gummy sharks from shore? Are there any popular spots

 Hey guys anyone been getting into some herring lately? Need to get some more baits.

i have plenty of burley and such but I'm curious if there is protected spot in this weather that'll produce for me?  Not just herring but gardies and yakkas also, any BB species to be used for bait , I'm not picky haha I'm land based also.

thanks pegz

Last night the 3 of us went out from Freo, things started pretty poorly with the lumpy swell around and after moving spots several times and losing our reef anchor and one KG, we were just about to call it quits, when we decided we would give it one last try with our only sand anchor left, and it was worth it as we got into Pinkies, flathead, KG's, Snook and few other by catches and one decent Occy which we threw back, got home around 1am but was so happy to be talked into going out.

Cheers all!

Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), commonly called "muskie" or "musky", come from the Ojibwa word maashkinoozhe ("ugly pike"). Personally, I find them as the fairer cousin of the Northern Pike. The mystique surrounding these often difficult to target fish also elevate them into a class of their own. A trophy muskie is truly a highly regarded prize.

Coming out of fishing hiatus just for a special lifer trip, I had the pleasure to take Richard and his son Tristan on their quest to catch a lifer muskie this weekend. Our location is a muskie factory with a great population of smaller individuals - the average size here is in the high 20-inch to low 30-inch, with the occasional 40-inch plus. We only had 1.5 days to find them, so instead of fishing some trophy waters, I wanted to have quantity in our favour.

Day 1

Friday afternoon, we arrived to set up camp first. Rain was in forecast so securing a dry refuge was crucial. By 3:30pm, we finally launched the little dinghy into the tannin waters of (not-for-your-eyes) and started plugging the shorelines.

After an hour of fishing, the usual muskie haunts were pretty vacant, so we fished toward Rocket Bay to see if one of these little rockets could be found. Along the way, Richard caught a 1lb Largemouth Bass with a frog patten Jitterbug.

The mouth of Rocket Bay was enclosed by a point topped by healthy green weeds and patches of lily. I have caught some nice bass off this point in the past. Casts were made to deliver the muskie bucktail inches from the shoreline vegetation and pull them out of the shallows over weedline. One cast produced a THUMP as soon as the lure landed, follwoed by deep headshakes and an impressive jump, and an incidental catch was brought into the net. We didn't tape measure or weight this fish, but I would guess it was around the high 3 to low 4 range, making it a potential personal best Largemouth Bass. A great catch, BUT it wasn't a muskie!



Once inside Rocket Bay, we started the drift down one side along the weedline. If we positioned the boat on the line, it was possible to cast into the shallower weedbed and the deeper basin at the same time. Casting ahead and behind the boat would allow the angler to work lures parallel along the weed edge. Boat position was critical fishing here, but the wind was making our job difficult.

After covering the entire length of the bay, the wind hasten and the drizzling rain became a steady shower. Rain or shine, the decision was to continue fishing with our limited time.

We drifted deeper into the back end of the bay where it was usually too shallow for bigger muskies, but it was here where my lure was stopped during the retrieve. Initially guesses of another bass turned into a happy revelation when a long body came to the surface. Just a little 26-inch muskie, but target nonetheless. Poor little guy was bit by a slightly larger muskie.



After seeing the muskie, Richard switched on the hunting mode. He swapped his Jitterbug for a black buzzbait. As we turned out of the back bay to work down the other side of the bay, his buzzbait was stopped by a small muskie. Unfortunately, due to some issues, his first muskie experience turned sour when the fish jumped off. The rain was coming down pretty hard now but we fished on. Tristan was a trooper donning his rain jacket and manning the live bait line.

We saw a giant floating yellow banana and Michael finally arrived to join us. The four of us plugged the shoreline pretty well but failed to garner another hit. The intensity of rain increased exponentially by the second and now it was torrential and horizontal. The wind was constantly pushing the boat toward shore, so Richard and I decided to call it a day for Tristan's sake. Michael decided to wait out the storm.

As expected, when we finally got back to the launch and hauled out the dinghy, the rain stopped. It was a bit late to launch again, so we simply returned to camp. Later, we found out Michael was reward with a 30-inch muskie after dark on a buzzbait.

