Mrs and I decided to make our first visit to Shark Bay. First night at Monkey Mia and I decided to wet a line right at the resort. A couple of other anglers commenting "only small ones here mate". I had seen two mackerel and a saily jump close to shore and was willing to try my luck. After first consulting Google Earth and Navionics on the iPad, it was evident that a gutter ran pretty close to shore. 

First step was to catch a live bait which turned out to be a whiting. I hooked the whiting to a 7/0 Gama with 80lb floro and slid it down the 30lb mono which I had casted in earlier. The mono was anchored with a 6oz weight at the business end. 15 minutes later the Daiwa SL50SHB started screaming and the hook was set into a feisty contender. I soon had an audience as I was not fishing far from the resort and some offers to gaff the fish were ignored as it was my intention to release whatever was at the other end. After a good fight I managed to beach my first ever decent Travelly - a Golden Travelly of 96cm, totally elated. 

A couple of quick photos and putting the measuring tape to good use, and the fish was released. It took ten minutes before the fish was strong enough to swim off and I had an inquisitive shark lurking close by to make the release interesting.

We still have another two days left to explore and will be using the Denham caravan park as our base. We will be going into Francois Peron National Park tomorrow and any advice on any good fishing waters is welcome.

Last night I got back from a long awaited trip to Morocco. I have split this report into 2 parts. Firstly because it's long and I suspect people will get bored! Secondly, because there are too many images that I want to post for the 1 thread.

As with any trip which involves fishing I was well and truly excited for it, however enthusiasm was even higher than normal for this trip for a number of reasons, including some respite from the cold of London and the opportunity to test out the just-released Yamaga Blanks Early Plus rods against the renown Moroccan seabass.

Seabass (particularly from the shore) are not my specialty, so I did some pre-trip research and got in touch with French angler Abdel Sabon who runs a seabass guiding operation in Morocco. Abdel advised that the region I had picked mid-way down the North-Western coastline definitely had some promise, which was very encouraging to hear. I was limited for time on this trip, so it was a great bonus that Abdel kindly arranged his friend Zakaria to join me on a day of boat-based fishing out of the port of El Jadida for my first day of fishing.
Upon struggling out of our accommodation in at an hour far too early to be called the morning to commence the drive to El Jadida, we were greeted by the unwelcome sight of the most intense fog I have encountered. It was impossible to see more than 1 or 2 car lengths ahead, which made for excruciatingly slow going on the drive. The mishaps did not end there unfortunately, with me realising I had forgotten the spools for my reels around 30 minutes into the drive (prompting a quick about face) and then shortly thereafter having a tyre blowout – which made for a very interesting solo tyre change in darkness without a torch whilst being hassled by beggars.

As a result of these delays, I was late in arriving at the port, and it meant that we would be setting sail a little later than desired. I was saddened to see however, that the fog had still not lifted.

As my bad luck was now fully expended (or so I thought), I was certain it would be smooth sailing from here on in – but it was not to be. After travelling about 40 metres from the dock, we ran aground. The perils of a low tide. But on the plus side, I got my first swim in Moroccan waters whilst helping push the boat off the rocks, even if it was in a fishing harbour!

Finally though, we were off. I was told that it would be a long slow steam to the first mark, so decided to flick a diving minnow out the back to try and troll something up on the way. Within less than 5 minutes I heard the unmistakable sound of a fish pulling drag and it was first fish on! A bonito rather than the bass I was hoping for, but a fish nonetheless. Quick snap and release for the fish, and on we went. Given how easy the fish was to catch we didn’t bother with a decent photo as we expected many more, but sadly it was not to be.

We tried a range of marks throwing every lure in the box, and only managed one more bonito for the day. Disappointing on the fishing front, but it was good to get out on the water, particularly after my 20 straight weather-related UK wrecking charter cancellation streak. It was also a great opportunity to test out the new Yamaga. The model I was using for my hard bait work was the Early Plus 92XML, and the thing was an absolute pleasure to use. I was using Megabass Zonk 120 minnows primarily, and it cast them an absolute mile, and was crisp enough that it transmitted every one of the trademark Zonk vibrations through to my hand. Given the depth of the water I was using a heavier rod for my soft bait work, in the form of the Yamaga Blanks Blue Sniper 77/3, which has long been a favourite of mine for light coral reef work and proved a great option for this heavier bassing work also.

Day 2 was to be a shore based session. Abdel kindly helped out once again, by letting me know a few marks in the region which had produced for him in the past. As soon as I got to the area, I knew there had to be fish there. I was fishing the low tide and the amount of structure I could see looked extremely encouraging. I only had a few hours to dedicate that day, but I was going to make them count and whip the water to foam as best I could in the time available.

The abundance of structure did however have its downside. The water was really shallow over a lot of the structure and in the space of the first 30 minutes I had walked a good chunk of coastline and lost a Zonk and a handful of Sidewinders with nothing to show for it. This was not going to be as easy as I expected.

Thankfully though I found a sweet looking ledge at the edge of the beach. Given the low tide I was able to get right out and stand on this, which allowed me to cast at the back of a lot of the structure without having to drag my lure over it. The only downside though is that you had to have your wits about you, as every now and then there was a larger than usual swell which ripped through meaning you had to quickly flee, to avoid being swept off your perch.

However…… Despite these waters absolutely screaming ‘fish!’, it was not to be. My allotted time was up, without a fish being seen. I was not discouraged though. For starters I’d seen some large bass-looking scales further up the rocks that let me know I was in the right place – but aside from that, there was just no way that water didn’t hold any fish. I had to come back. But first, I needed to console myself for two bass-less trips. Thankfully Oualidia has some great places for you to do this. The best oysters I’ve had in my life can be bought straight from the water (and shucked for you to be eaten in situ with your own drinks brought along) and we found a place that did a seriously delicious whole spider crab for the equivalent of 10 quid. Things could indeed be worse.

But with one day to go of the fishing leg of my trip – you can rest assured all I could think about was the morning to follow.

Part 2 - 'the catching' to follow soon.

Dan

Another cracker metro session out of Hillarys on the 'herring on roids' this morning with uncle and Jody.

Few fish for the smoker and 20+ released, all on cast lures of various persuasions.

Didn't take a lot of pics but heres a sample. Hopefully do it all again tomorrow weather permitting.

Hi friends on FishWrecked!

It has been a while since I've been around. I started Teacher's College in the fall and it had kept me very, very busy. I went through the longest drought without fishing (over 3 months) and didn't have anything to report at all.

Recently, a number of fortunate events aligned and I had the chance to visit Florida for a very short 5-day trip to visit family...and to fish my brains out. Conditions couldn't have been better and some of my long targeted species were finally captured...plus some very beautiful fish.

I caught 17 new species from 5 days of fishing, and there are many more species that were caught but I didn't photograph. I would figure a conservative guess of 40+ species caught during the 5 days. Florida had given me 102 new species over 38 total fishing days (between 4 trips). And yet, there are still lots of fish that the state has to offer. Unbelievable! I'll definitely be back!

Here are the stories to share. But I will post most of the fish pictures below. It is never the same without reading the stories though. You'll never realize the struggles we went through to catch some of these species.

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2015/04/2015-florida-day-1.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2015/04/2015-florida-day-2.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2015/04/2015-florida-day-3.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2015/04/2015-florida-day-4.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2015/04/2015-florida-day-5.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2015/04/2015-florida-day-6.html

Yellow Sea Chub (Kyphosus incisor) - Species #413



Black Margate (Anisotremus surinamensis) - Species #414



Grass Porgy (Calamus arctifrons) - Species #415



Smooth Trunkfish (Rhinesomus triqueter) - Species #416



Initial phase Queen Parrotfish (Scarus vetula) - Species #417



Initial phase Stoplight Parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) - Species #418



Terminal phase Redband Parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum)



Peacock Cichlid (Cichla ocellaris)



Hornet Tilapia (Tilapia buttikoferi) - Species #419



Spotted Tilapia (Tilapia mariae)



Blue Tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) - Species #420



Pike Killifish (Belonesox belizanus) - Species #421



Jewelfish (Hemichromis bimaculatus)



Black Acara (Cichlasoma bimaculatum)



Mangrove Gambusia (Gambusia rhizophorae) - Species #422



Sheepshead Minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus variegatus) - Species #423



Blackear Wrasse (Halichoeres poeyi) - Species #424



Florida Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) - Species #425



Bluehead Wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum)



Bermuda Sea Chub (Kyphosus sectatrix)



Rainbow Parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia) - Species #426





Dollar Sunfish (Lepomis marginatus) - Species #427



Brown Hoplo (Hoplosternum littorale) - Species #428



Atlantic Lookdown (Selene vomer) - Species #429



These are so beautiful I just have to show the second one I caught...





Other species caught but not photographed...

Sergeant Major
Spottail Pinfish
Slippery Dick Wrasse
Redtail Parrotfish
Porkfish
Tomtate Grunt
French Grunt
Bigeye Scad
Atlantic Bumper
Slender Mojarra
Sand Perch
Houndfish
Bandtail Pufferfish
Yellow Bullhead
Walking Catfish
Eastern Mosquitofish
Mayan Cichlid
Seminole Killifish
Golden Topminnow

Got a few good fish over the last 2 weeks

 As my boat is out of action  and the weather was pretty ordinary, thought I'd  give the North mole a try for Salmon. From about 10am to 11.30am it was going off with Salmon biting almost anything. The Salmon were that hungry at times, they would come right in to the edge of the mole and could be clearly seen. Bloody great sesh, but was pretty packed.

Hooked 6 and Landed 3. :)

Fished locally out of Hillarys today with Dad (uncle on here). Took a while to locate some fish but once we did it was good fun, if not a bit damp. Not real conducive to taking good pics but here's a couple that survived the wet environment.

All fish taking on trolled minnows or cast stickbaits. Pity the weather is going to poo for the next few days.

 just got back from a run along the coast and saw a big school of salmon busting up about 200 meters north of thr marmion angling club if any one is keen to have a go. One bloke and his young fella had them to themselves and were having a ball by the looks of it.

The best fishing buddy anyone can find is none other than our own wife.

I know...it not easy to convince Mrs to go for a wild fishing trip with us.

But then ...once you shown them the rope of catching the fish in the wild, it will be the gateway for more future fishing trips ahead.

Enjoys the video clips and photos for our husband and wife wild fishing trip.

DAY 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr0SGesC-cE

DAY 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH-TNIrt5Z0

DAY 3
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32plKG_xyiI

Highlights photos of the catches..

Headed out from Hillarys with the young one about 5pm this arvo to fish the 20’s and see if we could find some pinkies.  It was a little slow at first but once the burley started to work it picked up.

The first fish we called for a size dhu but alas it was one of those big moorwong.  We then started catching undersized dhu (there are so many out there) & pinkies (4 of each in total), fox fish and wrasse.  We must have attracted a school of KGs as the young one landed 2 by 470mm models in short time – they are really the quality by-catch.  He also boated a 7kg Port Jackson, and then it went quiet for a while.

As happens, a school of pinkies seemed to move under the boat about 6.45pm and my light rod went off.  No doubt this was a pinkie as it fought just like one and it is always nice to see the larger models in the net.  670mm and a good fish – a bit larger than the ones we got on the last trip.  The young one was straight back down for a solid hookup but the pinkie was just undersized.  They moved on, Luke hooked a huge ray that was cut off at the boat, and when the snook moved in (don’t you hate it when your bait can’t get to the bottom as the “undesirables” attack it on the way) we headed back to return by about 8pm.  A quick trip for a good result.

We started to catch pinkies consistently about this time last year, and they seem to be around again.  Here is hoping that land based members get a few with the forecast “blow” in a couple of days.

 out with my brother getting fresh mullet for upcoming kalbarri trip... Biggest so far is 45cm, plenty about with 12 already in the esky! (Mandurah)

hey guys,

myself and a cpouple of mates are heading up to Kalbarri from the 14th for a week of fishing.

just chasing a report on whats happening up there at the moment?

also the bait stores tackle stores up there.....am i better off bringing up my bait or is there some nice bait up there?

i would like to use the boxed squid and such

cheers for any input

Haven't posted much fishing related in quite a while so thought I'd put up a few pics and stuff from a recent trip up the coast. Started out in Gero at the start of March with two days planned out at the Wallabi Group before heading up to Broome. Two days in and cyclone Olwyn started to form off the North West heading towards the Exmouth Cape. That ruled out going anywhere and two days turned into around a week at the islands while Olwyn snaked down the coast. At one point it looked a little hairy as Olwyn passed through Shark Bay and the predicted track had the possibility of it going south, following the cliffs and to the islands as a Cat 2. Luckily, it turned more east and fizzed out over the land.

Anyway, the week at the islands was pretty cool. Not bad being stuck in a place for a week of waiting where all you can do is dive and fish! It was my first time at the Wallabi Group since I was a kid. Luckily I was in the company of two great guys who had spent most of their working lives fishing the Wallabis through the 90's and 2000's. Learned a lot about fishing the shallows and we never fished more than ten metres. Had a session most days chucking poppers at the plate coral for trout. First session we must have got around 30 trout from around 15 to 55cm in around two hours. Most the bottom fishing was mainly stopping for twenty minutes or so between being shown around to drop a hook for dinner. It was pretty mind blowing to be able to drop a hook over in a few metres of water and pull up size baldies up to 70cm. Also managed to bag a decent Dhu in the shallows that put the poor little calcutta in a world of hurt. Took a lot of video but regret not getting my camera out for many above water pics for most of the trip. Got a pic of the Dhu seeing it was my first shallow water Dhuie and the first Baldie of the trip.

Did a fair bit of diving in the deeper drop offs, Fish Point and the Brain Corals. I also managed a dive at the moorings near Big Pigeon. We were filleting up when the resident sambos showed up. Quickly chucked on the dive gear and jumped in with a bag of a chopped up trout frame for a bit of fish feeding. Put together a quick video yesterday. Feel free to check it out, some pretty big friendly fish!

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

The day before the cyclone was due to pass, the swell dropped and I was lucky enough to get a dive down on the Batavia site on Morning Reef. Straight away I was joined by 3 big YTKs buzzing overhead. It was a pretty cool dive and a wreck I've wanted to tick off since I was a teen. Mainly I took video of the wreck and will put something together in the next few weeks but I still got a few pics. Also, earlier in the trip we had a bit of a walk around West Wallabi Island to check out the Wiebbie Hayes forts.

After that it was pretty much just being shown around a few of the breaks and checking out where to get a feed of oysters. It was then back to secure the boat as that night Olwyn was coming. Prepared for the worst and hoped for the best and in the end we never really even got much of a rock going. That night amongst the islands the wind only went around 30 kts at it passed east of Gero. Next morning with a dead flat ocean we were off steaming north non stop till we got to Broome 4 days later.

We had a quick few days to restock and the girlfriend flew up to join us. We headed out to the outer islands off the Buccaneer Archipeligo. Not much great fishing to report this time around, bottom fishing was very slow for us out there so we in the end we just ended up chucking poppers at the reef gutters for Trevally and Queenies to keep ourselves entertained. Also with a bit of mudcabbing and chucking the net at whiting in the Lagoon.

After that we were racing the clock as the low that was ex tropical cyclone Nathan moved in from the Timor Sea. We were headed to a reef east of Scott Reef  about 200 k's off the coast from the Prince Regent River. After years of illegal fishing due to its proximity to Indo, the fishing is pretty dead here and nothing big or sporty lives around the reef but it was still a pretty amazing place. Between work we still managed to fit in a few dives and had some beautiful clear water. Diving shallow and down to 20 metres at the top of the tide when the current wasn't running. Also managed to have a quick dive on an old iron sailing ship that was lost in a cyclone in the late 1800's.

Just as we wrapped up we started to get the weather from Ex TC Nathan and had to run for the coast to hide for a bit. Stuck in a creek with the weather, at one point we managed to have a fish to feed the boat. We were anticipating the Barra to be firing with the warm water and were frothing at the mouths. Unfortunatley it rained and rained and rained that day and the Barra shut down. The only barra were the smaller models getting stuck in the cast nets. Bloody frustrating when you're seeing Barry all over but not taking the hook! Anyway we still had a feed of Jacks and Goldies for the boat as we steamed back down the coast to Broome.

Sitting back home in Perth now.... and it's bloody cold! I always get too distracted and forget to get many pics in these places but you always regret it when you get back home!

Cheers for reading!

I took the bride to Farnham and Olivia at Sandalford and got back from Margaret River on Sunday night. With an Easterly forecasted and brownie points in the bank I figured I’d chuck a line on Monday.

