My son Patrick and I headed out to Nor West Reef at daybreak this morning. Were going to head for Horn but I thought it might be overrun with fishos practising for the Furuno. Not another boat to be seen at Nor West.
Set up the drogue for our first drift, and within minutes Patrick had a nice 4-5 pounder on board. Then I got a 5lber. A few small fish came up and went back when all of a sudden I heard the drag on his calcutta 400 singing. I looked around and the 6kg outfit was bent double. It stayed that way for about 10 minutes, with Patrick gaining a little line only to lose heaps more. When I suggested he might be outgunned he looked horror struck so I shut up and told him to just ease the fish to the surface and if it took drag, let it.
After about 15 minutes a biiiiiiig snapper surfaced about 10m behind the boat. Weighed at just under 18lb on the Matakana gas station's LPG scales.
I got another about 12lb, but with that much fish on the boat (about 5 in total) we decided enough was enough so headed home about 10am.
Its our mates "No Rules" fishing contest today and I have one very happy son who is at least on the board and running, if not the winner. We shall see at weigh in later today.
I'll post a couple of pics as soon as I can prise the digital camera from him (he's droolin' and has nearly worn out the chilly bin lid opening it for a look at his fish)
What a fantastic feeling to see your son catch his first big fish. I think I'm happier than I would be if I'd caught it myself.
SIMPLY AWESOME!
Well done fellas.....
You dont muck about do you Bender. What a buzz for you and your young fulla!!! Hope you guys have plenty more days like that.
Barrie will be scratching his carpet snake at the nice snapper coming in on a Calcutta, now what brand of reel is that one?
Patrick was the winner of our no rules competition - far and away the best fish.
He's now talking about a 20 pounder at the Mokes for the Furuno.
"You can pay for the gas"was my comment.
Awesome Bender, look at the look on his face mate, it's worth a million dollars.
It's a fish he will remember for the rest of his life.
Wefaknis
top effort that - sharp
Yes, effing primo catch. Big snapper on light line.
Did he buy the Calcutta? I've heard that sharing tackle out among family is a way of making yr collection look more reasonable and might allow you to have several reels that pretty much do the same job.
Toad - The Calcutta was originally mine, but you know how families grab your best stuff for themselves.
I use a Penn 525 mag. Three years old and still on its original drag washers, which are like silk.
While the Calcutta is a lovely reel, I found it to be far too high maintenance to use for the amount of fishing I do. You gotta replace the drag washers every five minutes. Fine for the kids who don't come on every trip.
Well done Patrick.
Great photos. Huuuuggggeeee Smile on the lads face while he is playing the fish.
Interesting info on the Calcutta requiring lots of maintenance.
Woody.
Hey Patrick,
Top fish. Good to see a plan come together Bender. Good morning when the boys can head out, nail it and be back before the CEO has time to really notice you've gone. Then top the comp with the "Green Machine" fishing it as well.
F.T.
Nice Fish,very nice fish,well done jnr!!!!
Barrell
Good one Bender and Patrick. Did he fillet it himself or Dad do the hard work?
Cheers Kahawai
Great catch guy's it doesn't get much more rewarding than that ah bender.
Cheers, P.C.
Well done Bender.
Now stay away from there. Well at least until I been out there and raped the place
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