So, like a while heap of other people, we headed down to Esperance for a few weeks over the brake, staying at Esperance Seafront Caravan Park
Due to constant wind blowing onto the beach out the front of the accommodation and two small people, I found the opportunities to fish to be slim, but we still had a few goes. First was from the jetty at the yacht club having a go at squid. The breeze would have been blowing 25’s so casting down wind was the only option. Didn’t see a single sign of life down there so moved over to the charter boat jetty and there were a couple of fellas catching 50c piece sized skippy and releasing them. Plenty of signs of squid but nothing to show on the day.

Headed out to Lucky Bay next, a day before a front was forecasted. Overcast sky had me thinking the squid may hang around for a bit longer but with 3 adults and two kids fishing, we saw and caught nothing. Ended up giving up on squid after losing two jigs and cast prawns into the sand patches hoping for a KG but again, not even a tap. After two hours, falling into a hole and one of the other blokes ending up in the drink, we headed home via Le Grand Beach

After a week and a half, and with the forecast looking OK for half a day, two of us opted to jump on Blackjack Charters for a half day fish. Shayne is a great skipper. Got right involved in the banter and wasn’t aggressive or protective when I was asking questions or came in to look at the sounder/plotter like some metro operators are. Happy to explain how and why. Must be a country thing.

After 40 or so minutes out, first drop, baits hit the bottom, we were landing keepers. Next spot, more keepers, Next spot, more keepers. Over the 4 or so hours we fished, we were getting keepers each drop. Mainly Nannygai with a few Harli’s, Charlie Courts, Black Arse and sweep Got one red snapper on the last drop of the day.

The skipper was great and was putting back sized fish once he knew we had a feed and was half tour guide. Fishing 20m off an island in 30m of clear water was pretty cool.

We spent most of the time fishing around Long Island, Sandy Hook Island and Remark Island which are all spectacular in their own rights. The clear water just blew my mind

In the end, 21 fish back to the beach between 7 fishers and three groups. We all got a feed. Personally I thought the Nannygai were extremely overrated or it may have just been the way my Weber destroyed it but the Harli was fantastic.

Whilst down there, I met fellow FW’er Flash As, along with his family who were camping around 50m away from us who had a few trips out with another local FW’er.

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