Exxy Game Fishing adventure, with pics
I will keep it short and sweet. Try to.
Headed up to Exxy for the first week of the school holidays to celebrate a mates 40th B'Day. We took up two boats that would suit the needs of the eight strong party guests. The first was a 4.5mtre polycraft and the second a brand new 7mtre Leisure Cat we named Pussy of course. Let me get it out of my system now, the cat was the best thing i have ever been on and i am totally in love with its ride and well, everything to do with it.
The goal for the week was to do some serious Game fishing and a little bottom bouncing.
Our first challenge occurred 150km out of Exxy at 11.00pm. Bang, sparks and then "what is that funny noise?" We had blown a tyre on the small boat. No problems one would think, "we will just do a quick change and off we go". Yep, spare was sitting at home leaning up against the fence after it had been taken off to have the boat serviced. Time to pitch the tent. No probs, beer was cold and we were in no hurry.
The next day we sent the other car into Exxy to get a spare, all done and we were off.
Oh, watch out for the spicky little bushes, they have many snakes residing in them. Very funny when you piss on a bush and it starts to riggle.
We cruised into Exxy, unloaded, fueled up and decided to head out into the gulf for a late tuna bash throwing a few pintails around. Result, lots of fun on the longtails.
The luck went our way for the next few days hitting Tantas for some bills. In 4 solid days we landed (in boat) and released 13 bills. We were blown away. We managed to get all eight crew onto a billy after a lot of rotation from small to big boat. The small boat did not do any gamefishing and stuck to the bottom stuff.
Now for bad luck number two. Did a prop seal mid week on the small boat. This put it out of action for a few days. Gave me time to get out to the reefs at low tide to do some occy hunting. Caught 14 to make a nice salad for dinner.
We managed to catch a lot of Wahoo which seemed to be everywhere and also came across a few dollies and yellow fin. There was of course the dreaded sharks to deal with which made bottom fishing interesting to say the least. actually, we gave up with that after two outings, sharks everywhere. I even managed to land a big shark on the trolling skirt which was interesting.
The weather was awsome for the second half of the week. Basically, we cleaned up on the bills. The sails were as one of our crew quoted "common as muck".
By weeks end, there were 8 very lucky and satisfied fisherman. We had conquered the bills, played with trout off the islands and wrestled the tuna in the Gulf.
A big thanks to Wind on Dave from Dunsborough, Steve from Exxy and the boat owner, you know who you are and it also helped that he is lucky enough to have 5 fully sponsored FinNor Santiagos set up on the pussy cat.
If you are looking for the ultimate fishing challenge, Exxy has it all. The options are endless and i would be here for ever telling you all about the types of fishing we did in a week. Get up there.
The locals as they say, are a friendly bunch.
Here are a few of the hundreds of pics. Some are from guys in the water. Mad bastards i recon.
Enjoy
Xtreme Dave
.thumbnail.jpg "Trippy Marlin Pic")
tiimmbo
Posts: 695
Date Joined: 16/08/09
great stuff dave, looks like
great stuff dave, looks like you had a ball
cuthbad
Posts: 1266
Date Joined: 22/04/09
Awesome
Awesome
spook
Posts: 325
Date Joined: 15/02/10
Great report and some really
Great report and some really nice pics in there too
Haunted by water
Seaquest
Posts: 1132
Date Joined: 22/10/09
Nice Dave, been waiting for
Nice Dave, been waiting for this report for a while. 13 billfish in 4 days is awesome going. Very jealous. Seems to have been a pretty hot couple of months with the bills, heard of a lot of people doing really well up there.
sea-kem
Posts: 15025
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Drooling Dave. You guys had
Drooling Dave. You guys had a blast by the looks of it. That's it I'm planning a trip, the wife's brought enough shoes for me to have earned enough fishing going away points. Love the Hoo pics.
Love the West!
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Cracker jack stuff Dave,
Cracker jack stuff Dave, great pics
What was the Santiago like to use?
Xtreme Coolers
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Hi Liam
We used both 24 and 50pound line so we were fishing very heavily. They were excellent and were never tested too much. Being strapped in is always fun. Ha ha. We were way over class for the tuna, wahoo and Dolphine fish. These were all by catch when fishing for the bills. We did get one marlin in the 250kg range to the boat. It went pretty hard and in the end straightened the hook. There was definately no plan to bring him aboard anyway. We had a good mix of marlin and sails, i think the numbers were very close to being even. The pic of the malabar cod does not do it much justice. It was the biggest cod i had ever caught and was well over 60kg. It took us a long time to send him back down with a lot of weight. We even had the crazy skipper swimming with it in the water to get it down. The other really good stat is that we only lost three bills that were hooked, all to gear failure. Plenty of very funny gopro to go through. Two handed winding became a fineable offence of one carton of beer. There were a few offenders and "chicken arms" was also a common saying, so you were always being thought of Liam.
