This trip materialised last minute when I was thinking of going Jurien Bay with Whitey but ended up hooking up with Hlokk and going to Abrolhos. Apparently there was a spot due to someone pulling out last minute and hence I got it. Thanks to Hlokk for inviting me along. I had heaps of fun, popped a few cherries and beat some of my own PB's, not to mention meeting a few fishing legends!

Lost only 6 jigs due unstoppables, bust-offs by razor gangs and one which was snagged.

No monsters were taken but we had a great variety that came onboard.

I am not much of a word-smith and so will let the pictures do the talking.

We started the day by trolling towards Abrolhos and Chris opened the account early with a spaniards on Halco Laser Pro. There were times when multiple hook-ups took place with spaniards and sharky caught.

My first coral trout after climbing out from the bunk, half awake. This fish was taken on an Ofmer jig 150g.

Foul hooked coral trout on Duel Tamentai 150g

Another one of the many trouts taken on jig.

Good old Gorilla jig did the trick on this trout.

This trout was taken on a knife jig worked fast to entice a spaniard. I saw the sounder lit up in mid-water so I change my demersal jig for a knife jig to catch the spaniard but it was intercepted by this coral trout at mid-water.

Matt's impressive trout

This spangle emperor gave a good account of itself. I thought I hooked something three times as big! New found respect for this species.

As you can see, it was a clean hook-up

Jono's dhuey

Sean's dad with a stickbaited yellowfin tuna.

Sambo....

Pinky on Metal Flicker

Matt's coral trout on Smith Jack knife ?

Another trout...

Another one of my trout at the end of first day before we moored at the island for the night. It was taken in relatively shallow water -12m on a Saltiga Sacrifice Stick.

Matty's impressive double header on Smith Jack Knife

Moses perch ? on Zest jig

Not too sure what this is about ??!!!

Snapper on the same jig again!!

Amberjack on the same jig again!!

Dhuey!

Jono's estuary cod that ended up on the table.

Fillet packed, labelled, vacuum sealed and ready to go

Yum....fish wings on the barbie..

Matty's jigged leather jacket. It was huge!

One of Sean's many surface lured fish. On one particular morning session, he caught and release more than a dozen spaniards & shark mackerals on stickbaits. Unfortunately, he didn't take any photos. Shimano Ocea Stickbaits come to life in Sean's hands.

My juvenile dhuey on Fanky

My PB snapper @ 6.9kg on the digital scale. This fish was taken amongst 2 baiters on either side of me. Apparently my 180g jig hit bottom faster than their baited rig and this snapper slammed it on first crank of my reel handle. It cracked my 2.2kg pinky caught at Carrums Down in Melbourne.

Check out the hump on the head!

My first sharky taken on Rapala Sub-Walk retrofitted with singles. 

Rapala's one fish wonder X-Rap Sub-Walk. It only took one sharky to puncture the stickbait. Notice the battle scars and water seepage into the lure's body cavity.

Check out those colours

 My other sharky on a 60g stickbait. 

This picture tells a very sad tale. A spaniard estimated to be 15-20kg by others on the boat who saw it at boat side took a lot of line at serious drag. It finally won its freedom when this pre-made Halco wire with snap gave way. My main line was only 30lb!!!  I was so gutted not because I lost my Duo Press Bait Saira Sinking stickbait with it but because that could have easily been the biggest spaniard caught for the trip, not to mention my PB! NO MORE HALCO WIRE SNAP for me for sure !

This hammer head was seen circling the boat when we were at 300m. So someone toss a big chunk of fish with a hook in it and caught him.

We were at 18m and spaniards, sharkies and tuna were seen spearing out of water hitting bait schools. Everyone was plugging away trying to land one on stickbait. I decided to have a change and rig up a long jig and do mackeral jigging (ie. fast stroke with fast cranks) and this mack got fooled. The mackeral must have smashed the jig so hard that it bent it.

This amberjack gave me some serious grief because I forgot to tighten my drag before dropping the jig over! It took a 150g Ofmer jig with home-tied Mustad Hoodlum assist hooks. 

My double-header Amberjack, taken on 150g Daiwa jig. Craig - the skipper told us that was a new spot to him and a school of fish was seen suspended in mid-water. So it turned out there was a seriola's gathering going on that morning.......

Sambo taken on the same jig, same spot, same outfit on the 2nd drift. Unfortunately, the kingies weren't out to play. :( Otherwise a seriola grand slam is on the card.

A sharky took a swipe at my Smith L-Dorado timber stickbait and miss. Look at the damage done to the lure and assist cord.

Damage done to my twister octopus used to dress up my assist hooks.

Arguably the biggest fish caught for the trip. Jono's estuary cod taken on bait.

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