Best fishing experience of my life, and i didnt even catch a fish!!
Today i experienced something i have never seen or even heard of before. Not sure if its a regular occurance or just a one off thing, but im considering myself lucky to witness such an amazing sight.
Yesterday i went out for my first squid sesh on the ski, ended up with only 3 but saw up to 20, just couldnt entice the fussy buggers to take the jig, i was using an orange/white 2.5 jig. Anybody have any colour reccomendations for squidding in less than 5m of water??
Anyway, thought i would go back to the same spot today with my little bros jig instead, to see if i could add to the bowl of squid sitting in the fridge. Had one squid take it straight away but didnt stay connected. A boat trolled past me and stopped about 150m away, then 15mins later another boat that had been fishing near me took off and pulled up near the other boat. I looked over and could see birds and dolphins in a bit of a frenzy around the boats then noticed one of the guys was hooked up to something solid and figured they were onto a school of salmon! I changed to a 4inch gulp in nuclear chicken and drove up there and started working it near the surface, and one of the guys yells out to let it sink coz the school swam to the bottom. I asked him what he just caught and pulls up has gaff and on the end is a pink snapper, around 8kg!! My heart started racing and i was actually start to shake coz i was so nervous (never actually caught a decent pinky). He then yells out and point towards the other boat and i see this mass of silver in the water so i drive over and its this huge school of pink snapper, around 100+ fish, about 6kg-10kg and a few honkers around a meter!! They were swimming on the surface, tails and fins out and splashing around! I couldnt believe my eyes! i ended up drifting over the school, and noticed they were swimming in a circular motion, like a tornado of snapper, from the surface to the bottom, it wasnt even 10m deep!! They didnt want a bar of the SP's but i did end up jagging one on my 1-3kg gear, using 8lb line, but lost it a few moments later and ended up with one decent size snapper scale on my hook! Followed the school for around half an hour and couldnt get another hookup!! Going back tomorrow with heavier gear and mulies!! The two boats had there boat limit just as i got there, using mulies.
Does this happen often? Has anybody seen this kind of thing before? It was seriously amazing as fishing off a boat/jetski is a totally new thing to me and ive never seen fish like that doing that! Seriously, if i was using a popper i probly would have been able to jag one. Is this breeding behaviour?? Dont think i'll be able to sleep tonight and i will never forget what i saw for as long as i live!
Goodz
Posts: 2332
Date Joined: 20/07/09
Others will probably be able
Others will probably be able to comment more on this but I've heard of it before, I was under the impression it was something to do with breeding/spawning tho. Woulda been an awesome sight! Wheres the camera when you need it?
beau
Posts: 4135
Date Joined: 24/01/10
Digital underwater camera
Digital underwater camera was stolen when my car got broken into... WHILE I WAS FISHING!! Devastated. Yes, definately the highlight of my fishing career so far, and i didnt even have to catch a fish!
allrounder
Posts: 1853
Date Joined: 10/11/08
Breeding agg
they go into a spiral to breed amazing to see.Had some under water pics somewhere i will see if i can find them
So tell me have you got your info from years on the water or hours on the internet?
Markie
Posts: 2169
Date Joined: 06/08/10
Pink is my personal
Pink is my personal favourite mate. Where was this?
beau
Posts: 4135
Date Joined: 24/01/10
Cockburn sound
Cockburn sound
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18328
Date Joined: 11/03/08
there was a thread put up
there was a thread put up about this same behavior a while ago. cant remember who it was but there was a few pics to go with it, thats something i would like to see
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Ben Derecki
Posts: 1926
Date Joined: 10/10/07
beau sounds awesome mate.
beau sounds awesome mate. Ryan got a few pics of it a year or two ago - how did it compare to his shots --> here?
Colin Hay
Posts: 10407
Date Joined: 23/10/07
Sounds like an exciting day Beau
The sort of experience you will remember for a long time.
Moderator. Proud member of the Fishwrecked "Old Farts". Make sure your subscribed to Fishwrecked Reeltime http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/
alfred
Posts: 3097
Date Joined: 12/01/07
PeteD has put up some pics
PeteD has put up some pics of snapper doing just this in the past.
mattg6020 (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
they are spawning. best left
they are spawning.
best left alone so there will be lots more pinkys in future years.
mitch
Posts: 1285
Date Joined: 14/08/05
in the search box punch in
in the search box punch in "Yesterday was Awesome!!!!! page 2 written by ryan thipthorp
was it somthing like those pics
soupster51
Posts: 2724
Date Joined: 29/11/06
Pinkys
Ryan, Pete D and myself saw a school of snapper doing exactly what you described a little while back. We took turns driving the boat so others could take turns at swimming with the school. Later learned that this was probably a foolish move as the Great Whites have been known to follow the spawning schools.
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
Pete D
Posts: 1681
Date Joined: 07/06/07
It is an awesome site to see
It is an awesome site to see Beau and yes they are spawning. The pinkie that I caught was about 20 metres away from the spawning activity.
Here are the underwater shots....I'm waiting for the day to get it on video now.
http://fishwrecked.com/forum/yesterday-was-awesome-underwater-shots
As Soupy said, we were a little nervous in the water (not much makes me nervous in the water) as we saw dolphins smashing the snapper as we arrived and thought....hmm what else feeds on snapper.
Cheers Pete
7739ian
Posts: 948
Date Joined: 25/06/08
The first day
i took my tinny out ( 4 years ago ) the same thing was happening under the boat about a k off Quindalup. About a dozen fish of good size - they would not look at a bait or lure.
CURT
Posts: 338
Date Joined: 05/02/08
i have heard of this when
i have heard of this when the snapper are spawning in the sound, but didnt think that they would be spawning at this time of year!.. where bouts in the sound beau?
aalfred
Posts: 669
Date Joined: 13/06/09
awesome
I wish i had seen it.
Shorty
Posts: 1549
Date Joined: 10/05/08
Amazing that it happened
Amazing that it happened this time of the year, the Sound is closed 1st Oct- 30th feb or something like that for the spawning season,,so it just shows how little we and the fisherys dept know about Snapper breeding.
As stated before its considered bad manners to throw a line in when you see this happening, but its certainly tempting to hook one for sure,,
Oh and they are poor eating for some reason,someone told me they are quiet hot to touch (and flesh a bit mushy).
beau
Posts: 4135
Date Joined: 24/01/10
Yep i saw exactly what
Yep i saw exactly what PeteyD saw, but in about 8m of water. One dolphin was rounding them up but looked like he was just having some fun with them and wasnt havin a go at them
JR JetSki
Posts: 247
Date Joined: 23/04/10
Funny you guys say this, I
Funny you guys say this, I found big schools of fish in the channel on sunday but they did not go on the bite. I tried squid, meulies, rottem meulies and plastic's, nothing. Seems like they were more interested in breeding than eating. Guess its normal if you only do that for two to three months in the year.
JR JetSki