We planned to get out in the boat as much as possible while Dad (Sharphook) and I were both off of school and work, and were quite disappointed to see the forecast for Monday as gale winds and gusts up to 40knots

..... We looked outside .... the trees were swaying (at 90 degree angles) rain was falling ...... when Sharphook announced " better go to Wallaroo jetty then".

Well there was no complaints coming from me, so we packed the car, we both had two "big" rods for snapper/kingies/whatever ... and a small bait catching rod ......

We arrived at Wallaroo at 4pm....to find not many people on the jetty (probably got blown away) And it was Blowing-a-bloody-gale ..... BEEEEUUUUTTTIFULL ... bring on them Snapper we thought....the whole jetty was open but we opted to stay next to the fence (half way)

.... baited up with a slab of chow...and Sharphook a squid head

....... well after 25 minutes I had a run ..... that resulted in me bringing back two bare hooks ..... half a pilly and 30seconds later the reel was screaming again

... this time I let it run shortly then struck .... it came up solid ... very solid ........... I thought it was pulling to hard for a Snapper ..... until we saw colour .... the colour of a large Snapper .... estimated at around 7 - 10 kg

....... when I saw this my heart missed a beat .... and my brain must have missed something as well .. because I had the drag done up WAY to tight and with a kick of its tail ... my dream fish snapped 10kg line like cotton ......

I was devastated...and I think the other anglers noticed the little hissy fit I threw.... so I started blaming the line...as I snapped off a 3-4ft bronzie last week with the same reel.....but I knew it was the drag .... Writing about it now .... I could cry ......

After that I set up my Abu 7000 with 15kg line ... and a 50lb trace down with half a pilly again ...... as Im getting it in the water .... Sharphooks Penn 8500 started screaming ..... and whatever it was, was heading to Pt reily at a slow but constant rate ..... Ray we both thought ..... as it kept taking line

...... about 10 minutes later .... it had nearly spooled Dads reel .... so he tightened the drag and really gave it some stick the 5120 blank had an extreme bend to the butt, every metre of line he got back ... "it" took 2 more

...... we had a nice little audience by now ... and people from up and down the jetty had come to see what it was ....... Dad started getting someline back and had it sitting about 30 metres off the jetty

...... it was good to know all the knots were holding up after so much pressure ...... at nearly the 30 minute mark ... the line gave way .... with Sharphook almost going ..... A over T

I thought I would try and get some tommies for bait .. and was surprised when I had a nice fight on my hands ..... which ended with a nice little trevally

...... this was followed by 3 or 4 chow and some more trevors ...... the bite had stopped ( with the bait fish) and then my Abu gave a little cry

.... as I picked it up line was still coming off so I struck hard to find I had been wrapped around the pylon IMAGE ....... I didnt want to have to re-rig again ... so I fiddled until I got it free .... and was surprised to find no abrasions on the line at all ......

...ever now and then ...one of the reels would click over a few times .... but nothing to get excited about ..... two little squid wanted our baits ..... so we teased then into taking a jag ... and put them on ice with some crabs and trevally we had caught earlier ......

And that was just about it for the action .... we were freezing ..... hungry .... and once again ... Snapper-less ..... IMAGE but a great trip none-the-less ....... and a lesson learnt RE : DRAG!!!

I have never caught a legal Snapper ..... and when I saw that beast it was like my dreams had come true .... closely followed by my worst nightmare

..... Im sure there are more members out there that have had this happen? ... ar�n�t there ..... please ... anyone .... make me feel better IMAGE

Hope you enjoyed the report ...... untill next time .... tight lines ... bent rods ... and LOOSE DRAGS !!!

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