Well all good things gotta come to an end, and its back off to work tomoz, but just got back from our week in Mandurah with some pretty good results. 

Based pretty much Halls Head end of the estuary, took the tinnie out for a troll everyday up to the Chimneys, and back to the heads.  Plenty of Choppers, with the odd one nudging 45cms.

Was pleasantly surprised to pull in a few Salmon around the heads on New Years Day afternoon.  Hit it as the water began pushing through and when the flicky had a decent hit, was again picking it for a decent tailor only to see Mr Salmon and his mate make it to the boat.  Great fun!  Dropped a few, but kept 2 for tea.  Good to see em around!

 Went for another little session on the Canning today with the kids and inlaws, this time took the tinnie to have a look at some snags further up stream. Got to the ramp and got chatting to a guy yak fishing, gave us a couple of spots to try (who ever you are, thank you), went straight to the spot, within 10 minutes had landed 4 fish over 30cm and plenty in the 25-30 cm range, father in law caught his first bream at 32cm, followed quickly by a 30. Went back to the wife and kids, picked up my wife and went back out to the opposite side to where we were, with in 10 minutes again landed one of 37cm and several more of around 30. kids were having a ball catching plenty of small ones around 20-25cm.  Yet again a bloody fantastic day on the river.

Pete and I decided to do a quick trip up to Exxy between Christmas and the new year for a bit of landbased fishing and diving. Neither of us had been there at this time of year and didn't know what to expect weather wise - we know now, wind!

We left bright and early on boxing day and got up to the lighthouse caravan park by about 4:30 to be greeted by 45 degrees and strong winds. We were both pretty tired from the drive and crashed pretty early after a quick snorkle to cool off. The next morning we woke up early and went for a drive to see if we could find a bay that was protected from the howling winds at all. We found one place where the water wasn't too murky and jumped in. There were plenty of parrots and a few spangleds around, though all fish were very flighty and as a result we didn't spear anything. We did find a ledge with a few westerns under it and Pete managed to coax one out. We were just about to head in as the wind had picked up when Pete found an ornate/tropical cray with nowhere to hide, neither of us had seen or caught one before so it made up for the lack of fish!

After a quick bite to eat we went for a quick fish at the Mildura wreck and first cast Pete got onto a nice spangly.

The fish was caught just on the turn of the tide and after that things went quiet. While retrieving a lure I'd snagged on a bomby not far out from shore I noticed a couple of decent bluebone hanging around, so we tried to entice them out from their hiding place without any luck.

Day 2 began with another dive at the same place where Pete got his crays the day before, and again vis was pretty crappy an no fish were speared. I did manage to find another tropical cray in a tiny hole which made it pretty easy to pry out :)

After lunch we went back to the Mildura wreck to try and get the bluebone from the day before. After catching a few rats I finally got a decet hit, was using my PE5 casting outfit so the fish didn't really stand a chance and soon had landed my first ever bluebone!

Apologies for having my hands all over the fish, but it jad just bitten me and I didn't want a repeat dose!

On the final day we went up to the marina to dive the rock wall, as a bloke we'd met had been shooting a few decent parrots there. The vis was much better than on the west side, and we managed to finally shoot a few decent parrots. I hadn't done much spearing before so took a while to get used to aiming/reloading etc but got the hang of it after a while. My gun (Freedivers Evo 90) was excellent and would recommend them for anyone looking for a gun in that size range.

All in all a pretty good trip, with no incidents on the drive there and back.

Cheers, Tim.

Hi all.

I have just come back from a few days camping in Mandurah.  We caught a lot of crabs, and threw a lot back!!!  So many just under size means we'll head back in a few weeks time.

On day one, we only got one size, and threw about twenty back.  It was his lucky day because I wasn't going to the trouble of cooking one crab, so we released him before we headed in.

I was told that night there were a few in the harvey estruary, so we headed down that way on day two.  as we approached the four poster there were boats and nets everywhere so we went about about another half mile south and got five nice sized crabs in about as many runs.  the wind blew up fron the north making it pretty uncomfortable so we headed back north of the cut where it was sheltered but only got undersized ones, so five was it for the day.  i must say these were very clean and white inside after they were cooked.

Day three, and the first of the strong early sea breezes.  we were out late so didn't go far or stay long, but we did get six nice sized crabs immediately to the north of the red channel markers outside the serpentine river mouth.

While we packing up yesterday, someone told me he had got 19 the evening before over in boggy bay.

As far as the fishing goes, i only went out one morning a couple of miles west of the cut, but only got a few bites and didn't get anything more.

Dhuies were going of this morning. Out at seven and home for nine thirty. One recaptured dhuie and three new tagged. Kept a 11kg and a 9kg.Left them biting .20mm under Lamys dhu will pip you next trip

Boys,

Bagged out twice in last fornight north of Quinns - windy and weedy but worth the persistance!

Also got two each per night on two other nights.

Big size range - most betweeen 300 and 400, couple over 500 and 1 stonker for Perth waters (which cause i didnt take a picture i wont post, but I have a witness!).

Keep the pressure on all the way to the shore cause i lost several thinking i only had a (massive) pile of weed on when actually it was weed caught around the fish.......I also landed dozens of MASSIVE weed-fish and my back is was worse for the experiance. 

None of the tailor put up a fight really, even the stonker was like dragging in a dead weight - think this was cause after the first run and retrieve so much weed slipped down the line around the fish's head.

Anyway, no complaints awesome fun and great way to spend a warm night,

Had similar reports of beachs all along the coast from Tims/T to Two Rocks.

Spent yesterday arvo downing a few bevys and catching a few crabs in the swan, what better to do pre new years?

One thing i noticed was all the other crabbers in the area were soaking their pots for 30 mins or so at a time where as our approach is to set, go back to the first pot and pull straight away and repeat. IMO soaking pots allows the crabs to feed and leave pulling them repeatedly gives you a better chance of getting a crab thats just arrived and if its not in the pot yet after your pots in the water again any crab that was close by will find it in the time  it take for you to return for another pull. As for depth to set it always varies but recently we found staggering your pots in a few different depths to locate where the crabs are was a better option than sticking to the standard one long line of pots.

Happy crabbing swan fishers!

Teenager Patrick James has been nagging his father Stan for the last year to take him to Exmouth to get amongst the Billfish action.  He's a fishing addict it seems, but the attraction of something a bit bigger than tailor, herring and snapper was gnawing at him... Dad eventually succumbed to the intense pressure and the two headed north recently to fish with us at Exmouth Billfish Charters.

Day 1: after landing with Skywest early morning, the lads wanted to ease into things by chasing GTs and Mackies.  I'm not sure about easing in, as Stan's back won't ever be the same once the GTs were finished with him!  Great day by all with action aplenty on GTs, Spaniards, juicy bottom fish and a range of other fun pelagics.

Day 2: the boys headed into blue water.  Fishing bait and switch with 15kg spin sticks was a technique they were quickly trained in, with immediate success.  2 excellent Sailfish for Patrick!  4 Dolphinfish added to the day, and the Father/Son combo have been reliving the action to anyone within earshot ever since we're told! 

A tentative booking has been made to return in July to get a few Marlin notches on their belts.  See you guys then!

I made use of yesterday's fantastic conditions to get out of Ocean reef and onto Direction Bank to try a couple of spots.  I stumbled across a ledge that provided us with this feed and a couple of unstoppables, great day in my 4.75m quintrex and tested out my new BB outfit.  I was a bit surprised there weren't more boats out.

With a gentle southwesterly blowing, Exmouth Billfish Charters hosted two female clients for a day of Marlin fishing. It turned out to be a great day for the girls who each boated a nice Black Marlin!  Monica pictured with the smaller of the two Marlin, had only been bottom fishing with a handline before. What made their catches even more impressive was that they bait and switched their fish on 15 kilo spin gear. Well done Monica and Tash!

Dan

Hi all

After the disappointment of losing my camera yesterday, we headed out to a different spot to try our luck with some crays.

Headed out from The Cut at 7am with my daughter and my regular dive buddy...we found some likely ground just inside a line of pots. The vis was excellent and the water conditions were great...but the crays were fairly sparce. First dive was in 12m and for the second dive, we moved into slightly deeper water....16m. The ground on the first dive was better than the second, but the vis allowed us to cover some ground quickly.

Managed to get a couple on each dive, with a total of 6 sized ones.....my daughter snaring her first cray!

Saw 4 juvenile dhuies and a baldie, along with a wobby, a large Port Jackson and a small black tip.

Sure looks like the crays have headed out deeper so we'll have to start looking farther afield now.

Was talking to a couple of guys back at the ramp and they bagged out yesterday in 10m so there must still be a few holed up in close.....nice if you can find them.

How did everyone else go today.....by the number of cars and trailers at the ramp again today, it looks like half the country is holidaying around Mandurah/Dawesville area.

regards
rusty...

G'day all,

Headed out with Johnf at gentlemens hours yesterday and after pulling the pots for no result we slowly made our way out to the 40's to jig some new ground that we had found last week. We had not had much of a chance to do a proper evaluation last week as we had numerous pingers circling and one particular clown in a 40ft pleasurecraft blatantly following us everywhere we went.

First stop was a really small spot in the 30's that is barely noticeable at over 10 knots.Previousely, we have scored a few dhu's off the lump itself with the surrounding ground holding a abundance of flathead and fat sand whiting.Over the past few trips i have scored a few of the sandies on jig.

The was not a lot happenning at this spot so we moved to have a look at the ground we had marked the previous week. The first couple of drifts resulted on in this 81cm Dhu which we quickly put on the release weight and sent back down.The Boat rule is any Dhu over 80cm is released where possible, this is a rule which i thouroughly supported as i get more joy out of seeing a big fish released than iced.

We then moved onto some more ground nearby and JohnF hooked up to a nice Sambo on Pe2 which had the 4000 stella zinging.

I also uploaded a bit of footage to u tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJlHNmcJVTU

The next drift i felt the jig get knocked so i paused the jig for a few seconds and it got smashed. The first run was fairly quick and i could feel my 30lb fluro leader getting rubbed so i quickly freespooled and the fish swam free.The second run the fish managed to compehensively brick me again(F#@K).John kept repositioning the boat and we debated what was on the other end.Dirty Sambo or big Dhu...after trying to get him out of his hidey hole for about 5 minutes i was almost about to lock up and snap it when we decided one more freespooling and change in direction.Luckily he swam free for a third time and i quickly worked the fish to clear water. Result was this 91cm Dhu on Pe2.

Unfourtunatly the battle had taken its toll on the fish and its was stone dead shortly after being landed. Since we had our bag in under an hour and not wanting to risk catching any more dhu's we moved in close to rotto and had a ball catching some solid skippy on the light gear.

So after spending a lot of time fishing metro this was without a doubt my best Demersal Metro session and many thanks to Johnf for putting me on the spot.

Cheers

Chris

Hey all i wasnt going to report on this as it was just a bit of an experiment to see whats around but anyways i dumped a small AJ frame in some shallow water in the swan, after a couple hours i went back down and there was the normal swarm of blowies along with a few small whiting, average bream, a small flathead a few small skippy and and wait for it..... about 3 dozen small crabs in the space of 20 meters, i caught the biggest i could see just  to see if it was size and it went 122mm so 5mm under. I went home for a feed and thought will go check one more time before crashing out, as i got down there noticed a light working the area, said hello how ya going what ya got there as i could see a few crabs in his scoop, we had a quick chat i explained the reason for all the crabs in this small area was because of the AJ frame i had put in a few hours earlier, he claimed he had one sized crab back where ever he was based and disappeared into the darkness, turning his torch off and didnt hear another word. Funny how i saw 3 dozen crabs all well undersize yet he had 3 in his scoop and vanished when i arrived, maybe the crabs in his scoop were size, maybe he released them if the were not.... either way i wont be berleying up again.... seemed a bit dodgy.

Not sure exactly what type of leather jacket it is but very suprised to get one in the river. Put it back strait after the photos and swam off fine.....

Caught this Leather jacket in a crab net. Took a couple pics and threw it back in by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr

Caught this Leather jacket in a crab net. Took a couple pics and threw it back in by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr

Lisa's dad offerd to take us out fishin off bunno today. I was watching sea breeze and it wasnt looking good. Thought we would give it a crack anyway.

headed out and caught so many massive snook, seen many flying fish. Weather was acually really good, no swell not much wind. Caught a pink snapper that just went under so i released it them BANG!!!!! Hooked this sucker. What a way to spend chrissy eve!! Big Dhuie!!! Filleted it and i will take he frame to fisheries for research.

IMG_9698-2 by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr

IMG_9714 by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr

IMG_9691-2 by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr

IMG_9688-2 by Marc Russo (Australia), on Flickr

 Hi guys any reports out there on how the swan river crabbing is going, is it to early?

It is every angler dream to land a Monster Giant Snakehead aka Toman in the wild.

The funny thing about the Giant snakehead (toman) of Thailand is that you may hookup  the fish but you may not be successfully land  the fish.
 
A great peace of mind and patience is the key.

Of course, fast and accuracy  casting  also equally important when fishing for toman in the wild.

Just work on what the advises been given to you, you will be ok.

That's the big challenge of fishing Big Game fishes like the Giant  Snakehead fishing in the wild.

The thing about toman is that their head are all bony and hard.  Those normal treble hooks or single hook 1/O hook  at times difficult to pierce  through  their hard  bony mouth. Unlike big mouth bass N barramundi where their mouth are soft . It is much easy to set the hook  in these fishes than toman.

A stiff rod of  10-20Ibs  rod   will  do the job.  Once  the toman is hooked, set the hook twices. With a stiff backbone, you can easily pierce the hook  through the toman mouth. 

 Beside a  strong backbone rod, you also need a good quality braided line.

I've  used a few other PE braided  brands in the past and I finally  settle for Variva line of Japan.Strong and  lasting.

Varivas jigging line PE4 BRID x 8.

You will never goes wrong with it.

Though it a little more expensive than your usual braided line .

But when you think of losing your favorite lure  to the fish and lose the big  fella , it worth to change to  a better  quality premium brand.

The worst nightmare for any angler is to find your big fish gonna away because your main line snapped during the fights.

The weather  also play a big part when come to wild fishing.

In the most usual day, the morning session will be calm , follows by strong winds in the afternoon.

If we're lucky, we'll have a full day  of no winds and very calm water.

That's will be the best day for fishing.

On my 6 days fishing adventure with  one of my french angler , we  supposed to  fish at 4 differents fishing locations. Due to the bad weather and reported strong winds, we were been forced to settle for  the last  2  remaining fishable  spots.

Despite the bad weather and strong winds, we  still managed to perform  N land a few MAMA toman.
 
My  french angler (Vincent)was been pulled into the water when the MAMA toman took his crank bait lure.This is the first time, I ever witnessed an angler been pulled into the water by a Giant Snakehead.

We missed a few biggies  and chased a few MAMA toman.

If  it is not because of the bad weather we could have landed more.

Well...... that wild fishing.

It is like a game as what my  french angler Vincent told me.

I went back to the 'same spot ' 2  DAYS later with another angler  from Netherland, guess what ???

We landed  2 monster toman, one  7KG and the other 10KG  dream toman.

Fishing in the wild, you need patience and open mindset.

"It not the fish that you are after, it is the challenge within yourself.

Once you have conquered your thinking, you will get your fish eventually.

Which I always do, that's why I got the fish most of the time.... "By BKKGUY

Enjoys the highlights of the photos N exciting video clip..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5cafdFCiM

Arrived at the hot spot at around 2:30 very early for the tailor but the boys couldnt help themselves. Again the tailor took awhile and didnt arrive till about 5 and this time werent as big as the previous times only ranging from 30cm to 48cm. Weird! Ok so night time approached out go the baits. Plenty of runs but again all RAYS!!!!!!! We landed a couple including the monsters which has taken as on several runs previous times. An 80kg plus ray landed on 40lb braid!!!!! Took almost 2 hours to land!!! Well done Kingy!!!!!

Next  morning tried a little reef fish caught several different kind of species including what i think looks like a juvenile sweetlip emporer or even spangled emperor. Makes us think next we might go for larger one!!!

Took graeme76 along also landing a couple of rays and some tailor. Hope you like the pics!

Cheers!

Went out for a fish with dad Saturday,

We left from mangles bay and headed out about 6am,

Headed out to a spot that had produced before and had no luck,

We moved around into the 40's and found some nice ground first drift dad pulled up a 44cm pinky,

Next drift i landed this 64cm pinky

Next drift dad landed this 53cm baldchin, this fish was follwed by a pretty big shark so we were happy to see it in the net.

I was on not long after to something good before it started to go like a rocket and ping i suspect that shark got my fish and most of my leader.

got a couple more fish, nice blackass, foxfish and a good size skippy that we kept  then died off so we went home,

heres the mixed bag.

 Hey guys has anyone been crabbing netting lately at Cockburn sound, looking a trying my luck with a few pots this week, is it to early yet has anyone heard any reports

Couple of mates and myself were camping down near east augusta on the weekend where we did a bit of beach fishing. Whiting on every cast if you were paying attention, so decided to chucK out a rod with live whiting and caught 2 salmon about the 60cm mark and a 50cm tailor which we were all surprised about, oh and 2 silver bream that just touched 30cm. Ended up feeding a salmon to the dogs and bled the other and ate it ourselves, which was only the 2nd time ive had good salmon.

