Just returned from a pretty good trip to Hamelin bay.

Went down on the 25th of April from 12 days with the Family, the Girlfriend and Scano and his wife.

We packed over the easter weekend hoping to get away early on Tuesday morning to beat the traffic, and setup before dark. Since there was upto 15 people there at any one time, we needed to pack quite heavily for the trip, including a fridge, freezer, 4 engels, 3 ring burners, and much more.

But first things first....the Beer!!

Last thing you would want to do is run out!!!!!

Off we left leaving around 9am in the morning, with boats in tow and arrived at 1.30pm to our site...
Setting up would be the hardest part of the trip, and usually takes a good half day before we get anywhere.

We were hoping to get out and put the cray pots in before the end of the day but t his was not to be.

Camp site setup on day 1.

The next moring saw us hit the beach early looking for Salmon... and a great moring it turned out to be, with the sun shining and the water crystal clear....but no fish in sight!

Quiet morning with no Salmon around but still a good walk early on always gets you pumped up for the afternoon fish!

So in went the boat for its first trip, drove it off the trailer and out we went.

First things first, get rid of the 4 cray pots onboard.
Stopped for some skippy and herring on the way out to get some cray bait and out we went (Didnt go more than 1 km out :) )

In went the pots and us hoping to get some good crays in the next couple of weeks.

First couple of days saw no crays but there was still a big moon around just after easter.

The Thursday Saw Scano and his wife turn up (Altho very late in the day) they still made it. We set them up, had a few beers then hit the sack for an early morning.

Friday morning up for Salmon... but once again, none in sight... We were starting to wonder if the Salmon had reached hamelin bay yet or not....
As the weather was a little blowie we decided not to hit the water, and hang round for the day.

In the afternoon we went down the beach again chasing the Elusive Salmon again, but this time....we found some!!

After some patient waiting and what i would say good eye sight on our behalf...we spotted our first school!! and only 25-30 Metres off shore.

Off we tore down the beach, and before you knew it, there was 15-or 20 people chasing you, but none of them new where the fish were...

After a few Casts Both Scano, myself and an uncle of mine were on!!!! the first salmon hookups for the trip!!... After 5 or so minutes of fighting... we landed all 3!

Finally the smiles started to appear!

The next morning Saw us his the beach agaiun for more slamon!! this what the outcome!

Another nice couple of Salmon in the bag from a small school of Salmon in close.

In the afternoon we headed out in the boat in chase of some fish behind the Island and to check the cray pots.. And low and behold look what popped up!

And there were a few fish landed aswell, with some nice sized skippy coming onboard, and 1 Bonito, and 2 Good sized king George. We also stopped along side the Island for some fun on 6lb line with small lures on flicking into the massive schools of herring, getting 4-5-6 hookups each cast. After landing quite a few we decided to head in.

Scano's Bonito hookup

Bonito onboard...great cray bait.

Over the next 4-5 days we caught plenty of Crays, with getting upto 9 in one day. Of which we caught 7 Jumbo crays during thenext couple of days.

We also hit the beach most mornings chasing the Salmon, and they didnt disappoint... Even the ladies got invloved!

Great Fun on fairly light gear. The days were so clear and so calm you could see the fish in the water!

Great haull.... the walk back up the beach SUCKED! Altho we were very popular with the Tourists!! many photos were taken!

The next lot of Pictures are of my Dad bringing in a nice Salmon

This is where we walked to, the rocks on the corner.

Cleaning the Salmon on the beach we were pretty popular with both the rays and the tourists wanting to feed them.

On the monday morning we headed out early in the boat, stopped out on a bit of reef forsome skippy. We were fishing with light gear, Scano and myself were on 6lb and Maz the other guy was using 12lb. A couple of times Scano and i got blown away on our 6 LB, and then Maz was on!!! and this was the end result.

We ended with 3 for the day, 2 were landed on the 12lb with a Small Chemically sharpened hook with a small running siker...used to catch skippy!! and a workout it got!

After we pulled the cray pots for some more good crays, we headed back in

The next day we headed out chasing these fish again, this time landing one YTK

Some More skippy were caught and as also managed 6 very nice KG's from a spot we find quite rewarding most times we visit it.

A few other interestying things caught

Small Ray

Bandid Sweep

A Few more awsome pictures taken of the sunsets, kids, and boats having fun launching and retreiving.

The wash at the ramp and catches so many people

This was the 2nd car to jack knive their trailer on the ramp with the swell, and weed causing drama for all who were retreiving and launching. We found ourselves after we came back in had to help the next 6 or 8 groups get their boat back in. This one i had to put the camera down and help them out before someone got hurt!

Sunsets

Little cousin of Mine struggled getting up!

Thanks for Coming down Scano, great time it was!! more drinking required next time!!