First decent Travelly
Mrs and I decided to make our first visit to Shark Bay. First night at Monkey Mia and I decided to wet a line right at the resort. A couple of other anglers commenting "only small ones here mate". I had seen two mackerel and a saily jump close to shore and was willing to try my luck. After first consulting Google Earth and Navionics on the iPad, it was evident that a gutter ran pretty close to shore.
First step was to catch a live bait which turned out to be a whiting. I hooked the whiting to a 7/0 Gama with 80lb floro and slid it down the 30lb mono which I had casted in earlier. The mono was anchored with a 6oz weight at the business end. 15 minutes later the Daiwa SL50SHB started screaming and the hook was set into a feisty contender. I soon had an audience as I was not fishing far from the resort and some offers to gaff the fish were ignored as it was my intention to release whatever was at the other end. After a good fight I managed to beach my first ever decent Travelly - a Golden Travelly of 96cm, totally elated.
A couple of quick photos and putting the measuring tape to good use, and the fish was released. It took ten minutes before the fish was strong enough to swim off and I had an inquisitive shark lurking close by to make the release interesting.
We still have another two days left to explore and will be using the Denham caravan park as our base. We will be going into Francois Peron National Park tomorrow and any advice on any good fishing waters is welcome.
Fisheagle Ed
Tim1511
Posts: 246
Date Joined: 24/01/13
Great fish ins so close to
Great fish ins so close to sure. Well done
crasny1
Posts: 7002
Date Joined: 16/10/08
See the post I just made on
See the post I just made on the Monkey Mia thread. But heaps in Peron. If you are after a feed whiting is easy, as is flatties. But after the bigger models I am no expert because those I target from boat, the tasty critters I target from land (mostly)
http://www.fishwrecked.com/forum/monkey-mia-2015-daily-reports
EDIT: evening and early night at that same gutter. Use a light rod to catch some off those ugly lizard fish and keep for bait. As it gets a little darker lob out a fillet of lizard on a snell and you very likely will encounter a mulla or 2. The gutter is close, but not very wide so dont try and hit carnarvon with the cast. Whilst waiting for the sety to go off still catch heaps off odds and sods, especially bream, small trevor, odd whiting, flatties and more lizards.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
Fisheagle
Posts: 349
Date Joined: 04/02/12
Cheers mate
Copy that crasny, thanks for the advice. I caught a couple of those "lizrard fish" on metal slice this morning. I will keep for bait in future.
Fisheagle Ed
https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos
sea-kem
Posts: 14957
Date Joined: 30/11/09
The Lizard fish are awesome
The Lizard fish are awesome bait Eddie, the Red in my avatar was caught on a good size trunk of a lizard.
Love the West!
crasny1
Posts: 7002
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Oh
And forgot to say thats a nice Goldy from anywhere. Was that just past the Jetties, because the gutter is very close there.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
Fisheagle
Posts: 349
Date Joined: 04/02/12
Yip, close to the jetty
It was caught about 30m south of the jetty. Line was cast about 70m out, which at high tide is close to the centre of the channel.
Fisheagle Ed
https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos
Snags
Posts: 558
Date Joined: 07/05/09
Great catch! Trevs go hard
Great catch! Trevs go hard when theyre a fraction of that size!
Kakkerlak
Posts: 113
Date Joined: 26/03/15
Well done on some cleaver
Well done on some cleaver fishing. I'll be up there next month and hope to a decent one on fly. What's the visibility like over there is sight fishing a possibility?
crasny1
Posts: 7002
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Visibility mostly good
Cyclone stirred the water up a bit but should be clear now. As a wand waver havent had much success there as the water is usually very shallow close to shore, and if deeper you cant see. Its certainly not like Exxy flats fishing from my (limited) experience.
Also tried fly fishing for the numerous big yellow fin whiting, but they were/are a little shy (for one reason or another). Also tried popping/stickbaiting for them up there but unlike the Peel Estuary they werent that interested.
There is plenty off Pippies up there, and putting one peeled on a hook causes mayhem, but its so soft that one nibble gets rid off it. I think the main diet for YFW up there is sand and other worms, and pippies, aswell as the odd squid. Unlike Peel I dont think prawns and small bait fish seem their main target, hence shy of artificial.
I did have a packet of gulp crabs and they went for it, but they were a little to big to allow the fish to swollow it. A good small crab fly I recon would be a go for sure, and a 4wt with a fat YFW would be great fun. The saltwater 8 and 10wt I took up hoping for sighting something bigger was a little waste of time, but we couldnt get into the national Park as it was closed due to the cyclones effect, so we couldnt get to the more fishy grounds unfortunately.
BUT its fishing not catching so still give it a go.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
Fisheagle
Posts: 349
Date Joined: 04/02/12
Depends
Water clarity was good, but then it depends on the wind and the tide.
Fisheagle Ed
https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos
paulsmez
Posts: 99
Date Joined: 14/08/12
Well done mate!
Ingenuity and imagination paid off!
Kakkerlak
Posts: 113
Date Joined: 26/03/15
cheers Neels!
cheers Neels!
psion
Posts: 424
Date Joined: 15/05/12
shot squirenice fish
shot squire
nice fish
dan.the.man
Posts: 183
Date Joined: 31/07/11
Nice read
Nice read and even nicer fish,great report
dan.the.man
Posts: 183
Date Joined: 31/07/11
Nice read
Nice read and even nicer fish,great report
southcity104
Posts: 1659
Date Joined: 27/01/09
Gotta love when..
a plan comes together. Solid golden and from there is pretty special. Great post!
"Its a life style job"