THERE was no one who could teach George Todd the secrets of the giant snapper inside Port Stephens.

Everything he learned he taught himself.

The big fish would only bite at night.

One or two might be fluked through the day, however it was the cover of darkness that really triggered the bite. Generally speaking the tide was the major determining factor as to when the fish would bite.

Little notice was taken of the moon phase, yet it was noted that bad weather did improve the bite, particularly strong southerlies at the commencement of winter.

The big snapper moved into the harbour at the same time each year, the very same time as the mullet travelling season started – around Anzac Day was always a great time.

Only time spent on the water, trial and error, would determine where and at which stage of the tide the big fish would attack the bait.

The deep water off Dutchies Beach was best on the flood tide while further east closer to Dutchies Head produced the best fish on the ebb.

Both spots were very handy to George as he lived at Dutchies and his wife Dulcie could call him in for tea.

On some nights he reckoned he could hear the snapper.

Halifax Point fished best on the flood tide when snapper between 8-12 lb were common and a good catch was guaranteed.

The really big snapper over 40 lb were caught over the oyster-encrusted coral in the deep water off the entrance to North Arm Cove, Baromee Point, and another spot in the deep water east of Middle Island, Soldiers Point that George referred to as Bundabah.

It was on the Baromee Point that George recorded his best catch of ten snapper weighing in excess of 460 lb.

These inner harbour coral beds were the favoured feeding grounds for the big fish.

The difficulty was in finding where they were.

The very best indication was when you pulled your line in and found oyster encrusted coral on your hook.

The bite was only short, the huge reds would fiddle with the baits and just play with it for ten minutes.

This odd behaviour heralded the fierce bite which lasted for about an hour.

George could manage to land about a dozen snapper in that time using two set, heavy cord lines.

George would fish in all conditions including howling and bitterly cold winds.

On one occasion he took along a bottle of rum to keep him warm.

He remembers well, waking that morning in his new boat, as the sun rose with the empty bottle under his arm and a 20 kg snapper lying on its side in the water, still hooked.

“No more rum,” vowed George.

Big ‘knobbies’ would take just about anything when it came to bait as long as there was plenty of it.

A full fillet of luderick on a 12/0 proved to be not only a great bait for ‘reddies’ but also for the odd jewfish that swam into the holes.

Other bait included a slab of salted salmon or mullet, squid and octopus.

Oddly enough the best bait proved to be breast of mutton that was purchased from the local butcher, Ted Cohen. George caught many monster snapper well in excess of 15kg which to his surprise were full of mutton bones, chops and other leftovers.

Where did these scraps come from?

George didn’t have to look far to solve his own question, in fact the answer was just around Dutchies Headland at the Nelson Bay wharf where three American patrol boats were tied up.

The crews of the patrol boats, “with guns poking out everywhere”, lived on board and dined most evenings on mutton.

The American sailors’ scraps were simply tossed overboard.

Little did they know that circling under the boat there was a gathering of huge snapper that had acquired a taste for mutton chops.

The American boats would start their engines an hour before sunup and through trial and error, George calculated that the school of fish would leave the wharf immediately and swim around Dutchies Headland to the first deep hole inside the Port.

The swim took between 20-30 minutes and being the fantastic fisherman that he was, George was there to meet them, anchored and organised with mutton breast number one on the menu.

Experience had taught the cagey angler other lessons.

One being that the fish would not bite on raw meat, however they would bite like crazy if the mutton was lightly grilled. The huge snapper would not bite on a slack tide, they needed a run movement and they didn’t mind how fast the tide was rolling.

Current snapper fishermen find it difficult to believe that reddies averaging 20 kg could be caught so far inside the Port.

Wherever he fished, George’s rig remained the same.

A heavy seine twine cord was threaded through a cylinder made from a strip of flat lead, rolled to remove all sharp edges, and a 12/0 hook was tied to the cord.

The method was simple, with the lead dropped over the side of the boat metres of loose line was paid out and the bait would float some ten to fifteen metres from the sinker.

As the current increased, George would increase the weight of the lead.

George wasn’t the only one to catch these incredible fish.

They were targeted regularly by the Dodd family, who had a holiday shack right on the water at what is now known as Halifax Park.

When the Dodds decided it was time for a feed of fish, young Johnny Dodd would fish the last of the run in tide, where the Little Beach boat ramp is built today, and was expected to deliver a six to eight kg reddie to the table.

The last recorded big snapper caught inside the heads was a fifteen kg fish hooked in the deep water just off the Little Beach boat ramp and landed by a Coonabarabran Presbyterian minister in 1978.

It must be true.

A ten kg snapper was caught in the deep water inside the Port around Middle Island, some five kilometres from the open ocean at Soldiers Point, as recently as June 2009.

These days 40 lb snapper do not exist inside Port Stephens.

“Sad,” laments George.

“Every giant snapper was a female in full roe.

“They had come inside to spawn.

“I sometimes wish I hadn’t caught any.”

Big snapper have that mystical attraction.

Why is it that we are attracted to this magnificent fish, particularly the whoppers?

Over the years I have been asked on many occasions: “What is the biggest snapper that you have caught?”

Well, nothing I have caught compares to the fish mentioned in this New South Wales Game Fishing Association report from 1947.

“Bert Rose… of the Sea Breeze Hotel, Nelson Bay, recently bought a snapper from one of the seine net trawlers.

“He paid the fixed price of 1/9 per lb. and his total outlay was £5/10/3.”

Work it out for yourself. The giant snapper weighed 63lb!

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE