Well I just got back from one full on trip to Coral bay, where do I start......I'll take a step back a few weeks. Since the trip to the Kimberley I had settled into routine at work knowing that there were no more big trips planned for the year, well so I thought.

Get a phone call from Luke of Chivers Marine hinting at a trip to Coral Bay. He and Paul from Navico (Simrad & Lowrance) needed to do some testing of the newly released Simrad NSS12. As some of you know the Chivers guys built my boat and I had been talking with them saying that I would bring the boat down to Perth around November to get some extras fitted. Luke’s idea was that we meet at Coral Bay for a fish for a few days including testing the Simrad then he would take the boat to Perth.

As you could imagine it didn't take much to convince me. Now to organise leave and get approval from my lovely wife. This was easily organised and we locked the dates in. A few phone calls back and forward and everything was read to go. Some talk about me trying to nail my first Red and Luke suggested we have a crack at Billfish.......something I have never done and Luke is new too.

The trip is a bit off a blur, hard to remember the exact order of what happened when but I'll have a go.

I head off for the 760km drive on Wednesday morning with a plan to meet Luke and Paul there first thing Thursday. Luke and Paul had a plan to leave Perth on Wednesday, drive all night and jump on the boat for a fish when they arrive Thursday. Well that's exactly what happened.

Wild Flowers on way to Coral Bay

We hit the water midmorning Thursday with a plan to get some Reds. Well I got a just-size Red so the monkey was off my back. Was a great day with awesome weather. We came home with a good mixed bag Rankin, Baldy, Spangos, Pearl Perch etc. Luke totally out fished us..........When we came back in the South passage was closing out a bit but still plenty of safe water to traverse

Rankin

Check out the teeth

By the time we clean and packed the fish and shower up it was getting late. We headed off for a meal with some of Lukes family and friends that were already at Coral Bay. They where kind enough to make us some dinner. To my surprise Paul and Luke were still powering along even after no sleep. Watched a bit of Tour de France then crashed ready for another day.

First up in the morning we hooked up the Simrad NSS12 under the bait board, then networked it my HDS10 ready to be tested and compared. How cool is this, I'm getting on water training by Paul on how to best use my Lowrance HDS10 and also get to see the latest Simrad. I have a new respect for my HDS10, its amazing what this sounder can do in the right hands. I was only using a small amount of its capabilities. Paul and Luke tweaked the settings and taught me a heap. As for the Simrad NSS12, I won’t bother going on about all the specs you can check them out online or call in and have a chat with the guys at Chivers but let’s just say I want one. If you're chasing a sounder check out both of these!!! Stay tuned I'll be putting up some screen shots shortly.

Anyway back to the fishing.

Day two we head for the south passage only to be greeted with breaking waves closing out the whole passage. Off to the north passage we go. Bit bouncy outside but seen it heaps worse. We decide to bottom bounce and then get some bloke come from nowhere to ping our spot, got to love these guys. Well he pinged a spot with no fish anyway.

We decide to have a crack at some billfish. We set out a spread of 3 skirts and a teaser. Remember that we are new to this, Luke had chased them once before the same as Paul but I've never had a go. Well we get a strike and I jump on the rod and go about stuffing it all up. Mixed feeling, we raised a fish so that’s a plus.

We go again hoping to do better, well what happened next no one could have imagined. Two rods go off at once, cricky double hook up on sails. I'm on to one hoping like hell not to stuff this one up and Paul is on the other. Luke jumps on the last rod to wind it in - 3 meters from the back of the boat a large saily engulfs his skirt in plain sight. Help...Triple hook up! My sailfish bolts straight for the boat and with no one at the helm to drive away from the fish my line goes slack and I’ve lost it. While all this is going on Paul loses his, so it's all up to Luke. We use the boat to our advantage and after a lengthy battle we landed Lukes sailfish for a photo. We revive it and with a good kick it’s off to live another day. High fives all round.

Lukes sail heads for the horizon

We set the spread again all pumped up.  As we cruise around I get to think about the year so far, who would have thought that I would have just done a trip to the Kimberley then follow it up with a trip like this. When I brought this boat I knew that it had opened up some more options as to where I fish but never did I think it would be so versatile. Creek fishing in the Pilbara one week, then living aboard for a week in the Kimberley to chasing sails off Coral Bay. If I ever doubted whether buying this boat was the right thing the last few months has proved it to be the right decision. I should take the time to mention that not only has the boat been better then I hoped for but the customer service is second to none. If you're chasing a new boat give the Chivers guys a call. I know this sounds like a plug for their business well I guess it is to some extent but it's hard not after the service they have given and the quality of boat they build. PM me if you want more info.

Anyway back to fishing. We troll around chasing some more billfish while spending a heap of time testing the Simrad. It’s cool to be able to look at both screens and compare data. Note: to give you some idea how good these sounders we seen fish on them and comment that it looked big enough to be a marlin and within seconds we hooked up!!!

I manage to hook up on marlin, half way thought the battle I lose the top eye from my rod, not good. The mono is not in good shape so I go a bit harder and get the marlin close enough for the Luke to grab the leader, but it still had a heap of life and the lure fails and we get the skirt back minus the hook. I’m claiming this one as a capture with the boys backing.

Throughout the day we see whales everywhere with some coming very close, maybe too close. A pair of small whales hang around the boat for over one hour, very cool.

If things weren’t going good enough already while having a break from trolling, I lose a rig with fish attached and Luke manages to land a fish but at the same time land my rig and fish I lost earlier. Not many sharks either!!!

We get back just in time to go out for a meal at the cafe. We start the with an entree of Red Emperor wings caught by Lukes family and friends done in cajun spices. Had a great meal and shared stories of the days adventure.

We head out the North passage again on day 3 our last day before we head our separate ways. We have been taking it in turns and today is Paul’s turn to land a billfish. The day starts out fairly rough, we head out a fair way past the reef to ensure we don’t hit a school of Mackerel. We set the spread and set out for a troll to the ground we had so much luck on the day before. Not long until the drag screams and after a good fight Paul lands a Wahoo. Another species down and more to come. Next up he lands a Dolphin fish which we put on ice for the guys back at the caravan park.

Well Paul gets a cracker marlin on and it puts on a hell of a fight. These fish go off when hooked, jumping and tail walking, quite the spectacular. Paul’s line manages to jump of the roller tip and wedge itself down the side of the roller which causes him to lose the fish right near the boat. Had we had the correct leader on this we would have landed this fish also. I'm calling this a capture also.

We lost a heap of fish due to inexperience and being under gunned, but most our failures were between the mono and the skirt............I guess we will be doing some research into the correct knots and rigging of our gear.

We finish day 3 up the pub telling stories of the days tales then a good meal.

Sunday we pack up and head in different directions. Luke and Paul head for Perth with my boat in tow and I head off for the 760km drive home.

Summing it all up, I had the best 3 days fishing of my life, learnt so much and made some life long friends.  Pretty cool to think that 3 guys from opposite parts of Australia can meet up and have 3 days no one will ever forget. It was all too easy; we fished together like we have been fishing together for years. Think only 2 weeks earlier we had no plans.

Big thanks to Luke and Paul for putting on a great trip

Who knows what the rest of the year will bring, hope you enjoyed the read.

Chris

 PS photos taken by all of us.