THE extensive reef system stretching from Birubi to Seal Rocks is recognized as being an unequalled habitat for snapper.

For as long as records have been kept and stories told, this area of coastline has been producing quality snapper.
The good news is that we, in Port Stephens, live in the middle of the snapper capital.

The habitat that surrounds us is perfect snapper country.

The reefs from Birubi, in the south, to Seal Rocks up north could all be considered home for snapper.

Port Stephens has a great attraction to those who desire to catch snapper in that you do not need to travel far to catch these beautiful fish.

Launching at Little Beach or Shoal Bay you need only motor to Tomaree headland to be in snapper country, a distance of about 2km.

Then you can head north to Broughton or south to Rocky Point.

Beach launching at Fingal and Boat Harbour opens up huge rocky reefs that are rarely fished.

In a lumpy sea snapper can be caught off the rocks and inside the port.

How lucky are we!

History goes that coastal traders, back as far as the 1930s, would drift off Broughton Island until their anchor would grip on rock which was the signal that a reef had been found and for the crew to crowd to the side of the boat and drop their lines straight down and hang on.

Big snapper swarmed over all the reefs and it was only a matter of discovering the rocky outcrops in the underwater sandy expanse.

Watching with great interest were the old pioneering fishermen on Broughton Island including Archie Thompson, Jack Hunter, Vic Whitney and George Todd, who would note the activity and mark the location by lining up mountains and headlands on the mainland.

On other occasions the fishermen themselves would drift over sand between Broughton and Seal Rocks for days at a time until their lead line hit rock. Excellent reefs including Mungo and the Inner and Outer Gibber were discovered by this method.

So simple these days with technology doing all the work.

As you can imagine the fishing was sensational.

A string of eight hooks would be dropped resulting in the same number of snapper being hauled into the boat at any one time.

So thick were the snapper that the line went slack, indicating fish hookup, long before reaching the bottom.

If, on the rare occasion, the bait did reach the bottom, there was a big chance that a lobster would grab it.

The ocean floor, I was told, was crawling with lobsters.

So called spider lobsters, which I was fortunate enough to see, grew in excess of 10kg.

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE