I haven't seen to many fishing reports put up lately so thought I would write a quick report of some of my monties trips over the last 18 months.

I will keep it pretty brief and let the pictures tell the story, i have been lucky enough to head to the islands a few times with my normal deckie paul who comes up from Perth and a few different mates aswell on my boat and others bringing there own boat to tag along we have had some fantastic trips and 1 not so fantastic trip where we got to the islands unpacked the boat and went to go for a fish and  i could heard a horrible crunching sound coming from the engine so i pulled into a bay lifted the engine cover and could see the water pump pulley wobbling and the bearing had failed so limped back to camp and we were grounded for a few days so made the most off fishing off the island which we still had a blast and arranged a tow back to dampier a huge shout out to blue lightning charters for the tow what a top bunch of people.

I like to camp on bluebell island as it's a quick trip out for a fish, most of the fishing Is done out west and to the north with a small amount on the eastern side,  We have caught a nice variety of fish on the trips with every trip producing something new, it generally doesn't take long to find some nice trout and reds, the long nose emperor are in plagues the first couple are fun as they are a hard fighting fish buy you get a bit tired of catching them, it's always a fun going for a troll to give the arms a rest for a little bit but they get a good workout when you hook up there are some good size Mackies over there it was a nice surprise to catch a couple of job fish while trolling, 

It's always fun in the water having a dive the variety of fish is awesome one of my favourites was a 80cm+ barramundi cod such a pretty fish, it's pretty easy to shoot something for a feed and always a few crays around unless your on a full moon then they all seem to be hiding deep in the coral the tides can make it very difficult and at times dangerous so you definitely need to pick your tides when your in the water and also cruising around the islands.

We try and eat a difficult variety of fish every night and some of the smaller varieties are defenatly the tastiest

On one trip i had a mate loose his wedding ring as he jumped off the boat at the island and we couldn't find it so on my next trip which was almost 12 months later I took the metal detector and a mate had a swing where he thought it may of been and within 20 minutes he had it in his hand.

I reached out to several members on here before my first trip several years ago and there valuable Info made it alot easier to plan the trips so reach out if your thinking of doing a trip I'm more then happy to share some knowledge I have learnt over the last few years heading over there.

I always launch from dampier as I find it easier to fuel up everything before heading over and its always nice to have a pub feed the night before and the night you get back to land. 

Cheers

Rod

 Hi guys, currently enjoying the beautiful weather at Onslow and started with a few nice fish but we have bern plagued with loads of floating banks of seaweed that completely stuff up any trolling.

Just wondering if anyone else has struck this and knows if it has any effect on the fishing apart from the obvious i.e stopping you from trolling as we have found the fishing bite to have gone right off. We do have a full moon today to contend with also so would be interested in experienced campaigners input in regards to weed and moon effects.

Havent gone completely without though as bagged personal best coral trout day 2 of 65cm in 15 mtrs of water no less and bagged a metre spaniard within an hour of arriving.

The real concern was how quiet Rosily was, we made the early trip to be there at sunup on a rising tide and picked up a lovely little tuna about 90cms but then it just died.

Anyway, not complaining but just keen to hear anyone's similar experiences or advice for getting our fillet quota up a bit.

cheers and enjoy the rain

 I will be in Onslow for a week in August 14 - 21, and keen to chace a Mackerel or two to take home. I have brought a boat rod, reel lures, etc and caught some gars in Carnarvon. If anyone is in town and needs a deckie or knows someone in town who wouldnt mind taking out an extra for a fish let me know. Obviously I can contribute to fuel etc for the day and or chuck in a carton.

Mack 1

 Hi Guys,

Been in wickham for a couple of months, and was wondering if anyone would be able to help me with some fishing tips and spots to catch some fish, i have tried down at the causeway ( think thats what its called) at sams bridge there but didnt get anything and ive got a trailcraft 680 so can go out and fish also had a play around but dont really know where to start, im not after anyone to just give me there spots as i appreciate they're hard to find but would just love some guidance to be able to catch something worthy to bring home and put on the table haha,

Also happy to take people out if they dont have a boat, and fish

Cheers 

 Before I go crazy and spend heaps on squid lures ..When does the window for catching them close around Karratha and Dampier.

thanks

 Just a handful of snaps, this was my 7th trip up past "The Gate", and the first time solo, did 19 nights in total, covered around 1500kms. 

Video of some drone footage here also"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYLxqh5u98o

\

 Hi all,

We recently moved up to Karratha and just got our first boat a month ago. We have been out bottom bashing to Madeline shoals and just past the ship anchor zone but have not had much luck with catching anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where we can find some spots to check out? Or even what to look for when searching for good ground up here.

Would happily pay in pilbara currency.

Thanks in advance :) 

Hi Folks,

New to Fishwrecked and forums generally, so please forgive lack of ability with this media.

