Before I headed north for a week long trip to Kalbarri, Coral Bay and Exmouth my mate (a fellow fisherman) said to me to treat it like a holiday and that any fish I caught would be a bonus. Well, this report proves him dead wrong!

On Anzac Day I left Perth at 8pm with Integrity coach lines. I arrived at the Ajana turnoff to Kalbarri at 1.40 am and was picked up by the lady from the backpackers in town. Met my girlfriend who was already up with her family and slept that night at Murchison Caravan Park.

On my only day in Kalbarri, we took my girlfriend’s younger brothers fishing, lots of small fish whiting, tailor, everybody was waiting for us to catch fresh fish for dinner but of course when you expect you don’t get, so we had to do a run past one of the fish and chips shops in town. There was a 45 mins wait so I asked if I could buy cold produce of them and walked away with extra whiting fillets and frozen king prawn. Was a great feed in the end and ended up feeding 10 people in total.

Next morning we left to Coral Bay at 10 am and arrived at 4 pm and checked into the backpackers. There wasn’t much hanging around though as we threw our bags down and grabbed the towels and snorkels and headed straight to the sanctuary with a bit of bread in the pocket to see if the  elusive snapper were still there. The photos show it all. This was my 4th trip to coral bay but my girlfriend’s first so she was pretty excited.

Then it was time for fishing. Just before sunset we checked out Maud’s Landing. Before the trip I had been doing a lot of research on Fishwrecked so I had a feeling there might be some baby GT’s around. As we walk onto the beach I could see someone removing something from a fish’s mouth, and sure enough it was about a kilo GT with caught with a metal slice. The whole trip I didn’t purchase one bit of bait. Not because I couldn’t afford it but because  I thought it would be a nice challenge. So we walked away with a decent size dart fish and a GT which we released.

Back to the backpackers for beers and pool. I would recommend staying there as it great value. We had a shared 4 person dorm and it was 30 dollars each per night. The backpackers had a large, well-equipped kitchen with plenty of fridge space, its own bar, which was decently priced, a pool, ping pong table and 2 pool tables. I’ve stayed at a lot of backpackers internationally and I highly rate this one.

Next day we fished to the right of the boat ramp on the cliffs. It was high tide and the squid were plentiful. We caught 8 in about 20 mins, meaning fresh bait and squid salad for dinner. Good start to the first full day in Coral Bay. I cut up some bait and you just cant beat fresh bait! in return i caught my first Spango and another decent GT :)

We returned to Maud’s that night and scored some more GT’s, including a double header.

Monday morning, as planned, we checked out of the backpackers at 9am and drove up to Exmouth. We stopped in at Bluewater Tackle Exmouth to restock tackle and got the hot local tips from a friendly bloke working there. We headed north to the SS Mildura wreck at around midday, the first spot he recommended. Fished with a metal slice, but no luck as the tide wasn’t right. 

We drove down to Cape Range National Park and got a campsite at Kurrajong for the night. After a quick dip at Turquoise Bay we hit Pilgramannu for a night of fishing. THis was one of the most amazing landbased experiences I have had. 40kg GT free jumping after grabbing my live mullet. Landed four spangled emperor ranging from 45-60cm, as well as a 2 metre shark after a strenuous but fun battle and numerous bust offs. Cooked up spango that night, and we didn’t even need lemon on it, it was perfect just on its own cooked on a gas stove.

We returned to Pilgramannu the next day for a snorkel and spotted a small shark, queenies, and a remora, which swam underneath us all the way back to shore. A number of turtles popped up but quickly disappeared as we got closer. Hooked a couple of reef sharks, but gave up after I lost four rigs.

Back in Coral Bay the next day we did some four wheel driving, albeit in an AWD Subaru Outback! We pushed the car to its limits and came across a good spot along the coast. After a disappointing snorkel in poor visibility we stuck around and eventually spotted a school a baby reef sharks, counting at least 10 of them. They were feeding on the mullet in high tide. Had a flick using a 7 inch gulp, hooking heaps of long tom. One of the plastics got snagged...or so I thought! Ended up catching long tom with a metal slice, and used that to catch a couple of the reef sharks, one of which had already digested my rig with the gulp attached to it.

That night we returned to Maud’s around sunset. The bloke next to us had caught a cobia, so we knew there would be plenty of sharks about. My girlfriend didn’t listen to my advice NOT to wind in and to wait for the fish to come. Nek minnut...

...she lands a bone fish! 

Otherwise, plenty of GT’s around as usual, and hooked a couple of monster sharks that were about. After numerous bust offs again, we headed home to our tent at Bayview.

The next day we were on board the Mahi Mahi III fishing charter with Captain Bernie and Mick the deckie. I am not a fan of winches and mono so immediately requested a rod, which we shared for the day. On the way out we did some trolling and hooked an undersize Wahoo before hitting the first spot. We were fishing up on the bow, away from the others using their winches down the back. We had a fantastic day on the water, and the boat bagged out by 12.30pm! Started off well catching a Robinson Sea Brim, but the pink snapper were out in force. Double headers were happening thick and fast, and we walked away with 6 out of the 13 pinkies we landed. Also got a Slim Dusky and other people on board got a couple of Goldies. The only disappointment of the day was the 80cm Job Fish that got away, when it slipped out of the gaff that was in the Captain’s hand, who laughed it off -  ‘fish for the future mate’. But no way it would have survived that barratrauma.

Returning to shore at 2pm we hit the filleting station with a six pack and watched the rewards of a hard day’s fishing. We cooked up a massive fillet of the Robbo that night, which again needed nothing to enhance the flavour. They are beautiful eating. We hit the Coral Bay Hotel hard that night, and bought Captain Bernie a Jim Beam to say thanks for a fantastic day out.

On our final day in Coral Bay, I left the missus sleeping off her hangover, while I cured mine with more fishing before sunrise. I caught and released 20 GTs fishing again off the rocks at the boat ramp. 

Later, we decided to check out another spot along the 4WD coastal track we heard about on the charter boat, a sandbar that goes about 2k out to sea and the water not going past the waist. On the drive I mentioned to my girlfriend that all I wanted to catch was a queenfish and my fishing wishlist for the trip would be complete. After a fair walk out to the sand spit, I used a metal slice and spotted a stingray, joking to my girlfriend that I was gonna catch one for her. Instead I caught a decent Spango and buried it in the sand, having no ice with us. I set out on the sand bar and wandered out fairly far, just casting out with a metal slice. Before I knew it, there was surge after surge of Queenies, schools of at least 25 swimming about. I landed my first Queenie soon after, and hooked up countless times. Again the sharks were out in force, and at once point a 2m bull shark (or a bronzie maybe) which was was eyeing off queenies, soon had me in its sights as I stood in waist deep water. With a couple of queenies and the spango we headed back.

Our final night was again an eventful one. We hit the filleting station for the final time and decided to give the queenies to a fellow traveller who was about. The lucky recipient of the queenie fillets was a German backpacker who was sitting naked in her van when we asked if she would like some fish. 

We set off home for the 12 hour drive home to Perth at 4.30am, waking up half the campsite as we sorted out our frozen fillets in the esky with plenty of ice. As soon as we returned home we weighed up our hard work for the week - 7 kg of fillets.

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