After a horrible trip last year when weather and fish didn't cooperate, another trip was planned with my son and my cousin.  Being a school teacher, and having a kid in high school, we could only travel during school holidays along with the other million tourists.

I bought a new set of wheels last year and tested the 3L turbo diesel with the boat.  Return was good at between 12 - 13L/100Km.  Our plan was to cruise up in our own time stopping regularly for breaks.

Jurien is always a winner for the first stop.

Not exactly 5 star dining at Overlander Roadhouse, but pretty damn close.

Night time at the Edegee "Hilton". 80Km south of Carnarvon.  We had enough and didn't want to chance the animals in the dark.

Our home for the next week at Lighthouse Caravan Park.  Emus were really tame and greeted us every morning.

The mission was to set up the campsite into some form of functionality and go fishing.  5.00pm came and we were just finished.  Bugger it, quick drive to Bundegi to see what was hanging around North West Reef. Bundegi was the spot where my cousin's boat was smashed trying to retrieve in horrible conditions.  Result was a hole through the glass the size of a fist.  We were very apprehensive with the launch although the seas were calm.

North West Reef was really cranking, with white water and current swirls everywhere.  8 minutes into our trolling and the TLD 20 exploded into action.  An estimated 20Kg mac rocketed out of the water 3 times before searing runs towards the bottom (very uncharacteristic).  A 7 foot bronzie had taken our mac and at boatside noticed it had our Crazy Deep deep in its mouth.  We tried to cut as much of the wire as possible during release.

Tantabiddi seemed to produce the most consistant catches especially at the 100m line.  Tuna bust ups were common and great fun to catch on 30g twistys giving us some fresh bait.

My son scored the first fish from the 100.

Plenty of double hook ups mainly with Goldband Jobfish.  Rotated through the fishing as it was too tiring to fish all the time.

Sharks occasionally will spoil your fun.

The weather was awesome and we would often go snorkling inside the reef after fishing to relax.

The highlight of the trip was swimming with a whale shark.  A big thank you to one of the local boats who let us dive on his shark after his clients were out of the water.  One thing to cross off my bucket list.

Mackeral action was cold as we tried everywhere. 

A trip to the Muiron Islands with much anticipation resulted in no fish boated for the whole day.  All spots were loaded but nothing biting.  Sharks were a problem as usual and at one spot all we caught were remoras.

More investigation at the 100 line got good fish.

We tried shallow water night fishing at Tantabiddi for some success.

Some more creatures from the deep.

The week was absolutely full on but fun to say the least.  We met great neighbours at the Caravan Park and enjoyed each others company.

This above pic says it all.

Great to catch up with forum members Meersey and Wannafish.

After a long 17 hour drive straight through to Perth, we had enough time to contemplate and plan for our return next year.

Thank you all for reading.

Is there anything being cought off the rocks at BP in Bunbury at the moment?

I thought it was time I added a report....

Straight after work on Friday the boat and car got packed, and at 6:15pm we hit the road for a family camping trip to Exmouth, staying at the Ningaloo C'van park in the middle of town, instead of the normal trip to Ningaloo.  With a 4 and 6 yr old it was going to be a long drive.  At 2:30am we pulled into Galena Bridge for a few hrs sleep before we hit the road again...

Arriving in Exmouth around 1pm we set up our site for the next 8 nights.

The next couple of days were blowing a strong southerly wind, but it was Neap tides, so we put the boat in at the Bay of Rest and went for a spear in about 1.5m, with clear water and some big sea snakes

When the wind stopped we launched at the marina and speared at the islands on the other side of the gulf - the kids were over the boat by now, but still enjoying it when out there.  I heard a strange noise when I started the boat 17Nm from the marina, so I didnt turn it off again, even though I found some nice bommies.  When back at camp I rebuilt the started motor (turned out to be loose mounting bolts, but I rebuilt it for peace of mind...)

The next day we drove along the beach to Learmonth Jetty, flicking lures at small GT's and giving the girls a chance to bring in a fish and play instead of being stuck on the boat. The rocks out front of Kailis provided great fun on the light gear.  We also went for a drive up a track to the top of the range from the west side near Sandy Bay

With the weather looking great we headed to Tandabitti to mix it with the big boats.  Having never fished there before, we trolled for a bit, then found a lump a few miles south of the passage in 38m, and pulled up some great fish in amoungst the sharks.  We had a big hammerhead come up the the back of the boat, and I broke my Penn 850ss trying to get fish up too fast to beat the sharks.

And that was about the end if it - time to hit the road and head home.  Overall it was a fantastic trip, especially to be able to do it with the family -  I am very lucky to have a partner who is keen to come out in the boat, catch good fish, and do a huge variety of different things (we even drove to Coral Bay for the day, and came back along the coast).  Most days we werent on the water until 10 or 11, giving the kids a swim in the pool before we headed out, and were back by 4 or 4:30 so they could swim in the pool again before sunset.  We had a great meal and pizza at Pinnochios restaurant, and had Gelatti there most nights once the kids had gone to sleep.  Now I just ned to upgrade my Penn 850 (any suggestions), and get ready for a boys trip to Dampier in July school holidays...

Thanks for reading... 

Drew

Too tired to write a full report after working a 12 hour shift at the steel factory. Yesterday was trout opener and we finally had access to some headwater areas where the steelheads were spawning. We mainly fished the pool for some hungry post-spawn steelhead. Most of the females were post-spawn already. Hopefully they'll be around for another 2 weeks. I'm contemplating taking a weekday off for another go at it. Yesterday, we waited for 1 hour for parking at 5am...people were already fishing by 12am and the lot was full by 2am as I was told.

Ken - 8 steelheads (lost a bunch to log jams and hooks coming out on jumps)

Andrea - 5 steelheads (not sure how many lost)

Michael - at least 4 steelheads (we fished apart for most of the day)

Matt - at least 6 steelheads, 3 white sucker (we fished apart for most of the day)

I fished with Andrea for most of the day. We did split apart to explore little slots, runs and holes throughout the day. He was lucky that every time he was hooked up, I happened to come looking for him (whenever he was gone for a while, I suspected he's hooked up, haha). I landed a couple of decent fish without any cameraman so I just quickly unhooked and released them.

I have a couple of videos of hook ups...but one fish ran into the log jam and busted me off...the other fish head shook on the surface and the hook came out. Again, every time I start filming, I lost fish...so I stop using the cursed GoPro. I may post the videos later...pretty sweet to watch me drift and see the float goes down...and the subsequent short run.

Just got to the first unoccupied pool, saw a fish resting in front of a rock...5 drifts later...BAM!



Then I lost one fish after another 30 minutes. We moved and after another hour, I hooked this one and handed the rod to Andrea.



As the water warmed up, the day got brighter and the sun came out, the fish turned on.



















My suspicion was right...we hooked and landed the same fish a couple of hours apart! Look at the spot pattern on these two fish, and the scar pattern. It's the exact same fish.

I hooked it first and handed the rod for Andrea to fight it...we gave it a good release



Then Andrea hooked it again later somewhere downstream from where I first hooked it...



Hungry fish...they LOVED nightcrawlers! It's still swimming out there somewhere.

Anyone know some good spots for mulloway fishing in the Swan river or around cottesloe/freo?

Weed from Jindalee to Wilbinga and the beach is soft north of the Alkimos.

Hey all went out on sat expecting a lot smoother ocean than happened very lumpy plodded to the spot 60m got this baldy second drop after the squall came through they were on the chew bigtime got baldy dhu,good b ass and a queenie glassy ride home

Picked up this nice mackie while up in Kalbarri.

Also did well on pinkies in close on soft plastics,awesome fun.

Thanks again to the guys up there who helped me with some great info on the area,you know who you are.

Went out yesterday, my son caught this nice 43cm snapper on whiting gear, We also got some just size but released them, we had a great arvo on the water, 3 hour snapper sesh and seing seths face topped it off. Cheers adam.

 and lastly the last week. plenty more photos just cant be bothered uploading anymore ...this has taken 2 hours with all the resizing!

 Continued.....more to come enjoy.

 caught this monster in feb in swan was 205cm. havnt been out since march, just wondering if they still about 

Well it is all over, that’s the worst part of planning holidays, so much planning and research and then all over in a few weeks…

First of all I would like to thank CCC and Michael (Former Chivers Marine employee) for inspiring me to go and do a Derby/Kimberley trip.
Well we (3 of us the missus and I and Richard) set off from Jurien on Tuesday the 11th of April at approx 8am, but this was not a great start for Richard who left from Perth at 5am and had trouble with he’s Nissan Navara Ute running like a hairy goat…
I told him that was normal for a Nissan… LOL