I often fish White Hills as it’s just down the road for me and with talk of Salmon around I figured it was worth a shot. I arrived at the beach just before dawn and sent out a balloon with a victim from a previous trip dangling under it. For next three hours I threw mulies and smaller baits but apart from a few bait-sized Whiting, I didn’t attract too much attention. My balloon bait was untouched.

At about 10am I threw out a decent sized whiting on one of my old-school Alvey outfits, set the drag and returned to the car for a feed. The day was shaping up like many other morning sessions – not much to show for my efforts but still nice to be on the beach for a few hours…

Then with half a sandwich down my neck all hell broke loose! First the birds started showing some interest in the water, then baitfish were jumping everywhere, then a bunch of herring beached themselves right in front of me and simultaneously my Alvey started to stared to sing. I didn’t even get to finish the sandwich!

As I ran to the Alvey I saw a heap of what appeared to be Salmon racing around in the shallows. After feeling some decent weight the Alvey reefed in the first fish without much effort – a fat 60cm Tailor! After dispatching that one I threw the Alvey gear aside and grabbed my ‘go-to’ Tailor spinning outfit which I had been casting earlier (graphite rod and Stradic 8000). I could still see the decent sized fish everywhere in the water and herring were jumping all over the place. As soon as my bait hit the water, bang! Another 60cm Tailor! Next cast another… As I already had two over 50cm I returned that one to the water.

I flagged down a couple of passing cars and told the guys what was going on so that they could get amongst the action. I then quickly scaled down to my Stradic 2500 and Nitro Viper and had a bit of fun catching two more on the next two mulies – both between 50 and 60cm. I then changed to a Halco Twisty for the same result… a fish just about each cast and all fat healthy Tailor. The schools came through on and off until about 2pm. I reckon I caught over 20 fish on 6lb mono with the majority being illegal and released because they were too big. The guys I flagged own also got a few which was great to see.

With the water so clear it was an amazing session and totally unexpected at that time of the day in such calm conditions. I have been fishing White Hills for over 30 years and can’t remember having such an awesome time on quality Tailor. I still reckon I was seeing Salmon in the water but maybe they just weren’t taking baits or lures? I’m wondering if the Tailor were just tagging along?

The missus had mentioned she'd like to catch something larger than a herring on our next fishing trip, so....

Picked up a 9ft Shimano sonic pro and put my symetre 4000 on it so she could flick out a whole scalie in hopes of a mulla

FIRST night in barri, FIRST cast she brings in this beauty like a pro. This photo does it no justice, while the length doesn't look like much there was some serious weight. She couldnt even lift it for a photo unless she was to grab hold under the gill plate, which we wern't gonna do as it was destined to be released. 

Second cast... what'd ya know nice size shovelnose on the little 4000 , handled it like a pro once again!

Not much action for me, landed a small lemon and lost a much a larger one. Difficult tryna get these girls out of the gutter when your fishing 20lb with a 60lb leader, also rushed the landing which resulted in a bust off.

Definitely not my first trip up there but was the first time being there during school holidays/long weekend. Have to say it's quite depressing seeing such a great place get raped and pillaged, buckets full of undersize bream or mulla and kids sticking their gidgee through anything that moved. Was enough to make me avoid the water till all the trash had left for the night.

Cheers

 Had my first trip out to the FADS yesterday. Went on a mates boat from Mindarie, with neither of us fished out there before, expectations were high. Got to the most northern FAD at first light and trolled past with a couple of skirts on, the second pass and bang double hook up, Chris lost his and I managed my first dollie. So stoked! set up for another pass and Chris lands his first dollie! Tried for a bit longer with no luck, flicked some placcies at them with no luck either. Headed to another FAD further south, which had a couple of boats on it, saw one boat get hook up after hook up, but we couldn't seem to spark any interest. Headed back in and fished around the bank for a bit, managed a stripey trolling back, along with a nice blackass, and pinky on the jig. Was a good day out with a few fish around, dropped a few on the jig, but I dont really want to talk about that....

Sorry not many photos, we didn't get round to it!

 Started off fishing the reefs South of rotto looking for pinkies without any luck then headed back closer to Cockburn sound. Everything looked really fishy with large schools of bait everywhere and a few terms hovering above the water. Followed the terns around trolling x raps for about 2 and a Hal hours before we turned a reel but it paid off landing this awesome Mackie in 8 metres of water!