After reading an article in Western Angler (I think) some time ago by Ashleigh Boyce and some adventures of "Kimberley Salt", I,ve been keeping an eye out for more information regarding a trip out of Derby. Planning to go round to Horizontal falls and rtn. About 8 days worth I reckon. The contributors to Fishwrecked Forums have been incredibly helpful. Big ups to those who share their stories and adventures. My juices are flowing and your tips are very welcome.

Planning for early June 2020 with 2 x 5.8 meter Trailcrafts. Others boats are welcome, particularly with experience in the area.

Being a natural worrier, I’ve spent an amazing amount of time trolling up information from tides to menus to fuel loads and spares.

Would appreciate advice on a couple of things that have me itchy:

Navionics overlays – Do they work with Lowrance gen 3 HDS 7? And are they available for the area?

Night routine – I see pics of beached vessels and also read volumes on never beaching at night. Would love to hear from the voices of experience regarding night routine and anchoring advice in this high tidal part of the country. While I’m selecting neap tides for the trip, crew welfare is always 1st priority, so getting a sound night routine understood is important. GPS coords are always wecome for safe anchorage and camp sites.

BTW I lived in Exmouth for 16 years and return for a couple of weeks each year. Have fished most things from creeks to Gamex to deep dropping, the usual. Happy to share experience. 

So we are Heading West then East .so after any info on blue crabs,and easy access places for a feed of scales,No tinny No 4wd Van and Trail blazer ,so any free campng spots would be awesome to .Only land based info will be awesome .

Gday

ive decided just yesterday to scoot down to Exmouth gulf for some camping by myself next week, thinking of dragging the 13ft tinny along.  A couple of questions though

can I camp on the beach at bay of rest area?

beach launching I’ve read on here is ok there, I take it that’s still ok?

whats this area like for spearing in close or is it better further back towards town? 

I may camp in town if needed but would prefer to camp out on the beach

thanks

Spent a few days at what’s becoming my favourite place anywhere, picked up several Barra in the creek along with more threadies than I’ve ever seen, got some huge whiting just out front, but it may be hard to access soon with this new iron ore project. It will be a crying shame if access is denied.  

Managed to get the dinghy in the water up here, winds been a pain but we’ve been mainly fishing the creeks, muddies have been easy and the jacks and threadies have been the dominant fish hitting the lures. Haven’t managed a Barra yet, one of the guys in the boat with us lost a nice fish at the boat. One of my mates here has a Thai wife, we’ve given her access to our kitchen. She’s done things to those crabs and fish I’ve never seen or tasted before. Hopefully they hang with us for a while. 

Heading up to Exxy over the Christmas break - anyone had much luck in the gulf?

any part in particular? 

going to make my way over to the coast around the 40 mile and vegetate for a couple of weeks in January, barring extreme weather events, much happening over that way? 

 Couple of weekends ago on my usual Saturday morning flick down the spoily...came across this fella. Absolutely hammered my twistie in shallow water. Initially called it for a decent trevally until it started the acrobatics.

Quick measure came in under legal size so a couple of snaps and off it went for another day. Certainly not what I was expecting to catch!!

Jarryd

 From Mackerel Islands Fishing Charters last week. 9184 6444 to book your awesome fishing package!

Mackerel Islands & Onslow Fishing Charters 

If you're up in the Pilbara or planning a trip, just a heads up that we're operating fishing charters out of Onslow and the Mackerel Islands (Thevenard Island), on a brand new, custom built 11m twin hull LeisureCat, with 300hp Yamaha outboards. Charters include morning tea, lunch, water and cool drinks, with Shimano gear - overhead reels, spinning combos and game rods - plus all bait and tackle.

Pics of the boat below, "Island Escape".

Prices departing Onslow are $340pp own line or $480 per 2 people shared line. Departing from Thevenard it's $300pp own line or $440 per 2 people shared line. You can also book the whole boat for up 10 people.

We have stay & fish packages available also - these include beachfront cabin accommodation on the island, all meals, return ferry transfers. 3 nights / 2 fishing charters for $1440pp or 7 nights / 4 fishing charters for $2990pp. Bring your partner for a massively discounted price!

Get onto a big variety, reef fish to pelagics. We're renowned for Red Emperor, Rankin Cod, Gold Band, Coral Trout, Spanish Mackerel, Wahoo, Yellowfin Tuna, Amberjack, Jobfish, Pearl Perch, Giant Trevally, Queenfish, Ruby Snapper, Marlin, Sailfish, Mahi Mahi.

Virgin fly Perth to Onslow direct, so you can be up there in 2 hours!

Shout out if you need more info or have any questions - (08) 9184 6444, or send me a PM.

 g'day guys. Working in Wickham at the moment and was just seeking some info about minimum tides for launching at Wickham back beach and point Samson. Only got out once in the last two weeks with no dramas during the neaps. We did run across a manta and pulled a nice cobia off it, but with the forecast looking better later this week would really like to do some exploring. Any info on these or any of the Karratha/ Dampier ramps would be much appreciated. Will happily pay in beer currency for the info. Cheers Paul

 Epic first day out off dampier for 2018.

Couple of good size Rankin and a good feed of reds. 

