The Mackerel Islands

couple of us are thinking of heading up next year with a boat, has anyone here made the trip before?

cheers street.

http://www.mackerelislands.com.au/fishing.html


streetfighter80's picture

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direction island

Wed, 2006-09-20 16:29

what a spot has 1 cabin on it which sleeps 8 ppl has own mooring no tender though $2000 per week for 1-5 ppl over 5 $400 each

how nice would that be fishing it up all day drinking piss round the bbq watching the sun set at nite!!

heaven

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do it

Wed, 2006-09-20 17:01

yep streets ive spent plenty of time off onslow.cant say ive made the trip from perth .but one thing i can tell ya is the fishing rocks.have never actually stepped foot on thevenard island.instead i prefer to camp out on one off the other islands.its a bit of a slogg to get all ya gear out there but makes it a lot more comphy.the most weight in the boat is beer and bourbs but they are essential items on my trips .fuel and drinking water are next on the list a small gennie is good to .bought myself a cheap 90lt freezer with a good star rating on power usage so the little gennie could run it as taking ice out with you is another weight factor you dont need .just make ya ice out there sea water takes a little longer to freeze but also last longer.just dont mix up ya fresh water ice when making ya drinks also if drinking beer do it out off a can.as there lighter and take up less space when bringing ya rubbish home. best bet is at least 2 boats.take a heap of rope and chain when anchoing up for the night .i always have at least one sand pick out and one heavey reefy just for mooring at night and a small blow up canoe or dingy to use as a tender after anchoring the boats for the night the little tender is ideal for getting back to shore as arfter a couple of days cleaning fish infront of camp theres plenty of smell in the water and plenty of bities like that smell.its good fun if the tide is high at night.as catching 6 ft plus sharks of the beach while ya mates tell ya your weak as piss is a laugh.and theres no shortage of them either. best time of the year is easter onwards.and to make it worth it a good week is needed.i for 1 know ill be doing it come next may june as i have done for the last 4 years .cant wait to be sitting in me deck chair with a fire lit waiting for my or one of my mates rods to bend fly out of the chair beer flying everywhere and set the hooks into anther sharks gob .then comes the abuse
[img_assist|fid=53813|thumb=0|alt=heavan]
dont forget the 4 burner barbie
always in it just the depth that varies

streetfighter80's picture

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it look absoultly amazing up

Wed, 2006-09-20 17:09

it look absoultly amazing up there hanks for the helpful info mitch

mitch's picture

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cabin

Wed, 2006-09-20 17:46

streets if i was to book a cabin ide go the direction one as well.only cause ya get the whole island to yourself.so what you and ya mates get up to at night is your busness only and not having to upset any other groups .crank that sterio till what ever wee small hour of the morning you like.its also only about 10km from onslow so if ya running short of supplies like beer or bullet its a quick trip
p.s buy ya bourbs in perth itll save ya heaps
always in it just the depth that varies

streetfighter80's picture

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adam what ya reakon

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:15

we could have a bullet trusure hunt!! we could shun neil to the other side of the island if he is stupid enough to leave his hook cover on.

whole island to be blokes sound ferral to me

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MI

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:21

I wen't to the Mackerel Islands on my honeymoon (minus the wife), but that's another story.

I stayed in a cabin at Thevenard with me old man and 8 mates from his then sportfishing club. Awesome place, fishing and good parties at night etc. Depends how hard you fish I spose but we were crashing out by 9.30pm each night.

The advantage of the main island itself is you can freeze your fish in there big freezers, all your food is supplied reducing what you need to take yourself, nice toilet/shower etc.

I can also understand the appeal of staying on Direction but haven't done that myself. Regardless of which option you choose, I recommend going with a second boat for safety's sake.

John

____________________________________________________________________________

WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.

Jigs available online in my web store!

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yeh mate ive been there

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:26

yeh mate ive been there multiple times,
quite expensive depending where u are staying (couple options)
the fishing up that way is incredible, for me the highlite of my trip was the fishing of the island. im dead set on flicking lures around all day, and besides the fishing ofshore for mackies,reds, pelagics ecs... you can do it right of the jettie.
just to name a few species u can target of the jettie
mackerel, shark, snapper, threadfin,queenie, mangrove jacks, all trevs inc GT, huge tarwine, rays, gardie, longtom, and 101 more
i have spent quite a few weeks on the island so if i can assist with any questions on where to fish inshore or ofshore or anything in general fire away...
chears jonya

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minus the wife big john

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:31

now that sounds dangerous concidering it was ya honey moon.

i take it there is no power on direction island then? getting a genset will be dead easy since i fix em.

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jonya

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:34

so how big is the jetty there? must be quite large, i didnt realize the land base fishing was so good!!

few questions for ya dude;

1 how big are the tinnys the hire?

2 refueling ya boats easy hard?

3 do you have to hire freezer space?

4 fly or drive is the other big one deending on type of boat on hire

cheers street

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ok the jettie is massive a

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:48

ok the jettie is massive a good 80m it actually belongs to the american oil rig that is situated on the other side of the island they hardley ever use it and they dont mind sharing with us, dont bother with the rest of the island there is only one good beach that produces on the north side.
1. i didnt go out on them but i saw them probs about 12foot, u will only catch blue bone of the island in a dingie so dont bother unless its to get to ure boat,
2.they have a big tracktor i think that comes and refuels all boas down there(i charted a boat everyday)
3.there is a massive massive freezer that comes free that holds all your catch
4.i have done both, the island isnt that much further than rottnest of the land soo its not such a probs getting there from land, flying meens u would have to stop and lyrmouth howeva u spell it and take liek a 5 seater glider to the island...
jonya

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Direction

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:38

Yeah, she's a good sort. Being paying for it for a long time but..

Nah J/K.

Hehehe

Street it was a fair while ago so I couldn't tell you what facilities Direction now has.

Great part of the world, but as with all trips, nailing good weather will help immeasurably.

John

____________________________________________________________________________

WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.

Jigs available online in my web store!

streetfighter80's picture

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yeah the weather factor

Wed, 2006-09-20 18:42

yeah the weather factor scares me a bit spend all that money to cop a cyclone wouldnt be very nice. the resort shoud know when its safe times would be

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jonya

Wed, 2006-09-20 19:07

whats the best time of year to go there??

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Wed, 2006-09-20 19:39

april/may
or
september/october
best weather n fishin
jonya

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hey streets can i ask where

Wed, 2006-09-20 19:49

hey streets can i ask where bouts u normally fish of your boat here perth, mandurah???
jonya

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no mate

Wed, 2006-09-20 20:00

i live nor and do most of my fishing from two rocks @ direction bank, whay that?

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G'day Street, I spent a week

Wed, 2006-09-20 20:59

G'day Street,

I spent a week at the mackies when I was about 8 and I can tell you it was absolutely mind blowing. We caught numerous blue bone in close to the island in the dinghies and trolled a 25kg+ spaniard out near the oil rig. That's just the highlights for me as I was quite young at the time and can't recall every detail - another trip is on the cards I think!
We stayed in the cabins on Thevenard and it was great. We went over on the charter boat and used the hire boats and had all food supplied. Wouldn't mind taking our own boat next time and staying on direction and camping it to cut the cost of accomodation and transport/ferry.
Glenn and I have been talking briefly about a trip to the mackerel islands in the 'near future', only problem is finding other boats to go with us. When are you planning on going? Would you mind having another boat tag along (two blokes)?

-----------------
Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com

streetfighter80's picture

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boat

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:00

17.5ft savage 525 with a 75hp merc on back, she is a sweet ride never had a massive probwith her yet!

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u seem to do alright on the

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:23

u seem to do alright on the snapper from the pics i see mate, only fished mandurah twice only thing i came home with was a red snapper. maybe better luck next time

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jay tagging along

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:31

yeah be good get a fishwrecked convoy heading up there for a comp or something i reakon, we havent decided a date yet but ill keep ya posted jay!!

i really hanging out for a bill and a fat one at that!!!

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"yeah be good get a

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:34

"yeah be good get a fishwrecked convoy heading up there for a comp or something i reakon, we havent decided a date yet but ill keep ya posted jay!!"

Sounds good mate! Just send a PM when you got any more info ;)

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Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com

streetfighter80's picture

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be good to get up north and

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:38

be good to get up north and do some real fishing i get so bloody jealous when i see these guys posting up the awesome catches, makes me want to run away with the boat and never return to these cold waters

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ps jay your next on my list

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:42

ps jay your next on my list for highest points user just wiped out spooled yay

surprised adam aint up there??

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He lost his points when he

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:45

He lost his points when he had to remove an account or something like that, otherwise he'd be on a billion by now I'd think :))

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Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com

streetfighter80's picture

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poor adam

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:47

he is the master he should be rigging points his way i reakon

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"bearing in mind i dont mind

Wed, 2006-09-20 21:57

"bearing in mind i dont mind pushing the limits in mine within reason!"

A convoy would be the safest way to do it.

We've got a 4.3m Websters but it's a twin hull and it's got quite high sides for it's size.

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Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com

streetfighter80's picture

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think i gunna need a trailer

Thu, 2006-09-21 07:42

think i gunna need a trailer behind the boat full of piss aswell cause i do like to drink

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the pic below is my old boat

Thu, 2006-09-21 14:54

the pic below is my old boat with a 40 horse .i use to have a 25on the back and still traveled upto 60 km by water just to get to our camping spot .it was a slow haul averaging about 8 knots .but we would troll all the way and bye the time we got to where we were going the boat would be a carton lighter .also with the smaller boat you can get up the creeks and catch muddies jacks threadies
[img_assist|fid=53991|thumb=0|alt=lucky leisure]
she was a great boat and have hauled a heap of fish into her
always in it just the depth that varies

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"catch muddies jacks

Thu, 2006-09-21 15:11

"catch muddies jacks threadies"

mmm... the three magical words...

Pump iron to drop iron!

streetfighter80's picture

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i love that photo if that

Thu, 2006-09-21 17:04

i love that photo if that was me it would be blown up and stuck on the wall

streetfighter80's picture

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cyclone weather

Thu, 2006-09-21 18:27

Hi Scott
Any time is a good time to come up for the fishing.It just depends on how warm you can handle the weather.
April /May are great months , as the winds are generally lighter, although it can still be quite warm (up to40 degrees) and it is still officially cyclone season.
We only have dinghies for hire @ 3.6 metres and one plaka @ 4.6 metres.
If you bring your own boat we have ULp on island.
Can you provide you mailing address and I will send out an info pack for you.Otherwise check our web site @ www.mackerelislands.com.au
Helen

from hellen at mac islands resort

streetfighter80's picture

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cyclone weather

Thu, 2006-09-21 18:28

Hi Scott
Any time is a good time to come up for the fishing.It just depends on how warm you can handle the weather.
April /May are great months , as the winds are generally lighter, although it can still be quite warm (up to40 degrees) and it is still officially cyclone season.
We only have dinghies for hire @ 3.6 metres and one plaka @ 4.6 metres.
If you bring your own boat we have ULp on island.
Can you provide you mailing address and I will send out an info pack for you.Otherwise check our web site @ www.mackerelislands.com.au
Helen

from hellen at mac islands resort

i dont know much about cyclone season anyone here enlighten me on this phenomeon?

mitch's picture

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cyclones

Thu, 2006-09-21 19:02

on 2 previous trips to onslow camping out on the islands ive had to leave due to cyclones.first time was a mad dash into a very ugle sea .was bailing out the boat for the whole hour and a half it took us to getr back to onslow.18 hours later the cyclone basicaly went straight over the top of the island i was camping on.went back there 4 weeks later to dig up all the gear we had to leave behind what a bonous the other boat that came brought a 44 gl drum full of fuel .it was still there but had been sandblasted back to bare metal.so with all the fuel i had buried and the 44 .we got another 2 trips out there without having to drag fuel out
second time was last year .the cyclone was miles away them moved 600 kms in 12 hours directly at us.it was still 500 odd km away when we decided to leave[i didnt want to wake up in the middle of the night to find the wind had picked up ] anyway that cyclone dwindled out to zip
both trips were cut short bye about 4 days spewn!
streets i reckon youd be pretty right planning a trip towards the end of may onwards .any ealier and theres a chance a big willie willie could stuff it for you.the weather that time of year is perfect.take the time to look at the tides aswell.i prefer the smaller tides .like a big high plus a big low tide so theres always a bit of water around and the run is not to strong.times of big highs and a low lowtide theirs heaps of water moving all the time which can realy drop the water clarity down.but if your up here for a week you will get a fair variation in the tide over that time.high tides in the evening are great fishing of the beach catching bities is a hoot
always in it just the depth that varies

jay_burgess's picture

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If it's a big cyclone season

Thu, 2006-09-21 18:48

If it's a big cyclone season like the one just gone you'll still have cyclones around april/may but generally speaking it is the 'tail end' of the season and the risks are lower.

