What a cold front we had over Perth the other week. Big enough to reach as far north as Shark Bay and turn our 5 day trip testing the new 3” Madeye Flick Stick and Mad Crabs into a 3 day Trip.

We started the first day down the bottom of the bay trying to shelter from the wind. Shark bay is almost void of any rock so even the smallest bit of broken ground can produce big results. We headed out towards some rocky outcrops and crossed our fingers the fish would play ball.

We both tied on 3” flick sticks and within no time Ira had a small pinky nudging 40 at the boat. I was keen on getting a few Photos but Ira assured me that there was much bigger fish out there.
The rat snapper were plentiful and we both landed around 10 or so that put up a great fight on bream gear. The definitely go harder than bream of the same size and are great fun n shallow water.
While we weren’t getting busted off by the clean fighting pinks small tailor continually kept bitting through the leader. To try and get away from the tailor i tied on a “Mad Crab” and was straight away into baby tusk fish and baldies. While they weren’t big that certainly had a knack at trying to bury you into the reef. While the first 4 or so were good fun after around 10 i was beginning to get flash back of getting harassed by wrase back home.
While Ira had caught a couple of Tusk Fish it was amasing to see how much they preferred the crab pattern. While no big ones were landed this time im keen to head up again to try and land a sized model.

The rat Pinkys were still coming in thick I managed to pull one fish 45cm out from the rats but with no larger  fish in sight  we decided to change spots.

We reached the small rock around the size of a car sitting in 2-3m of water. I decided to pull out the 12lb out fit with a ¼ jig head and tied on another Flick Stick. As our drift got closer to the rock Ira said “Next two or 3 cast are were the fish will be”. Sure enough on the third cast i hopped the flick stick across the bottom as i flicked it up off the bottom it got steam trained and braid began singing off the Sol 3000. Even in shallow water it amazing how clean the Pinkys fight. After a few minutes we soon caught a glimpse of a cracker of a fish. Ira slipped the net underneath the first real snapper  to be caught on a Madeye Flick Stick.
Its a great feeling to see something you drew on a piece of paper turn into a fish producing lure. After a few happy snapps  i cast out to the rock Again. Smashed again. This was great fun catching snapper in water that you can clearly see the bottom of. Another fish on board a few more pics and back it went.

The next hour or so was absolute mayhem. With 60cm+ fish lining up to smashed a well presented soft plastic. After landing a few more fish on the Flick Stick i decided to Tie on an Proto-type Octo Skirt. I have already had success using these back in perth for nice snapper up to 5kgs. The way the skirts flutter without even having to jig the lure just drives pinkys nuts. Sure enough both designs got engulfed. The Octo Skrits are definitely a dynamite lure for snapper and we hope to be able to bring them out in the near future after a bit more tweaking.

As we headed for another drift of the rock i decided it was time to try a hard bodied lure. The Sebile 35mm and 42mm Flat shads have proven to be a great Vibe for big bream  so how would the larger model go on the larger fish. It took a few cast at the rock but a nice pink came and picked it up off the bottom. This fish didn’t really notice it was hooked and for a second or two it sat the crushing on the lure. After i applied a bit of pressure he soon woke up and another battle ensued. As the fish came up we got a realised how dark he was with striking bars on his scales. Maybe this is a fish that live in the weed and has blended in to suit his surrounds. 

It was now Ira’s turn to put down the camera and have a go. He insisted on sticking with the 4lb bream gear and sent a flick stick out to the rock. In no time he was on. The fish peeled of line and we had to chase him down with the Kota. I was worried the 4lb would be no match but Ira skilfully played the fish towards the boat. After a few tense minutes i had the fish in the net. Another beautiful pink snapper.

By now we had landed around 12 fish over 60cm and with another 2 hours up to Denham we decided to leave the fish bitting.

It was a great start to the trip but how would the next 2 day fair.