You will be fine in that car to fish alot of spots like blue hole, chinamans, red bluff and pot alley etc. Google earth it and you should be able to see how close some of the carparks are to the beach

 check out adventure bound on youtube. some good info there 

Some fantastic cliff fishing there all accessible by 2wd, plenty of rocks and beaches to wet a line off without a 4by.

About the only places you won't reach is Wagoe, upstream in the Murch and the convenience of parking the car on Wittecara Beach.

Nowadays (sadly) I do it in a Hyundai Getz, yes the mates will have a giggle at your expense but I spent $41 getting back from there to Rockingham. So while they're laughing I'm at the pub with a pocket full of cash and a couple fillets in the fridge.

If you don't mind a bit of a walk you'll find places like Eagle Gorge, The Rabbity and Goats Gulch well worth the walk. Only advice I could give is take heavy line and a cliff gaff.

Exploring around Red Bluff headland you'll find some great ballooning platforms too.

Best of luck hey.

Thanks guys, that info is great. I really do appreciate a bit of help as its a bit daunting to travel such a distance into completly unknown territory. Im used to 4 hour drives as being BIG missions back home. Sadly Youtube is not allowed up here on their network.. a$$h0les!!

I really like to explore areas, love the hour+ walk-ins and finding remote spots. Sounds like Kalbarri is much more of an option than i had first thought..

What gear would you take???

I think i have basically every base covered for rods and reels from 3kg-37kg. . Just need to get a new gaf, along with a cliff one.

I would love to chase some nice reef fish on the light tackle along with sending out some live baits for bigger things lurking around. Also got the new popper outfit that needs some testing.

Kalbarri offers a few different styles of fishing.

Take longer rods for any cliff fishing as most spots you will be casting over a ledge and watch out for large swell ballooning is definately an option right now.  I dont think you would snapper bash with anything less than 30lb i'd use 50lb.  for beach fishing longer rod is better something 12foot or longer depends on the swell and 20-30lb should be alright off the beach for tailor, mulloway and sharks.  Its well worth having a combo you can throw lures/metals/poppers with especially around the blue holes/chinaman area for jumbo tailor a rod 9or10ft with 30lb or heavier.  Also if you want to fish the river or rivermouth casting distance isnt so important and a light bream style combo is ideal for chasing the river species.

flys and mozzies can be pretty bad up there at certain times

That sounds wickid mate, cheers.

Im keen to take the heavy gear up but would much rather be fishing the lower rocks with 10-15kg gear than fishing the high cliffs with 24-37. Will be doing the solo missions with the aim to target reef species on lures and lightly weighted/floating baits dotwn a berly trail.

Anywhere in particular that could put me onto some decent trevally species?

Cheers.

George.

I don't think trevalley are a common capture around kalbarri. Although they probably turn up now and then. Your more likely to come across big tailor, mulloway, snapper, sharks, baldies

We are headed up for a week early June so I am getting a bit excited. This time I will be taking the 4x4 but in the past I have gone in luxury to keep the missus happy (Land Rover is a comfy as anything now and the dog is coming).

Kalbarri is such a fantastic place to fish. You can start at the jetty and catch a large variety of fish including Mulloway. Move around to Chinaman Point (River mouth south) and set a line or POP the whitewater for some awesome Tailor. Mulloway there at night. Further around the point is Blue Holes and a great place to POP for some very decent fish. In fact, if you are into moving around I would be inclined to put your back pack on and POP on the move heading south. Vehicle access is good (as mentioned above) right up to Red Bluff.

I only really carry 2 rods for those conditions. A 12 footer with 30lb braid and a 9 foot popping rod with 20lb braid. My next upgrade will be to 13 feet and a lighter setup. The Ugly Stik is a bit heavy. Other smaller gear of course but that's when I am playing.

Good luck mate!

I am itching to get there as well , we will be staying at Horricks and working our way up the coast to Kalbarri

awesome guys. thanks very much for that info.

always great to have just a fair idea of what to expect, dont want everyones secret spots.. just a bit of general knolwedge to help out.

Thanks again :)

I will report my trip if i do end up getting to kalbarri, fingers crossed!

Well, wasnt able to make it for last RnR break. But i did get myself a nice 94 Nissan Patrol 4x4 sorted. So the Mission is back on and im much more excited now.

I have just booked in for 5 days and 4 nights at the Kalbarri Tudor Holiday Park.. a little bit of 'luxury' is needed for the g/f :)

Since the vehicle has now been highly upgraded from a hyundai excel, the fishing options available should be quite alot more i hope.

Anyone able to give me a few other options that are open for basic 4x4 work??. As it will be my first time getting amoungst it in a 4x4 i would like to keep to the easier tracks. I do have a very solid air compressor, so beach tracks are something i would like to try out.

I dont have the specialized gear for serious cliff fishing - helium/ cliff gafs etc... but i have gear for basically everything else and would most like to get into the rock fishing in a few of the less hammered areas.

Any information will be much appreciated, thanks.

Cheers,

George.

I wouldnt say HAMMERED. The spots up there that are fished often are because they yeild great fish just need to put in the effort.

