P.O. Box 350 Kalbarri W.A. 6536

KALBARRI ELECTRICAL SERVICES ULTRALIGHT

A big thankyou to Paul Maindok who is Kalbarri Electrical Services for his sponsorship and naming rights this year.

Some of the best weather turned up for this year’s two-day Ultra Light event. Gentle north westerlies kept the gamefishing hot and the bottom guys did well, but something was amiss in the river with only a few fish caught.

4 local boats and a couple from out of town experienced some very hot game fishing action. Not often do we see acres of baitfish with literally thousands of little yellow-fin tuna mixed with sharks, birds and whales carving up the bait balls. The tightly packed bait balls were being circled by the tuna, sharks were gorging themselves right inside the bait schools and the occasional whale surfacing and engulfing the lot. It only took one pass with the lures and a tuna was on, but the sharks took advantage and snacked on the hooked tuna, making it extremely difficult to land a fish.

Those that landed fish should be congratulated and Jamie Grieves outstanding catch of a 7.1kg mackerel on 2kg line won him the 2kg section. Matthew Olsen had a mac of 5.35kgs on 3kg line, Jack Grieves had an 8.7kg mac on 4kg line. Sue and Laurie Malton landed yellow-fin tuna on 3kg line while junior; Jared Malton showed a 4kg tuna on 3kg line. Dave Hugill and Val Carter aboard Top Deck also had tuna and mackerel on 6kg and 3 kg line class.

Jamie Grieves with his 7.1kg mac on 2kg line. Jared Malton with one of the 3 yellow fin he caught on 3kg line.

The river was very quiet with only one fish weighed in by Garry Ivey, a .34kg bream. Son Lee followed up the next day with 2 fish to win the junior section. Di Stewart’s 2 fish the second day was enough to win her the senior section also beating Leah Sinner who had one bream.

Lee Ivey, winner of the junior river section.

The land based guys and girls did extremely well with some magnificent fish!

First up Natalie Scagliotta opened her esky and bent the scales with a 15.7kg mulloway surprising everyone. Then Karen Hartig showed us 3 fish, a nice mulloway amongst them and the first whiting for the year. Lou Palamara then had 3 fish 2 of them good mulloway. Daniel Tarasek weighed 5 fish with 2 good mulloway, and Simon Tarasek had a 4.45kg bonefish among his bag of 4 fish!

Natalie Scagliotta’s 15.7kg mulloway and Daniel with his catch.



Liu Palamara and Karen Hartig’s land based mulloway and Simon Taresek’s unusual bonefish

Ross Olsen also fished the bottom with some nice fish coming over the side. His 6 fish of 4 species set him up with 68 points while Matthew Olsen’s 6.7kg snapper and baldchin among his 6 fish was a bonus. Darren MacKellar had 3 fish as well.

Matthew Olsen with big snapper and baldchin groper

The second day it happened again, the carnage persisted with schools of tuna, sharks and whales all carving up the bait balls. Sharks persisted taking most of the hooked fish, but an early hook-up by Laurie on 2kg line saw a 4.25kg yellow fin tuna escape the sharks but not the gaff. Jared Malton had 2 tuna on 3kg line to take out the overall junior section. Jamie Grieves won the 2kg section with his mackerel; The 3 kg section was won by Darren MacKellar for his 10.6kg mackerel on 3kg line. Jack Grieves the 4kg section and Jamie Waite the 6kg section with his 11.7kg mackerel on 6kg line.

Darren with his very commendable 10.6 kg mac on 3kg line and Jamie Waite with his 11.7kg fish on 6kg line.

A very tough 4.25kg yellow-fin in 2kg line for Laurie.


A few more good fish from the land based guys. Daniel had 4 fish, while Karen Hartig dropped back with only one fish. Catch of the day was Lui Palamara who brought in another big mulloway. The biggest to date a monster 22.25kgs, which won him the $50.00 RSL Meritorious Award.

Lui holds his monster 22.25kg mulloway.

More good bottom fish from Ross Olson aboard “The Phantom” with Matthew winning the section with a good dhufish of 8.45kg among his 5 fish.

8.45kg dhuie for Matthew Olsen.

The “Mug of the day” was won by Laurie Malton who lost all his lures in his tackle box to the sharks over the two days. Bill Tolson and Di Stewart won the $50.00 worth of scratchies in the raffle.

Every thing is flowing smoothly for the big Kalbarri Classic at the beginning of March and info packs and entry forms can be obtained from the Kalbarri Visitor Centre free call 1800 639 468. or download one from our website www.koac.fishingaustralia.com.au and go to the “Classic” page

Next local comp is on the 17th February followed by the Kalbarri Classic on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th March.

Laurie Malton
Murchison Boat Hire