We went down the beach at night(but i passed out in the car by that time ) and they threw out a whiting and something hit it real hard, he went to grab his rod but it had pulled it out of the holder(he musta had the drag on too much) but whatever it was, it was too fast and dragged the rod and reel into the water. Probably a shark but who knows

So Part 3 had quickly approached us. The weather looks like its gonna turn on for us this time and cant wait. Got all the bait, tackle and equipment ready again for another trip near cervantes!!! However this time we are loaded with heavier gear and more determined to land that creature that keeps taking us on unstoppable runs. Wish us luck as we are taking Graeme76 with us this time hoping to get our lines in by 4 tommorow afternoon. Will post a full report when we dock back into perth around lunchtime tommorow.

Cheers!

Found a likely looking lump in 45m well north of the river on the weekend.

Thought I'd drop a jig, and this was the result. PB dhuie of 17kg. Followed it up with a 9kg specimen on the second drift, meaning bagged out by 7:40am. Left that spot to go and chase some other species. Ended up with a few pinkies and some other odds and sods. Boat back on the trailer for 11am.

Love it when the days work out like that!

Dan

Sunday arvo/evening. Took a few hours but caught a few fish. Two of 32-33 and a better 40cm model. That's dinner for the girlfriend tomorrow.

Images are of smaller fish released.

Hi guys

Headed out yesterday with my son for a fish and a dive. Hit the ramp at 7.00am and headed out thru The Cut to a couple of spots that had produced fish in the past. Not much happening at the first spot, although there was some action on the Furuno. Was getting bites but nothing hooking up, and the sounder looked like a school of fish just off the bottom. 

After moving on, he hooked up to something that seemed reasonable...unfortunately it was an undersized pinkie so it went back ok on the weight. This followed shortly afterwards by another...then an undersized flattie, which also went back.

Around 11 we decided to head inshore for a dive...on the way in, we caught sight of a boat steaming towards us at a great rate of knots....first guess was Fisheries, but it turned out to be the boys in blue. After a quick chat and a show of the necessary safety gear, etc. we were on our way. 

First dive was on some nice ground but we only saw a couple of kackas in the ledges, so we moved onto the spot from last weekend. Less crays this week, but still heaps of kackas...managed to bag 2 nice reds, but lost a white as it did a runner when I opened up the catch bag....I hate that...and it's the second time in 2 dives I've done it 

Back in by 3pm and it was fresh crays on the bbq with garlic butter...tasted just fine. 

Hope the weather holds out over Christmas/New Year break....but I'm not holding my breath....this week is looking a bit sh*tty.

regards
rusty... 

Took the young bloke out for a flick this arvo around Claremont. Was pretty windy so we confined ourselves to the jetty so we could cast cross wind rather than wading the flats & casting into the wind.  The flatties were being rather uncooperative & we had to work hard for each fish but we did manage a couple. My first was only just legal at 31cm so I let it go to fight another day but my second was a better fish of 46cm which made it into the freezer. The young bloke drew a blank as did most of the other people having a cast from the jetty. I only saw two other fish landed over the 3 or so hours we were there, one slightly smaller than my big one & one that came up as 51cm.

Also went for a flick with Ealzee & Scott99 around Point Walter yesterday arvo but the green weed was diabolical so we gave that up fairly quick & moved around to Bicton Baths. It was pretty crowded with people swimming etc but we moved up from them a little way & had a crack anyway. We didn't land anything but we did have some follows & a few decent hits. At one point I had hooked a blowie & was reeling that in only to see a rather large (guesstimate 50-55cm) flatty follow it all the way in to about 2ft of water. As soon as I saw it I slowed the wind in down but it just parked itself for a few seconds & then took off. I've never seen a flatty take any notice of a blowie before so it was actually quite fascinating to me.

Will be heading to Jurien just after Christmas.........was wondering if any one has any reports for Landbased Fishos?

Are the Tailor Firing at the moment? Are there decent squid to be had at Christmas time?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Will be travelling with family.........we all have 4WD's.

Never fished Jurien before and will mainly be landbased and might bring the kayak along.

Festive Cheers to all.

 Went out for a bottom bash with john M from the site. Started with the pots at rotto seven nice reds, headed west fished between the 25m to 115m for zip. Lost 3 decent fish though. Two hooks pulled and one a bite off. Went for a jug outwide and nothing. Starting to think my boat is cursed....came inshore and john pulled a dhue out of 7m of water, went 4kg. And we also got a couple black bums in the processs cheers all brett photos to come

Any one been doing any good with the crabs in the Bunbury to Busso are lately?????