Hi Daniel,

I think you are going to find it very difficult to find a charter to take you out and let you use your "light" gear. Pe6-8 seems to be the minimum because with lighter gear, other charter customers are going to be annoyed having your fish pull you around the boat tangling with their lines, losing jigs & gear in the process. I suppose if you have the "coin" you could hire the entire boat out for yourself though ;)

Also, charter operators want customers to get the fish up as fast as possible and in a good condition for release, rather than a longer fight on light gear with the fish half dead when you land it!

Mate, there are now a lot of resident sharks at the barges (100-115 m depth) where the main charters go for sambos, so PE2 will likley result in getting bricked or sharked.

PE3 is normally enough for most sambos except the XOS models, but again, it will be too slow and sharks will be an issue.

PE5 is the best option really when sharks are taken into account. If the charter is a good one, he should leave as soon as the first fish gets taken by a shark, but lots just stay there and make the problem even worse....

There are a few shallow spots in 30-50 m range, a few charters go to the shallow spots but they are hit and miss. This is where we target sambos, as they fight much harder in this depth and no sharks. HOWEVER......PE2 is a waste of time, you will get bricked 8 out of 10 times....we fish PE5 locked up and it is heaps of fun, go to PE3 when we are tired and put on cheap jigs.....

My PE3 outfit is an oceajigger 1500NR PG and jigforce B58/4, stops most sambos.

Hey mate,

last i heard Shikari was moving to Carnarvon so im not sure if you will be able to get out with him in perth.

Your best bet to get into some sambos would be saltwater charters(Craig). Jigging out on the wrecks(110meters) is sharked out most of the time so you will likey be fishing shalllower ground around rotto(50 meters). I would reccommend a Pe5 outfit for the majority of your fishing(the outfits you outlined would be perfect. I fish spin myself a stella 8000 and AMJ54H for the majority of my Sambo jigging over here which has proved to be spot on.

You can have some fun on pe3 and craig will let you if you dont cause havoc.It really depends on the experience of the anglers on board on the day whether you will get away with that sort of caper.:)

As far as other options go speak to craig, he does everything you mentioned. If you also dont mind a 1.5 hour drive north try and book in with whitey at seasport charters in jurien bay. There should be some bigger dollies on the fads up there if they survive the winter and the pe2-3 outfits will get a workout on the Dhu's,snapper,mulloway ect

all the best

 Hi guys! alrite thks so much for the info!

anyone knows if  shikari has already moved to Carnarvon or still in perth? or any other way that i can contact them?

thats exactly why im thinking of chartering the whole of a small boat for me and my friends so that we can fish with relatively light tackle!

Any one know of other reliable smaller charter boats? 

Worst come to worst, Ill either book Saltwater or Blue juice (recommended?) n go out with the mob. but ill prob use my heavier setups then!

Another vote for the PE5+ if you are planning to fish the barges.

You might get lucky and find a day when the sharks are quiet, but you will literally lose every single fish to sharks if they are fired up and you try and use PE2.

Having said that I have found that if you go to the right spots (aka not the main barge grounds), you can usually do ok. Landed around 100 sambos off my boat last season and only had 2 days where sharks were a problem (but on those days they were ravenous and would hit the jigs, let alone wait for a fish to hit the jig first)

As my Sji limits me to 5nm.

I found a Guy who fishes out of Mindarie, he charges 70 bucks per person and said he would teach me to jig as well. Man was I stoked, I organised 2-3 mates to go with me and have now given up. He dropped us everytime, cancelling at the last minute. (at 70 bucks a pop I am going to keep trying, can't beat that price)

I guess the next question should be, is there anyone out there who will take some nu-bees out if they have space. (for a split in fuel costs etc.)

I did one charter and was not too impressed, paid $250, we left at 6:30 am and were back in the harbour at 2:00pm. effectively only got 4 hours fishing in.

thanx

 alrite guys! looks ike i may i have to go with saltwater charters after all!

thks

Hey there

Shikari is splitting time between Carnarvon and Freo so you may be able to get out with them.

Given the outfits you want to use you should talk to Al Bevan ( Shikari skipper) about jigging some snapper as well as chasing samsons. We had a ball catching big snapper on jig's, fly and soft plastics with Al.

Yo can contact him on

+61412131958

I am doing a trip with Al to Carnarvon in a month so I will try to post a report. It might be worth thinking about for your trip as well.

Cheers

Bob

Hi thks! but does Al have an email! coz im currently in SG and its hard for me to call him!

Yiu can contact Al at

Cheers

Bob

 rite just email him! thks!

 i would not bother. the sambo fishery has been ruined buy the perth charters. i fished for 5 days with a taiwan company on a hillarys boat last season..... 1 day of acceptable fishing, wen sambos couldnt b found we went to the barges and fed the sharks. an absolute disgrace. its getting worse and worse every year , iv even been abused by skippers/owners on facebook. lucky i bought my own boat

andyh

This is exactly why I posted suggesting contacting AL.

And I know I may sound like an Al Bevan nut hugger BUT

I have travelled from the east coast for the last few years to fish Samsons with Al. He has put us on fish consistently, and on most occasions we have had the schools to ourselves ( i.e not the barges) when we have been sharked he has moved us straight away. We have had days where we have moved around a lot to keep away from sharks but we have always managed to catch fish.

Add to that he has the metro pinkies on a string and has been getting some cracking kingfish it makes for a great charter.

Now, I have not fished with any other operators in Perth ( I have never had the want or need to change) but a search on this forum is all that is required to see that some operators are more than happy to take 20 people out to the barges and feed the sharks all day and others really work hard to maintain the fishery.

I think guys like Al, and Craig (saltwater charters always gets a good rap on here) should be supported in their efforts to do the right thing.

In my mind the fishery is not dead, it has just moved beyond the shoulder to shoulder 20 on a boat catch em on spanners fishing that it was years ago.

Cheers

Bob