 Went out today thru GI causeway on 5 fathom bank up to Coventry reef about half way back jigging for Dhuis

with soft plastics we landed and released 7 salmon 5-8 kg sorry no pics just wanted to let it be known they are here

regards thecheif 

 Finally got some decent dhus on my own boat on my own ground that I found. Haven't got anything like this since being a decky on PaulG's boat

Last pic is of the days catch from mine and the other boat we went with 

Back from 3 days off the rocks down south. Salmon were everywhere, caught a few everyday (chucked all back bar 1). Besides a few nice skippy, big jackets and a couple blackarse (and odds and sods like big blackfish and moonlighter thrown back) the highlight was 2 yellowtail kings first day (about 4/4.5kg each) and a nice 7kg ytking on the last day. Would’ve been nice having a mate (camera/gaff man), but better than being in Perth.

Hey Lads

Just a quick report. Sorry for the lack of Photos it was fairly full on and we forgot about them.
Hit Cockburn sound Saturday to try our luck at some Squid. Neither of us had fished there before so we just went on a few tips from a mate. We launched at about 9am from Woodies and shot around the corner to the Woodies shacks to keep out of the wind. I started catching straight away on a white Hiramitsu 2.5 while my mates orange jig couldn't even get a look in. We got about 8 small ones there and then decided to head out in to the bay when the wind dropped.
Next spot was the weed beds in 5m just south of the D9. I swapped to a white/uv size 3.0 Hirimitsu and my mate put a white Shimano Egexile 3.0 on. we managed to bag our 30 in under 2 hours and threw a heap of small ones back to keep the bigger ones.

Interestingly the floater jig we kept behind the boat didn't get a squid all day. We had to cast in front of the drift and actively work the jigs to get a strike.

On a side note the view at the Ship & Dock Inn around the corner was quite pleasant but cleaning 30 Squid after spending a couple of hours at the pub isn't easy.

Good time for you dinghy boys to be getting the kids out there for some fun.

Cheers Jayce

managed to get a quick trip to steep point last weekend at very short notice. 
got a call on tuesday from my good mate Rene about wanting to do a quick weekend trip north somewhere, a few phone calls and pleading with the boss and i had thursday friday and monday off work giving us enough time for a steep weekend getaway.
wednesday night myself and Tom left albany after work, got to perth at 11 and loaded up the tinny with Rene and carried on, lunch time thursday we where at shelter bay and boy where we excited.
dropped the boat in and went for a quick few hours spearing and managed a heap of demersals including my first snapper on spear and barra cods.
had an early night as we where buggered and the plan for friday was to go for mackies. got up early and away we went, had a just out of this world day on fish with some horse spangos speared to 71cm, macks to 15kg landed, big GT's, milkfish and permit seen. the days catch we ended up with, 7 spanish, 5 spangos, 3 baldies, 2 rankin a GT and a cuda for burley.
filleted the fish up at shelter bay and we where about 8kg off our possesion limit in just a day and a half!!!threw the frames in the water and attracted a very big and friendly tiger shark around 4m long and following it was a very good cobia!! sprinted to the car and grabbed a rod and tied on a stickbait and second cast i was on!! 20 minutes later a very nice 15kg cobia was on the beach after dodging both the tiger shark and anchor rope of the boat in waist deep water!!

i would like to go into more detail of our trip but after getting back early from steep i went for a dive on monday as i had the day off work still and had an incedent with the boat and ended up shattering a bone in my hand so no more fishing or diving for 6 weeks after the surgery to screw it all back together, worst part is i didnt even get photos of my catch for the day as i went straight to the hospital haha.

anyway ill let the photos explain the epic time we had at steep out of a little 4.2m tinny

Was told there should be salmon in the Busselton area

Is there any truth to this story  ???

 Making use of the good weather conditions with a variety of fish for the day.

 Some sounder shots of spanish mackerel chasing bait fish

 Heading up to jurien for the longweekend....Any Reports? I'll be fishing offshore & free diving.

