G'day Everyone,

My first post to the site after many months of envious viewing over the various forums, well done to the site admin team and content from the fisho's out there.

Well I checked out the weather last Saturday and by all accounts Sunday was going to be a stunner on the water and it didn't take long to round up a couple of deckies for a 3:30 start heading out to Point Samson from Karrachi.

Arriving at the boat ramp I wasn't dissapointed with the glass off that awaited us and we were soon heading out toward Delambrey Island to investigate some ground that had interested me on a couple of local maps.

40 minutes on full throttle had us on some average looking ground but we still had a bottom bounce and true to the sounders word we puled up a couple of average cod, time to move and working birds not far away had us thinking pelagics.

After a short sprint to some working birds we had a spread going of two red heads through a big bait ball and we we were soon hooked up and much to our delight a 8 kilo mackie on ice after some arranging of the esky.

We continued to troll and picked up numerous yellow fin tuna and mack tuna all released before we started thinking bottom again, so we decided to head over some ground we had previously bagged out on snapper closer to Huay island.

We picked up a few nice snapper but we started to have some serious concerns about two things; One of my deckies was seriously starting to concern me with signs of heat stress and the looming storm clouds on the horizon heading toward Samson. 

If anyone was out on the water on Sunday you would Know that it was very F$%king hot, after looking at my deckie and knowing the signs of heat stress the decision was made to head home before his condition became worse, I wasn't happy but my mates health was average.

Heading back to Samson it was evident that we were also going to have some issues with the storm cell that was also heading toward Samson and it was definately going to be touch and go if we could make it back to the boat ramp before the storm front hit.

Well we didn't make it, the storm hit just as we were out the front of the Samson and the mini water spouts ripping across the water had us deciding to head for the beach and nose into the wind until the worst had passed, it was a good decision and we safely rode out the worst of the conditions in the relative comfort of knowing if we had to swim to shore if we did come unstuck we didn't have far to go.

As for my deckie I think the adrenaline snapped him out of feeling like Shite and he soon came good.

We made it back safely to the ramp followed by a couple of other boats and on speaking to the skippers it was agreed it wasn't a very fun experience.

Lesson learned, respect your mother nature and if you see a storm coming play it safe and head home.

For the record I searched the BOM records and Roeborne airport had wind gusts up to 105 Kmh when the storm front came through, we were very lucky.

Next time I will try to include more photo's of fish, but what i will say is that between Delambrey and Hauy island the fishing can be awsome and there always seems to be pelagics patrolling the ripping tide.

Just wanted to say hi to everyone i have just signed up. i love this web site i have often used it for inspiration before planning my fishing adventures and now the time has come to get involved! I thought id start my posting a picture of a mulloway i caught last wednesday. we got some inside information that there was no ships in so we went out for a quik trip after work and ended up with 2 mulloways in between the trevally cod and sharks. The biggest one was 1.3metres both were released. Thank you

Hi everyone,

Well its been a while since my last update. Ive been away for a few weeks down south and managed to get out for a fish with a mate . We boated a few dhu's and some cracking sambo's off Canal Rocks. Unfortunatly no pics out of that little outing.

I would normally be in the water diving for crays and using the straight hook for the dhu's down there but the recent hype on the sharks was distracting. A quick cruise past the seal colony on the tip of the cape was enough to confirm that even the seals had done a runner. There were hundreds of them out there, that day we counted about a dozen

We moved around the coast further towards Dunsborough, we have a favourite little beach thats great for a swim. We didnt venture out to far but with the water like glass we could see everything that moved. The kids love it and its very easy to sit back and have a few beers.

Another shot of the water!!

Once back at home in Dampier i couldnt wait to get out on my boat, now to check the weather! What do you know they forcast a bloody cyclone!! It turned out to be a blessing as the cyclone veered towards Hedland (sorry guys! I was up there yesterday to see some of the left over mess) but Dampier was left with nearly 2 weeks of absoloutly glassy conditions. I managed to get out with a mate and his wife who are both keen fishos and we had a ball.

We spent the morning jigging with a mix of pirates, McCarthy's & Gulps. We were in 48 - 50m of water and had plenty of fish under the boat. We sounded for a few minutes before coming over a big congregation of fish, first drop and we boated a golden trevally so we knew what the large school was! Nothing wrong with fresh golden trevally but we were after quality table fish. The new few drops and drifts continued to produce a heap of different trevally.

We did a couple of longer drifts and got a scarlet sea perch and a Spangled'y.

Another drift produced yet more trevally and a rankin, the best thing was we could see the fish on the sounder but also watch the jig in action and the fish chase the jig on the way up. Wish i had of grabbed some scrren shots! With such a calm day the jigs were right under the boat and you could almost call the strike!

We only boated one cobia this trip but he was undersize and went back to fight another day.

Those big golden trevally are just big hoovers on the bottom and one of them spat out this sea horse (he was succesfully released along with the trevally).

This was the culprit!

We boated 2 more rankin (and a few more trevally!!) The rankin below loved this McCarthy paddletail, it produced a couple of nice fish!

In the end we kept one last trevally for a fish curry, 3 rankins, 1 spangled and one scarlet sea perch. We certainly werent breaking any records on the size but it produced a good feed and was enjoyed by all on the BBQ that night!

Did i mention how good the weather was??

Cheers,

Russ

This weekend couldn’t have come fast enough. It seems the more time I spend up the creeks the more addicted I become. This time it was brucester that was tasked with pulling the anchor and carrying the live bait bucket. Bruce hadn’t had a lot of opportunity to chase barra yet this season so when I gave him a last minute call he jumped at the chance to try and open the account. We started the day well, picking up two Chromies on the trawl early. Two more fell victim to the ol’ live mullet in the mud hole trick. All in all it was actually very quiet, there was not a lot of by catch to keep us entertained. Also we didn’t drop any barra so the strikes were few and far between. Having said that, I loved it. It is still a good way to pass the time when you are busy drinking beer.  I can’t wait to get back amongst the mud and midgies and wrestle with my next paddle tail

First Barra measured in at 68cm

Second Barra was a solid 74cm

River queens put up an amazing fight, complete with aerial show (pic: Brucester)

Little blue salmon

Brucesters season opener 80cm

Biggest of the trip, 83cm of nigh time barra

Cheers

 G'day to all,

I'm looking at buying an Ally trendsetter(2005) 5.5m with a 4 stroke 140 johnson(628 hours) on the back.I was wondering if anyone knows what kind of reputation these hulls have and whether you think this would be a good boat for the waters around Karratha.

Thanks for the welcome boys and any information would be greatly appreciated.Cheers

Hi to all.It's about time I joined FW, I have enjoyed the stories and pictures you all contribute and hope to add some of my own in the near future.Cheers

After 3 months of looking (stalking) this site i've decided to join up as its obviously the best site around

I look forward to reading, and drooling over other blokes and lass's fine catches, and also posting

a story and pic or 2

Cheers  

Gday everyone. Ive recently moved to Dampier and was wondering if anyone can help me out with some info regarding the mighty Red Emperor. Definately not after co-ords or anything (but if you are feeling generous!), just a point in the right general direction would be greatly appreciated. (Search function had mixed results). Getting tired of not catching anything!

Thanks in advance.

Took the wife and kids for a spin on south for a change towards Karachy.

After a short drive and a muddy launch we were on the water right on time for the action.

(Few hints)

Although he likes catching them he does not like touching them...(bit like his dad) but we tailied 3 in the short session two to one his way. Iwill catch him next trip.(Sorry about photo camera was in the esky)

F18's trolled over the deep hole was the oreder of the day on the tides we had, where as normaly casting riases a few.

Cheers POC

Commitments with work and family have kept me out of the creeks of late, but finally yesterday I was able to get out for a decent barra fish.  I was Lucky enough to be able to take my good mate Pete out for a run with the goal of popping his barra cherry and we were not disappointed. We weren’t able to clock up a large number. This was not an issue though. Seeing Pete catch his first ever barra as well as  the quality of by catch that included my PB thready and Petes first triple tail, made this trip very enjoyable.

First for the trip 78cm

Petes first ever Bazz 82cm

Nice river Queen

Petes first Triple tail 68cm

My PB thready 109cm

72cm of night time bazz

To put a different spin on things I thought I would do a Post that is reverse to most you see, when most tow the boat away for a trip they head North. Well I did the reverse. I towed my boat 1700km to fish PERTH. "What?" I hear you say, well I reckon that a change is as good as a holiday.

Normally I take holidays to fish Coral Bay, Exmouth or Kimberley but this time it was Perth. We decided that we would split the trip to Perth into two days with a night in Carnarvon. Uneventful trip except for the roadworks, but what’s another 20 stone chips on the boat!! Total time driving 21hrs.

-waiting for 20 minutes at road works

This holiday was all about catching up with family, visiting my sisters and bro inlaws farm and trying to use the boat when possible.

One thing I have learnt over the years is that to make a trip succesful you need to try to think outside the square. For example it was blowing 25+ knot easterly one of the days we planned to go out fishing ....well first thought was to cancel but then we came up with the idea to chase some crabs in Warnbro Sound. Easy, launch at Bent street boat ramp and head over to the east side of the bay. Once you get over there you are protected by the dunes, calm water and we got a good feed of blueys to boot!!! It would have been easy to roll over and go back to sleep.

Thought I would throw this pic in, it was taken at the farm when the Margaret river fires were on.

Once back from the farm we had a chance for a late arvo fish......it was decided that a run over to Garden Island for a look around with the possibility of catching a squid. Well the squid didnt play the game but we had an awesome time.

I love this picture, this is what boating is all about. One very happy wife soaking up the sun.

The wind was against us most of the time but I was not going to let that get in the way. So off to Mandurah to cruise the Murray River. We did this trip twice, once with the Grandparents and another time with younger family. This waterway is amazing, there is so much to expolre and do. You can go from Mandurah right up to Pinjarra with the compulsory stop at the Ravenswoods pub (Ravo).

If your family are not into boating this is the place to take them, most of the river is 5 knot zone. Take the wife and kids, make the day about them. Bring the wine n cheese, pull up to the deli, buy the kids an icecream or shout them fish and chips.

I'm often asked how I get to spend so much time fishing, well to be truthful half the time I'm not fishing I'm boating. Sometimes you need to forget the fishing and make it all about everyone else. I get more pleasure watching my wife, family and friends having a good day then I do pulling in any big fish. Mind you, the dhuy did come close but more of that shortly.

Cruising the Murray River

Heading up nearer to Pinjarra where the surounding landscape turns into farms

Had a good laugh at this, something I'm used to seeing up North.

Once again happy wife

We headed down to Mandurah for early dinner of fish and chips

Another random shot but the Guys at Chivers Marine did me a favour and knocked up a roof rack for my ute. Cracker job thanks guys!!!! They also fitted up a 1kw transducer. I've been asked quite a bit lately for some details about the boat so I have decided to do a post just about the boat, you will see that within the next week.

We had a great Christmas day with Family and friends. Was really nice spending Christmas day with young ones running around opening presents and having a good time. There was time for one more fish before heading back home. This time it was to be a trip off Two Rocks, a place I have never fished.

Had to leave home at 3.15am to be at Lukes place by 4am. We then headed up towards Two Rocks picking up Dave along the way. We arrive at the ramp to be faced with howling easterlies (as per the forecast) but knowng that it should die off just before the sea breeze comes in.

We motor out at 6am and head to 3 mile, have a troll to try to nail a mackeral. There was weed everywhere and after a short try we gave up and headed out deeper for a bottom bash. We had a fast drift even with the sea anchor out and only managed a few fish not worth keeping. With the breeze starting to drop we head out a bit wider to some ground that showed promise. After a few more small bits not worth keeping I managed to nail a small Dhuy.

As per normal Luke out fishes me again and nails this nice one. With our bag limit we head for the ramp.

Well its time to head for home so we make the call to drive home in one day rather then splitting it into a two day drive. We leave at 3.30am and arrive home at 11pm.

Once again we have a ripper of a trip, it does not matter where you are or what you're doing with the right attitude you will have a great time.  I hope some of you guys and gals get out the camera, start taking photos and post up some reports. 

CCC 

PS I forgot to add that I did trip out to sea trial a new 25ft Chivers fitted out with the latest Simrad gear including an NNS12, NSS8, radar and the new CHIRP. We had a quick jig at the barges off Rotto and we trolled the fads. Smiles all round!!

Went for a pre Christmas fish, saw some fish out to the right on the side scan......moved over a bit and nailed

a couple of rats..........still good fun though. Look at the size of the lure one smashed, up sizing does work sometimes i suppose.

Have a good one.......................POC

Is it just me who is lately noticing numerous people throw netting in the middle of a creek?

I’m sure the rule was 500m from a creek mouth, creek inclusive??

I am not trying to stir anyone up or point the finger but allot of the boats had people with local fishing competition shirts and fishing club stickers plastered on their boats, am I missing something here, am I incorrect on the rules?

Thanks in advance.

Gday All,

I will be spending a bit of time in PHE and was wondering if there are any easily accesible landbased spots worth flicking a lure around , have seen Pretty pond ,i think, and looks OK to spend a few hours playing around  but just chasing some general pointers for the area .

Any advice greatly appreciated ,oh and where to go for a beer would be sweet ..Cheers Andy

Hi Guys,

            Been a member for a while now and this is my first post. Just like to say that I enjoy reading the website.

Caught this mackeral on Sunday 27/11/11.

BOM was predicting 8/13 knts in the morning with the winds picking up in the afternoon.

The plan was to launch early and come home by 10:00am before the winds picked up.

Me and my mate launched my boat from Dampier boat ramp at 4:30am with the intention of heading to Sailfish Reef.

