Haven't posted much fishing related in quite a while so thought I'd put up a few pics and stuff from a recent trip up the coast. Started out in Gero at the start of March with two days planned out at the Wallabi Group before heading up to Broome. Two days in and cyclone Olwyn started to form off the North West heading towards the Exmouth Cape. That ruled out going anywhere and two days turned into around a week at the islands while Olwyn snaked down the coast. At one point it looked a little hairy as Olwyn passed through Shark Bay and the predicted track had the possibility of it going south, following the cliffs and to the islands as a Cat 2. Luckily, it turned more east and fizzed out over the land.

Anyway, the week at the islands was pretty cool. Not bad being stuck in a place for a week of waiting where all you can do is dive and fish! It was my first time at the Wallabi Group since I was a kid. Luckily I was in the company of two great guys who had spent most of their working lives fishing the Wallabis through the 90's and 2000's. Learned a lot about fishing the shallows and we never fished more than ten metres. Had a session most days chucking poppers at the plate coral for trout. First session we must have got around 30 trout from around 15 to 55cm in around two hours. Most the bottom fishing was mainly stopping for twenty minutes or so between being shown around to drop a hook for dinner. It was pretty mind blowing to be able to drop a hook over in a few metres of water and pull up size baldies up to 70cm. Also managed to bag a decent Dhu in the shallows that put the poor little calcutta in a world of hurt. Took a lot of video but regret not getting my camera out for many above water pics for most of the trip. Got a pic of the Dhu seeing it was my first shallow water Dhuie and the first Baldie of the trip.

Did a fair bit of diving in the deeper drop offs, Fish Point and the Brain Corals. I also managed a dive at the moorings near Big Pigeon. We were filleting up when the resident sambos showed up. Quickly chucked on the dive gear and jumped in with a bag of a chopped up trout frame for a bit of fish feeding. Put together a quick video yesterday. Feel free to check it out, some pretty big friendly fish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRJETnTIYTc

The day before the cyclone was due to pass, the swell dropped and I was lucky enough to get a dive down on the Batavia site on Morning Reef. Straight away I was joined by 3 big YTKs buzzing overhead. It was a pretty cool dive and a wreck I've wanted to tick off since I was a teen. Mainly I took video of the wreck and will put something together in the next few weeks but I still got a few pics. Also, earlier in the trip we had a bit of a walk around West Wallabi Island to check out the Wiebbie Hayes forts.

After that it was pretty much just being shown around a few of the breaks and checking out where to get a feed of oysters. It was then back to secure the boat as that night Olwyn was coming. Prepared for the worst and hoped for the best and in the end we never really even got much of a rock going. That night amongst the islands the wind only went around 30 kts at it passed east of Gero. Next morning with a dead flat ocean we were off steaming north non stop till we got to Broome 4 days later.

We had a quick few days to restock and the girlfriend flew up to join us. We headed out to the outer islands off the Buccaneer Archipeligo. Not much great fishing to report this time around, bottom fishing was very slow for us out there so we in the end we just ended up chucking poppers at the reef gutters for Trevally and Queenies to keep ourselves entertained. Also with a bit of mudcabbing and chucking the net at whiting in the Lagoon.

After that we were racing the clock as the low that was ex tropical cyclone Nathan moved in from the Timor Sea. We were headed to a reef east of Scott Reef  about 200 k's off the coast from the Prince Regent River. After years of illegal fishing due to its proximity to Indo, the fishing is pretty dead here and nothing big or sporty lives around the reef but it was still a pretty amazing place. Between work we still managed to fit in a few dives and had some beautiful clear water. Diving shallow and down to 20 metres at the top of the tide when the current wasn't running. Also managed to have a quick dive on an old iron sailing ship that was lost in a cyclone in the late 1800's.

Just as we wrapped up we started to get the weather from Ex TC Nathan and had to run for the coast to hide for a bit. Stuck in a creek with the weather, at one point we managed to have a fish to feed the boat. We were anticipating the Barra to be firing with the warm water and were frothing at the mouths. Unfortunatley it rained and rained and rained that day and the Barra shut down. The only barra were the smaller models getting stuck in the cast nets. Bloody frustrating when you're seeing Barry all over but not taking the hook! Anyway we still had a feed of Jacks and Goldies for the boat as we steamed back down the coast to Broome.

Sitting back home in Perth now.... and it's bloody cold! I always get too distracted and forget to get many pics in these places but you always regret it when you get back home!

Cheers for reading!