Had to fight off a few sharks that kepted taking baits on the bottom.

But was tight lines for the boys. 

Heading to Neds for a week 1st week in September. Has anyone launched a boat

at the sand/beach launch at Neds?

Any other info on the area would awesome, taking a 5m side console and kayak.

thanks 

 Hi fellow tragics,

Got 3 weeks holidays in september this year. 

Have read a few older posts on going fishing and boating up north but it seems i may have missed the best time due to the wind??

What do you all reckon?

Am I wasting my time and effort towing my boat up at that time of year or is it still ok?

Would love to explore the islands in the archipelago off dampier but boat is only a 5.65 ocean whaler c/c.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers!!

 Making some plans to explore these river systems from the ocean side as far up as we can get in trailer boats this winter, wondering if anyone has been in and can share some advice, or if you know of anybody you can refer me on to   cheers 

Pic: Prince Regent River 2 years ago

 Fellas, after leaving sunny Hedland 17 years ago as a teenager, I am soon to be heading back with my young family to start a new adventure. I am relocating back up there with MRWA. One of the things I loved about the place growing up was, funnily enough the fishing!

Now I have a fair whack of gear that i regularly use here in perth, but it is predominantly suited to light gear / bream fishing. I think the heaviest combo i have is a 3000 saros with 10lb braid! Obviously I will need to up that a tad, however what I am more curious about it lure selection.

I am pretty good with the SP's when breaming and chasing salmon and such but not sure how much will translate up to Hedland?

Could anyone give me an idea of types of hard bodies that woudl serve me well up there? I am thinking just general 50gm+ stick baits and the like?

I will be land based and have a few old usual haunts I will hit up but any suggestion of land based locations for a flick would be much appreciated! 

Cheers

Jarryd

 So me and few friends will be visiting near Karratha at the end of this month for work and we have a few days off to maybe go fishing. The problem is we have no idea where to go or any of the basics of fishing that area.  We also won't have any fishing gear.

If possible can y'all answer a few basic questions.

1. What kind of fishing license do we need?  I read somewhere that if fishing from land we don't need a license but wanted to confirm.

2. We are also interested in booking an offshore charter and on another thread I found that 2 charters in the area are Oceanic and Aqualand charters. Does anyone have emails for either of them, or does anyone know of any other charter services near Karratha? If so can you get me an email?

3. If there are no charters we thought about packing reels and buying some cheap rods when we get there.  The problem with that is we have pretty limited traveling ability so can yall recommend some spots near Karratha that are fairly easy to get to?

If I can search and get a little more info I might have some more questions but if anyone can give me any leads I would appreciate it.

Thanks guys.

november was a good month for chasing reds. had 3 trips with a couple of diffent crew looking about and found plenty / got our bag limits quicky but let plenty of rippers go too. true pilbara living the dream stuff!

 Hi all,

My husband is heading up to Dampier to do some fishing off the islands with a mate.

I am not sure if this is rude to ask, but, is anyone prepared to share some

co-ordinates for Mackeral Alley? I believe they are going to tonk around a bit and

he had heard there was some good fishing in Mackerel Alley.

Cheers and thanks 

 Hi all I'll be heading up to Balla Balla mid July or early August. I realise the first ramp I'll need a reasonable tide but what about the ramp on the left does anyone know what the lowest point in the tide I can launch a 3.7m tinnie.

cheers

Aaron

Hello all, we are going to slowly mosey our way across to the coast over the next couple of weeks and looking to stay at Clearville, I have a 3.8m dinghy to fish from, is there provision for launching there or will it be a beach launch? Also, what might I catch around there?

 We did this trip last winter, it was my 6th trailer boat adventure into the wilds of the Kimberley coastline, we pushed up the PRR so far that once we had run out of water on the high tide in the 8m boat, we launched a blow up and kept pushing. Sometimes with the leg up on the 5hp and using a stick, we were like madmen obsessed!  Good to get up the end after having to turn around in the approaches to the mouth last year due to a lack of fuel reserves. Stunningly remote up the end of the river with amazing bat colonies, it was like something out of jurassic park.  we did not see another vessel anywhere after raft point, epic solitude.  heres the snaps from that trip, first image is at Kuri Bay where we had 1200 litres ULP cached for us conveniently on the jetty

 After looking for some time i finally took the plunge and bought a decent sized boat that had been lying in pt samson unused for nearly 2 years (the old Global Surveyor 25m), shes getting a refit now for summer charters in Perth and next year aim to start up trips to Dirk Hartog and the Montes.  On the ferry down we took some time out at the Montes of course, it was my first time there and like everyone else that has visited im sure i could easily whittle away a month exploring all the nooks and crannies!  I didnt expect the place to be so shallow there are actually only a few places you can get a big boat into so a tender or two well set up is really important here.   Amazing place that everyone should try and get to at some point!   Excuse all the boat pics but after 5 weeks slaving away in 40oC heat getting her seaworthy i was pretty chuffed to be out on the water in it!