Hi all

Back from the latest trip North to Gnaraloo. Here is my quick report.

Track: In pretty good condition up to the Gnaraloo gates. Shire are doing a lot of work up there particularly between Quobba and Bluff turn off. Track from the homestead to the bay was rough a usual. The tires are there to pull if you are so inclined.

We stayed at the homestead again and found Paul and Coleen in good spirits. The Telstra phone is out of commission and the pay phone near the office is working well. 

Beach: The softest we have ever seen it. Everyone struggled to launch and retrieve as the beach was so soft. We always moore the boat which takes away that problem. Take plenty of tracks with you as CALM where there clean up any left lying on the beach.

People: There was a major increase in the number of people up ther this year. Marketing and Chris Hemsworth i guess. Lots of families and a good number of boats which was good to see. Not many headed out due to the difficult retrieval conditions and family. 

The weather was excellent for a change and we fished comfortably every day. We always chase certain species and found good numbers of Spanish Mackerel in the 30's and 40's. We like to drift bait stingers with a mulie, herring or scallie attached. At stages, there was schools of them around. We found good numbers of reds, rankin and robinson seabream. Unfortunately, the sharks found us this year and we lost a lot of fish and gear to them. The sharks seem to be much more brazen then ever before taking fish right at the boat and being aggressive by hitting our baited rigs on the drop. The jig was working well which always accounts for different species such as trout, amber jacks, rankin, cobia and golden tevally. The hardest thing was to keep them away from the Mackies. We got out to the 100 plus ground which fished particularly well for goldband. Just a long way to go. 

Boat: We hire the boat out of Murchison form Paul who has taken the business over from Laurie. The boat has been improved with a new sounder, clears and anchor winch. No leaks at all in the hull and the trailer is rock solid. We have hired for many years and this is the best the boat has been presented. 

We had no problems reaching our 20kg bag limit of reds, rankin, snapper, Seabream, Goldband (Correct rig and bait a must) and trout. Happy to catch and release many more Spanich Mackerel and Cobia for the week. Tomato Cod where also quite popular this year. No tuna at all and the water temp was ony around 22 deg which is low compared to previous years.

We are booked again for 2020 so looking forward to heading up there once again which will be our 14th year. Big thanks to Shark Man and the Italian Stallion for the great week and company. 

Enjoy a few pics. 

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