Mackerel Islands Trip Report 21st Oct - 24th Oct

I was a very lucky boy come fathers day, my wonderful wife had got me a 4 day trip to the mackerel islands all inclusive including a fishing charter which i was stoked about. I had read many a post from people here and heard many a good report about the area so the chance to take the boat down with some of my mates was awesome.

I put the call out to my mates and it didn't take long for 3 intrepid explorers to join me down at Onslow. Suprisingly after being up north for 21 years i had never been to Onslow which was strange. We had planned to get in before the start of november and make the most of the charter but as luck would have it the boat had head south for the summer and we missed out. Needless to say that didn't matter too much after we got upgraded from the donga's to a 3 bed beachfront cabin!

We left a very still karratha at 8am with a fully loaded boat with 4 rods each for the trip, we had all bases covered if the weather played nicely, the billfish gear was in,the knifejigs and bottom basing gear, popper gear and the spin/SP gear as we knew we could do all of these with relative ease due to Thevanard Is location. The wind picked up on route to Onslow which concerned us as it wasn't coming from the SW as promised but this died off and we rocked into Onslow with a slight breeze.

We mdae our way to the Mackerel Motel to arrnage our car drop off and then the wind came in as promised, we seriously missed the ideal weather by 30 mins so we copped the quatering seas  for the trip out as two much larger boats pushed on for Thevanard Is, I tried to enjoy a beer but alas i needed to be steady while at the helm. We arrived 10 mins behind the larger boats (not travelling with us just a coincidence thing) and we where greeted by the staff who promptly helped us get our gear off the boat and get us to our mooring.

A warning to young players it can get very shallow inside the reef and the channel in is rather narrow, we had no more that 1.5m of water under us at the best of times so don't come flying in for the first time. We where taken to our cabin and shown around the place, given our MI Card for our stay (everything gets charged to this instead of using cash, i quite liked the idea) It didn't take long for us to get the rods out for a bash. The weather was all from the south in the morning and swinging to the west in the arvo which didn't give us much protection so we went off to the east and sat in some reefy country trying to find some fish on the drift. The wind proved too strong and made life hard so we anchored up and proceeded to roll over the waves and try our hand with some lures and SP's.

It was pretty quiet until my McArthy 7" Bullhead Minnow was smashed, i was panicking already as i only had a 60lb mono trace on the line so i was hoping for a lip hookup or a golden trevally as this would have been a great start to the trip. The little Daiwa Tierra 4000 held its own along with my 1-3PE monster mesh rod and i made good ground to see the slender silver shape of a Mackerel in the depths but he powered off again, had a head shake and then the dreaded slack line of a chew off, i must say i wasn't really expecting that first up in 6m of water no more than 300m off the western point. We trolled back to the mooring due to the shocking conditions and settled in for a shower, a excellent 3 course meal and some beers and pool at the bar, day two awaited!

The weather gods still didn't want to join the game coming in from the south it stirred up the waves out the front of the cabin, a greasy brekky followed by a trip to the shop for some bait had us wondering what to do, we watched all the other boats head west and we scratched our heads, keep in mind we where the smallest boat there by 2m and the only centre console as well, so we went for a stroll around to the north side of the island and looked at the map, it was nice and calm around there but it was shallow, not to worry i told the boys we'll throw some lures out the back, suss it out and hopefully find some nice trout for our troubles, so we very slowly snuck around the northern side and popped out some shallow divers into the 3m water, talk about a infestation of Charlie Courts! double hooksups where common and we couldn't get them off quick enough to get back into the action.

The weather calmed off slightly at about 10.30 so i said to the boys lets have a look further north, i found some likely ground on the chart that i thought might hold some fish, broken bottom just past what seemed to be a channel for the tide to flush past the reefs it had my thinking about some trout, snapper and bluebone, sure enough i came off the gas and the sounder showed some promise so we set our drift and sent our baits over the side, the fish where there but all we could find was Charlie Courts again and 1 decent flag that we nearly well kept due to the poor start, so we moved further north and halfway to my next spot the sounder showed a nice plataeu from 16m to 12m and some good action on the edge so we set anchor and away we went.

Now the action had come in and we had found the snapper as Ando pulled a nice Blue Lined into the boat nudging 47cm, the duck was broken and they where on the chew but some careless line placement by ando on the drop back down found my line and had me frantically trying to untangle the rig and get one of these snapper, one of my favourite fish to catch and eat, they never stop fighting and fight much better than their size sugests. Tangle gone and they where still around and i landed myself a nice 46cm specimen for the boat. The school moved on and so we drifted around but it had all shutdown with the change of the tide and the wind came up, no biggie we had fish in the esky and we set off to find some pelagics on the way home, We sat back with a beer for the troll home and we just could find any action for the 1 hour we trolled so with the weather now crap we went back to clean the catch, clean up ourselves and face off to see who could master the table tennis challenge.

We behaved ourselves within reason as the weather was going to be a pealer for our last day on the island, morning came and it was better than yesterday but still not ideal and we hadn't even had a chance to hit anything deeper than 20m, we where itching to get out to the west but we resisted the urge to follow the other boats incase it went bad and headed back the way we came knowing we could get back in here if needed to fish. Kicked it all off with a troll looking for a trout and geez we thought we had a pearler when the RMG scorpian went off, it was a bloody good fight and then we see just what we had got, a 70cm Estaury Cod in 2m of water!!! what a way to start the day, she was quickly followed by a 57cm cod and the score was looking good already.

So we headed back to our spot from yesterday to have a better look around and found some more interesting ground that we drifted with good results. The blue lined emporer where everywhere so i put the bottom basher away and had a play with my SP rod and reel, It didn;t make a difference if it was bait or SP we soon had a feed of snapper on board with my PB of the trip at 50cm on the McArthy Bullhead minnow. We bit the bullet and decided it was as calm as it was going to get and we headed to the NW out past rosaly shoal and into 40m of water. Well it reminded me of Exmouth all over again but not as bad, the swell was running strong at about 3m and a nice sea to go with it, we found our ground and set down our baits but the current was very strong as we struggled to hold the bottom, i tried to alleviate this but putting on a jig but at 180g it wasn't enough it seemed and it was quiet down below. The action picked up briefly when Lego hooked up nicely as his fish powered away and he was all excited he may have a big Red but it then all went quiet and he then discovered his red was a Rankin CoD and there wasn't much left, Ando too copped the same fate with a small Doggie Mackerel, it seemed as we had found what we had been warned of, the sharks are thick out in the depths to the north. We had Mackerel all around the boat but they wouldn't touch a thing it seemed in fear of being dinner, it didn't help we had two 8 footers cruising around too. We packed it in and went on the search to find more reef.

Trolled for another hour without a hit on the lures when i spotted some wicked country on the sounder that wasn't showing on the map. pulled the rods in and to say we had found the best spot i've seen for a while is very much the truth. The sounder looked nasty and boy where the fish on the chew! I was dropping down SP's and before i had time to wind in the slack and work it along it was punished and chewed off before i could strike and hook-up. The other two landed a snapper each in no time flat and they made thier way into the eski as i was getting stuck into a few fish on the SP's. I had another snapper on and had him boatside when out of the depths a 9ft shark swooped on my fish but missed, the warning was there and then everything went quiet again for 5 mins. I was still working the SP around and then WHAM! a good hit that wasn't a snapper i was panicking as the shark can't be far away as i brought what was the only coral trout from our boat and others for our trip, some neat gaff work and i had a very nice 60cm Coral Trout on a Pink Pearl Bullhead Minnow, i was stoked to have got him off the bottom and away from jaws which capped off our last day beautifully, we all cracked a JD/CC/VB and headed to the cleaning tables.

We cleaned up the catch and stowed it away in their communal freezer and then sat back and enjoyed the lovely afternoon that greeted us.

It was sad that we had to leave due to some committments i had back in town as the weather came good on the sunday as well and we would have loved to let loose on the poppers or the billfish but there is no doubt i'll be back again for another 4 day trip, probably with a few more boats in tow and the family due to the activities they offer there. I cannot reccomend the Mackerel Islands highly enough, i was dreaming just how good a Fishwrecked Invitational would be out there with all our boats on the mooring. Do yourselves a favour and check it out!

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Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target


Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17830

Date Joined: 11/03/08

one trip to remember. pity

Sat, 2010-11-06 15:36

one trip to remember. pity the weather wasnt the best for you but you made the most of it. the accomodation upgrade was a bonus

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

PilbaraBrad's picture

Posts: 3628

Date Joined: 16/05/07

nice work bruce, i saw these

Sat, 2010-11-06 15:41

nice work bruce, i saw these pics on FB, was wondering when you were going to chuck them up mate

good one

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

Great setup they have out

Sat, 2010-11-06 15:53

Great setup they have out there. Looks like you got some good fish a a good feel for the place for next time.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Brucesta's picture

Posts: 1721

Date Joined: 29/05/09

It takes me a fair while to

Sat, 2010-11-06 16:32

It takes me a fair while to write these reports, doesn't help that they are all long too but alas i'm sitting offshore and plenty of time on my hands at the moment.

 

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Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target

Posts: 917

Date Joined: 04/12/09

Great report, i like you

Sat, 2010-11-06 16:45

Great report, i like your boat...that esky of your's looks pretty tasty......wish i worked offshore:)

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Forever learning with fishing

Brucesta's picture

Posts: 1721

Date Joined: 29/05/09

yes she is a good rig, even

Sat, 2010-11-06 16:52

yes she is a good rig, even better when the esky looks like it does.