Everything was drenched and even the tent seams had small leaks, but we did start a campfire, had dinner and roasted some marshmallows. Since the ground was so damp, the amphibians were crawling about, including this beautiful Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale).



Day 2

We had a late start to the morning knowing Tristan would appreciate a few more hours of sleep. After breaking down camp and having breakfast, we were finally on the water by 9am. We covered some of the usual muskie haunts again but found nothing but a couple of Largemouth Bass, so onwards toward Rocket Bay we went.

Michael was already there but reported a very slow morning. We made a drift down the left side of the bay with no love. While drifting down right side of the bay, Richard finally hooked up with the right kind using a firetiger Husky Jerk. Another 26-inch muskie, but a lifer nonetheless!



We made a drift down the left side of the bay again and I hooked up near the mouth of the bay. It was an even smaller 23-inch model, but so very beautiful.



Fishing was pretty slow in the bay and we decided to explore new territories. We found one nice looking shallow bay and I had a small muskie followed the bucktail.

Fishing back in the main deeper areas again, we drifted down the shorelines until we hit a little shallow saddle area. My initial cast was fouled with some green weeds, but the follow up cast was grabbed by a little one. By this time, it was already 2:20pm and Tristan had all but given up on the live bait rig. He had been extremely patient with the two fish heads in the boat but obviously showing a bit of frustration for his lack of excitement. I handed the rod off to him so he can land his first muskie as well.



Exploring more areas, we found this turn in the shoreline where there were three downed trees within 30 feet area and a floating dock 15 feet to the right. In total, we tempted 4 muskies from this spot, but all of them showed varing levels of interest without a solid hookup. Michael was the closest after the same muskie hit his Figure-8 three times but failed to hook up on each hit! I saw the biggest fish of the trip which was a 30-inch plus muskie following the bucktail, but the fish dropped off the chase upon seeing the boat. Frustrating...but that's typical of muskie fishing.

We finally found the bay where Michael caught his lifer Tiger Muskie and regular Muskie. This spot produced only a hit for me today. We continued to push on deeper into the unknown until we reached another promising shallow weed shelf. A couple of casts later, I was rewarded with the 3rd muskie of the day at 4pm.



We fished another hour in the area and decided to troll back to the launch for no further love. It was a decent day of muskie fishing. In the past few years, I typically experienced more follows from bigger fish and less fish landed. This year, we landed a few smaller fish but didn't see anything over the 30-inch range. Perhaps it was the time of year, or perhaps it was the low pressure that blew through the overnight. I know there are bigger fish in the area...so maybe Thanksgiving weekend will allow us another try at it. Regardless, we had a fun weekend of muskie fishing and I was glad Richard landed his first ever muskie and Tristan got to hold one of his own as well.

Heading down to denmark around new years and am planning to wet a line. Have fished there 2-3 times before and literally have not hat a bite or lost my bait. Can I Please have some advice for fishing down there on what my target species should be and how I should be rigging up for them. I will be using a boat with a colour sounder if that helps. Thanks

 Whats everyones thought on fishing there tonight with the wind ? 

Any big fish show up there such as rays/sharks/mulloway ? if we burley up enough ? 

 Never been to the 3 mile reef before

Could anyone pm the cords? 

What type of fish will i expect to catch? Anychance of some sharks and pinkies? 

 Hey guys going to esperence in a couple of weeks whats it like their this time of the year?

I heard bandy creek is good for mulloway and the bread and butter

also the tanker jetty for squid ?

will there a few salmon around? Or to late?

im staying at the seafront c/p and i will have my bike so ill be stuck to just around town

i will have my mulloway gear and my bream gear 

cheers

continued...

Nice Cobia on the FW rod and Avet combo.

whales off the bow.

End of day 2 whale show.

End of day two so back to fillet, shower, pub, dinner, bed.

Day three was obviously our last day on the charter so we were keen to finish on a good note. We finished on a frkkn great note! Glassy conditions on the drive out and the plan was to fish some different grounds a little deeper. We had an hour later start due to the low tides and putted out through the north passage. Around two hours after leaving the boat ramp, we were dropping anchor and baiting up.