Headed out of Hillarys around 5.30am on Sunday for a magic trip over to Rottnest. Sunrise over the island looked impressive. Bait fishing at West End was a bit of a challenge, but around 700am we managed to get them going. In the midst of chasing bait we managed to nail two nice sized Skippy that were destined for the table. We then headed out to the Southern Fads. Just short of the shallow FAD, we put out a spread of skirts and bibs and sent the doctor out the back. We came across a huge pod of Dolphins that were bow riding for a good few clicks. Fun to watch on such a nice day. First pass of the FAD resulted in a hookup on a Halco Laser. The pace at which it took off had us calling it for a Mackie, but a bit of aerial worked showed it to be our first Dolphin Fish for the day. We pulled the lures in and setup for a pass of the FAD with baits. Current was opposing the wind, and we almost able to hold our position about 20m from the FAD. Made for easy casting. First two baits in the water lasted about a minute, and resulted in a double hookup. Plenty of hooting and laughing on the boat and before long we had two at the transom. Dropped one, kept the other. By this time, another 6 boats had arrived and it was getting a bit busy. We dropped a few more baits in, but all the activity spooked the fish, and we were not able to coax another one up. We moved north to the next FAD and it was a similar situation, with multiple boats holding close to the FAD, and keeping the fish wary. We moved onto the next FAD, to find it with just one boat trolling at a good distance from the FAD. We were able to sneak in, get a few baits in the water, and a few instant hook-ups. Both were dropped, but still made for some fun. On a time constraint, we headed for Hillary’s, stopping at a few lumps on the way. Picked up a Dhu and a Baldy to finish off the day on a high. Calm water meant a 35 minute trip from the 90’s and we were back and hosed down by 3pm. Great Day, great company, and a nice feed to top it off

My first post on Fish Wrecked thought it would be good to share our day out on the water.

Took my boat out of Two Rocks to have a bit of a bottom bounce great day to be out on the water. I pulled myself a nice size Dhuie at 660mm which I thought was a great fish. Only then to be upstaged by my mate Dean who was fishing with some soft plastics all day and then his hard work had paid off. He was smashed by a huge Dhuie pushing 20kg measured a 1050mm. A lot of swearing and high fives everywhere. All in all a good day out with 2 x Dhuies 1 x Baldie and 1 x Black ass. See photo of all the fish, Deans Dhuie made everything look small. Finished of with a few beers and fresh feed on the BBQ for all families to share.

Good weather forecast down south and a quick call to FW member Chrisp who lives down that way now confirmed there were fish around meant a trip south for some catch and release was a must do.

Last minute thing meant all the normal suspects could not make it so took my daughter and her boyfriend, neihter have beach fished before let alone sight cast to salmon with light gear.

We were met with perfect weather but salmon were very sparse on Saturday. Saw a few fish only on Sat morning, hooked and lost 3, so lunch was a bit glum. I headed off for a solo sess late in the arvo and found some fish, had a ball on 10 lb 2500 size gear with some solid fish, landed and released a few which took the monkey off....

Few beers that night and bacon and eggs breaky followed by a fantastic Sunday morning session. We fished a nice gutter for 10 minutes before a few small schools came through and we got a few, then a large school was pushed in by dolphins and it was on. Great fun, a lot more lost than caught, all released.

Gods country!

Excellent weekend.

I decided to have a quick fish in conditions that I normally would not go out in. Mate Nick and I launched at six from Woodies and made our way to a bommie near Rotto. We dropped the anchor in rough conditions and set up a burley trail. About an hour into our fish my Shimano Tekota 500 attached to the Shimano T-Curve Jig-200 made a click, click sound to indicate a query at the other end. The business end was loaded with 60lb floro with two snelled 7/0 Gamakatsu hooks. Attached to the hooks was the favourite bait for this water - a whole scalie.

As I lifted the rod I could feel the fish pick up the slack and ever so lightly tug as it swam off with the bait in its mouth. I set the hook and hung on for what was arguably the greatest fight which I have had in my 30 years of fishing. The fish managed to pick up the other lines before Nick had a chance to pull them all out. It also took me down deep on two occasions where I could feel the resistance of the 50lb Power Pro braid as it ran across the reef below. Yes you read it right 50lb - you can not go lighter on these dirty wrestlers of the ocean.

After a good 10 minute fight we eventually lifted the 120cm Yellowtail Kingfish onto the boat. A quick measure and a couple of photos and it was released to fight another day. I have lost my fair share of what I believe to be YTKF in this area. This new rig is sure to see the tables turn. The next goal is to upgrade this new PB.

YouTube clip here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otbspaNjhDU&feature=player_detailpage