Kalbarri Trip- 19/03/11
Submitted by shanedm on Mon, 2011-03-21 10:22
Hey guys. Just got back to perth yesterday after a quickfire fishing trip up in Kalbarri with the boys. Weather was pretty rough with the wind and swell turning out to be much larger than expected but still managed to get into a few fish thanks to our boatman Laurie :). We didn't get any hits on the troll initially and managed 3 drops at our first drift spot before making the decision to chase tuna schools for the rest of the day. Overall we landed a nice YTK, a dhuie on the drift with a few YFT's and a couple of stripeys on the way home. Pretty good fun in the end - shame about the weather tho!
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hlokk
Posts: 4290
Date Joined: 04/04/08
At least even if the weather
At least even if the weather wasnt brilliant, at least you still managed to get into some good fish. Seems to be a few tuna types around (see at least 3). Would have been good fun on the light gear. Looks like the longtail was on a light spin rod.
How was the water clarity where you were fishing? Also hairy getting our through the rivermouth?
Btw, looks like an amberjack not a YTK to me ;)
shanedm
Posts: 153
Date Joined: 25/06/09
Yeah we were all a bit
Yeah we were all a bit confused by the 'YTK' to be honest! We had calls for AJ intially then someone called YTK but the fish was back in the water pretty quick so no one really managed a good look :p. Both fish on drift were caught on decently light gear so it was great fun. Some of the tuna were on the trolling rods but the boys managed to get a few by casting small Ima Ro's into the school :)
Water clarity was pretty average to be honest, we had to travel a fair way out of the rivermouth before we managed to get into some relatively ok water. It was still brown all the out past Chinaman's which is to be expected I guess. Getting out and in wasn't too bad actually, main thing was trying to get back to the rivermouth - we had to go back at trolling speed because it was just too rough so it took us about 1.5 hrs to get home!
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till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
I vote AJ too ;) Looks like
I vote AJ too ;)
Looks like you got a few good fish, even if the weather didn't help.
OLD BANGA
Posts: 267
Date Joined: 02/04/10
Kalbarri Fishing
Laurie fro Murchison Boat Hire runs a very professional business and always trys to put his customers onto some good productive ground, and his boats are top class and well maintained.
Good days fishing considering the conditions, we are heading out tomorrow, in the sons new boat, the weather is getting pretty rough though with raging 5knot easterlies most of the day, what a bummer, coul be a bit calmer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What fish did Stanley catch? He told me he would be going slow just so he did not show the rest of you guys up, is this true???????????????
Old Banga!
OLD BANGA
shanedm
Posts: 153
Date Joined: 25/06/09
Laurie is a class act for
Laurie is a class act for sure mate. He made the call to stop drifting to chase tuna which turned a potentially ordinary day into a pretty decent one in the end. Weather is a bit iffy over there at the moment for sure but hopefully u can get in to some fish as well. Just keep an eye out for those birds and you should get on to some tuna pretty quick :)
Stanley said that did he? lol i dont know what he meant by going slow mate. I'm not too sure about him showing the rest of the guys up either - he might have just been mouthing off a bit too much there eh lol. His fish was initially called Amberjack then changed to Yellowtail King but now changed back to Amberjack thanks to some help from the FW boys :)
let me know how you guys fare tomorrow out there :) all the best!
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spanishmackeral
Posts: 940
Date Joined: 05/01/11
well done on some quality
well done on some quality fish mate, shame about the weather though
dumper
Posts: 1026
Date Joined: 03/04/08
How much extra does laurie
How much extra does laurie charge to skipper the boats?
shanedm
Posts: 153
Date Joined: 25/06/09
pm sent
pm sent
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beau
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Date Joined: 24/01/10
kalbarri tuna
how far out from the rivermouth do you have to go before you can get into some tuna? Im realy keen to get the ski up there and give it a crack, conditions would have to be close to perfect tho
shanedm
Posts: 153
Date Joined: 25/06/09
It depends on weather
It depends on weather conditions, water clarity etc I think mate. This time around we had to travel a fair way before we found the clear water and even then there was pretty much nothing around. We only hit the schools on the way back and I don't think it was actually too far out - maybe somewhere between 30-45mins north? Sometimes you can get 'random' hits while trolling too but it is fairly common to see schools of tuna chasing bait balls around this time of year. Weather is usually pretty good this time of year (which made our trip all the more strange) so I reckon you would have a good chance to ge the ski up there :)
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beau
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wow im pretty keen on doing
wow im pretty keen on doing this trip! Did you just cast metals at the schools and troll divers in between finding schools? What gear would you reccomend for a bit of fun sport fishing? Ive never caught a tuna so im not sure what to expect!
