Well...here comes my annual report for my fav 2 weeks of the year.Coral Bay 2023!!!!....this year was the family trip-4 x adults, 3 kids- so here goes...same story, i never take enough photos, but a cpl below...

Notes- my advice for CB every  FW post....listen to the chat at the fish cleaning ASAP- u learn soooo much. Nth or sth, deep of shallow.  We find every year is differnet and we like to find the best fishing for that particular 2 weeks we are there....chatter was sharks horendous Nth, pretty good Sth. Current roaring out widish. - off we go with a little knowledge that ended up running true...Also, my advice for the tables is don't expect full disclosure on info..we had a lot of people ask us too many direct questions...you can imagine the answers. Also remember we have been going for 15 years..took us 3-4 years of  just listening and not been nosey too much at the tables..just saying....also get out and try- if ur catching nothing, maybe look at your methods/bait/rigs. i understand people 'just want to know' but do the hard yards people...the best spots  you will ever have are you own...to the guys who repatedley asked us for a spot- THEN decided to follow us..shame on you u mob of flogs !!! [ OK, rant and whinging over, back to the good stuff ] .

Day 1- Set off 530am from Albany..highest priority is get a coffee into the Leader of the Opposition before we go too far- job done by 535am [ phew]. Meet up with the other family sth or Perth, roll into Nth Gero by 4pm-uneventful, just how i like it

Day 2- Weather looking good in CB sat arvo...made sure i had an iced coffee warmed up before i woke the boss this am..., on the rd early by 530am...non towing car went ahead, quick fresh supplies from Carnavon, we both roll into CB by 2pm..quickest unload u have ever seen at the house...out sth passgae by 330pm, fishing by 430pm- fish close spots 15k out. filter through the shit, 5 nice fish in an hr..take that...cleaned and done eating dinner at the pub by 7pm

Day 3- weather hollywood. Head to 80m's out sth passage...quite fussy with what we take home, so filter through all the Tom Cods, red throats, grassies etc...end up with 4 good reds, 5 big spangos and a big rankin..good start

Day 4,5,6,7- weather very average but looking mint on the long range..so keep it simple- snorkling, 4WDing, all round kids suff and chillaxing....loving the Bay lifestyle..Great to see a small town still do a great tribute on ANZAC Day. we like many got up for the dawn service to pay our respects to those who gave everything for us to enjoy this fab country we live in..

Day 8- go against my own advice [ what an idiot].. but i want to try our proven big red ground way nth..will ther be sharks?   YES...every big red hooked, taken in 5 seconds...moved around and perservered and ended up with an awesome bag incl one red @ 12.2kg, 1 x 10.4kg. plus 4 more 5-6 kg reds, 3 x rankins, 1 x nice robbo - . 10 x nice fish, but hard work... i think lets stay sth..weather looks as good as it gets for next  6 days...time for the family to come out.

Day 9/10/11- back sth. Fishing wasn't firing, but steady enough to pull in nice fish and get our limits each day. Kids came out. we stuck to our methods for  tageting Reds mainly with good sucess. Went deepish for a while to chase a few Goldband.

Days 12/13- time to stay shallow and target purely reds as out quoto's where pretty close  for all...filter through the rubbish, be patient and boy did it work...fishing all new ground, we easily found really good fish- A LOT closer than you would think to Sth Passage..not saying how close, but close enough. Got some great reds, a few massive cods, nice trout etc. etc.good quality with some big reds in amonst it...

Day 14- NO FISHING although weather is mint..one last snorkel with everybody at the top of nth passage, back to the house, pack up for an easy arvo at the pub.

Day 15- The customary 6am departure to swing past the Bakery..roll into Dongar mid arvo..raining cats and dogs from Kalbarri..Washing the boat beautifully.

Day 16- last early departure- roll into Albany mid arvo...Last 2 days pretty event free other than nursing home one of the boat tyres that was starting to poke out a few strands of wire...home safely.

Highlights- 100% the amount of big reds. 12.2kg was the best for not only this trip, but  C/Bay full stop across all my years. 4 more over 10kg [ FYI -all weighed to eliminate the extra 3 kgs for holiday mode lol ] . Plus all other ones largish too..Best  size in general  for a trip duration i've ever had. The Blitz Jigs from Rapid Fire Fishing  absolutley  killed the red emperors...especially the larger models.  Yes, u will lose a cpl to sharks- but i value good big reds over $100 worth of jigs   any day of the week :)  Weather was great. Coral Bay was back baby...my post last year stated the town seemed to be still reeling from staff etc with no backpackers Covid etc.. This year it felt 100% back to the normal Coral Bay of Old..well done to all the locals who did it tough and pushed through to this point...

Lowlights- same as every year and the same I post every year...the same people every day at the fish cleaning tables saying they got sharked at the same spot as the day before and there is no fish...???....Sharks where present, but not terrible...other than one day nth that was bad, we maybe lost 1-2 fish/day. One or 2 drops max on each spot tends to work good too. FYI- as always my adivce is how can you find new spots if you dont look for new spots..?  So many of our good fish came off new ground this year-especailly the in close stuff. Find a cpl of fish shows, drop., move, catch etc, repeat.  Work hard and you will get the rewards. 

Countdown is on to 2024 already..boys trip next year with a cpl of 'special' birthdays. to all the FW legends out there heading up to CB/EXY- have fun, be good and love life..how lucky are we to be able to visit this amazing place !

Image Upload: