I picked Tim up from the airport Friday afternoon. With his swag and rod tube emerging on the conveyor it dawned on me that we were about to share another adventure. With the boat packed up we set off at about 3pm hoping to collect some bait before the sun set and prepare ourselves for the evening low tide. We struggled with the bait gathering but still managed a few. After drying off we rigged up and sent a couple of the better sized baits out into the hole. I think my bait was in the water for about 5 minutes before the rod screamed off. A good sized bazz jumped and before too long I had managed to boat number one for the trip. A good sign.

About 75cm and released

Well with the monkey off the back I decided to throw plastics around for the last part of the day. Again it wasn’t long before I had a hook up. Small bazz around 60cm made really good account for itself hard up against the snags. The old nuke chicken did the damage again. It was released

Plastics barra

Anyway with the light fast fading and a few bazzas on the board it was time to cook a feed and soak a livie. I grabbed the smallest mullet out of the bucket and threw out my line. I think the rod was in the holder for about 30 seconds before it screamed off. By now I was starting to feel pretty bad because Tim was yet to see a fish. Anyway it was pretty obvious it was a solid fish, it jumped clear of the water a few times and although I initially played down its size to take the pressure off Tim immediately called it for a solid fish. Well after a very nervous battle and a less than orthodox net job we laid the fish on the brag mat for a pleasant surprise. A 102cm Baz and my (at the time) third metery. I was pretty stoked!

Hooked up to a metery

102cm Pilbara Baz

Metery number 1, 102cm and released

Anyway Tim managed a few nice runs but unfortunately not a baz, things went quiet with the bottom of the tide we did manage a few jacks, threadies and mongrel catfish.

Nice Jack

Well with the start of the run in Tim and I both set a few more fresh baits. Again within 30 seconds of putting my rod in the rod holder it screamed off. And this time it really screamed off! I set the hook and thankfully it stuck, a huge bazz jumped several times on the opposite side of the creek and for a second had me in the timber. Fortunately I managed to extract it as it ran hard and fast in the opposite direction. I could tell that it was a really big fish. I managed to get a few deep breaths in and the rest is really quite a blur. Anyway as it came into view it was obvious it was going to be a new PB, it was. It was bloody huge and a genuine 40 pounder. I was pretty stoked, not just about the fact that it was a new PB at 112cm but to catch 2 metery's in a row was something pretty special. Something I will never forget!

On the brag mat

New PB 112cm and the second metery for the night

Anyway that was it for the night. I was pretty happy. The next morning the wind was up and although things looked fishy the water temp had really taken a battering. We still managed a few fish each casting lures but they were all only around the 60cm mark. I think the biggest was around 75cm but not huge. Tim accidentally released his first baz of the trip before I could get a photo. Anyway it was evident that the rest of the trip things were probably going to be hard.

They are here too

One for Adam

Nice little baz caught casting

75cm baz

Late arvo hook up

Well that night the water temp had dropped quite a lot. We did manage to hook 6 or so barra however with a lot of bad luck we didn’t manage to land any. Tim got stitched up early but some bigger fish on lures resulting in lost tackle. The area we were fishing was quite deep and unforgiving. At least we managed to see quite a few barra which was reassuring.
Anyway with the sun came another session. We opted for a troll this time. We managed quite a few by catch this time with small trevs, cod, fingermark, jacks and a few small barra. The wind was howling from the east and the water temp was down to 27 degrees from 33. Still warm enough yes, but things usually slow down a little with a temp reduction of 5 or so degrees. Anyway one more bazz each so things were still pretty good. Again we got stitched up by some bigger fish in some very snaggy country; all good we were lucky to see the fish considering the temp

Nice Jack

Nice little trolled bazz

Nice shot of the rig

Well at the end of the night we decided to call it quits early. Things were really shut down compared to days the days previous. We headed home early across a pretty flat ocean. Not a bad trip, not bad at all!