What happened for the next hour or so was just chaotic! We had a relatively small crew of 8 fishers and lucky, because for a time, we couldn't keep up with the amount of fish coming on board! We had big Goldbands, Rosies, Tang Snappers, Robbo's, Ruby snapper and sharks coming up in single and double headers, line tangles etc. to top it off, my mates leader broke at the surface with a double header of thumper rosies still attached and floating away from the boat. Gaff can't reach them so deckie Wade jumps over the side and swims back to the boat with two flapping fish still attached- it was crazy.

After an hour we hooked a few bigger sharks so decided to have a look around for some new ground and landed on another nice little flare up on the sounder. A few more drops and we had nailed the boats limit so time to steam home after a successful day.

So the best day was saved until last and it topped off a perfect trip. The charter was awesome and we couldn't have asked for anything more on the Mahi Mahi with Bernie proving his reputation on finding quality fish (and lots of them). They make every effort to get everyone fish and I would recommend them without hesitation to anyone.

Now the hard part is waiting for the next planned trip in June ’14 but the freezer full of fresh fillets should hep me through it!

41 weeks and counting!

 cheers

Brett

Well our annual Coral Bay trip in May this year didn't exactly live up to expectations set by previous years results, so another trip was suggested- albeit a variation from how we usually do things.

for the last 13 years for me and more for others, we drag our own boats up there for one or two weeks but this trip we decided, as it could only be for a shorter duration, to do it the easy way and fly up and go out on the Mahi Mai charter for a few days. So flights (on F Flyer points- first piece of the puzzle that all just fell into place) and charters were booked for three days; Friday, Sat and Sun- locked in. Then started the anxious wait and watch of the weather forecast to see what we were going to be presented with.

a couple of weeks out and it was blowing its box off but then seabreeze started to show some promise when we were within a week of the trip- another puzzle piece (This forecast held true and we jagged some great weather over the weekend). We then received an email advertising cheap accom deal at Coral Bay within a week of departure and as we hadn't booked anything yet, pounced on this and couldn't really believe the luck and timing.

So Thursday morning we catch the early flight up to Exmouth and then make our way to Coral Bay by about 9am. We had this day unplanned so you do what most should do and grab a beer to start the trip with. A day in the bay without a boat can be demanding on the liver but this is when some further good fortune was realised. What we didn't know at the time of booking, our accom actually included a free coral viewing boat and snorkelling tour as well so we booked into that straight away and burnt up a couple of hours. The tour itself was great and we saw a few stonker painted Crays, Qld groper, schools of squid, turtles, reef sharks etc etc.

At the tours end, it was almost time for the charters to come in so we thought that we should replenish some fluids whilst waiting to  check out what the new moon was going to provide on the fish tally board.

We were pleased to see some nice fish come in at the tables and this just topped up the excitement levels for the next three days. So it was back to rig up the rods that we brought up with us (a new fishing WA carbon rod and Avet reel combo from Oceanside tackle for me and a new Shimano Terez rod and Tyrnos reel for my mate), then to the pub for dinner and then wait for morning.

Friday morning arrives, bakery for a pie, and then down to the Mahi Mahi to head out. Winds were light and swell was down but anticipation was all time high. Headed out the North passage and about half an hour into the trip, a spread of lures were thrown out the back while we steamed out to the bottom fishing ground.

About 15 minutes in and a reel is screaming!

Another 15 minutes and a small black marlin is tagged boat side (with a huge free swimming stripey marlin next to it) and released. With that box ticked, it was time to get some fish on ice.

We fished a combination of drifting and on anchor, battling some strong currents at times, but we were nailing fish which was the main thing. We fished anywhere from 80-100 metres and caught an assortment of quality fish like Rosie Jobfish, goldband snapper, pearl perch, spangleds, robbo's and few of the prized reds. Highlight for me was a decent red that although would not have quite ticked my 10kg red box, it would have been up there and topped off an awesome day on the water.

Then it was back to land, fish filleted, scrub up for dinner at the pub, and then sleep sleep prior to repeating on day two.

Day two we fished in similar depths but it was a tougher day than day one. The current was racing which made holding bottom tough for most on board even with 30ounce sinkers!