I'm looking forward to my return visit next year thats for sure dodgy with a few bigger boats including my own new one, bring on the protection from waves!!!

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Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target

Lucky Tim's picture

Posts: 2536

Date Joined: 28/11/07

I'm the same having never

Sat, 2010-11-06 19:01

I'm the same having never been to Onslow, it always gets overlooked for other destinations. Nice report, that shark did a pretty efficient job on the Rankin, not much meat left there!

carnarvonite's picture

Posts: 8619

Date Joined: 24/07/07

Report

Sat, 2010-11-06 19:10

Good report and hopefully the weather gods can really turn it on next time.

I'm the same as many, have seen the lights of Onslow many dozens of times from the sea but never done the drive in, maybe one day it will happen now that I've got a few mates living there.

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17830

Date Joined: 11/03/08

honestly unless you are

Sat, 2010-11-06 19:14

honestly unless you are going to head off for a fish out at the islands, there isnt much to do other than drink and drink and drink and if i didnt mention it drink. unless things have changed dramatically over the last 10 years that is

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Webby's picture

Posts: 835

Date Joined: 24/09/08

good report brucey. top

Sat, 2010-11-06 19:23

good report brucey. top stuff. pitty the weather didn't play the game mate. do you have any week days off when you get back from offshore?

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I live with fear every day... sometimes she lets me go fishing.

Colt_Striker's picture

Posts: 624

Date Joined: 26/07/09

Top stuff mate, hanging for

Sun, 2010-11-07 19:49

Top stuff mate, hanging for the 1st 2 weeks in April next year when i'm there.

soupster51's picture

Posts: 2723

Date Joined: 29/11/06

Busy

Mon, 2010-11-08 07:39

Busy few days by the look of it. Great to see that you got amongst some fish inbetween the weather and beers.

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The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.

Brucesta's picture

Posts: 1721

Date Joined: 29/05/09

Webby I only have Thursday

Mon, 2010-11-08 07:46

Webby I only have Thursday off and i have to get ready for our garage sale so i can't join youon a mid week trip sorry mate, i do have 2 days off in two weeks, 23rd and 24th November if you're free.

There certianlly isn't much at Onslow, a quiet little town it seems, a few negatives for my very short time there, met the local drunk on his bike who told me to f*&k off i can't get any fuel (work that one out) and then a lovely indigenous child who thought it was funny to skim rocks on the water at two ali baots with the people on board and the mother couldn't give a rats about it. Plus side was the poeple at the Mackerel Motel who sorted our car and trailer storage are wonderful people and made sure we knew where we where going and what channel to be on etc, good to know for a first timer like myself.

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Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target

crasny1's picture

Posts: 6985

Date Joined: 16/10/08

Great Report Bruce

Mon, 2010-11-08 07:54

I am also like the others. Been up here 4 yrs and no Onslow. But then previously lived under a Ski resort and no skiing.

Ill be in for the next trip mate. I have always wanted to go to the mackerels.

Neels

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"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk

Brucesta's picture

Posts: 1721

Date Joined: 29/05/09

Neels not a problem mate

Wed, 2010-11-10 10:38

Neels not a problem mate i'll be arranging a trip over next year around the same time (late october) and i'll be sure to let you know.

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Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target

crasny1's picture

Posts: 6985

Date Joined: 16/10/08

What size Bruce is your Boat

Wed, 2010-11-10 10:47

I have the traily 5.4 Sports cab and always wondered whether it is big enough to go to the Mackerels. Now I think I know?

Neels

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"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk

JohnF's picture

Posts: 2837

Date Joined: 07/07/10

Bruce, where did ya get that

Wed, 2010-11-10 11:02

Bruce, where did ya get that nice little knob for the Tierra....the standard Tierra knob blows chumks....

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Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.

JohnF's picture

Posts: 2837

Date Joined: 07/07/10

Bruce, where did ya get that

Wed, 2010-11-10 11:02

Bruce, where did ya get that nice little knob for the Tierra....the standard Tierra knob blows chunks....

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Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

It's only around 20km or so

Wed, 2010-11-10 12:38

It's only around 20km or so to Thevernard island. Can see the tanks one you leave Beadon Creek.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Brucesta's picture

Posts: 1721

Date Joined: 29/05/09

5.3m centre console Neels,

Wed, 2010-11-10 16:19

5.3m centre console Neels, think of it as a trip to Rosemary Island but without the islands as protection and as dodgy said you can see the tanks on the horizon. If the weather turns bad then you just have to be a little smarter about where and how to fish Neels, but im sure that if it is great then you're going to be in for some fun!!!

 

John, that's the handle that came with my Tierra 4000, brought it about 12 months ago so they may have updated from previous models.

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Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target