With a short stop in Gero for a cuppa at the mother in laws and a fuel top up we headed off north and drove and drove and finally pulled up in the Car park opposite the Fortescue Roadhouse at approx 11:30pm for a sleep.
With the missus and I sleeping in the front cab and Richard out on the deck in he’s swag, we were only in bed for 15 minutes when all hell broke out on the back deck, we thought it was the start of a UFC wrestling match, Only to find out that Richard was just about asleep and a bloody cat jumped into the boat and landed right on top of him… LOL
Now for a man of he’s age and being Long time married the thought of being jumped by a bit of stray pussy, Not only near gave him a heart attack, it scared the crap out of him, it all ended with the cat leaving the boat with one of the best discus throws I have ever seen, would have scored 10 from the Judges..
Up early the next morning and off again and drove and drove again, this time stopping in a 24hr park approx 130kms short of Derby.. So far so good with no issues with boat, trailer or car.
Second night in the boat we all slept good as now the initial excitement was turning into reality.
Day 3 seen a leisurely drive into Derby where we booked into the Caravan Park and set about repacking the boat and getting the last few supplies from town, that night after a long shower we headed to the Spinifex hotel for a few drinks and one of the best pub meals I have ever had (would do the drive again just for another meal)
Day 4 Seen us launch the Boat into the muddy waters down at the wharf

Low Tide at the Boat Ramp

We headed for a point just left of rip reef (Approx 75kms) before we changed course and headed for waterfall beach where we anchored up in the deeper water and set about unloading the dingy and fitting the outboard.

OH What a View

After spending several hours looking around the old camp and swimming in the water holes around the waterfall, high tide was near so we set off for Hells Gates, as we approached it was still moving quite fast so we decided to get into the lee of the island and throw a few lures until the top of the high tide.

Once through we headed for a lovely camp beach and spent our first night on the water..

Breakfast Setting.

Prickly Critters

Camp in Cone Bay

Entrance to X n X's, Old hippie Camp

How great is the Weather, Kimberley Glass again

Cone Bay Barra Farm

One of a few Fish we caught along the way

On the Move again

Unusual Rock erosion and a great beach where we had a nice swim, daily temps around 37 deg.

Doing it Tough at breakfast time again... Bacon and Eggs

Yet another Waterfall. Thank goodness for all the flowing water this time of year.

One of quite a few sharks released, even the little ones will smash your lures.

Next 4 photos are of Whirlpool Passage, at a near slack tide, would not like to be in the middle of that in the Spring tides.. Would be just a little Scary me thinks.. lol

Another old fishing camp, Outboard or Dingy anyone??

The Impressive Croc Creek, only seen one croc here and that was at night when it tried to sneak up on us, lol

Sunburnt Dragonfly

Squatters Arms, Phil and Marion are legends up here.

Even had a dip in their pool, SWEET

Crapper with the best View in Australia but not much privacy.

Calm Days at the Horizontal Water Falls

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

Look who we bumped into at Silicone Beach, Tried to swap boats to no avail..

This was one of the last stops before we headed back to Derby.

All in all it was a fantastic trip and the only hassle we had was that we stripped a rubber bush out on the Ally Prop that I brought just for this trip, this all happened while scooting through the Horizontal Falls... Lucky they were quite..
Hope you enjoy the report and hope there is not too many photos..

 Squid everywhere off rockingham on the southern flats. Bagged 30 in under an hour, early evening. Mostly on brown and blue jigs. Some big ones for this time of year. One had a 30 cm hood!!

Also heaps of herring around.

Went out from Hillaries on Anzac Day to the north side of Rottnest. We had a slow start bottom bouncing only getting a seargent baker and scorpion fish in the first couple of hours. We tried a few different spots and eventually managed a nice sized pinkie.

We kept on trying at that spot for a bit longer but couldn't tempt any other fish up. So we decided to move out further to another spot.

On the way we saw some birds dive bombing into the water so we hooked up the trolling gear and trolled around for about half an hour. We didn't get anything so were about to give up. We wound one of the rods in but before we could wind the second one in it starting going off. Turned out to be a Tuna.

We put the lures back into the water and almost instantly got another hookup. After a bit of a fight I managed to pull up a Mackie. As we went to grab it with the net the top of the net fell off and the lure came out of its mouth at the same time, so it was floating in the water next to the boat with a net on its head. My mate grabbed the gaff and just managed to get it before it swam off.

We kept on trolling for another couple of hours without catching anything else. There was lots of bait balls out there and lots of bird action. Heres a sounder pic of one of the bait balls.

A great way to spend a public holiday.

Been a bit slack but thought I would chuck up some pics of my exmouth trip.  Was an awesome year again!