When we got into the shipping channel the water was a bit rougher than expected but decided to stick to the plan.

Arrived at Sailfish Reef put two lines with plastic lures out and the plastic mirrored teaser for some trolling.

Had a few hits but no hook ups after 1 & half hours, was starting to lose interest especially with the annoying swell.

Then one of the lines went screaming, I grabbed the rod and my mate pulled in the other line and the teaser.

By the time this was done I was almost spooled so we had to chase the fish with the boat to get some line back.

After about 15 minutes of tug and war I was starting to feel sick so I handed the rod over to my mate to carry on.

After another 5 minutes he had it below the surface but could'nt make out what it was, first thoughts was a shark.

My mate got it to the surface and it was a huge spanish mackeral which was foul hooked in the guts, I gaffed it and we both lifted it on board.

After this we called it a day as I became sick and added some burley to the water.

Back at the boat ramp by 9:30am

Narrow Barred Spanish Mackeral 1400mm long, approx. 25kg, Shimano 15-24kg aqua tip rod, Penn 330GT overhead reel, 37kg monoline, red & white Halco L190 laser pro 190 2m+

Ive got an Ian Miller Barra Raider and someone lined up one of the centre guides with the bottom of their foot, and so I have a great rod short one guide. Ive heard of a few that are around town but havent seen anywhere that I can call them or drop in to see them. The sports store does repairs but its nearly cheaper to buy a new rod going through them. 

Well got to go for my first ever Bass session the other day.  was a lot of fun, using three kg gear is not something i am used to.  Had a ball landed 27 Bass and the other boys landed a few as well.  the also got a stoinker of a yellow belly which was pretty cool to see.  the lake is the main water source for the Hervey Bay area and there are boat restrictions in place.  we used the electric most of the day and caught all of the fish on lures either casting or trolling.  the biggest two fish were 45 and 43cm, great fun, looking forward to experiencing it again some time soon.  there were heaps of double hook ups at one point, was heaps of fun.  Hope you enjoy the pics

Brad

Just got back from an Awesome trip, totally new experience.  went bassin in lenthalls Dam just outside of Hervey Bay.  Got 27 bass in my first encounter casting and trolling a variety of lures.  will post a full report tonight

my new PB bass (hahaha after only one day of bass fishing) is 45cm,

stay tuned..

Was going out wide for a bottom bash yesterday as the weather was so bloody good. Saw this sail swimming and thought , chuck a lure at it...then realised it was a bit crook. Mate ended up jumping in and grabbing it by the beak. Funny stuff. Bit of swearing so be careful if there are kids around. I was a bit excited!!! No obvious signs of anything wrong, no tags and not a boat to be seen nearby who might have released it.  Was a lot of really dirty water around (algae or coral spunk) not sure but maybe that was wrong with it. Swam it after capture and it swam away not to be seen again after a couple of laps. Pretty cool. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psd5wpHdUz4

Cheers

Mullows

 I have spent a bit of time on the water the last couple of weeks in search of the very elusive barra. But any time I drop a live bait over the side it seems to get snavelled up by a shark! Went out last night and hooked about 5 sharks around the 1.5 - 1.8m size in the creeks. Not much fun when you have to spend a bit of time chasing the live bait. And even when we werent hooking them shining the torch along the shoreline showed up more solid fins cruising amongst the bait schools. 

I was invited to join Webby down at Point Samson on the weekend. After chasing a few tuna earlier on in the morning and sight casting to a few Blue Bastards around and island I decided to hit the channel markers up. I hooked up to something on my Nitro Voodoo and almost got spooled on the first run. Tough conditions hey?

 youtu.be/o_jUtuNMWRA

Enjoy, 

 Paul 

---LINK FIXED---

Since the first time I picked up a fly rod I have always wanted to catch a Spaniard on fly. I got that opportunity recently whilst out wide off Hedland with Captain Leith and his beautiful boat Real Screamer. My little brother Andrew filmed it and this is how it went. I had hooked and lost a few before this one as I did not want to use wire. I ended up using a really short length of single strand that was connected directly to the fly. It worked a treat.  

Enjoy the video, 

Paul 

youtu.be/9neKe-VdSPI

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Wilderness Island – Exmouth Gulf

I have been to some pretty special places around our beautiful country and the rest of the world but I  always find myself looking for that next idealic place to visit. Places like Kakadu, One Tree beach, Fiji, Bora Bora and the Maldives have always been high on my “to do” list......but that aint living!!

I have just found Wilderness Island, a small island on the eastern side of the Exmouth Gulf. A simple, yet effective place to get away and get back to nature. Wilderness Island is 40km due east across the Exmouth Gulf, for all the info on the island you can  check out their website: http://www.wildernessisland.com.au/

It’s basically untouched, the beaches are littered with shells, hermit crabs and drift wood and the bit your all waiting for ...... FISH. The Exmouth Gulf and the flats around the islands are just a boiling pot for a broad range of species.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttpCLxbf1uM

A good mate of mine, Jim Alston owns and runs the island with the help of a small team that resembles  a large, close knit family including Kim and there trusty fishing guide fondly known as “Harry Butler”. Jim has been asking me to come over and check out the island for the last couple of years and I’ve never quite made it. The good wife kindly offered me a leave pass for a few days last week so a quick call to Jim to confirm availability and I was on my way.

I shot across in my boat and arrived at the island around lunch time on Tuesday. The island was a hive of activity with Jim and a small team preparing to start the building of 7 new cabins on the island. As you can imagine this is no easy feat! There isn’t a Bunnings down the road and when the water is glassy calm trying to keep everyone focussed on the job isn’t easy. I quickly realised that my 4 day leave pass was going to be spent building the new cabins.

The main camp is large and very comfortable. It has a very rustic/beach shack/Robinson Crusoe feel with a few mod cons thrown in. The safari tents are the standard accommodation at the moment and the new cabins will be available at the start of next season (early next year). The clincher for me was the beachfront shower. Situated at the bottom of the cliff the “bathroom” is right on the beach and a hot shower over looking the bay at the end of the day makes you really wonder why you didnt book a few more days.

The Veiw from the shower!!

 As you all know a good trip away revolves around beer, fishing and food (that order can change accordingly) This trip was no different, the beers were always cold and flowing. The food was fresh and the fishing was always going to be good, now just to get a line on the water. That night we made sure we gave Jim a big feed and plenty of beers and then told him we were all going fishing the next day (not building the cabins!!). Jim’s rubber arm was twisted and when we woke on Wednesday morning the water was glassy.

Jim and I headed straight down to the “boat harbour” a small tidal creek at the back of the island that provides extremely safe anchorage to get my boat out before the tide dropped to low. We had a big cook up and a couple of coffee’s and then headed out for a fish. We didn’t have to go far (100m from the mooring) and we hooked a couple of small Malabar cod. A quick cruise south and the Queenies were following the boat, we had one Queenie that was happy to just sit under the boat in 2 meters of water and watch us throwing all manor of poppers and lures with little or no interest. We were drifting along the cliffs and the shallow reefs and the visibility was pretty good, we spotted a dugong and a large number of turtles. Apologies for the lack of photos of the fish!! The multi tasking (skippering/fishing etc) on the boat plus the fact that you basically get the fish to the boat and get it off and back in the water as quick as you can meant that the camera remained in the bottom of the bag for most of the day.

The list of species that we had in the boat that morning included Malabar cod, mangrove jacks, blue bone, brim, school mackerel and trevally. We had a number of hook ups on Queenies and spotted a few very shy GT’s. It was low tide by now and Jim jumped off  the bow of the boat at the cliff face and climbed up through a big sea cave.  A quick walk up the beach and we were amazed at the amount of wildlife. The birds, sea eagles, mud crabs, large schools of mullet and plenty of small black and white tipped reef sharks providing plenty of action busting up the schools of bait fish. We walked out on the flats to cast a few poppers and every cast would bring in a different species. Benno scored a nice queenie in water only knee deep, after a quick release Jim suggested we try a special lagoon.

The lagoon is a fantastic spot where we could sight cast or drop a lure right at your feet and watch the big jacks and cod smash the lure then run straight under ledges again. There was a big school of mullet that held up right at our feet and moved around the lagoon to avoid the small black tip reef shark and the fast moving queenie that came in for a look.

We only kept enough fish for us to take home for dinner that night, a Malabar cod, a jack, a nice blue bone and the mackerel (for smoking). Wilderness Island is a very special place and Jim and Harry are keen to keep it that way. They strongly enforce catch and release and don’t allow any fillets to go back to the mainland. If your looking for a fishing trip to get out there and fill your freezer, this isn’t for you!

Jim is closed now for the cyclone season but franticly working on a number of upgrades to the island including the 7 new cabins but also an airstrip. The season for next year is looking very promising and Jim is putting together some new packages including “bring your own boat” “The weekender” and some couples packages for those looking for a simple getaway. If your not sure don’t hesitate to give Jim a call or send him an email to discuss a package to suit you. I am sure you will see Wilderness Island on the FW website soon and some members discounts/packages to follow.

I can strongly recommend it!!

Cheers

Russ

Wilderness Island – Exmouth Gulf

I have been to some pretty special places around our beautiful country and the rest of the world but I  always find myself looking for that next idealic place to visit. Places like Kakadu, One Tree beach, Fiji, Bora Bora and the Maldives have always been high on my “to do” list......but that aint living!!

I have just found Wilderness Island, a small island on the eastern side of the Exmouth Gulf. A simple, yet effective place to get away and get back to nature. Wilderness Island is 40km due east across the Exmouth Gulf, for all the info on the island you can  check out their website: http://www.wildernessisland.com.au/

It’s basically untouched, the beaches are littered with shells, hermit crabs and drift wood and the bit your all waiting for ...... FISH. The Exmouth Gulf and the flats around the islands are just a boiling pot for a broad range of species.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttpCLxbf1uM

A good mate of mine, Jim Alston owns and runs the island with the help of a small team that resembles  a large, close knit family including Kim and there trusty fishing guide fondly known as “Harry Butler”. Jim has been asking me to come over and check out the island for the last couple of years and I’ve never quite made it. The good wife kindly offered me a leave pass for a few days last week so a quick call to Jim to confirm availability and I was on my way.

I shot across in my boat and arrived at the island around lunch time on Tuesday. The island was a hive of activity with Jim and a small team preparing to start the building of 7 new cabins on the island. As you can imagine this is no easy feat! There isn’t a Bunnings down the road and when the water is glassy calm trying to keep everyone focussed on the job isn’t easy. I quickly realised that my 4 day leave pass was going to be spent building the new cabins.

The main camp is large and very comfortable. It has a very rustic/beach shack/Robinson Crusoe feel with a few mod cons thrown in. The safari tents are the standard accommodation at the moment and the new cabins will be available at the start of next season (early next year). The clincher for me was the beachfront shower. Situated at the bottom of the cliff the “bathroom” is right on the beach and a hot shower over looking the bay at the end of the day makes you really wonder why you didnt book a few more days.

The Veiw from the shower!!

 As you all know a good trip away revolves around beer, fishing and food (that order can change accordingly) This trip was no different, the beers were always cold and flowing. The food was fresh and the fishing was always going to be good, now just to get a line on the water. That night we made sure we gave Jim a big feed and plenty of beers and then told him we were all going fishing the next day (not building the cabins!!). Jim’s rubber arm was twisted and when we woke on Wednesday morning the water was glassy.

Jim and I headed straight down to the “boat harbour” a small tidal creek at the back of the island that provides extremely safe anchorage to get my boat out before the tide dropped to low. We had a big cook up and a couple of coffee’s and then headed out for a fish. We didn’t have to go far (100m from the mooring) and we hooked a couple of small Malabar cod. A quick cruise south and the Queenies were following the boat, we had one Queenie that was happy to just sit under the boat in 2 meters of water and watch us throwing all manor of poppers and lures with little or no interest. We were drifting along the cliffs and the shallow reefs and the visibility was pretty good, we spotted a dugong and a large number of turtles. Apologies for the lack of photos of the fish!! The multi tasking (skippering/fishing etc) on the boat plus the fact that you basically get the fish to the boat and get it off and back in the water as quick as you can meant that the camera remained in the bottom of the bag for most of the day.

The list of species that we had in the boat that morning included Malabar cod, mangrove jacks, blue bone, brim, school mackerel and trevally. We had a number of hook ups on Queenies and spotted a few very shy GT’s. It was low tide by now and Jim jumped off  the bow of the boat at the cliff face and climbed up through a big sea cave.  A quick walk up the beach and we were amazed at the amount of wildlife. The birds, sea eagles, mud crabs, large schools of mullet and plenty of small black and white tipped reef sharks providing plenty of action busting up the schools of bait fish. We walked out on the flats to cast a few poppers and every cast would bring in a different species. Benno scored a nice queenie in water only knee deep, after a quick release Jim suggested we try a special lagoon.

The lagoon is a fantastic spot where we could sight cast or drop a lure right at your feet and watch the big jacks and cod smash the lure then run straight under ledges again. There was a big school of mullet that held up right at our feet and moved around the lagoon to avoid the small black tip reef shark and the fast moving queenie that came in for a look.

We only kept enough fish for us to take home for dinner that night, a Malabar cod, a jack, a nice blue bone and the mackerel (for smoking). Wilderness Island is a very special place and Jim and Harry are keen to keep it that way. They strongly enforce catch and release and don’t allow any fillets to go back to the mainland. If your looking for a fishing trip to get out there and fill your freezer, this isn’t for you!

Jim is closed now for the cyclone season but franticly working on a number of upgrades to the island including the 7 new cabins but also an airstrip. The season for next year is looking very promising and Jim is putting together some new packages including “bring your own boat” “The weekender” and some couples packages for those looking for a simple getaway. If your not sure don’t hesitate to give Jim a call or send him an email to discuss a package to suit you. I am sure you will see Wilderness Island on the FW website soon and some members discounts/packages to follow.

I can strongly recommend it!!

Cheers

Russ

Well finally i got to put the boat in and have a serious fish.  The plan was to head up on the inside of Fraser into the great sandy straits in search of flatties.  I had a couple of days up there with a good mate and we did pretty well overall.  We managed around thirty or so fish and dropped the same amount.  We didnt really target anything else, the fishing is quite different to what i am used to but a lot of fun.  We were stalking fish in less than ten cm of water at times.

I have included a few of the pics, sorry the report isnt a bit longer.  I hope you enjoy

Cheers

Brad

Hi Fella's,

Went out to Balla Balla last weekend for an overnight camping and fishing sesh. We had directions from a Karratha local but found our way to some flats with raised sections for camping on. This wasnt the spot we were told to head to and the tagalongs decided they wanted to head back to sherlock and camp which we ended up doing as my tinny was being towed by one of the tagalongs.

I have heard there is a turnoff of Balla Balla road to the right which takes you to the main camping area near the beach is that correct?

I am also after a contact phone number for the station there so we can do the right thing and ask permision to camp there.

Anyhow the tinny never got wet on Sinday which is a shame. some of those rock bars look real nice and fishy.

Cheers

Steve

 I have just finished putting this edit together. I filmed it a while ago when Chris and the Big O came up to do a Squidgies promotional visit to Karratha. We only had a few hours to spare when they got to Hedland and this is what happened. It was an amazing little session with the first cast getting nailed by a huge Barracuda and every cast seeing either a Bludger, Queenie, Brassy or reefie getting hooked. 

Enjoy, 

Paul

PS Hopefully this link works as I always have trouble with them.  

www.youtube.com/watch

Hi Guys,

Im 99.9% decided on a 7m ali Assassin up here in Karratha for me and my missus, its my bosses boat, ive heard nothing but good things about it and he is letting it go at a good price.

Its my first boat and my only concern is its size. I had originally only planned to get something in the 5.2-5.6 range so I could use it both in the creeks and out wide but after looking for about 2 1/2 months nothing has come up and although its 10k more then I wanted to spend its a hell of a boat for what he's selling it to me for.

so my question is, is it too big for 2 people to enjoy regularly? am I going to regret the extra expense and running cost of a larger boat?

A mate at work said that once you go out wide you never want to go up the creeks and I think I might get a kayak for the creeks instead.

so what does everyone think??

Friday night the weather was looking good the boat and gear was ready and everything was set for a big day chasing big reds out towards Wandoo. Well the alarm sounded at 3.30 and I was already awake with that sense of excitement before every fishing trip.

Once at the boat ramp there seemed to be a little bit more breeze than the weather sites had indicated the previous night. Once we cleared the Islands it was very clear that today wasn’t going to provide the weather needed to head out towards Wandoo so a change in plans was on the cards.

I noticed the largest school of birds I have seen in a long time working the Inner patch so we decided to have a troll around the edges looking for some nice Mackies as the freezer was starting to get a bit low but lost the first three or four fish between my deckie and I to the grey coats. After losing a Rapla X-Rap to the sharks I decided I didn’t want to give any more tackle to them and changed to casting twisties and soft plastics into the school of Tuna. Nothing seemed to be going our way, first the weather then the sharks and then the boiling Tuna didn’t want a bar of anything thrown at them. We decided one more drift past and we would move on and I finally hooked and landed a small Tuna.

We decided to trawl an area amongst the ships that had produced some nice Mackies and Wahoo on previous trips. Again after over an hour and several lure changes nothing much was happening until finally I hooked and landed a 12kg Mackie, just the right size for eating after which my deckie followed with one of his own. At least the trip had produced something. Just as we were feeling good about our chances the grey coats turned up nailing anything we hooked within seconds so a change of strategy was in order.

With a nice fish for each of we decided to give bottom bashing a go before heading home, Before getting started we set up a rod each with a mullie free drifting about 20 – 30 metres out the back. After dropping the mullie in while I was setting up the bottom bouncing rod I was telling my Deckie that while this outfit I had the mullie on cost an arm and a leg I didn’t like it, I always seemed to have a bad day when I used it or took it out and I hadn’t caught a fish worth disclosing on it. Then with the timing of a cheap comedy line started screaming first of my rod and then of my Deckies rod and I turned to see one of the most exciting things in my life, a good sized Sail Fish tail walking at the back of the boat. I grabbed the rod and the fun started, My deckie lost his fish a few seconds after he grabbed his rod so he turned his attention to helping me.

