Ive been going up to Karratha almost every month for a year now with work, but had never managed to stay up and get out fishing, but the weekend just gone i managed to change that.

Flew up Friday morning, planning on doing a days work, head back to stay at a mates place, sink some beers, and yarn about where we were going to head the next day.

The next day turned out to be an early one, with us on the water by 6am. All stocked up on bait, beer and food, we were planning on heading out about 60kms to a location the boys call 'the Footy field'. They had only just found this location a few weeks back, and said the dift area was the size of a footy field, hense the name it was given.

5.5m Evolution Ally

Look at the boat ramp...the Jetty goes right down in the water to that white pole..due to the tides.

So we Headed out through the Peninsula steaming north, but soon realised the weather wasnt going to allow us to head that far out going north.

So after a few Chats over the radio, we decided to head to another location west called 'stags' which was about 40kms out. So off we went cruising through the islands on our way out.

Stoped on the way through the Islands to try get some fresh squid, but didnt have any luck with the Squid. So i tied on a Silver twistie and started casting towards the shore line, hooking up Large long toms, small queenies, and GT's on light gear. Was great Fun

Affter an hour or so we devided to trawl out for a bit towards a Large exposed rock called 'Bear Rock'. only spent 30 minutes of so trawling with atleast 8 hits. 3 Mackies onboard and 2 Trout!!! Finally i had caught my first Mackie, and my first trout....i Was stoked.

Mackie number one!

Mackie Number 2!!

Mackie Number 3!!

Coral Trout Number 1

Trout Number 2!!

Also caught were a few Doggie Macks, which make great bait!!

So up came the Lures and we high tailed out to the bottom bouncing ground.

Finally got there, set the Sea anchors, and ran some drifts.
The wind was blowing from the east probably 20knots or so, so was macking difting hard. But we did drop 2 red Emperor during the difts.

Decided to drop the pick and sit on a very small lump. 15 minutes later, the action started to heat up...with reds, trout, cod, turrum, GT's all caught!! did not get too many photos during this time, as it was very windy... and was getting stronger so we decided it was time to head in.
One of the guys in the other boat, dropped a huge Perch (Saddle tail Snapper) he estimated at 80cm+ in length, spat the hook right on the side of the boat. Off went his shirt, hat and gaff in hand he was gonna jump in after it!!!!! but it went back down too quick!

Had a great fiirst day with plenty of fish, and a few firsts for me... GT, Trout, Mackies, Cod, and many more.

Went back, and cooked up some red Emperor and trout for dinner.... no wonder the guys who live up there pick these two fish as the best eating...sensational!!

Next morning was another early one, but this time we were only heading out in 1 boat instead of 2. This one being a 6.25m Cruisecraft (Sweet boat!) with the same intentions of heading to the footy field, but the conditions again did not prevail.

So we steamed out heading towards the Same location we were the day before, and on the way out we noticed some clouds building in the distance which looked like a little rain.

But we did also notice a sensational Sun Rise coming up from the land

The closer we got to the rain...the more..err frightning i think it the correct word to use..
It was dead calm, no wind, and very quiet as the clouds approached, and i can safely say, i have nto seen anything like this before! We got closer and closer, couldnt see any lightning, and no wind, it was very strange.

We were trying to tell our selves we should be responsible boaties and head in...but we were all kinda in a daze looking at this now what looked like the Perfect Storm!!

Closer we crept!! waiting the the crash sound of Thunder.. But there was no Thunder and still no wind!!

And then next thing!!! we could see the Squalls whisting accross the water right infront of us about 200 metres away...

Around we turned and high tailed it back towards land...but it was too later the wind had jumped infront of us and no hope of our running it.

But thankfully there was wind but the seas were not very rough at all...and then it Poored down, like torrential rain, and iev never seen rain flatten the seas but this did. :shock:

We sat there for about 30 minutes watching the Fury of this Storm pass over and the rain bucketing down... Spectacular sight and awsome power of nature.

after about 45 minutes the heavy rain passed and the seas were calm. So we decided it was time to continue on our way out as we had gone through the worst.

Found our spot, set anchor and started fishing

Many more fish bought onboard, trout, Estuary cod, and even a huge Spangled. We dropped atlead 3 we would say were Reds or Perch (Saddletail Snapper).

We headed back in at about 10:30 as i needed to get to the airport. Had a great day and weekend...first time fishing up north...and i can say...il be back up there for sure!!! in about a month woohaa :)

Cheers