Left Cockburn boat ramp at 6am Sunday morning headed out on a solo run to Carnac island. decided to cut thru between Carnac & the mew stones. I knew there was some reef that would break in bigger swells, but luckily just as it got light enough to see, I was confronted with a huge FCUKING wall of water running north from Carnac that seemed to be nearly 1000mtrs long. Did a real bloody quick hard about face with plenty of throttle and managed to evade disaster with room to spare. I have been thru there many timers, but obviously never seen this much breaking waves and big swell all at the same time.
I was having visions of getting swapped & having to bail the boat out, 22ft Commodore alrounder would have needed lots of buckets. definitely had to throw the undies away after that one.
So I came to settle about 100mtrs inside the great wall of Carnac Water, 6mtrs deep and I think mainly sandy bottom. I had 3 lines out, floating mullie, soft plastic and standard bottom bashing rig. Threw out a heap of burley to see if I could start some action before I got too sea sick, as it was very lumpy and the swell was just throwing me around.
After about 30mins of not so much as a nibble, and the wind seeming to drop of a bit, I started the motor & hit the UP switch on the anchor winch when all hell broke loose.

all 3 rods made the sweetest sound ever, with screaming drags. The first fish landed was a 750mm snapper, then onto the soft placcy ( 2nd rod ) and started a good fight on light gear ( all the time the 3rd rod was still screaming away ) and after I landed a just undersized snapper I thought it was time to grab the 3rd rod, but too late, it was just spooled. I now know that I should have taken the time to tighten the drag on this as I was tackling the other 2 fish.

So now down to 2 rods, both back in the water, and within 2 mins, both were screaming again. Landed a 720mm snapper on the first rod and was busted of on the second.
So, now down to 1 rod, and the fish were everywhere around the boat as I was punching out shit loads of burley to keep them interested.
After another 20 mins, I had landed 4 more snapper, all around the 700mm mark and they all went back in to fight another day. was busted of 2 more times.
With the biggest grin on my face, I was back at the ramp by 8am, and happy in the thought I had bagged out and on my way home, as about 50 boats were heading out.

Just goes to show, if it is a bit dark and the swell is up, stay well clear of any known reef sections and wait for some good light, this perfect day out could have ended very differently indeed.

tight lines guys

 Adrenalin pumping stuff Wes especially on your pat malone .. yeah that north side breaks for quite a distance , rewarded for effort well done on the bag  

close call from the sounds - all forgotten temporarily with the catch though!

 Went out thismorning and found a lump of rock....thankfully I have a foam filled bilge so no stress there.

two hours later headed in with not even a piece of seaweed to show for it...

unfortunately for me I now have a nice gouge in my hull which needs a grind out and re-glassing.

just about over these snapper lies as after 6 attempts, nothing to show for it