shallow water success

The forecast was for 0-5 knot northerly winds for Saturday arvo so the call was made and plans were changed. The boat was packed and at the ramp by 3 pm on Saturday the intended destination just outside Warnbro sound on a patch of reef i know produces some good fish.
we had the anchor in the water and it was so calm the boat was holding without the anchor rope even being tight.
the sounder had some nice red arches and we knew we were in for a solid session in 14 meters of water,
my cousin fishes with a shimano sustain 5000 spooled with 20lb braid, i have a shimano stradic ci4 4000 spooled with 20lb braid on a storm gomoku keiyro micro jigging rod. This little white beast with the green EVA grips looks like it belongs in the river chasing bream but it holds its own against some big fish with a rating of 0.4-1.0 PE.

we had quickly popped out into the sand and caught some fresh sand whiting for bait before dropping the anchor. they were the first on the hooks and down they went on 2 x snelled 5/0 suicides 60lb leader and a small ball sinker, the baits were hit and we were stitched up in the reef immediately, this happened two more times and we decided to let the anchor rope out about 10 meters when the boat finally shifted with the tide as their was no wind Reece dropped a yellowtail down and the second it hit the bottom he was on, first call was a little pink snapper, but to his surprise a very nice 56 cm dhufish circled up on 20lb gear in shallow water it fought hard and made his day as it was his first sized dhufish.

we had been throwing in cubes of mulie, scaly mackerel, and yellowtail along with a burley pot hanging along side the boat,
i dropped down the largest whiting we had on the little gomoku and stradic combo and it wasn't long till i seen the rod tip bounce, i picked the rod up and the fish came back and smashed the bait i hooked up solid to a nice fish, the gomoku bent in two and the stradic screamed as the fish was peeling 20lb braid off like nothing, with some really solid head shakes i was calling it for a pink snapper, after several tense minutes as it kept heading back for the bottom i had the fish beat, up came an 86cm pink snapper!
high fives and pictures were taken.

the sun had just set and the Skippy had turned up in such huge numbers they were everywhere and made it difficult to get a bait past them, mulies and squid as bait were a no go, whiting and yellowtail were the only baits to get past the hordes of Skippy. Reece decided to get out my little daiwa freams 2000 with 4lb braid and a shimano ballistix rod and have some light tackle fun floating pieces of mulie cubes out the back, he hooked up some solid 35-40cm and was having a ball, when the big baits starting getting some more attention and the next few hours were great fun we successfully landed and released 12 pink snapper from 48-57cm and the one big fella at 86cm, my cousin on the last drop of the night picked up a second dhufish but he was only 48cm and swam off strongly, gotta love shallow water! catching pink snapper on 20lb gear is alot more fun and easier then you think, next time your at the tackle shop check out a 4000 sized spinning reel and rod to match and consider using it as your go to shallow water snapper combo, you will not be disappointed!
by staying in close we saved a fortune on fuel and had caught many more fish then most had by heading out 20 mile.
the key to success when fishing in shore is BURLEY i hype on about it in all my posts but its the main reason i catch fish, with out it i probably wouldn't have any pics or stories to write a blog!

catch ya next time
Corey Chandler