Hi all,

I've got a pretty beefy report to follow with lots of updates on the stretch of coast between Guilderton and Hill River. If you're not here for the read...I didn't catch much other than the normal bread and butter.

Indian Ocean Drive

Monday lunch time I took the new road up to Cervantes. It certainly does shave a fair bit off of the trek north however with roadworks still going on (particularly just before Lancelin and Cervantes) you can expect delays of up to 10-15 minutes overall. While the drive was a pleasure, I can't help but feel a little saddened by this stretch of bitumen. There is tarmac right into Wedge and Grey - which for me will take the mystique and adventure out of going to these special spots and open them up to commercialisation and tourism. Hopefully these fragile communities will not be ruined as a result of this road. As expected, there was also a high level of roadkill. I counted half a dozen dead roos and countless other 'things' on the side of the road. I can't help but wonder what the impact is on the nature reserves that the road cuts through. I guess it's up to to regulars at Wedge and Grey and the residents of Cervantes, Jurien, Green Head and Leeman to decide whether the road is a good or bad thing. Only time will tell.

Cervantes

On the back of a recent post by user shaw_catch, I planned on fishing Thirsty Point or the back beach at Cervantes, so on arrival got the car on the sand. The water was in reasonably good nick but a bit shallow - which was expected on that stretch. I decided to flick a few baits off the service jetty while I decided where to spend the night. A couple of locals were fishing on the jetty and one bloke had a few minutes earlier caught a squid. There was plenty of ink from others on the jetty too so there have obviously been a few around in recent weeks. The water was much clearer than my last visit with user Simmo Ryan, however on burleying up I could see no sign of any baitfish. A few casts confirmed that the jetty was quiet.

One of the resident giant flappers was cruising around - and unbelievably a sambo was literally sat on it's back mirroring it's every move! The sambos are a regular feature at Cervantes around this time of year. I was flicking a brand new Yozuri squid jig around when the sambo decided to have a taste and I was lucky enough to pull it out of it's mouth before losing the jig forever. Very next cast, I lost it on the reef.  

Time to move on. I opted to head up to Hill River and decided I would spend the night there too.

Hill River

I arrived to a moderate but fishable SSW breeze and slightly cloudy conditions. It looked good for a fish so I setup and got the burley cooking. First few casts I had some nibbles on the small rod and pulled in a sand whiting. Then something a bit better - a herring. With a receding tide I didn't expect much but on sundown I landed a small flathead about 34cm. While at that size it's good to let them go, the boss had asked my to bring flathead and squid home so in the bucket it went.

Around 10:15pm the herring suddenly came on the bite and I had a frenzied half an hour or so where I landed half a dozen and dropped plenty more. They are great fun to catch in the surf on light tackle.

The evening session I sat on big baits until around 2am including ballooning a live herring when the wind swung around to the east. At one stage there was a big tug on the line which took a small amount of drag - but as the birds was moving around I put it down to a gull flying into my line. A hour or so later I retrieved the balloon to see that something had indeed chomped half the herring but left the rest behind.

Up at 5:45am hoping to get into the choppers that deceived me a couple of weeks ago. Only problem was they weren't on the bite. I had fished this same spot four times previously and on every occasion had bought home a tailor and sure enough around 6:30am I had a good hit and starting bringing in what felt like a good fish. Halfway in he shook the hooks and sure enough that was the only tailor of the morning. The morning session did result in a juvenile flathead and a few more herring.

After two hours sitting under a balloon I dragged in my live herring, still kicking. Not a touch. Packed up and took a few photos then had a nice surprise when a seal cruised by about 15m from shore.

Of note, Hill River is usually good for some gardies and mullet - but not this time. It will be the last time I fish Hill River for a while. The place has been hammered in the last few months and seems to have shut right down. No signs of the trademark bigger runs that I have looked forward to in the past.

Cervantes (again)

Decided to stop for a quick cast at Cervantes. The winds were howling forcing me to fish the south end of the jetty but they quickly swung around and I was able to flick a few on the NW corner. Same result, however, with no sign of any bread and butter fish, despite clouding the water with plenty of burley.

Of real interest, an eel (or possibly a large sea snake?) came cruising by the jetty on the bottom. Was absolutely stoked to see this....a first for me!

I flicked a couple of lures for fun, but mainly because I did not want to go home when the weather was so perfect! Was slow retrieving a Halco frenzy when out from under the jetty Mr Sambo popped out to have a look. Time for some fun. I rigged up the big rod and dropped a dead herring out about 5m from the jetty, keeping an eye on it to make sure the big flapper didn't engulf it.

After about ten minutes, the sambo popped back out for a bit of a look. A gently lifted the bait to get the attention of the sambo, but succeeded only in spooking it. To my amazement, the sudden erratic movement must of excited another sambo that was hiding under the jetty - this thing shot out and literally engulfed the herring.

There was probably a 10 second lull when I could feel the weight of the fish but it was just lazing under my feet. Then all of a sudden it realised it was hooked a BANG! Took off for the open sea. The big Oz Flex rod instantly bent at right angles and the ratchet was screaming on my reel. It's pretty heavy duting eggbeater - a Fin Nor OF95 which puts out about 26kg of drag locked down! Despite being locked down, the sambo was taking line at will and I can completely understand why these fish are so highly rated as a sports fish. The sambo probably took about 50m of line, then turned and did a big circle around the jetty, with me being towed from one side to the other completely at the will of this fish. Something had to give and that something was the 80lb braid. The fish ducked under jetty and on contact the braid ended what was probably the second most exciting couple of minutes of my life.

For those wandering about THE most exciting couple of minutes of my life, my son will be three months this friday.

There was a fella fishing with me who was travelling from Darwin. It sounded like he was just fishing his way down the coast but he also got into one of the sambos on a soft plastic. On 30lb braid that lasted all of 2 seconds however the most impressive thing was the sheer size of the splash and surface affect the fish made.

These things were big. It's hard to estimate but I'd say 15kg easy, pushing 20kg. I'm sure I'm not the first to lose my tackle to them either....the funny thing is the last time I saw a sambo at Cervantes jetty was my very first trip there almost 12 months ago!

Anyhow...it was 12:30pm and as I had to be back in Perth by lunchtime I needed to get moving...but not without making a few stops along the way!

Kangaroo Point

I popped in for a quick look. Heaps of weed on the beach, but the water was pretty clear other than the usual weedbeds everywhere. A nice spot and probably not a bad place to put a squid out under a balloon.

Hangover Bay / 11 Mile Beach

Really interesting reef just offshore and withing casting distance however lots of weed around both on the beach and in the water. There were some fairly clear areas of water though so you could fish here however it's all pretty shallow. Would love to cast poppers / richters over the reef as I reckon this would produce some tailor. There is also a channel between the reef that would be a nice spot to soak a bait.

Grey

Bitumen to the community, then 4x4 access only. Didn't really go far but checked out the water at the main launching spot. A fair bit of weed in the water still at the moment.

Wedge Island

Bitumen to the community, then 4x4 access only. I went and checked out a few of my favourite spots and am actually heading back on Friday night for a fish. The water looks fantastic - not much weed around at all except for in the usual places..."Stinky Point" I call it (not sure what the real name is) about 6k north of Wedge Island the weed was piled up as always but other than that it was pretty clean. Not much there in the way of gutters or beach formation.

Seabird

Again just a quick stop to look at the water. Probably comparable to Lancelin - some nice deep water around which I'm sure would consistently fish quite well.

Guilderton

Wow. How awesome is Moore River? Flicked lures for about 15 minutes with no luck but without a doubt there will be heaps of fish there. It looks like magnificent bream country. River is currently closed but on a big swell the waves would wash over the bank.

Off home after that, with one last stop at Drovers to pick up some squid tubes. Was a great little trip and nice to check out some different spots along the way.

The one thing that jumps out is the lack of bread and butter fish. Hill River is usually good for a mullet or gardie. No sign of them. Cervantes ALWAYS produces something. So where are they? Is it seasonal? Water temps? Are they holed up in deeper water?

Cheers,

Buschy

Pictures are:

Hill River gutter formation

Juvenile flathead

Angry blue tongue

Shack / tinnies at Grey

Wedge Island

Moore River mouth

Dinner salt n pepper squid, flathead fillets & chips (first time I had cooked squid and I got it SPOT ON in terms of taste and texture...but probably a hotter pan to sear it more next time)