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Jason 'Squidder' Price with a solid Snapper, technique explained below :
Winter in Canberra is tough, the native species shut down and even most of the Redfin take a snooze. Luckily for us it also coincides with the spawning run of Cuttlefish in many south coast areas. With confirmed reports of big Snapper fought and lost so close to home (Minimal drive) we had to get stuck into it before it was all over for another year... Dont need to twist my dodgy arm twice!
Previous success at this same spot has shown two things, trolling deep diving hard bodies works and so do various soft plastics. Many have tried the latter with no real accomplishment but its freakishly popular and pays the bills (Food bills that is). Some styles of plastics work better than others, same with scents and colours. The standard moulding of choice is definitely a flick bait under over 5”, brandings matter least as the action imparted is what draws your fate.
Depot Beach is hot or cold, wild or kind… It’s the kind of place you would take a loved one for a picnic. Tame Kangaroo’s without a care in the world slop around on the beach, enjoying what tourism North Durras can muster. It’s also a rather shallow bay like structure that has an average water depth of 10m before deepness starts protruding past the headlands. Often sheltered by Wasp Island, it is home to long undulating gravel pits, sandy bottoms and large seals.
On the day in question we arrived mid way through the changing of the tide, water conditions were chunkier than expected but the calm onshore winds topped off any dramatic effect Mother Nature could throw at us. With high tide holding my previous 8m marks were now in over 10m of water, the fish had moved and trolling my infamous lure proved pointless. Still I gave it a few hours anyway, glancing over and my group of friends landing decent size reds saw me change to a small Atomic Jerk Shad for immediate results (Cant beat them, imitate them!).
Popularised by bait techniques, a dead sticking drift approach covered more water, depth and structure with serious results. Couple of weeks ago Craig bagged out on this technique; while I caught the fish of the day trolling it just didn’t seem fair to be honest. Not till I tried it did I realise how these Snapper were reacting to plastics, picking them off the bottom and running like hell. Rod lifts and flicks worked but the repetitive singular bottom bounce stopped spooking fish and produced the goods.
When the tide transformed the weather changed, white caps and 15 knot winds took the fish out of the equation. They were still there but very flighty, almost like something was bugging them. Some Pelagic activity was noted earlier in the day but what it was I am not so sure, bait balls busting up could have been caused by Dolphins, Sharks or even Wally Walrus (No cast proved fruitful unfortunately). Even the pest species packed up and went home, so we do the same. By catch was limited to Wrasse, Pike and the occasional Oogly. The Trevally and Flathead of yesteryear were most probably crouching tiger, hidden rock face to be honest.
The more I fish this location the more I learn, bit like a tap. It runs goes hot or cold, jams, shakes, leaks and gushes with action. With a full moon previous we expected greater results, a couple of 60cm Snapper were boated though which made for some great fillets and bragging rights. The only other successful way I can think of fishing the area is with live bait, something like a Slimey or a Yakka. Much has been written on live baiting for Snapper, unfortunately I might just have to catch some elsewhere and translocate them (Sans bust up, the Snapper have eaten them all!).
Previous success at this same spot has shown two things, trolling deep diving hard bodies works and so do various soft plastics. Many have tried the latter with no real accomplishment but its freakishly popular and pays the bills (Food bills that is). Some styles of plastics work better than others, same with scents and colours. The standard moulding of choice is definitely a flick bait under over 5”, brandings matter least as the action imparted is what draws your fate.
Depot Beach is hot or cold, wild or kind… It’s the kind of place you would take a loved one for a picnic. Tame Kangaroo’s without a care in the world slop around on the beach, enjoying what tourism North Durras can muster. It’s also a rather shallow bay like structure that has an average water depth of 10m before deepness starts protruding past the headlands. Often sheltered by Wasp Island, it is home to long undulating gravel pits, sandy bottoms and large seals.
On the day in question we arrived mid way through the changing of the tide, water conditions were chunkier than expected but the calm onshore winds topped off any dramatic effect Mother Nature could throw at us. With high tide holding my previous 8m marks were now in over 10m of water, the fish had moved and trolling my infamous lure proved pointless. Still I gave it a few hours anyway, glancing over and my group of friends landing decent size reds saw me change to a small Atomic Jerk Shad for immediate results (Cant beat them, imitate them!).
Popularised by bait techniques, a dead sticking drift approach covered more water, depth and structure with serious results. Couple of weeks ago Craig bagged out on this technique; while I caught the fish of the day trolling it just didn’t seem fair to be honest. Not till I tried it did I realise how these Snapper were reacting to plastics, picking them off the bottom and running like hell. Rod lifts and flicks worked but the repetitive singular bottom bounce stopped spooking fish and produced the goods.
When the tide transformed the weather changed, white caps and 15 knot winds took the fish out of the equation. They were still there but very flighty, almost like something was bugging them. Some Pelagic activity was noted earlier in the day but what it was I am not so sure, bait balls busting up could have been caused by Dolphins, Sharks or even Wally Walrus (No cast proved fruitful unfortunately). Even the pest species packed up and went home, so we do the same. By catch was limited to Wrasse, Pike and the occasional Oogly. The Trevally and Flathead of yesteryear were most probably crouching tiger, hidden rock face to be honest.
The more I fish this location the more I learn, bit like a tap. It runs goes hot or cold, jams, shakes, leaks and gushes with action. With a full moon previous we expected greater results, a couple of 60cm Snapper were boated though which made for some great fillets and bragging rights. The only other successful way I can think of fishing the area is with live bait, something like a Slimey or a Yakka. Much has been written on live baiting for Snapper, unfortunately I might just have to catch some elsewhere and translocate them (Sans bust up, the Snapper have eaten them all!).
