/FISHINGINGODZONE  59
D
ave and Veronica Gibbs 
launched from Whitianga 
in their FC 6.35m hard 
top called “Dude.”  Sam, 
accompanied by his 
father-in-law, Steve 
Jackson, joined the snapper fishing 
excursion to their favoured spot 
near Great Mercury Island.
The sea conditions were perfect 
as they headed to the eastern 
channel to anchor and set up with 
their berley bag in about 16m of 
water.  Veronica was using her 
trusty Shimano Baitrunner 8000 and 
baited up a two-hook flasher rig.
Not long after arriving and Veronica 
noticed something different about 
her line, but at first, she thought she 
had just snagged the bottom as it 
was too heavy. After some serious 
lifting and winding she started to 
skull drag a big fish up and closer to 
the boat. She still had no idea what 
she had on the line until both Sam 
and Dave could see the monster 
and thought geez Veronica its big!
Seeing such a massive fish, Sam and 
Dave wondered how they would get 
it into the net which now seemed 
a bit small and safely into the boat. 
While this drama was happening, 
at the same time Dave and Steve 
were both hooking and hauling in 
good sized 60cm+ fish on board, 
so they had alot going on as well.
As Sam was assisting his mum 
by netting the huge snapper and 
lifting it up into the boat, the net 
got completely smashed by the 
fish’s weight! Luckily they got 
the fish aboard and Dave quickly 
measured the fish and later used the 
DB Export fish website to assess 
the weight, which was 28lb.  Dave 
advised they had a set of electronic 
scales on board but with all the 
commotion going on, their objective 
was to get a couple of quick photos 
of the fish and get it back in the 
water as quickly as possible.
Veronica had caught her and 
the boat’s PB snapper and was 
incredibly happy to see the fish 
swim off.  A couple of weeks later 
they returned and were fishing at 
the same spot and after half an 
hour into the fishing, they noticed 
a monster snapper feeding off the 
berley bag up near the surface.
They thought it could well have 
been the same fish that they had 
let go or its brother. Veronica once 
again tried to entice the fish with a 
chunk of mullet, but this fish was a 
bit smarter the second time around.
Launching the Dude at the 
Whitianga boat ramp.
Measuring the huge snapper on top of the 90L 
bin with fish measure before release.
Flat calm conditions 
greeted the team at their 
spot X for bait fishing.
Veronica poses with 
the destroyed net after 
the fish swam off.

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