After watching the weather for weeks the call was made to pack the gear and set off north, after last year’s trip to Warra station we decided to head there again although just take the dinghy this year. We didn’t do any fishing inside the reef last year so i was fairly keen to try and crack a few Spanglies. We thought we would try and escape the school holiday crowds and stay down the south end and after a bit of driving around we found a spot and set up.

Day 1

After unpacking the boat we eagerly got the boat on the sand and started prospecting the foreign ground. It was after 11 before we got wet so we decided to stick around the reefs and try pull some spango’s for a feed. We headed north and found some skittish bait and quickly had some lures in the mix, the long toms were on and off within seconds of the lures hitting the water and we knew pretty quickly our lure collection was going to feel the full brunt of what Warra has to offer. New lures on and we finally landed a tom, Oliver quickly lost his second lure before i had my lure back in the mix and this time hooked up solid to a deeper fish that turned out to be the first spango of the trip.

Things went quite and we started heading home along the reef chucking lures on any likely looking ground, After getting dusted a few more times and a few thousand Chinaman later Oliver hooked up solid to his first spango for the trip.

We decided to call it a day and head back to fillet up.

Day 2

The weather was looking the goods and we temped the idea of heading offshore, However, after the first cast no more than 50m from launching came up solid and the deep idea quickly went out the window. My PB spango was quickly onboard for a pic and sent back.

We decided to make it a release day and the gods were on our side as over the next few hours we caught over 20 spangos up to 70cm and many more lost. The trevs were also on the chew with goldens and goldspot coming to the party.

After the breeze swung we pulled the dinghy and went on foot. We walked a solid click from camp where we found some nice shallow bombies and my popper was followed all the way to the beach where i stopped quite literally millimetres from the sand when a monster snapper came out of the water and nailed the popper, My new PB was bumped up and was happy to see him swim off.

Day 3

We spent the first hour flicking the same ground from the day before without a single result, once the easterly had backed off we putted out deeper scoping the sounder, I found some likely looking ground and the pirates and jigs were diploid. Plenty of hits and small fish but not what we were after. The sea breeze starting puffing and we called it a day, sad and slightly disappointed after the previous days highs.

Day 4

A front came through and we decided to head into coral bay for some supplies and a shower.

Day 5

The forecast was looking reasonable but not special, however, the long range forecast was looking even more dampening so we decided it would be our last opportunity to get outside the reef. We got to the 30m line and chucked the trollers out and no more than 10mins in the diver went off in a pretty big way, Oliver grabbed the rod as I cleared the lines and helped subdue possibly the biggest fish in the dingho. A few blistering runs later the fish went deep and finally some line started coming back in our favour. Mack, tuna, Trev, shark, all were thrown around until finally Oliver’s and the dinghy’s first YFT was boat side. A quick net job and we had sashimi for the trip.

With high fives and smiles going around we continued heading out till I finally found some nice looking ground holding good fish. Lines down and a double hook up and bust off proceeded. Heaver lines down and again double hook up, Oliver on PE 5 had no troubles skull dragging his first Rankin on board,

 I re-rigged for what felt like the 1000th time and sent the baits down. Again it didn’t take long to hook up. I put some hurt on and finally got one away from the coral. Up popped another nice Rankin. 

We decided we had plenty for a feed and to have one last drop on jig. Oliver was getting some good hits when he hooked up to a ridiculously big fish, We were both originally calling a grey suit but the tail kicks didn’t look all the shark like, It pulled more string than any sambo id seen and after the fish was brought up all 50m we were surprised to see the biggest golden trev either of us had ever seen. A few pics and he swam back down to the depths.

We called it a day and headed in.

Day 4

The SE’er was up for the next few days so we were stuck around the shallows. Once again the snapper didn’t disappoint and even my Rents managed some, we had no troubles hooking them on all matter of lures.

The rest of the day was spent in the water snorkelling around where we found some epic underwater life including coral, all matter of fish including a big trout that had my finger twitching and heaps of turtles.

The last few days were spent doing much the same as day 4 due to the persisting Easterlies. One thing i really wanted to catch was my first northern squid so the last afternoon was spent casting a jig around. It only took two casts and i was on, I quickly came in and we put the boat back on the trailer to pack for our return. 

Oliver and i snuck a few quick casts in off the shore and after bit of a wander i hooked another squid and started bringing it in when Oliver spotted the rest of the school in close pursuit of his jig, He quickly hooked up and landed his first northern squid also. We pretty quickly had a good feed after the school wouldn’t leave our jigs alone. We cleaned the squid and put the rods away for the drive home the next day.

Overall the fishing was red hot and it was even better hearing Perth had copped some weather, I’m already looking forward to heading there again next year and making it an annual pilgrimage.

Thanks for reading Miles