A lot of tough trips for me recently out in WP, a change was needed! (although seeing some snapper caught over the weekend... my spirit and excitement level is again high!!)
With the Wednesday off work, good mate Reilly and myself took the opportunity to head out for a fish. Watched the forecast report for Gunnamatta for a few days prior.. and was blessed with conditions of a N wind, 0.9m swell, some sun shine and an incoming tide. Departed my place at 5:50am and arrived down at Gunners 7:10am.
The anticipation was high from a few reports the week before and the conditions looking so good!! As soon as we reached the top of the stairway to begin heading down, gutters and gutters everywhere!! We started in the first gutter out the front of the stairway, worked it hard and progressed to the next one, walking towards Cape Schank. This continued for quite some time.. walking, casting,walking,casting. 2 hours went by with only 1 hit between us, very tough work. The good news for us was the tide was about to start slowing down in the top of the flood. Bumped into and also met Hawksey for the first time, which was cool. We all continued to spin and walk down the beach. Another hour had passed and confidence was certainly shot, but my persistence was not. The decision was made to change direction and spin the same gutters on the way back.
I immediately noticed the next gutter and thought it looked really really good. More water in it now, white wash either side, ripples, it just looked very fishy. I dumped my stuff up near the dune, came back down and selected an area to start pinging some more casts into. Right on the edge of the white water/deeper water. Closer in to the beach on the retrieve and SMASH! Big hit, big hook up. Pulled some drag, and changed direction on more than one occasion playing dance up and down the gutter. Trying to beach the thing was a little problematic too, and very thankful i didn't lose it in the wash. Such a powerful, strong fighting fish in the surf at any size, but especially this one. On the brag matt measuring 65cm. All those casts paid off, most excited ive been over a salmon catch!!! a few quick photos, some excitement and back he went into the waves.
cheers guys.