Taking our own gear helped us here as we could hold bottom a lot easier with lighter sinkers due to the use of braid (compared to the 200lb mono on the winches). So the rods definitely won day two with a few more reds released to the ice slurry along with the other similar catches as day 1. Our new rods were both tested today with some decent sharks and a cracker cobia and pleased to say that we were both wrapped with the way the new gear handled. I initially found it hard get my head around demersal fishing with my new setup (as it looks tiny compared to the regular overhead reels and I think a few people on the boat were laughing when they saw what I planned to use) but after landing the red on day 1 and cobia on day 2 easily, my mind was made up pretty quickly and I now have a new favourite combo!). Day 2 ended with the most amazing humpback whale show I have seen. We had whales in sight pretty much all day but the last ten minutes were incredible with huge humpbacks swimming around and under the boat and at times, literally just laying next to the boat looking at us- it was incredible and definitely made up for the slower (for Coral Bay) fishing.   

Testing the Terez!

little shark!

A not so little shark!

to be continued.......

After a few delays due to electrical issues headed out from Hillarys a little late on Saturday morning.  Conditions were stunning and it was great to test out the boat without wife and kids on board.  Also pretty cool to test out the new Raymarine Dragonfly.

Haven't worked out how to post video but after the burley cage was out, we had a visit from a 3-3.5m great white. Very cool to see such a big fish up so close.

Unfortunately only boated one keeper, a sand whiting and heaps of undersized flathead.  The shark made the day though.

To the tune of American Pie

A long, long time ago

I can still remember how Shane Charters used to make me smile

And I knew if I had my chance

That I could make my players dance

And maybe they'd be stronger for a while

But 2013 made me shiver

With every paper that was delivered

Barratt on my doorstep

I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried

When I read about how they proved I lied

But something touched me deep inside

The day my fiction, died

[Chorus]

So bye-bye, to my Essendon Lie

Took my Bombers to the top, and built up our pride

And my good old boys injectin’ another peptide

Singin' "No-one will ever know that we lied 

No-one will ever know that we lied"

[Verse 1]

Did you write the book of push & shove

And do you have faith in Demetriou above

If the AFL tells you so?

Now do you believe in 9604, 

And how drugs save your football soul

And can you teach me how to inject real slow?

Well, you know that I was in love with Dank

Since I saw him injectin’ out the back

We both beefed up our tans

To show off to all our fans

I was a lonely rookie coachin' buck

With a Brownlow medal and a million bucks

But I knew I was out of luck

The day they found I lied

[Chorus]

I started singin' bye-bye, to my Essendon Lie

Took my Bombers to the top, but then our hamstrings died

And my good old boys injectin’ another peptide

Singin' "Hope they never find out we lied

Hope they never find out we lied"

[Verse 2]

Now for ten games we've been out on our own

With hidden texts on my mobile phone

But that's not how it used to be

When the rumours came that we weren’t clean

When in truth we were as high as James Dean

“But the drugs came from Dank, not me”

And while me, the king, was counting cash

ASADA found my hidden stash

The courtroom was adjourned

Until the ASADA verdict was returned

And while Sam Newman read a book from FARC

The media stakeout in the park

And we injected in the dark

The day our dreams died

[Chorus]

We were singin' bye-bye, to my Essendon Lie

Took my Bombers to the top, but no-one knew why

And my good old boys injectin’ another peptide

Singin' "Do you think that the media has spied?

Do you think that the media has spied?"

[Verse 3]

Helter skelter in a winter swelter

The wheels fell off in another belter

Eighth place now and falling fast

Another player lying on the grass

A hamstring sprung trying a short pass 

Another player on the sidelines in a cast

Now the premiership air is sweet perfume

While Meatloaf sings an awful tune

We’d all love the September dance

Oh, but we’ll never get the chance

'Cause if the players try to take the field

Will ASADA refuse to yield?

Will we ever really know what was revealed

The day my dream died?

[Chorus]

We were singin' bye-bye, to my Essendon Lie

Took my Bombers to the top, but then David Evans cried

And my good old boys injectin’ another peptide

Singin' "ASADA’s looking and I’d better go hide

ASADA’s looking and I’d better go hide."