You don't want to be out there when a cyclone comes, best thing to do would be check weather forecasts in the lead up to the trip. Cyclones are unpredictable in the direction/speed they travel but they can guess with a reasonable degree of accuracy if and when one would be likely to hit.

-----------------
Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com

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Cyclonic fishing

Thu, 2006-09-21 19:42

Sometimes you can let lucky with a cyclone and actually get awesome fishing in the build up to it and then its aftermath. I got lucky in January this year and fished Exmouth in between two cyclones. We ended up losing a day at the end, but the previous seven days made up for it.

April/May should be good Street. You might get unlucky but all things being equal the weather should be good.

John

____________________________________________________________________________

WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.

Jigs available online in my web store!

streetfighter80's picture

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Cyclone Mitch

Thu, 2006-09-21 22:45

i think ill be booking late may after hearings mitch's storm story, dude that pretty full on hey!!

cheers for that info hey makes my planning lil easier, sure ill be asking for more info as the months get closer.

whats ya best fish up there mitch

mitch's picture

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best fish

Fri, 2006-09-22 02:18

MATE i couldnt call it.the best fish will be my next fish.mined you 9 trout in 4 days all caught flickn lures at shollow bommies ide rate as a good week not to metion every other fish i hooked that week . MACKIE ISLANDS do it . just spoke to frizza hes slightly tippsee yea yea[ pissed] campn at the mouth of c@$#gra point great spot. using cat fish for bait on a 8.o plus hook 1st shark for the trip 7ft .yeah they broke the tip of the 12ft rod even before they gott a bait out but still managed to land the FIRST.wish i was there
p.s let me know if you do it .ive never been to rosily keys !~!!!!! theres a few BIGTREVS OUT THRERE with my lures in there mouth that i wont back
always in it just the depth that varies

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hey

Fri, 2006-09-22 03:16

yeah if yous have got room im in ill pay me own n stuff
even bring an inflatable dingy to tow our piss in :D

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Late May eh, if I can get

Fri, 2006-09-22 10:54

Late May eh, if I can get time off work (I would have just started my apprenticeship in Jan) I'll be there.

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Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com

streetfighter80's picture

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what apprenticeship ya doing

Fri, 2006-09-22 11:56

what apprenticeship ya doing jay? thnk we should be doing a fishwrecked holiday!!!

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Electrical Apprenticeship

Fri, 2006-09-22 13:34

Electrical Apprenticeship with Pilbara Iron in Dampier. Haven't been accepted yet but my interview went well so fingers crossed at this stage.

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Jay Burgess
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streetfighter80's picture

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another sparky. its a good

Fri, 2006-09-22 15:22

another sparky. its a good job, alot to leanr too.

next time the do a recruitment drive let me know

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Advertisements for new

Fri, 2006-09-22 21:13

Advertisements for new apprentices usually go out around Aug/Sep for a January start.

It's contracted through CCI (Apprenticeships WA) but as far as I know they only recruit new apprentices. Not sure how'd you go about starting as a 2nd/3d year.

Your best bet would be to call AWA and make a few inquiries.

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Jay Burgess
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cheer jay will have to do

Fri, 2006-09-22 21:46

cheer jay will have to do it.

was hoping to get in with woodside on the rigs because i specilize in 3 phase generation, be nice to keep the power running on a rig!

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I applied with woodside as

Fri, 2006-09-22 23:14

I applied with woodside as well as Pilbara Iron, but so far haven't been called in for a second interview with woodside. Excellent money on the rigs but both companies are good to work for.

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Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com

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well done

Fri, 2006-09-22 23:35

well done jay ,y mate was a sparky app loved it till he got fired... hope you get the job

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fired or fried

Sat, 2006-09-23 20:21

Was he fired or fried hOju? Hehehe.

Nah its a good trade. My brother now works on an international oil rig, 4 weeks on, 4 weeks off. Tax free US dollars.

The world will be your oyster Jay and Streetfighter.

John

____________________________________________________________________________

WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.

Jigs available online in my web store!

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huhuh trust me th eppl you

Sun, 2006-09-24 17:33

huhuh trust me th eppl you work with will be absolute assholes...just stick with it and it will be good

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"The world will be your

Sun, 2006-09-24 17:39

"The world will be your oyster Jay and Streetfighter."

Thanks john.

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Jay Burgess
jayburgess_14@hotmail.com