2012 Snapper Tour - Arno Bay, S.A.

Post date: Feb 29, 2012 11:26:22 AM

On our first visit to what is fast becoming a Snapper fishing mecca, eight members and friends of the club made the 1hr flight and 7hr drive to Arno Bay in sunny South Australia for a long weekend of what we hoped to be an awesome fishing experience. Well friends, Arno Bay certainly did not let us down! Hosted by Ashley Smith from Arno Bay Fishing Adventures and Conrad from Spencer Gulf Fishing Adventures, we were treated to two great days of fishing. 

Day one saw us fishing in warm conditions bagging out of huge whiting, some of which were up to 50cms. 

Once the time was right and the tides were on the change, we headed out to the Snapper grounds. Within 25 minutes of arriving at the mark, yours truely - The Prez, opened the account for the EAC landing a monster 1m long giant red weighing in at well over 10kgs - "SNNNAAPPPERRRRRR......!!!"

 (The brag mat was put to good use all weekend by the boys)

This thumper of a Snapper saw the entire boat come alive after initial shock at the size of the fish and another three fish were taken for the day by Ryan Dellamarta (93cm), Kirra (91cm) and Darren Wise. 

That night back at the cleaning tables we all pitched in and cleaned the catch and were eager to go again the following day.

Day two provided us with ideal conditions, apart from some early rain and constantly changing winds, which kept the skippers of the charter boats on their toes for most of the day. Whiting was a little harder to find, but Ash from Arno Bay Fishing Adventures pulled out all the stops to see his boat take around 35 whiting. Total whiting for the day were around 50.

Although that was enjoyable, all were eager to head back out to the Snapper grounds for a chance of a lifetime to land a giant red - just like The Prez!!! And so after hitting the mark early, Karl Freeman, Ryan Dellamarta, Kirra and Mick managed an unbelievable feat....a four-way hook up!!! As the adrenalin pumped and the rods buckled over, each looked around and were astonished and excited at what was going on. They each fought their individual battles to land their fish while Ashley prepared to net them on arrival to the surface. Sure enough, each one was landed in the boat and it was high fives all round in celebration. 

Shortly after, Conrad's trusty vessel brought the Prez and his merry men (Ray Dellamarta, Darren Wise and Maris Lakis) along to join in the action. It was not long after that...you guessed it - the Prez (Glen D'Cruz) yelled out "SSSSNNAAAPPPER!!" and landed another monster from the deep...another 10kg Snapper at 1m in length. 

Shortly after, the Treasuer (Maris Lakis) hooked up to a smaller snapper of around 40cms, which was his first ever snapper ever taken and the first fish anyone has ever seen him actually catch!!! Well done Maris. Shortly after, Maris was hooking up to teh giant reds below only to be crushed after having his hooks bitten off by the local Arno Bay beasts. Un-deterred and with a little help from Conrad, Maris cast another bait into the deep waters and finally hooked up to a monster. As we all held our breath and hoped that another prized fish would not be lost for the boat, we watched Maris reel in a solid 6kg fish...not bad for your second ever Snapper catch!!! The smile was bigger than the fish - well done Maris.

We all fished into a perfect Arno Bay sunset with more results, including a huge 11.7kg snapper taken by Darren Wise - the biggest fish taken for the weekend...and the one that robbed me (the Prez) of my EAC Club Record!!!

Double trouble with Karl Freeman landing these two massive fish and Darren Wise showing off his dream catch at 27lbs.....

Honorary member for the weekend, Michael (pictured below) holds up the longest fish taken for the weekend, coming in at 102cms...

View of Arno Bay from our accommodation.....

All in all, this was an awesome trip and a must do for anyone. On our way home, we all agreed that this will now become an annual trip, which we will be booking again shortly, as we all just can't get enough of that Arno Bay "Snapper".