Metre plus queenie, sightcasted on fly

Golden trevally on fly

Longtail on fly

Did a few fly fishing shore bash sessions on our relax days

Plenty of queenies and dart kept us occupied

And spent the rest of the time chasing spangos, goldens and other tasties on lures.  In the two weeks only lost one fish to sharks.

 Headed out early off bunbury chasing skippy, ended up getting onto a few schools of skips and some nice size too. Had a ball these guys go off on light gear... Went to start the motor on the tinny and head home when I seen a nice sambo cruise past the back of the boat! Spewing I cut off all my rigs beforehand!!

Just wondering where the mackies are this year? Normally we would have had a fairly solid run by now, but reports on catches have been slim.

Is the water temp still up? Maybe just a really late run?

Or did i just miss it..

With my Texan mate out trying to catch Dhuies my trusty dog DJ became my fishing offsider. He talks less crap anyway.

I rocked up at a Preston Beach spot about 4pm planning for an overnighter. Unlike my last mission a couple of weeks ago it was a Herring or Skippy every cast with baits getting snapped up as soon as they hit the water. The Herring were pretty good size too.

The small fish activity got my hopes up for something larger in the evening but with the ‘pickers’ so ferocious larger baits were getting demolished within seconds.  This continued well after sunset. Even when I chucked out a large slab of mullet I felt it immediately get massacred by the hungry mass. I quickly brought it back in for inspection and found just a hint of Mullet skin left on the hooks and a Herring impaled through its back.  So, any thoughts of scoring Tailor, Salmon or anything else on mulies were soon dashed. I did get my hopes up at one point when something thumped on the end of the line only to see a massive NW boltcutter hit the beach. DJ seemed to nearly hate that thing more than I did!

A change of tactics saw a couple of live Herring chucked back out on the heavy gear and 4 more chucked in the frypan. I don’t mind a feed of fresh Herring followed by a couple of steaks washed down with the appropriate fluid!

There was very little action in the evening and with a guts full of dead creature meat I dozed off on the sand... only to be woken by a screaming ratchet. Unfortunately the short intermittent runs and dead weight told me it was a massive Ray. Time for a few more beers.

The morning saw the Herring as hungry as ever so out went another couple of live baits.

After a couple of hours of changing the live Herring (and having a huge breakfast), I was starting to think I should have stayed home and had a crack at a dawn service. Not even a Ray! Then finally one of my lines screamed off. After a couple of decent runs I beached a Hammerhead Shark. Not huge like some of the beasts posted on FW but a good size for a feed. DJ really didn’t like Mr HH and I literally had to break those two up.

Hi All
Just got back home from our Derby trip and all I can say is "Freaking Awesome"
once I go through all the photos etc I will post a report, but below is a small sample of what it was like...

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

Today the happiness moment in my life.

I've finally broken my all time snakehead record of 11.5KG.

With hardworks and some lucks, I managed to land this black beauty mega size 13KG Giant snakehead in Thailand.

IGFA world record biggest recorded is only 10KG, this massive 13KG  size toman is by far my biggest and the personal best record ever......

It will gonna be a long time before anyone or myself ever break this record again...;)

Without further delay, allow me to present my ever prized monster catch of my life...

13KG Monster Giant Snakehead aka Toman.

Exciting and awesome fights!!!

All captured in this actions pack GoPro clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1onfRG9XFX0

Photos highlights.....

Mega size !!! Big toman !!!

Hi all just wanted to find out to see if anyone has had a crack at fishing at port beach or around there along the beach and had any luck

cheers

Had an amazing couple of days at Cheynes and Bull Creek over the Friday and Saturday just gone.  The Salmon where absoultly on fire.. Everywhere from the rocks at Cheynes to the protected bay and all along the beach from cheynes to bull creek..

Everyone was catching them it really didnt matter whether you were a good or bad fisherman. Even familys of 5 or 6 were leaving with there limit every morning ...... Why you need that much salmon is byond me but it is what it is.. There was also plenty of bonito from the rocks first thing in the morning but unfortuneately none of those big striped tuna Beau and his mates got last year ..

Met Beau and his mates on the friday which was good to put a real face to the name. They were haveing a ball catching heaps.. Seeing Beau hook up on fly from where i was standing on a high ledge was really cool..

Fished the beaches at Bluff creek saturday arvo and night.. Again millions of salmon with heaps of eagle rays and a couple of big sharks thrown in.. Were hopeing for a Mulloway or Gummy but no such luck..   Had a 4 was hook up at the beach on eagle rays which was interesting to say the least considering there was only 2 of us with 4 rods..

Only took a few photos because we were to busy catching fish haha.. Will definately return at some stage its a really nice place to see and fish..

