With the long weekend over the Australia day weekend making it a 4 day weekend, we decided it was time for a boys trip somewhere. After a little discussion we decided to try out Leeman as we had not fished there before, and with the warmer water pushing down we thought we would be in with a chance of some mackies and Tuna. Pushed up to Leeman at 4am Saturday morning as we wanted to get out for a fish Saturday with the weather looking ok. Managed to check into our accommodation and on the water by 8.30am. Weather wasn't as good as forecast but was definitely manageable. didn't take long until a little flare up came up, and within a couple minutes we were fishing. First drift resulted in 2 nice baldies hitting the deck, with the 2nd drift another baldie and a nice dhu. Good start!! Didn't take too many pics on the first day as it was a bit lumpy. Sounded around for a while and found a few more bits and pieces which pushed the daily tally to 4 baldies, 2 dhus and 1 BB. Decided to troll in towards beagle island and see if you couldn't luck a pelagic. After an hour or so we had a double hook up on the lures, resulting in 2 smaller SBT's which were quickly dispatched to the esky for the nights sashimi. Nothing more to really note on the troll, although we had a massive hook up on a deep diver in about 15m of water which was berried in the reef in about 20-30 seconds, not real sure what that was and also a couple of Nor West blowies took the lures....wtf those fat bastards can swim pretty quick!

Sunday saw us push out in a slightly different direction, out into the 50's and beyond with much the same plan. Look for a bit of ground whilst chasing tuna, birds, etc. Came across a nice ledge in 52m of water which came up to 46m so decided to give it a run. As with the 1st day, first drift resulted in baldies hitting the deck, always a good start! Followed by pinkys and a lot of red throats. read throats were like flies! I dropped down a smaller rig with 3'o hooks to see if I could find a baldie or 2. Did not take long before I hooked up big time. As we were getting a lot of Sambo's around the 4-8kg mark, I just thought it was another, with a similar fight. to our surprise, this big guy popped up!! about 11KG-12KG! happy days

Knowing these larger models normally hang round in pairs, I instantly grabbed the jigging outfit and strapped on a 160gm dhu drop, spun the boat around and did another run. Within seconds was on again!!! Another great fight on PE 1.2 saw this big girl surface!!

whilst this was happening rods were going off everywhere with Sambo's creating some great 3-4 way tangles!! plenty of red throats, a couple small dhus, more small pinks. Sounded around for a few more spots, with us ending up with 2 dhus, 4 baldies, 1 pink, 2 BB's and a red throat for the day. Same again, headed in trolling towards beagle island, but there was almost no pelagic action to be seen. Monday, last day fishing, decided to push out the same way as Sunday, this time a little further with the hope there would bee some top water action out wider. Fished a couple lumps for a nice Dhu to Brad, his biggest to date.

A couple baldies came over the side, and decided it was time to head wider. Out we went towards the outer bank where it comes up a bit in depth. Found a nice rise up to 39m from 52 so down when the jibs and bait. Scano wasn't having a great day, so he decided to strap on a 8 inch Zman plastic onto a 2oz jig head and down he went. I think it was first drop and he was on big time. We called it for a sambo initially, until it started to colour up and we didn't believe what we saw, fish of the trip by a long way, on the most unexpected method in 45m of water! up popped a nice 71CM Coral Trout!

high 5's all round!! Went round for another drift and Scano hooked up big again, and with a much the same fight, we called for possibly another trout but unfortunately is spat the plastic about 15m from the boat. We ended the day with a couple Dhu's, nice trout, baldies, Red throat and a nice Pink to cap of a great trip. We trolled and flicked lures at tuna Whilst out wider, managed to hook a couple small stripes, but just couldn't find a Yellow fun or mack unfortunately.

Things to note from the trip. I lost a 15-20kg Cobia boat side on a jig after a good 15 min... just spat the jig...gutted!! New Ramp, its a nice ramp, but with a blowing Southerly or South westerly its a little dangerous. The first day we came in, it was blowing pretty hard by the time we made it to the ramp, drive the boat on and even had a local come up and say I made it look real easy in the conditions and a lot of people get themselves in trouble. I said long boat and drive on trailer makes life easy. A Few fillets to go round!!

Nice and quiet, we stopped in Jurien for some food on the way back, the place was packed!! Great trip and will definitely be back to Leeman. Bodie