Had the pleasure of accompanying Ryan Thipthorp on one of his Cockburn Sound Pink Snapper tagging evenings a little while ago, in between his hectic filming schedule. In fact, I was the first to assist him for the tagging program for this year. I met Ryan at the ramp and quickly loaded up his boat - one rod, small tackle bag and a small compact camera - too easy.

With the current closure we were expecting the Sound to be very quiet, which it was and good to see boat anglers complying. The only other boating activity we saw at the 5pm launch time, was a couple of Fisheries Officers with their books out and a boat crew with a very dejected look on their face , so yes guys be careful as they are out in force which is good.

Being the first time out, the order of the evening was to find fish; not just a few fish, but the big schools so that we could maximize the tagging night. We found a few, but they looked to be massed up ready to spawn. Hence, we kept looking to find the right concentration. Eventually the right amount of red on Ryans Furuno sounder was found. The anchor set and the first tester baits put out.

Ryan continued to setup the tagging gear - measure board, canulater, tag's, applicators, paper work, wet towel for covering the snappers eyes and within minutes the first outfit loaded up. A big strong run with head shakes indicated a sizable fish. 'Good fish... this one' I managed to get out whilst adjusting the drag slightly. A few minutes later, a nice pinkie 850mm long slips into the net....hmm nice start. With the tagging stuff done, back into the water for the big boy and he bolts off strongly.

We get a couple more on baits, so time for the McArthy's Softplastics. I slip a fresh 5" Jerk Minnow in Chartuesse/Pearl http://mcarthybaits.com.au/jerk-minnow# onto a half ounce jighead. Second cast, big hit, I'm on, and then drop, damn! Twitch, twitch, bang on again..woohoo and this one feels bigger. A few minutes of gaining and loosing line and finally, my first pinkie from Cockburn Sound and also my first pinkie on an SP comes into view. It is a stonker of a pinkie and with some good weight to it. Ryan gently nets her and by the time she is resting on the deck I'm ready for a quick lift and photo. With the pic taken, onto the measurer and she comes out to 950mm to the fork...Hmm thats about 1050mm overall and easliy over 10kg of healthy female. I place her gently over the side with Fisheries Research all done & tags in with a strong grip on her tail...whack, flicking water over me, she powers off strongly...ohh what a good feeling that was!

I caught 2 more on the McArthy with both fish around the 900mm to fork mark...hmm this was going to be a good night I thought. Getting ready for another cast out to the school about 30m away, there was a bit of commotion on the water surface. Large splashes, but just out of sight in the darkness. Shark or dolphins had just hit the school! Damn.....it went all quiet. Time to head home.

Many thanks to Ryan for allowing me to contribute to a very good cause. Ryan and one other person have Fisheries Exemptions (no fish kept) to do Fisheries Research in the Sound which is critical for the survival of these very unique spawning fish that spawn for half of the coastline so we need to protect them. I'm posting this up to remind people that whilst the fishing ban maybe lifted soon the "Cockburn Sound Snapper Ban" is still in place until end of January. It was a very educational evening and one that I hope to help with again in the future, thanks Ryan.

Cheers Pete