Also tryed out the new Halco Outcasts. Was quite impressed with them, we found the best way to work them was at a medium pace and putting your own action on them (like any metal really).. Gave the Quantum Smoke and 8.6 Rovex Squid Rangler another work out and man they didnt skip a beat. Ran 10lb threw it which is probobly a bit to heavy for the combo but im testing it so im almost trying to break them, high sticking them when close to the rocks and all sorts of silly stuff with no trouble (not that i recommend doing that).

Definately a great combo for casting lures and having heaps of fun if you want something other then Dawia and Shimano or just dont wanna pay Dawia and Shimano prices..

Sorry about picture quality but they were all taken on an IPhone..

Enjoy     Belly

Hi all

Back from a nice break (R&R) in Mandurah.

Was nice to get out and get into some crabs. The Estuary has calmed down after Easter with heaps less boats out, but some are missing out on some nice full blues.

Went out on Friday morning early and once we discovered the pattern it was easy to get into some rather nice big blues. Caught our limit (well one short because doppy here cant count) but it was a day where if it looked like we needed the measure it was returned. We only kept the giant males. Caught plenty of girls, only saw 2 clear undersize.

The pattern has changed remarkably though. Last time out about Easter time they were deep. Our first 2 runs in the deep ended up with 2 crabs. Moved to the shallows, about 0.8 - 1.2m and it was on.

Took about 3 runs at a leaure pace and had our feed. Went back to another regular "deep" spot to test the new pattern and nothing in 2 runs.

We fished south of Parkridge and the Pros also was in the shallows. Plenty of other life out there. Dragged a lure between runs but no joy. The sounder did show fish life, but have no idea what they are, perhaps Mullet. Had to test it because you never know unless you give it a go. Was hoping for some giant herring etc as I have caught these years ago fly fishing down here in Parkridge/Bouvard, but rare. I was more practicing then than serious fishing.

With the crabs shallow gives scoopers a chance to.

Cheers

Neels

 Got 1 tailor hooked a couple of others others including a 50cm+ specimen weather wasnt favourable 20 knots westernlys but at least it helped stir the water up a lot saw a couple of baitballs too was a good sesson deffs will go again all on 10 gram twisys and vibes i love the vibes

anyone else go today and have any luck landbased wise??

 Lots of Squid around, bagged my 15 in under an hour, then tossed out the herring float, herring, skippy and gar fish everywhere. Just out from the mussel farm, drifting off the causeway.

Can anyone that fished Club Capricorn over the weekend please tell me if weed was a problem? Thinking of taking my son up there on Monday night but don't want to waste our time if it's weeded out.

Quick call to the boys "gunna drop the tub in around lunch for a Salmon cruise" resounding "yeps" except for Nizzy whom stayed behind to watch his beloved Cockers get pumped (not that the Eagles did any better in the end).

Well in short Dave from Outdoor Sportz was freakin' killing it!

Once the other boats & landbased fisho's cottoned on to our game plan the traffic started to get real busy & the swell was on the rise but thankfully the SW was pushing us back out. Great to see the other boaties & LB guys get into a them, couple of young local lads nearly came unstuck in a set & could of built a house with the bricks they shat, far king hilarious for the rest of us but thank poseidon they came out of it safe. Timely reminder for anyone coming down to not take any serious risks & spend a bit of time reading how it all works before salmon fever takes over.

Double hook up to Dave & Seaquest

Dave-oh on the stretch

His result

.... and another

Seaquest displaying one that had a nice dolphin war wound, they were chopping them up out there! He also got some great footage of this in action which will be uploaded soon plus some reasons as to why you should pay attention to the conditions

Had to get a brief taste

Dave obviously got one of the young fellas in the school

Soon as he was given a little caress to remove the hook he lit rip with some loving that should have been saved for his ladies, Dave loved it.... so did we

Head shot!

And another

Double hookups!

Whip it, whip it real good

Hot little couple of hours, the SD card had about 13 fish & we didn't get any photos of the first few. Hope those down on holiday break get into a few, best of luck.

hey guys, went down to palm beach jetty today from about 11am till 2pm got a few bites managed to land some whiting and a couple of herring, seen some blokes land a nw blowie. also chucked out a squid jig but didnt manage to get anything, I did have a couple of bites that hit harder than anything I've had from the jetty but spat out the hook before i got it hooked it was a pretty decent pull too, any ideas on what it could have been?  anyway thats my first report hope it makes sense been on the beers pretty hard today. No pics sorry cant find me camera.

Shaun