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Forum Legends and Good Buggers
This is a shout out post to vietnamcam, an absolute legend, good bugger and I'm sure many other things... who a week ago gave me (a total stranger) some awesome advice on how to catch a snapper over Nelson way... His knowledge was invaluable and very much appreciated and goes a long way to the benefits and common thinking of the forum collective... Thank you Cam!!!
Having never fished Nelson before, and seeing reports on the forum about good snapper "over the hill", I armed myself with a new strayline combo from the good chaps at Hendersons Blenheim, loaded up my DNA420 and set off out to Delaware Bay Tuesday morning arriving on a very low tide... After wandering about scratching my head how to get my boat to the water, another absolute legend of a stranger who had just launched, noticed my confusion and asked if I'd like to come with him for the morning. He had to be back by 12pm so in I jumped and and off we went. He showed me the way out of the channel pointing out the intricacies and we were off in search of a gurnard... Fishing was slow and with a couple of gurnard on board it was time to head in. Thank you John for all you showed me!
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A bit more water in the channel now and only being just past 12, I threw my boat in the drink and set off back out ready for some action. Anchor down, berley in, new strayline out the back and a ledger rig below the boat. All was quiet for a couple of hours, then the ledger rig took a hit... It was a good fish, I was making ground then Ping... gone... F****k was mentioned on several occasions... Never mind, tie a new rig and back to waiting.
One hour later, the strayline with a big slab of freshly caught cuda started to run. I managed to hook up and feel the power of these monster fish. Luck was on my side on this occasion and the fish was landed. The new rod paid for itself already :D The one celebratory beer I took was cracked and savored with a smile.
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A personal best by a mighty long way, around 90cm and 21.1 lb back on dry land... I fished til 6pm, no more snapper but a few gurnard helped top up the bin. What an awesome day, in near perfect conditions in a totally new environment. A bit of mucking around coming in on the low tide saw me home in Blenheim just before 9pm.
I am thankful to all those who helped make it come together. This is a great example of knowledge shared unselfishly and what makes the forum an awesome source of information and connection. Cheers again @vietnamcam, maybe one day I can repay the favour to you or to another forum member looking for help. To everyone, keep on being good buggers, what goes around, comes around :thumbsup:
