Huge Winter Snapper - D'Urville Island

Its that time of the year where the days are shorter, the mountain ranges are covered in snow and the morning are cold. But for us fisherman in the top of the South Island, its our favourite time of year to target big winter Snapper at D'Urville Island New Zealand. After an incredible Snapper session the week before Tim was itching to get out on the water to try and land his person best Snapper. With a small weather window we headed out on Nauti Buoy to D'Urville Island. As we arrived the wind had already got up but we were determined to drop our lures. After marking some good sign on the Garmin it wasn't long before Tim was hooked up to the first fish of the trip. After 10 minutes the first Snapper was on the deck which we estimated around 12-13 pound. After a couple of quick photos we had our lures back at the bottom and Tim was hooked up again. This Snapper was pealing line and 15 minutes later this massive fish was in the net. We got back into some shelter and put the fish on the scales which weighed 20.5 pound. Tim had done it, he was now in the 20 pound club. After a few man hugs and photos it was time to get our lines back in the water. I was starting to question if I was going to land a fish but it wasn't long until I had finally hooked up to what I believe was a big Snapper. After taking around 20 metres of line he pulled the hook while I was trying to drive the boat as Tim was winding up. I was gutted but I kept working the lure and it was long until I was hooked up again and line was screaming of my Shimano Ocea Jigger 1000. This 10-15 minute fight was like nothing I had ever experienced before, battling the waves, wind and the fish in the weeds I finally managed to get it up to the surface where at first I didn't call it a big fish but once we got it into the net we relied this was massive. Weighing in at 23 pound this was now my personal best Snapper. The call was made to make our way home with the wind still picking up where we called into a couple of spots to try for a Kingfish and Blue Cod. What an incredible day on the water this was. ‪@StabicraftNZ‬ ‪@shimanofishing_nz‬ ‪@narvalighting‬ ‪@Garmin‬ #fishing #bigfishvideo #shimanoocea #shimanofishing #bigfish #garminmarine #shimano #boat #boating #fishingshow #snapper #snapperfishing #snapperfish #kingfish #bluecod #grouperfish #grouper #grouperfishing #nzfishing #personbest #biggest #biggestfish #massive #monster #shimanoreels #shimanoreel #fishinglife #fishingtips #fishingtrip #fishingadventure #stabicraft #2100supercab #durvilleisland #newzealand #marlboroughsounds #marlborough #winter #winterfishing #huge #hugefish #gopro #goprohero #20pound #20lb