Brad Bowden bagged a beauty at Little barrier on the weekend. At 95cm it's now the leader in the all-time
DB Export NZ Fishing Competition Hall of Fame - the longest snapper caught and measured in the competition over the last 3 seasons. This prestigious title has been held by Geoff Preston since 21st November 2012 with a 94cm effort so well done Brad and also well done to Geoff for holding that title for so long. Only a matter of time before someone nails one over 1metre.....
Brad and skipper for the day, his flatmate Sam Nuthall, left Omaha on Sunday morning early and after loading a few maccas in the bait-tank, put the throttles down for Little Barrier. On arrival, livebaits were deployed around the Rangers Hut however that proved to be a lost cause so the boys up-anchored and moved to their very own Spot-X and into a serious burley session.
Brad was spooled up with 15kg mono on his Shimano Torium 20/Shimano Backbone Elite and there was something quite special about the setup. It had been sitting in his garage quietly for a year or three and hadn’t been invited on any fishing trips. A dust-off and a quick check of the line/drags the night before and it was on the team for the day – it’s first outing for ages with no idea of the mammoth task that lay ahead.
As the tide ran out the burley started to bring a few snapper on the bite and eventually some bigger specimens. There was a gradually increasing sense of anticipation of some big moochers in the area. Half a jack mackerel on a 2 hook rig was Brad’s offering and it drifted lazily off down the burley trail with the current.
“The bite was quite tentative and once I’d tightened up on the fish it took off with several good long runs” says Brad. After 10 minutes of ‘to and fro’ eventually the snapper was brought to the boat and Brad realised it was the trophy of a lifetime, the trophy he’d always wanted.
“We normally keep enough for a feed and release the rest, but this was the one I’d been after” said Brad. “I’m having it skin-mounted and it will have pride of place on the wall at home” he added.
Shortly after a few mates in another boat rafted up beside them and were rewarded with a snapper estimated at 10kg and were busted off on an even bigger one. Brad and Sam kept a enough for dinner and released about half a dozen estimated between 5 & 7kg so not a bad day out!
Snapper: 95cm and 15.1kg
Rod: Shimano backbone Elite
Reel: Shimano Torium 20
Leader: Black Magic tough trace – 60lb
Hooks: Gamakatsu 8/0 x2 snelled.
GPS Marks: Wouldn’t we all love to know….
Online...