Oh, and there we were all in one place

An entire season lost in space

With no chance left to start again

So come on, Jobe be nimble, Jobe be quick 

Watson sat “On the Couch” real quick

('Cause Roosy is the Demon’s only friend)

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage

My hands were clenched in fists of rage

No angel born in Hell

Could break that Roosy spell

And as the ratings climbed high into the night

To light the sacrificial rite

I saw Roosy laughing with delight

That’s when, they knew, I lied

He was singin' bye-bye, to my Essendon Lie

Took my Bombers to the top, but our success was a lie

And my good old boys injectin’ another peptide

Singin' "Now our premiership dreams are fried

Now our premiership dreams are fried "

I asked my girl who hates the Blues

And I asked her for some happy news

But she just smiled and turned away

I went down to the AFL store

Where they all loved me years before

But the man there said that finals, we wouldn't play

And in Bay 13, the Bombers screamed

The Magpies cried and the Hawks all dreamed

But not a word was spoken

The servers all were broken

And the three men I admire most

The Demetriou, The Dank and the Charters Ghost

They caught the last train for the coast

The day they’d found I’d lied

And they were singin' bye-bye, to my Essendon Lie

Took my Bombers to the top, but then our hamstrings died

And my good old boys injectin’ another peptide

Singin' "I can’t believe they found out we lied

About ever having seen a peptide”

[Chorus]

They were singin' bye-bye, to my Essendon Lie

Took my Bombers to the top, but then our hamstrings died

And my good old boys injectin’ another peptide

Singin' "I can’t believe they found out we lied” 

Took the young bloke and his cousin out for a fish on Saturday. The biggest fish the 10yr old cousin had caught was a 30 cm tailor...he was in for a treat. My young bloke wanted to jig some sambos, so we headed to a little lump that holds rats, handed the boys the PE2 gear and some cheap jigs and said go for it.....

Both managed about 8 sambos each in quick time including both getting a double header on 1 jig......jammy little pricks.

Wind dropped so we went a bit further and got a baldie, harly and pinkie for them to take home. Skipper kept the badlie.............

Good fun watching the boys getting worked over by the sambos. A few larger ones resulted in the odd jig lost but well worth it.

Hit the beaches this morning between Jindalee and Alkimos, surprising lack of crazy 4 wheel drivers, usually there are quite a few people cruising the beach. Bit of a berley up with chook pellets and tuna oil...Lots of nice skippy, herring and sand whiting. Nice mixed bag all up for metro landbased. For anyone chasing an easy feed it seems to be firing quite well. Lots of dolphins and some good gutters. All caught on fresh squid.

The beach tracks are getting patrolled by rangers and police but I think they are looking for hoons more than anything else, also there is now a car park right in front of the Alkimos wreck and a bitumen road straight to it from Marmion ave. Easy access for anyone, please drive carefully if you are on the beach, there are quite a few younguns playing.

Cheers all.

 Took some friends whale watching out near rotto, took the rods (of course) and set them up with paternoster rigs. Tried to have a jig in between rigging up, baiting, unhooking fish, iki jimi-ing etc but to no avail. The other guys did find me a nice KG spot tho. Ended up 3x 50cm models. 

We picked up a couple of dhu on Thurssday, one at about 65cm and the other 75ish plus a few under or just size which went back.  The second fish below was taken on a Pirate jig, the others were on bait. It was a cracker day on the water, glassed off nicely around 1pm when the wind started moving around to the SW.

Cheers

First Baldy for me and not a bad one caught another two after this one kept this one others were released

 Caught a few of these this evening but not to sure what they are?, biggest was 35cm also lost a decent fish in the surf kind of thinking it was a tailor.

yellow fin tuna on stick baits today off 2 Rocks out in the 40's

 Friday night had some good success. Conditions were terrible 

Pinkie went 750 KG went 550.

Where's Bougainville? North/west of the Solomon Islands and east of Papua New Guinea.

