Headed out from Woodman Point at 6am and started the days fishing at Stragglers. The weather wasn't as good as www.seabreeze has predicted but not to bad. Berlied hard for 2.5 hours with no takers other than a stingray that busted us off.

At 8:30am decided to up anchor and head out to 5 fathom bank to see if the rumours were true about Snapper hanging around bait schools. Headed to a spot that I had never fished before (about half way south of Garden Island) and started our drift. Hooked into some undersized Snapper (the size you'd pay for at the fish monger) and a couple of wrasse. Did a zig-zap pattern for two more drifts heading South with not much action and then decided to head back over the first drift point where we had caught the small snapper. Did two more drifts and then landed a nice size Bronze Whaler.

The wind then changed so we couldn't drift along the back end of 5 fathom (North to South) so decided to drift over the spot we were getting hits on a NW to SE drift up to the edge of the bank. This is when we landed a nice size Sambo (thought they had left for the year) which weighed in at 20lb on the Boga Grips (fish was released). Another boat saw us land the fish and came over into our drift taking our spot (no probs). This is when the wind changed again and the chop started to settle. We decided to do another drift over the spot we had been having luck with but this time it was W to E. Started drifting and we caught a few good size fish that looked like Nannagai to me but I thought they were a deep sea fish??? (Have taken a photo for confirmation; will post shortly). Released these as we weren't sure if they were or not (heard they are good eating?).

We were drifting from 18m up to 14m and was starting to think we were getting a bit shallow and should head back out deep when I looked at the map on the GPS and saw we were going to come up to 12m and decided to see if anything was up close to this edge when the bait I had out with no weight went screaming off. Pull the rod out of its holder and gimbled in for a fight. Figured as he bait was unweighted and was probably about mid water it was going to be a shark. I was stoked when I saw colour and realised it was a Snapper. My first Metro Snapper since getting a boat and making that arduous changed from being a land based fisher to a boating one. As we landed the beauty the sounder lit up, there was a massive school of fish under us, I jumped up and marked the spot on the GPS. At first I thought it was a school of Snapper and we were going to be in for some serious fun. Once the Snapper was measured (74cm, 10lb) we heading back for a drift over the spot but the wind direction was causing us some issues  so after passing, almost, over the location, the deckhand (Peter) said, "why don't we anchor up", so we did.

The wind dropped and the ocean became a "milk pond", we could see to the bottom with ease and there were bait fish everywhere. We threw out a few baits without a bite when all of a sudden my mate screamed, "look at the size of the Sambos", I looked over and there were 4 coming up and engulfing the cubes we were throwing out. These babys were freaking huge, the sort I watch other guys catch on www.youtube.com whilst jigging out deep. I grabbed my unweighted bait and threw it out. Two large Sambos (they looked as big as me) came right up to the surface at the side of the boat and had a good look, they were easily double the size of the one I caught earlier. After my bait had sank 1m, it was nailed and my Stella screamed into action and it was on, I figured I was going to get one of those pics with me holding a Sambo of 20kg+ but I was wrong. My drag was tight and I decided to loosen it when I was nearly pulled off balance and over the side of the boat. Unfortunately this was my downfall as seconds later and half a spool of 50lb braid gone, I felt the tell tale signs of line going around reed. I called to my mate, "I feel reef" and it was over.

Baitfish were bubbling all around us so I jumped up on the front of the boat to get a better look and cast into them. There were huge Sambo's swiming around the boat (I wish I took photos but as you guys probably know, you are to busy fishing to take pics), and then Peter called out that he was on to another Sambo (not that he needed to, I could hear his line peeling off his reel). Unfortunately his adventure was short lived as it spat the hook after running about 100m.

Before we headed back in at 7pm (a long days fishing), I landed a 51cm Dhu fish which I decided to release.

All up it was a great day for the 5 Fathom Bank which always seems to promise so much but deliver so little. Apart from the fish mentioned above, we also caught 5 beloved (NOT) stingrays. Thinking of heading to 3 mile on my next adventure...