Well you've got yourself one of the best fishing trucks going around. Whitacarra is a good beach fishing option you can drive your car down there, you can also explore the tracks adjacent to the murchison river but I have only caught small fish upstream. Otherwise lucky bay to the south. I am not sure of any other 4wd spots up there as most of the good spots require leg power rather than horsepower

Wickid.

Will take the hiking boots then and big backpack. Would love to find a low rock ledge that drops off into some deep water and set a serious berly trail out.

Any recomendations for bait/berly supply up there?

Getting pretty fired up about it all now!! :)

there is a tackle shop and the supermarkets sell bait but there isnt a huge range so if you can take your own,  the fishermans coop might give you some scraps etc for burly if you ask.  otherwise you should be able to catch some small whiting in the river but I would rather spend my fishing time in a place like Kalbarri catching biguns not bait

Without wanting to put the stoppers on the local business people up there I would second what Rig said and suggest that you spend some time shopping before you go. Fill the esky with good stuff before you leave. You can unload to a freezer once you get there if you need the esky room for essential other things like BEER!

My favourite bait for that region is Garfish. Look around for the proper size. Too big is a waste. Large Mullies are also a good option. I am sure you can get most of that up there but whether the size is right at the time is always a risk. Baitcasting from the shore in the right conditions will give you some very good results I am sure so bait selection is really important. The same applies for tackle I guess. Make up some gangs before you go. Once you are happy with the gang settup then you can match bait to them.

When I go alone for a dedicated fishing trip I often spend parts of the day catching bait and that is great fun and quite relaxing. When I go away with the wife I need to be very mindfull of sharing the time so bait catching is not really a fair option. Her idea of fishing is to sample the local seafood platter, talk about lots of things and make me watch girlie DVDs LOL.

yeh... i know that all too well Vince, and  will be battling that situation again this time. Been here in WA for 2.5 years and have not been able to get away for a dedicated fishing trip once yet. I can only keep trying though. :)

Sweet, will get myself a second big esky like i used to have in NZ, dedicated to bait berly. Its about time i get serious again!

Cheers for the info.

George.

On the bend before entering port gregory and turning right at the kalbarri turnoff...

there is a small track off the main road that takes literally a minute to hit the beach.

great fishing spot with gutters for dart, tailor, mulloway and sharks at night.

Also a chance to score a mackie if ballooning is youre thing.

Mullet, herring and gardies for bait, you cant go wrong.

Will give that one a look at, thanks mate.

Thanks heaps for the info guys.

$100 + worth of bait and berly sorted and a whole heap of lures ready for action. The new Patrol is all packed up and ready for an early departure from Perth. Its the first time i have been truely excited about a fishing trip since i arrived here 2.5 years ago. Will share a report when i get back.

Cheers!!

one of my mates got into a 6kg dhui fm the cliffs the other night and been sum good pinkys around as well, just gota fish the tides! and make sure u got heaps of gear the cliffs chew ya gear up like crazy! mullas have been on the bite as well! there are heaps of garfish at redbluff atm at the first bay so u can catch your own bait. if you get stuck give me a ring and ill give u my m8s nr up there he goes down the cliffs by himself so he can show u a cpl spots down there to fish! 0448500782.

enjoy barri!

Got to Kalbarri around midday-1pm yesterday with g/f Tracy and took all the left hand turn offs to see the sign posted look outs. Second place we looked out from saw a pack of about 4-5 2m sharks in a bit of feeding frezny 200m's out. Went further down and saw a bait ball being smashed by dolphins... All great signs i thought.

Headed down to a few other area one of which called Rainbow ****??. Climbed down the cliffs for a good look around. Looked like a few promising points and the best of the areas i had seen so far. Then moved onto Red bluff and walked out to the northern point look out. Decided on that area as a good start for the next morning at 5am. Walked in from the rocky 'carpark' heading south and fished the 4th point, directly down from the look out. Had a solid bucket berly of mince meat, pollard, oats, fish oil, and other semi dry berly mix going all day long( 3 20ltr buckets worth) . There was alot of big waves rolling in, even some very surfable ones ( if there wasnt a rocky cliff to crash right into). It made the fishing very hard, especially to get an unweighted baits down into the deep guts. Threw varied metals and different coloured richter plugs all around the places all day. Had no success at all on anything, aside from the whole pilchards with 1/4 ounce ball sinker on, just small pickers having a go. ( got a few bites after 9am but nothing worth getting excited about). Finally the bait fish turned up around 9am, HEAPS of small gardies i believe. A nice pod of 8+ dolphins cruised by ( usually a sign that the fishing will slow down more) which was the highlight of the day especially for Tracy.

Packed it all in around 11am after fishing solid from 6:30am. Not a single fish caught or decent one sighted. Was a good sign to have the bait fish turn up around High Tide. I will target that time of the tide tomorrow back at that Rainbow spot.

Thanks for that info Tangles, which tide would you be focusing your efforts towards?? Will take the fresh mullet bait tomorrow and a few sinkers, as i expect baits down deep will be the best way to target those dhu fish and pinkies...

