Hey all,

All my mates went down south to chase salmon, but sadly I was unable to join them this year. Went for a fish a little closer to home arriving Saturday afternoon and leaving early this morning. Had probably the best beach fishing I have experienced and saw some pretty impressive things - I love how every trip is full of subplots and tall tales!

Arrived to pretty sloppy conditions on saturday afternoon. The water was very murky and there was a lot of weed in the gutter and on the surface. Heading towards low tide, I didn't like my chances. Fished for several hours into dark and as the rain started to arrive my interest in the bottle increased, while my interest in the fishing waned. Funnily enough, as the evening drew on, my memory of the night becomes a little hazy! I landed a mulloway.....my first in 4 years (second overall). It was only 30cm, but still...it's a MULLOWAY! I was stoked. Very next cast I was into something bigger....hook pulled. I was flicking tiny mulie pieces on size 6 hooks, so not really surprised! Think I tangled with a ray at one point, then must have passed out sometime after midnight.

Woke up to much improved conditions. A light easterly and the water was starting to clear. Monster herring were on the bite and I had my 20 in the bucket within half an hour! They were almost all huge bull herring close to 30cm, so put up a great show on light tackle. As the morning wore on I also got into some mullet and whiting.

Tired of the little stuff so put out a fresh fillet. Had a solid hit and soon later a very good tailor on the beach....but just as it left the water it spat the hooks to my frustration. Immediately after a flash of green caught my eye - something about 1m long, torpedo shape, darkish olive green was moving along the shallow gutter at a rate of knots as if pursuing something (maybe my dropped tailor?). My immediate reaction was that I had just seen one of those monster 1m tailor.....definately possible for the area I was in......but I'll never know now.

Persevered for a couple of hours with fillet baits, ended up with a nice 45cm tailor and a gummy shark (around 5kg) in the esky. Good morning session which also included dart (all released) - a species I had never caught before.

Quiet afternoon, then around 5pm something picked up a mullet fillet and swam for deeper water. Felt big thumps and did my best to try and slow it down, but after about a minute the 20lb braid gave out. I didn't get the impression that it was a shark....I'm thinking maybe a sambo or even a snapper by the way it ran.

Sundown bought on an excellent tailor session - only short, about 30 minutes but got half a dozen really good fish. Smallest was around 40cm and biggest 48cm. It shut down soon after, so got an early night.

Next morning was somewhat quiet. More whiting, mullet, dart. Took until around 11am to get a big hit and it felt like I was into something pretty decent again. A few minutes later beached my first ever nor'wester. Pissed off and stoked at the same time, haha! Fish were really finicky, even the whiting were not responding to burley so I took a break for a few hours.

Watched a rec drag netter catch a feed of around 40 yellowfin whiting - all would have been around 35cm. Good bloke, 'Paddy Payne' - chatted to him a lot while I was there and he put me onto some good spots into the area.

Got back into the dart in the afternoon, then about 30 min before sundown a cracker tailor. Went 49cm a PB....actually cooking them all up shortly for tea! As soon as the sun hit the water the rod got smashed and I was confident I was into another great tailor. Instead beached yet another nor'wester!!

Sundown session produced a lot of small tailor - biggest would have been around 35cm. I let them all go, pointless as I had an esky full of fillets and you can only eat so much, given they don't freeze well. Hindsight....forgot to keep one of the little'ns for bait. Oh well....

Went quiet for a couple of hours and I thought long and hard about sleeping....but patience was rewarded. A massive run....this one I have no doubt was a big shark. No stopping it, cut through the TD Sensor in about 5 seconds flat, so I swapped over to 40lb mono for the rest of the night.

Landed a nice Eagle Ray - would have been 10-15kg and swam away strong. Then tangled with one of the big resident sting rays. Cut the line while he was a couple of metres off the beach after fighting for 10-15 mins. Many people seem disappointed at catching rays...but I always find them a great challenge and the ultimate tackle tester!!! I have a rubbish old Ugly Stick low mount and Shimano Alivio combo....it's cheap and nasty....the braid is worth more than the outfit I reckon! But it holds up pretty well as an all round surf combo.

Night drew on....there was a fox on the beach hunting for crabs, scared the living daylights out of me as it walked right up to me without realising I was there. Saw lots of shooting stars and waited......

Took until around 1am but all of the sudden the gutter came to life. Started with a few little taps, then something much more serious. Beached another gummy shark....this one much bigger at probably 7kg. About 10m later, a decent sized snook....perfect bait for my mulloway. Fillet goes out and about 15m later the drag slowly gives. Can feel something gently pulling so slowly reel in and have myself a really good sized occy. Great surprise and tasty snack for the coming days!!

Sent the other snook fillet out and waited. About an hour later a massive hit on the bait, but whatever it was didn't like something and dropped it, never to return. Could have been anything, but I can't help but think that this hit was none other than a mullagore. Never mind, I'll be back up that way again when the tailor are spawning and catch my mulla then!!!!

Thing shut down, so I slept for a couple of hours then got up before sunrise. Nothing really happening, burleyed up and the herring came on, but I was a bit over filleting them so decided to pack up and head home. Coming down Indian Ocean drive has a massive blowout, tyre shredded. Took me 1.5 hours just to change the thing....problems trying to get the vehicle jacked up safely, but got there in the end. Sour end to an awesome trip. I know there were more fish but memory eludes me....my esky is absolutely chockas with fillets all bagged up and ready to go!! :-)