Why would you want to go there? My partner Roz was born and grew up there till the age of 17. Her father Joe worked at a copper mine in Panguna from the early 70's untill a civil war closed the mine and expats had to leave in the late 80's. Roz had wanted to return to her island home for a long time but this place is well and truly of the beaten track as far as tourism is concerned. She spent over a year researching and making contacts with new and old friends to see if a holiday over there was possible. All I had to do was put a travel kit for fishing together.

A couple of Tcurve 7ft 24kg travel rods, Stella 18k PE8, Stella 10k PE6 and a few lures etc.

 Nice fish on Sunday with the weather also adding to a good day

 went out for a quick squid jog this morning just north of the marina in exmouth, wind was there but not enough to make it uncomfortable. Ended up with getting 6 with 5 nice big ones, the biggest i have ever got and a small one which was the first one i caught. all cleaned ul ready for a feed and got some heads for some nice bait on the weekend. not a bad way to spend your wednesday i reckon.

Had the brag mat out ready to measure but started cleaning them and forgot to measure, oh well next time... The largest cleaned hood measured 30cm !

Cheers Joel

Anyone been out to the Rotto Barges recently?

Tomorrow is looking really good to blast out that way after a stop at the FFB for an early Pinky... time for a day off.

Trev

How did you go today. Headed out from Mindarie to Direction Bank. Beautiful conditions with a glass off most of the day. Tried heaps of spots and different tactics for 2 under size dhuies, 1 rat baldie, 2 tiny BB's and assortment of crap including gold spot sweetlip, sea sweep, seargent bakers AKA dhuie crack and a small fox fish. Came home empty handed but was a nice day on the water.

 Chasing a report on what dalyellup beach has been producing lately cheers guys

 Decided to take one of my riggers out fishing on sunday. Coming from tasmania he was keen to get into some dhu's. We were both eager and pumped for the day ahead as the forecast was looking shmick, but were about to be let down. 

The swell inside the reef was very messy and acounted for a very ordinary (read shit) beach launch. The boat came off the trailer no probs but then the water just disappeared and then reappeared in a big surge that pushed the boat sidewards and onto the sand. A couple of surges later and we are okay and pointing in the right direction but very wet (didnt matter because it pissed down about 30 mins later). Finally we were on our way when I looked down at the sounder to see all sorts crap on the screen- bloody weed on the tranny, or so I thought. Put the motor into neutral and went to clear the weed only to find the tranny completely snapped off and hanging by the cable! Fu#k Fu#k F$ckety Fu#k. I dont think I've ever sworn so much without taking a breath.Obviously our profesional beach launch was to blame.

I had to get Twig onto some fish but with no sounder it was going to be a challenge. My only option was to blind drift some of my marks and hope for the best. Spot one saw 4 dhu's, two on jig(me) and two on bait(twig) then everything went dead until twig caught a boltcutter- time to move. At spot two  I hooked up a donkey dhu only to have the bastard reef me due to a sticky drag on an old reel that desperately needs a service (I had to back the drag off and thumb the spool- blister on right thumb) Twig followed with a dhu and a pinky(both kept) and then it was my turn to get smashed again. As I was pulling up something average it got munched by an unknown that took about 50ish meters of line in about 5 seconds plus my fish and my snapper lead- leader was shreaded to bits, any ideas? Was too fast to be a shark I think. Next drift I caught a rather greedy sargent baker that was filleted and sent back down on a sort of modified drift bait rig (I used assist cord to snell the hooks together to make them waft around a bit better than fluro) to see if I could get the big bastard that reefed me earlier, didnt work, I could only manage one of his kids(kept). 

By now the weather had turned from a sloppy easterly to a nice calm ocean which would have been ideal for searching for new ground, just my luck. Anyway after a bit of whale watching we decided to call it a day so I could head home and sook to the wife about how I need a new Furuno (wink wink). All up not a bad day I suppose but it made me think just how much we rely on electronic devices in our lives. 

Went for a quick fish this morning down near rockingham with one of my mates and after walking up and down the beach for an hour managed to get into a nice school of tailor. We caught over a dozen 35cm plus tailor and kept these 4 for a feed. They were a bit smaller then usual but still good fun on light gear and lures.

somewhere between Mindarie & two rocks....

a 14 and a 11.....released a couple smaller ones (one was pushing 10 again)...all off the one lump

everything else was dead quiet.