign here on the sounder and lots of hits on the softies but nothing big.
I had been eyeing up another rock that sat on the inside of this outer rock, so our next plan was to drift smack dab down the middle of the two. The inner rock looked good which also sat of the main land roughly about 15-20mtrs out. The sounder was lit up like a Xmas tree and my first flick of the softie towards the inner rock was absolutely smashed by something bigger this time. Man it was solid as, and only being in 10-12mtrs of water I had to lock up on it a bit. Mid fight Stevo hooked up to a nice fish also, not as big but it was giving him also a good tussle on the softbait gear.
He had his at the boat first and just after netting it, it spat his softie out which helped him to do a nice catch and release in the net - it wasn't a bad fish at around 60cm. I was still battling my monster and after awhile we had our first color show, it was a solid snap alright. It was a beast of a fish which went just over 80cm. A couple of quick pics and we had her swimming back down to where she came from. What an epic fish in the shallows. After a couple nice fish caught and knowing the wind had been playing up over the past few days we decided to put the hammer down and head wide for a couple of drops in the deep.
We made our way out in the little Osprey to around 40mtrs and started our first drift. I was hooked up pretty much instantly, this is what I love about deep water softbaiting, the not knowing what it is. The rod buckled like a horse shoe and line started to peel. After a few big runs and having to use my hand on the spool to slow it down, I could tell it was a king. Not a big guy, but a fun one for on the softie. Stevo hooked up again on a nice snap that ended up in the bin, after another 5mins we had the little king on the deck of the Osprey. It was takeable right at 75cm but we decided to watch it swim away. This has become more of my fun fishing, watching fish that can be released swim away.
We started getting into some good snaps to 65cm, each drift we were getting smashed but we were still wanting to hook into a couple big boys. I even managed a nice solid blue cod. We use to hunt for these all the time out here with great results. After about our 5-6th nice snap we decided to head back inshore but came across some birds sitting on the surface and here we finished the day on a couple of solid 75-80cm fish.
What an epic day out in the little Osprey softbaiting the shallows and the deep.
Tight lines - บันเทิง
Awesome boat and perfect for this style of fishing.
Good job lads.
Nice boat! and a great days fishing! 👍
Well done for letting them go. True sportsman. Its a win win for the fish/breeding & future young anglers. You are to be admired.
You make it look so easy Jase. When you've had a kaka day and you come home and view this for a bit of a reset. Cheers for sharing.
What a session! Epic vid there Jase! 🤙🏻
Great video looks like a awesome days fishing
Hey guys. Yeah awesome nother couple of snapper there. Weather finally played the game for ya. Chur.
Yeah SteveO !
😊
Awesome winter fishing. How deep were you?
We started in about 10mtrs around the rocks then ended up in 35mtrs doing a bit of deep water softbaiting...
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Chur. Have you been to muriwai lately? Is it worth going? Thinking of doing a solo mission tmrw
Hi j3243 - haven't been there for a long time with it being closed. I don't fish it a lot in winter but when I have there's been some nice trevs and gurnard caught...
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You seem to return a lot of great fish; is there a daily limit ? Lot of effort and expense for little return otherwise.?
I've caught my fare share of big fish over my 45yrs of fishing and I now have a lot more enjoyment in seeing good fish swim away (so do get a lot of return in my personal fishing) when it comes to my fishing I have a rule, nothing under 35cm and anything over 10lb that can go back healthy we let go after a couple quick pics 9ocasionally keep one for the smoker)
- East coast we are allowed to keep 7ech with a min measure of 30cm.
- West coast we are allowed 10ech with min measure of 25cm.
We never fish to our quote so a lot of fish does go back and a good 5-6 fish 5--9lb is plenty of meat with a couple more 2-3lbers.
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@@Reel-Kiwi-Fishing I completely agree, no need to be greedy but with the price of fish and fuel I'm happy to take the quota before the commercials do!
Were abouts are you dropping a line :)
Hi km2309 in the far north Doubtless bay...
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