My heart was in the back of my throat as I tried to slow this majestic fishes first blistering run and watched as the line disappeared off my reel at a disturbing rate. Our biggest problem was getting the anchor in before I was spooled. The next minute or so was the most nervous and heart wrenching period in my fishing life, my mind was working over time asking myself how anchor line did I let out? How fast can the winch recover the line? Is my drag to tight or not tight enough? Are my knots going to hold up? Can this rod and reel handle a fish like this? Thankfully the fish had decided to run almost parallel to the boat while we recovered the anchor rope because as I heard the chain start to come over the rail I would have only had about 25 metres of line left on the reel.

It was game on, I knew that people land these fish quite often on 10kg setups in the Dampier Classic but most of these are experienced bill fish fishermen. I was using a Shimano Terez 10-30lb Rod with a Stella 5000 reel and 30lb Braid so I knew it was now achievable as we could chase this fish and take our time with the anchor recovered.

The next 20 minutes was taken up following the fish and keeping the fish about 50 metres from the boat. This whole time I just kept going over the basics, keep a bend in the rod, don’t over tighten the drag, keep the fish on the beam of the boat. This whole time the fish was jumping, tail walking and taking run after run to free it’s self but with every minute I was feeling a little better about my chances.

Finally I felt like I had the upper hand, I was able to turn him and stop each run pretty quickly, he was no longer tail walking, those exciting jumps had subdued into nothing more than a head lift and head shake. Now for the hardest part that I had been worrying about this whole fight bringing him to the boat.

I slowly started to work the fish the final 50 metres to the boat, I didn’t want to take the boat to him as I figured that if I could bring him to the boat then he was ready to be landed. Just as I was thinking I might actually do what I had only dreamed about the fish got it’s first look at the boat and decided he didn’t want any part of it. Turning and putting everything into his first boat inspired run he took back the 50 metres of line I had just worked so hard for. I settled the nerves and told myself better he runs now and uses that energy instead of doing it right beside the boat.

Again I slowly started to work the fish over the same 50 metres with a couple more smaller boat inspired runs. With the dedication of a saint and precision of a F1 driver my deckie turned and moved the boat to keep the fish at the side of the boat and stopped him busting off on the boat or motor in the final metres. While this fish was pretty much spent his size and my light tackle meant this still needed allot of concentration and communication to keep this fish on.

All or nothing, it was time to land this fish, then the unthinkable, a grey suit started to circle. “Holy crap, please God no, not this time” plus a whole lot of other words that I can’t repeat came out of my mouth, I couldn’t believe that after all this work and effort so close to the finish a shark was going rain on my parade. Then one of the most amazing things I have seen happened, the Sail fish knowing that its end was near had one last trick up it sleeve. It turned and faced the shark, keeping it’s bill pointed at the shark while the shark circled, after about thirty seconds to a minute the shark decided he didn’t want to be apart of this and returned to the depths. Memorised and amazed at what I had just witnessed I reminded my Deckie that if he let go of this fish once he got his hands on the bill then unless he ended up in the water he better no let go if he ever wanted to set foot on my boat again. As my Deckie got a hand on the fish I flicked the bail arm over and grabbed the bill as well.

“WHOO HOO, LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT, HOLY SNAPPING DUCK S#!T, I CAN”T BELIEVE WE DID IT” followed by several minutes of dribble along the same lines. I normally don’t yell and scream like a fishing show host on speed but on this occasion I couldn’t help myself.

Now for the $64,000 question, do I bring the fish on board for a photo or not? Being my first and knowing this photo would be on the wall I decided to bring him on for a photo. I returned the fish to the water as quickly as I could and swam the fish for a good 10 minutes before letting the catch of a life time swim of into the depths to fight again another day.

Minutes before hooking this fish I had been explaining to my deckie that this rod and reel was bad luck and I never seemed to do any good when ever I used it. The only reason it was used was because the rod I would normally have used in this situation had the leader broken of by a shark earlier. I don’t really need to say it but this rod is now my favourite by a country mile. Once landed we also found that the fish my Deckie had lost was this fish as his hook and leader were still attached. He can now claim that he hooked a sail fish that was landed!

After being at work all weekend and watching boat after boat heading out, today I was finally able to take my boat for a run. The current trend of warm days and excessive flies was just the inspiration I needed to hit the creeks again. I’m pretty stoked I did. I managed to land my first barra of the season. She went 85cm on the matt. I was also very excited to land my very first mulloway. A fish I have been meaning to cross off my list for some time. Unfortunately I was unable to track down a deckie so I will apologise for the Photography.

Cheers

Sea snake

First Barra of the 11/12 season

Not a bad start either

My first Mulla

67cm not huge but still happy