Coral Bay trip.
Submitted by Tom M on Fri, 2016-03-04 13:07
Help please. On a trip up to Coral Bay at the end of the month (before school holidays) and will be taking a 5 meter Quinnie, I have traweld up there before for Mackies and done well but never bottom fished. What are good depths to fish and what could I expect and do you fish around or on top of lumps. I hear the bottom is unforgiving and to expect to lose a lot of gear. Any advice would be appreciated. Would even accept a spot to try to get me started.
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Tom M
B___s___A
Posts: 6
Date Joined: 02/06/14
bottom bounce
I was up there in July and we just headed out the north passage and chuggged about half way between the two passages, bottom bounced in about 18m and got a wide variety of good fish. Shallow water means you beat the sharks to the surface..
Tom M
Posts: 662
Date Joined: 22/09/15
Thanks a heap, sharks seem
Thanks a heap, sharks seem to be a common threat right along the coast.
Tom M
D_d_001
Posts: 1522
Date Joined: 09/03/13
hard going in a 5m quinie.
hard going in a 5m quinie. I've fished CB for many years and for me the fish start at 70ish m (which is a fair hike)
Use your sounder to see fish ....no lumps there, except straight out the Nth passage where there is a "table top" with quite a bit of good looking grounds and lumps. this gets pretty hammered but you can always get a feed off there but don't expect reds etc.
On a good day head wide and don't expect to see any lumps. it's flat as .....just have to tune your sounder and look for the fish. be attentive and also look for discrete changes in bottom as well.
I'll be there again beginning of April :)
Oh and make sure you are aware of where the sanctuary zones are.
ChrisG
Posts: 558
Date Joined: 30/12/11
Sounds like we should
Sounds like we should organise a catch up in CB given sounds like a few will be there at same time
im there with 2 othe boats plus mine from 26th for a fortnight, although only fishing hard for the first week....
happy to share ideas etc....and a beer
Krusty
Posts: 714
Date Joined: 27/11/15
It keeps popping up
It keeps popping up ..........Surely you were trolling in your 5m Quinnie and not Trawling
My fishing spots are so secret........... even the fish don't know where they are !!
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
,,and I was gunna let him go on it...
.
Krusty
Posts: 714
Date Joined: 27/11/15
I did try to let it go ....
I did try to let it go .... I moved on and read a couple more posts ....but it got to me and the voices in my head made me return and say something !!
My fishing spots are so secret........... even the fish don't know where they are !!
Tom M
Posts: 662
Date Joined: 22/09/15
So you see I need all the
So you see I need all the help I can get, my trawling days are over. Thanks all looking forward to this trip if the fish are deep maybe next time take the cat up.
Tom M
Krusty
Posts: 714
Date Joined: 27/11/15
Sorry I couldn't be more
Sorry I couldn't be more helpful for you but I have never been to coral bay.....YET ....I tried one year a couple of years ago now but the road was flooded so ended up at Denham in shark bay and that was pretty good. Only had a 4.75m tinny then but still managed a few good fish and loved every minuite of our trip.
I am sure you will have an awesome time and look forward to your pics of the fish you catch !!
My fishing spots are so secret........... even the fish don't know where they are !!
kuzi
Posts: 102
Date Joined: 29/10/12
I had my first experience
I had my first experience fishing Coral Bay last year being a novice and new boat owner. In shallow waters there are plenty of fish albeit much smaller and less variety. In saying that I'm sure that you would catch something of bigger size and better quality if you persisted. If you head out to 50+ metres then you will get bigger and better quality fish more often. If the weather is good then should be no problem getting out there and from memory it would be around 15kms out from the north passage. No significant lumps to be seen on the sounder just flat/rubble bottom that shows up fish. Set some rods out on the back and trawl out looking at the sounder. This is exactly what I did and you will be pleasantly surprised as to how easily and how much ground you will find. If you search for Coral Bay on this site then you will find similar info and experiences and you will find that most will tell you exactly what I just said. Hence I followed the advice and it worked. Good luck!
Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions or want to chat about it over the phone.
Tom M
Posts: 662
Date Joined: 22/09/15
Thanks Kuzi, what is best
Thanks Kuzi, what is best bait for fishing up there? Locally caught and used as strip baits, occy, squid. I have heard the wings off any red fish is great?
Tom M
kuzi
Posts: 102
Date Joined: 29/10/12
I found that occy worked the
I found that occy worked the best as it doesn't come off so easy. Otherwise anything to be honest. Even try using any bi catch. I found the price of bait pretty reasonable from the supermarket up there. We also caught some small tuna a couple of times while trawling and looking for ground which we kept for bait and also worked well. The fishing up there is chalk and cheese in comparison to Perth. You will catch plenty of fish regardless just depends on what and how big.
sparrow
Posts: 119
Date Joined: 04/02/13
CB
Hey mate,
Ive been fishing there every year for the last 15 and Kuzi is spot on. On day 1 Head NW from north passage Trolling and you will find plenty of ground. Mark spots as you go then come back to fish them.
The 50m contour isn't far out and a good place to start looking. Fresh bait like spangled or tuna or squid will help.
Good luck!
Hand over fist!