Sol and Rick enjoy gold rush
“WE STRUCK gold!”
That’s Sol Van Reyk’s take on a fishing trip within local inshore waters with mate Rick Ryznar on Tuesday evening.
Van Reyk had good reason to be happy too, nailing a personal best fingermark, or golden snapper, of a whopping 77cm.
Ryznar described the boat ride to a favourite spot as less than ideal, the pair getting thrown about in sloppy seas. But conditions eased a little as the tide built to a 10pm high of about 2.3 metres.
“I’ve had three weeks off and it’s the only chance I’ve had to get out,” Ryznar said, blaming recent poor boating conditions for a lack of fishing activity.
Squid, though, proved an easy catch according to Ryznar when the cephalopods arrived in shoals of 20 or more.
Just the bait to fool a hungry fingermark, the squid were pinned to a sharp hook and sent to the bottom in anticipation of savage strikes.
The mates didn’t have to wait long when rods bucked and heavy drags protested with line dragged from the reels.
Each described the fight as typical fingermark with huge head shakes and dogged runs in an effort to reach lineshredding structure.
With a pair of the bronze demons laying on the deck, Van Reyk couldn’t contain himself.
“A massive shoutout to Rick for getting me (my) PB fingermark. Yeah boy, 770mm for the win with Rick’s going 750mm,” Van Reyk wrote.