A bit of fun off Redcliffe

[Freeeedom]

Haven’t fished the front of Redcliffe since the winter run of squire disappeared around July, but the forecast was good, so I thought I’d have a look around to see what was happening. Launched at Clontarf just before 5.00 a.m., dropped the pots off Margate beach and anchored up on one of the shallow reefs. Started a berley trail and put out a couple of prawn baits. I also had a few frozen herring, from a previous live-baiting session in the Pine, so I put one of them out as well, and settled down to wait. Nothing much happened for about 40 minutes, as I waited for the berley to attract some interest. I had expected the berley to draw a crowd of hardiheads and gar, with some bream underneath them, but there was no sign of a bream anywhere. Eventually something bumped the herring, and after waiting for a minute or two to see if it would come back, I wound in to find just the head left. I put another one out, and not long after something grabbed it and I was in to a decent fish. As I fought it I couldn’t quite pick what it was – maybe a solid bream, definitely not a squire. When it came to the boat I was pleased to see a nice grass sweetlip of about 37cm.
Over the next half hour I caught another 3 grassies, 2 legal and one little one on a prawn. Just as I lifted the little one into the boat, the herring took off big time. I dropped the grassie and grabbed the rod, but there was little I could do on the light string except hold the rod and watch the line disappear. I tightened the drag a bit and finally managed to stop the fish. As I worked it back towards the boat I couldn’t pick what it was either. There were no head shakes, just a solid slug it out kind of fight – maybe a cod? When I finally got colour it was a nice snapper (65cm) – very welcome in the cooler.

After that things went quiet. I threw the cast net over the berley trail and got 2 garfish, so I chopped one in half and put them out in place of the herring to see if a fresh bait would make any difference. Nothing happened for about an hour, and I was just starting to pack up for a move when something grabbed the gar and took off. This was a better run than the snapper and it took me a while to stop the fish and start to regain any line. Again, I didn’t know what I had hooked, but as I started to work it back towards the boat I could see that the fish was coming to the surface out wide, and that meant only one thing _ CATFISH!!! Sure enough, when I got it in close it was a big catty of about 7 kg. I broke it off rather than slime up the landing net and the boat.

I moved over into the Pine to try for a bream, but only caught about half a dozen undersize ones, so I pulled the pin about 10.00 a.m. Five hours in the water produced one undersize buck sand crab – I don’t know where the sandies are at the moment. Still, I was happy with some quality fish and good conditions for a pleasant morning on the water.
Cheers Freeeedom