I headed up to Kalbarri last week and took the boat for its maiden trip. Just thought I'd share my experiences and write up somewhat of a report. So here goes.

Took the Brand Highway on the way up because of the better road quality. Most of the drive was fine but the 2000 Hilux struggled a little towing the tub up the hilly country for the couple hours either side of Eneabba. Took the Indian Ocean Drive on the way home and I would personally take this route if towing a heavy boat.

So to the boating and fishing. I'm sure everyone is aware of the notorious Murchison river mouth. Being my third trip to Kalbarri, I was all too aware of the dangers and hugely intimidated, but just thought screw it, I'm taking the boat this time. The gamble paid off with the Kalbarri weather gods delivering on a silver platter. Largest swell for the whole 6 days was 1.3m and the wind maxed out at around 15 knots with the majority being in the 5 - 10 knot range. Couldn't have asked for anything better and even ended up extending our trip a day longer.

We mainly fished the area to the north known as the Sandpatch and a little further again called Goat's Gulch. Pink Snapper were thick with 7" Jerk Shads in Nitro Chicken colour doing most of the damage and I nailed my pb of 81cm on one of these with my Demon Blood 64cj and 5k Sustain. Sure went hard. Had a few good feeds of snapper but released anything surplus to my immediate needs. Also had some massive runs but they remain unknown. Had the drag almost locked on my 10k Saragosa and line was still peeling off rapidly. Good for the heart rate!

Day 3 and 4 saw us trying to find some mackies and tuna with half a day spent trolling bibbed minnows and skirts around but it proved fruitless. So back to the Sandpatch it was and the macks started to show up, taking baits intended for pinkies. Unweighted fresh whiting, caught from the jetty the night before, were being smashed on the drop by some big macks, but with no wire, unfortunately none were landed but they sure put on some good aerial displays. Makes for a heartbreaking moment when you see a massive mack launch from the water, only to feel your line go ping. Oh well, still great fun.

We spent one arvo/evening crabbing after hearing constant rumours of the muddies being prevalent. We got a few good sized ones and cooked them up with some of the snapper. Talk about a feed fit for a king! We sure were the envy of the entire caravan park and being the first time I've eaten mudcrab, I've got to say they live up to the hype. Simply amazingly delicious!

So in summary, the fishing was fantastic, with some massive runs, dropped mackies, and pinkies on the chew. I would definitely go again and take the boat again for sure. Was a great time of year to go as well, just missing the school holiday peak season, which meant access to the ramp was easy and uncrowded and the caravan parks rather empty. We stayed at The Anchorage caravan park and I would recommend them, with their sites really spacious and top facilities.

The only downside to a great week was a clumsy fall from the boat at a fuel/lunch stop in Geraldton, which surprisingly resulted in a broken ankle. Was told last night that I would need 6 weeks off work but this morning I have just been told that the break appears much worse than the X-ray shows and I might be off work for as much as 12 weeks. At least it happened on the way home and not the way up..

I have no photos to post as they're on my iPhone, but thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy and everyone have a safe and happy holiday next week :)