Cheers,

George.

give me a ring on that nr i posted m8 and ill tell ya where to go dont wana post it on here thats all!

Had some success tonight. will post up a small report and a picture tomorrow :) :)

well done

Went out for day 2's fish at around 6:30 as i didnt trust doing the walk in down the cliff in the dark. Did a bit of scout around and decided on going straight down the gorge infront of where we parked.. Tracy had a bit of a hard time getting down, but was a pretty easy walk as we took it nice and slow

We had a heap of dolphins cruising by all day long, the same group heading back and forth. Also had a big school of tuna (easy 1m+ long) jumping and getting stuck into a bait ball out about 300m. They were heading my way but never made it close enough, and ended up about 200m from the further left point.

Spent the day sending down big Sanma, Pilchard and Mullet baits into the guts on both sides. Had a few decent runs and landed a 350mm Tailor, a snapper of the same size and a 200mm rock cod ( all went back into the drink to get bigger). Tracy spotted a few bigger fish within casting distance but i never had the popper setup in hand at those times. Spent the other half of the time dispensing 2 20ltr buckets worth of berly and sending out metals and poppers all over the place. Didnt get any hits, or see any followers sadly.

Wickid looking spot, definatly be worth a shot at night or at least on dusk. Though i wouldnt want to be fishing that area solo.. easy for you to slip in and be gone in the blink of an eye.

Fished Chinamans later that night for a frustrating 1 tiny tailor of about 200mm, l lost a bit of gear too as i had not walked around and sussed the spot out before hand. Went home empty handed

The following day we went for a bit of sight seeing, the gorges, further up the river and to an Exotic Parrot park. all great stuff :) :)

Got back to our place and went out for a nice pub dinner, few prawns and feed of tasty fish. This all inspired me to head back to the river mouth as the weather was starting to pack in ( great weather for big mulloway i had been told ). So did the solo mission back there after having sussed out where i wanted to fish from earlier in the day. Got to my little spot off the rocks and set up the 12footer with a running sinker rig, and a couple of 5/0's. Threw out a half piper and that got picked at for a fair while. New bait out and all went quiet for a little while till the bait runner suddenly goes off, wind in to see a clean bite threw a 40lb leader ( guess was a big tailor ). The rain starts to come down more and the few others fishing off a spot on the beach in deck chairs leave after a pretty quiet session. I toss up weather i should stay or go..... decide on a last bait out, half a jumbo piper.

10 mins later i start getting rid of all the old bait and cleaning up when the little 4500 baitrunner goes off. I click it into gear, pick it up and it comes up solid. rips a few metres of line then i wake up to the fact i actually have a decent fish on and that there are rocks directly in front of me.. So i climb up high to get some better angle and put the pressure on. It starts to head up towards the river mouth, so i chase it jumping from rock to rock and winding in the slack. I pull its head around and start to lead it back to me, i see a bit of colour and a nasty rock right out in front.  It takes a bit more line and i move onto another set of rocks. Finally have the fish at my feet, and grab the small leader ( the love hate war of fishing with braid ).. As i have never caught one of these fish i am not sure the best way to get it out of the water, quick check of the mouth, and decide against grabbing in the jaw. End up grabbing it by the tail and then bear hugging it along with the rod and heading straight for a safe area. haha.  A quick dash back to the car for the camera, and of course the battery is dead. So with the rain coming down and an ikkied fish for dinner i finish the clean up and head back.

Not a massive fish, but one that has taken alot of work. And it tastes pretty good :)

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yeah gota watch that rock out the front there bungel! usually go for a dive every couple weeks n recover heaps of gear fm around there! at least u got into a mulla! now u know a couple spots for next time m8.

good fish mate with reward for effort, and thanks for posting it up for us all to see

, have you had a look at whiticarra creek, not saying the rivermouth is a bad spot just another option and easy to fish at night so a good spot to burly up and put some hours in.  although you might encounter a few sharks.  If you upsize your leader to 80lb you can get alot of the smaller ones in I have found.  chance of a big mulla like 10kg plus all along that coast

good fish mate with reward for effort, and thanks for posting it up for us all to see

, have you had a look at whiticarra creek, not saying the rivermouth is a bad spot just another option and easy to fish at night so a good spot to burly up and put some hours in.  although you might encounter a few sharks.  If you upsize your leader to 80lb you can get alot of the smaller ones in I have found.  chance of a big mulla like 10kg plus all along that coast

I saw the creek, but it looked really small and shallow.. didnt even look like it went out to the ocean. I had mentioned i was going up to fish Kalbarri to a guy who lives near me, and he firstly mentioned that creek, said he was spooled there once fishing 10kg line in no time at all.  If i had had more time up there, would have given it a go, or at least a better look at.

If any of you guys are thinking of heading up those ways, do give me a bell as i will be more than keen to get back up there!!!.

Rig, put my number in your phone if you like. 042 902 38 45.

Thanks alot too Tangles, dont think i would have gotten onto that mulloway without your advice :) cheers.

Yeah not sure it ever connects, would need alot of rain. It is just a good spot that is relatively easy to fish in the dark and for the most part not snaggy