shanedm
Posts: 153
Date Joined: 25/06/09
To be honest, I had passed
To be honest, I had passed out by the time we hit the tuna haha. But yeah if you got those small-mid sized tuna skirts and decent sized chrome slices, they'll do the job really well. We had hits on the troll with laser pro 190's as well. The schooling tuna up there are usually around the 4kg mark (although we did get one @ 6.4kg) so if you got any light gear around pe1.5-2 ish (20lb) that would be awesome fun! Might be a bit of a struggle if you hit a bigger guy but at least you will be able to chase him :)
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hlokk
Posts: 4290
Date Joined: 04/04/08
20lb is light? :P. I landed a
20lb is light? :P. I landed a 6kg stripey on 8lb on a 2000 sized reel. That was fun :D. Though, if they're around reef (sometimes at the abrolhos) i've been using 20lb to cast lures. Usually downgrade if i'm using plastics or a cheap lure. If you have 300m and 10lb, you can still get a 6kg one (as long as your drag is set right).
beau
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kalbarri tuna
great so it looks like i'll have to buy even more gear! Ive got a stradic 8000 loaded with 20lb mono and 30lb braid on another spool and a stradic ci4 4000 with 8lb mono. Looks like i'll be looking for something inbetween, or maybe i could even get a spare spool for the ci4 and load it with 15lb braid?? Any reccomendations on a nice casting rod for tuna between 3 and 8kg ?? Something like a burkely dropshot might be okay hey? I dont know much about rods and reels, hopefully you guys can help!
hlokk
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Date Joined: 04/04/08
Mono will be fine for tuna as
Mono will be fine for tuna as long as you have the capacity (you usually wind flat out). The 8lb on the ci4 should be fine (if enough line). Though a nice lightweight combo for flicking plastic and lures would certainly be nice with braid. 15lb should cover you for nearly anything (and could land some nice pinkies and tailor on that too). Dropshot should be fine. You can get more 'flexi' rods that might suit if want to do diff things, e.g. salty fighter but you sacrifice casting dist. If for tuna (and similar), generally you'd want a 7' graphite rod that can cast a 15g metal. Dropshots or the mexican fires should do very well without breaking the budget. Best to post in a new thread if you want a heap more answers though.
beau
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thanks heaps, again!
thanks heaps, again!
shanedm
Posts: 153
Date Joined: 25/06/09
20lb was the lightest we had
20lb was the lightest we had :p but some of the boys WERE complaining that it was a little too easy at times. But yeah I agree with hlokk the main restriction to your rod would be the lures you use. If the water is decently calm you would have no trouble using light gear to chuck out soft plastics or little slices :)
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Paul_86
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kalbarri tuna
Hey beau, ive seen tuna at kallbarri busting up about 200m out from the river mouth one time i was up there, and other times weve had to go north or south a few or more km's before weve found them, but still within a km or 2 of land. Just depends on where they/the bait schools are at the time.
beau
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Date Joined: 24/01/10
cheers paul, hopefully i can
cheers paul, hopefully i can get up there in the next couple months!
Stanley
Posts: 22
Date Joined: 18/11/09
since when did i say that
since when did i say that Banga? LOL ??? -_-`
btw.. i called sambo when i saw colour but laurie said ytk when he took the photo. At least now i know its a AJ :)
cheers guys
daboogeyxen
Posts: 61
Date Joined: 12/05/09
hmm i called AJ when i saw it
hmm i called AJ when i saw it getting landed. but all in all was a good trip. Must say a 4kg tuna on a Saltist 40H is abit too easy. Was hoping to get them bigger ones but these guys made great sashimis and buttered salt and pepper fillets.