Cheers guys.
Dave
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Ahh you are too kind mate,
Ahh you are too kind mate, the old chicken wing dings was handed out plenty this year I am sure all the boys cried out for the harness at some point & even preempting it... girls. That cod is freaking massive surprised it didn't drag you into the hole!
Xtreme Coolers
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Very surprised
Yes, it was an impressive fish. I gave him some stick on the bottom and some how got him off. We were very surprised. I was hoping for a big red.
dkonig82
Posts: 2091
Date Joined: 06/07/10
cracker of a trip by the
cracker of a trip by the sounds of it - nice work
When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:
n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or
n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you.
crasny1
Posts: 7003
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Great report
And no wonder, not a single (almost) photo without a broad grin in it. Just the dude with the whoo and blue shirt has a straight face, but I bet he was smiling underneath!!
Well done and inspirational.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
MattMiller
Posts: 4171
Date Joined: 15/06/09
Top stuff
looks like it was a great trip Dave. Some quality fish and pics.
Certainly did it in style boat and gear wise.
Those Santiago's are a good alternative to Inters and Tiagra's. We gave a 30W a run last year and performed flawlessly
Habanero
Posts: 225
Date Joined: 19/06/12
Trip to remember
Looks like a very good way to celabrate a 40th , some wicked pic's amongst them , thanks for sharing , hope you had a decent Ice Box!!
kirky79
Posts: 1354
Date Joined: 13/01/12
Thats awesome Dave! Love the
Thats awesome Dave! Love the pics, love the place!!!
Chris.
Xtreme Coolers
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Ice box?
Would you believe i only took my 20litre beer cooler. The leisure cat has a big fibreglass esky on board made by Leisure cat and the small boat already had a 70litre on board so no need for me to bring anything else. A few mates bought their 27litre xtreme coolers and a few 80litre xtreme fibreglass boxes for use as beer coolers.
How is the weather down there?
Dave
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
colder than a polar bears
colder than a polar bears cock mate
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15652
Date Joined: 29/11/05
nice
Nice work Dave, quality fish there, you guys did very well.
I'm gonna go out there and say this, I do find it funny that your mates got a 100k +- boat with a jarvis walker sticker on the side. :)
Site Admin - Just ask if you need assistance
Xtreme Coolers
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Hi Adam
Would you believe the day we did the prop seal in the small boat was when i saw you at the ramp. Took off around the last buoy at Tantas and gave her a bit of throttle when it went. Managed to crawl back to the ramp at very low revs. That was the end of our day on the water. Just shows you can never plan for these things. Boat was serviced the week before. It was a really nice day we missed out on as well. Did you get to see what you were hoping to see?
Not sure what you are referring to regarding the sticker.
Dave
Rob H
Posts: 5807
Date Joined: 18/01/12
maybe premium boat with a
maybe premium boat with a budget gear sticker?
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Xtreme Coolers
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Jarvis Walker
I thought Jarvis Walker distributed brands such as FinNor. Does this suggest FinNor is a budget product? I have no affiliation with then si i don't really know. All i know is that i had a lot of fun fishing on the boat and using the gear.
Do you think i need to go over to his house and take it off and replace it with a FW sticker? More appropriate.
Always up for a joke or two.
Dave
tim-o
Posts: 4657
Date Joined: 24/05/11
Just awesome
Just awesome
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
FISH-ON
Posts: 469
Date Joined: 19/07/11
awesome trip very jealous
awesome trip very jealous
Be patient and calm - for no one can catch fish in anger
outdoinit
Posts: 1009
Date Joined: 05/10/12
Good report and good read..
Thanks for sharing.
I've spent half my life fishing.. The other half I have wasted..
Wind-on Dave
Posts: 42
Date Joined: 06/05/11
Another great trip for you
Another great trip for you Dave.Nice fish;Great pics
Xtreme Coolers
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 02/01/10
2014 big boy
Many thanks for your help.
I know you have started to plan 2014 already. The challenge is out to see if you and the crew can keep the high success rate going.
See you in a few weeks.
Enjoy the cold polar weather as Lamby has described it.
Dave
harro
Posts: 1959
Date Joined: 07/02/08
nice report dave
jeez mate I though you may of got lost out in the canyons , glad you had a great time buddy, awesome pics
:::: Bass Hunter ::::
Simo_
Posts: 1843
Date Joined: 13/11/06
Great pics
Great pics
Bring on April
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18060
Date Joined: 11/03/08
sounds like a fantastic trip.
sounds like a fantastic trip. 13 billies in 4 days, that would have been great to be part of.
them sharks are a pain tho, they seem to be getting a lot worse, almost to the point of why even bother going fishing as you wont get much past the sharks.
good to see all on the trip had fun with some nice fish hitting the decks
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Sounds like a great trip
Sounds like a great trip Dave!