12/09/2026
Was blessed with this magnificent 4.5 kg 72cm snapper over 15 years ago ,
I was 15
My farther and a couple of his mates thought they would head offshore for some snapper and I thought I’d tag along too ! So I wagged school like I had done hundreds of times before to sneak out fishing with my old boy and this day we’re offshore in his 23 ft Bertram and to put it simply it was too rough to fish , weather reporters got it wrong like usual so we headed back in the Barwon river and decided a quick fish for smaller fish to use as bait on the next offshore session . So here we are in the river fishing for salmon mullet and trevally, we have burly out and we are catching fish when I notice something very strange and very hard to actually see . And what we all witnessed multiple times in the next hour was crazy we were watching fins from a fish come out of the water as they swim right on the surface and these are big fish!! Instantly we all thought mulloway , at a distance where you can see it but not quite well yeah . We tried every trick and could not even get a good bite with a big bait or multiple live baits we put out as we watch these fish swim around, mind you the river water is brown with maybe 1 inch of visibility . So the next day comes and I decided I myself will head back to the river , this time land based and fish all day if I have too! And 6 hours later and with no bait left I gave up , I quit!! ..
I put my rods down - no bait left . So I ventured on foot down along the river bank amongst all the mangroves and I found a rotting silver trevally days old and very smelly and I thought F**k it , I cut it up and sent it out and what happened 20 minutes later blew quite a few people’s minds . I caught a 4.5 kg mother Fu$&ing snapper down the sheep wash only 100 meters from the BH boat ramp . I have no net so I get the fish to the bank and jump in with it ! And I tackle it like the red dog it is and throw it up on to the safety of the bank … I caught this on a river rod with 12 pound line so I did fight it for 5-10 minutes and in that time one handed I rang my farther and he listened to every second of this fight and the second I landed this fish he said I’m stoping what I’m doing and I am coming to see this . He didn’t believe it . He was on the foreshore of Geelong at his boat the Hygeia , he jumped straight in the car - AMG super car I call it , and he got to me on the river within 15 minutes and actually witnessed the fish with its nerves still going . I packed up and left with my dad , big snapper in tow and he proceeded to take me to his mates houses one by one showing me and my river monster off ! .
I’ll never forget this ever ! Love you RIP dad
