Decent weather greeted anglers competing in the second SEQ Snapper Challenge held on the weekend of July 12-13. Although this enabled most anglers to fish their chosen spots, most struggled to produce fish of the quality they are normally used to capturing. But some good results were obtained by the 58 anglers (including 5 juniors) with a total of 86 snapper caught throughout the event on a variety of artificial offerings.

Most of snapper were released, many sporting tags to aid in research into snapper growth rates and movement. Bribie Island Sportfish Club Member, Peter Griffiths, tagged the most snapper of the weekend.

The snapper recorded ranged in size between 250mm caudal fork length and 730mm caudal fork length and were distributed between the four divisions – Brisbane River (17), Moreton Bay (36), Offshore (21) and Canoe/Kayak (12).

The majority of the snapper were taken on soft plastics and three were caught on fly. Pumpkinseed was the most successful colour on the weekend accounting for 27 fish, with nuclear chicken in second with 17 fish. Several other colours including pearl watermelon, olive/green, black/grey, white and colonel (Bozo’s) were also successful.

Berkley Gulps were the most successful plastic used on the weekend, however Berkley Powerbaits, Snapbacks and Squidgies all accounted for fish. The largest snapper was caught on a Bozo’s plastic. Most anglers opted to use TT jigheads with 58 fish caught on these. Owner and Squidgy jigheads were also used with eight and seven fish taken on these respectively.

The Redcliffe Coast Guard ran a sausage sizzle to raise funds over the weekend. The Bribie Island Sportfishing Club also donated a further $300 on behalf of the participants to help support the amazing service the Coast Guard offers to the boaties who use Moreton Bay and offshore waters. Other generous sponsors who made this event possible include TT Jigheads, Australian Rod Manufacturers, Platypus Fishing Lines, Pure Fishing (Berkley), Qld Fishing Monthly, Bush’n’Beach, The Tackle Warehouse, Tackle Shop Carseldine, Bozo’s Lures and Tackle World Sandgate.

The event winners were rewarded with some amazing trophies and every entrant walked away with great prizes.

The Bribie Island Sportfishing Club want to thank the sponsors and participants who made this tournament such a success and hope to see even more anglers take up the challenge on capturing snapper on artificial offerings during the planned 2009 event. – Gordon Macdonald.