30lb Snapper Caught

Houhora Fishing Charters’ Rob Parker continues to carve a name for himself in the ‘monster snapper hall of fame’, helping two of his customers catch PB snapper weighing an incredible 30lb or more within weeks of each other – both on Z-Man 7” ‘Bruised Banana’ soft-baits.

Modest about his achievements, Rob attributes his success to the area, but if that was the case, all Far North’s keen fishers would have won the 90 Mile Beach Snapper Classic twice and been responsible for multiple 30-pound-plus snapper captures. No doubt about it, this man knows how and where to catch fish!

First up was Lance Hone, who, like many people, was looking to catch his first 20lb-plus snapper with Rob. After meeting up with Rob in his small but seaworthy craft at 7am, they headed off to the ‘shallow patch’, a productive area 12 kilometres offshore that had been kind to Rob the day before. Not surprisingly, he was hoping for a repeat performance.

It was a slow start, but that’s often the case around this time of the year; Rob knows only too well that the casts need to be made to attract the often-considerable rewards. Noticing Lance wasn’t reaching the bottom in the 40-metre depths, he suggested casting further ahead to help ensure that happened. Success was immediate, with a huge fish biting on the drop and ripping line out at a ‘million miles an hour’.

A torrid battle ensued for the next 15 minutes, with Lance often held at a stalemate due to the impressive amount of weight on the end. However, maximum pressure and a deep-bent rod finally took its toll, resulting in a monster snapper wallowing around next to the boat – another Bruised Banana victim.

However, when Rob tried to secure it, even the large net proved too small, leaving some of the fish hanging out and balanced on the rim, and breaths were held as Rob lifted the big red up and into the boat.

At this point there was only one thought on Lance’s mind: “Is it twenty pounds, Rob?” he asked excitedly. “No,” replied Rob.

“No, mate – it’s over thirty pounds!”

Then, after wrestling with the dilemma to maybe mount the 95cm beast for posterity, Lance decided against it, preferring the idea that such a big fish deserved to go back from where it came. Watching it swim away again was a huge buzz for all on board.

Fast forward a few weeks and Rob was at it again, this time picking up repeat customer Carl from the wharf at 6:30am.

It was going to be hard to impress Carl any more than he already had, given that the previous year’s charter had resulted in a huge snapper weighing 28lb. The terrible conditions at the time, combined with the fish’s great weight, saw Carl fight it for 30 minutes. When eventually landed, the snapper was so big that Carl understandably considered it to be his fish of a lifetime and had it mounted.

This time they were fishing the 50-metre mark; just one relatively modest snapper of 8kg had been landed when a massive fish took the soft-bait offered it, smoking away and making the reel scream. Another stubborn fight followed, but when landed, this time Rob simply labelled it another 20-plus pounder, despite the hefty weight in the net while lifting it over. This time they decided to release the fish, but it had embolised, so it was kept. It was only when the snapper’s tail stuck out of the 90L bin that Rob’s interest was piqued enough to weigh it, and to blew them away to find the monster weighed 31lb!