With six weeks leave it is time to explore the Kimberley. We have planned to explore the Berkeley for the past few years after upgrading the boat. We tried in May last year but with the wind blowing hard since April we didn't make it. This year we planned going a month early to avoid the wind. Needless to say it was glass the whole trip.

Leaving Wyndham on the turn of the high tide. The tides here determine travel when contemplating big trips as this helps with the feul efficiency as the boat is loaded with fuel, supplies and water. Its a good 150km to the Berkeley from Wyndham.

After four solid hours cruising we are approaching the Berkeley.

After the long haul at the helm its always good to get off and stretch the legs a little.

Better settle in for the night with a cold beer, didn't pack many to reduce weight . Only one other boat.

So after a full day packing and cruising we decided to take advantage of the falling spring tide and use the incoming as we were not sure how far up river one can travel. So we spent the day slowing cruising upstream with the tide and exploring the river.

First stop was a small waterfall.

But just before we hit the waterfall we found another one that looked to inviting and given the heat it was time for a shower.

After a sweet reprive from the heat we checked out the waterfall, a quick cast and only some small Fingermark. Not wanting to waste time we headed further upstream. The scenery is nothing short of breathtaking and spectacular, everything the Kimberley encompasses. A few of the hundreds of photo's we took.

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After about 25km we came to the end of the gorge. Looking south towards the start of the gorge.

We cruised up as far as we could in the boat and then stepped out to walk upstream, not wanting to temp the croc's......

With the temperature still hot it was time for a Kimberley bath.

With a fantastic day of just cruising and exploring, and we found a little spring with more sweet Kimberley water...

It was time for another celebratory drink.

We did a little fishing. The trip was mainly to explore and enjoy the scenery. Anyways what little fishing we did still produced a myriad of fish. We caught Jacks, Fingermark, Trev's, Queenies, cod and we got smoked by some unstoppables. Given I have not caught many Jacks we concentrated on them. We predominantly fished the deep water adjacent to the high cliffs; it was just a matter of slowly drifting with the tide about a boat lenght away from the wall dropping a transam down the wall  and bouncing them just off the bottom.

Josie won the biggest Jack comp.

But alas our time was running out. We camped out the front the last night to take advance of the night sea breeze as up the river it was hot and still at night. Contemplating the trip that was Berkeley April 2013. Already planning the next.

We travelled 420km and could have done many more.....

Now time to pack up the Hilux and explore the rest of the Kimberley by 4WD and foot for 5 weeks.....

 headed to jurien for 3 days with my mates 18ft sports cuddy

day 1. bagged out on demersals and dolphinfish, fished the fads and the 50s. 2 dhus, 2 badlies and 2 balck ass

day2 bagged out on demersals by 8;30, but couldnt take a trick with dolphinfish only hooked one on a plastic. 2 dhus, 1 snapper and 3 baldies

day 3 managed 4 dermersals before heading back to the ramp at 10, 1 dhu, 1 snapper and 2 baldies

most of the demersals were taken in the 50s and on plastics.

thanks for reading :)

Saturday was looking like a cracker  left the boat ramp at the crack of dawn and this is where the problems start i turned on the nav lights all work but the center  white light, then as i am travelling out i could smell something burning looked high and low for this to no prevail so since there  was another boat with me we carried on. Got out the spot of choice and lucky number 2 problem sounder decided to have a fit so we were fishing blind yay .first drop must have hit the fish wright on the head 80cm dhue moments after my mates on dhue 2 a bit smaller but 55cm and to top it off next drop a nice black ass things where looking up .fished for another hour then decided to come in close for a squid picked up 7 good size then was time to head back to ramp got back pulled trailer in to retrieve boat  problem 3  that burning smell was the motor tilt control, loose connection sizzled the main incomer  so I would like to say thanks to the lads down at the woodies boat ramp for helping lift  the boat  while I drove it out so not to completely screw the leg .

I managed to do a dodge repair in the car park and get the motor to lift  

The boat was only rewired 5 months ago so she will be getting stripped again  

All round what a day    

I headed up to Kalbarri last week and took the boat for its maiden trip. Just thought I'd share my experiences and write up somewhat of a report. So here goes.

Took the Brand Highway on the way up because of the better road quality. Most of the drive was fine but the 2000 Hilux struggled a little towing the tub up the hilly country for the couple hours either side of Eneabba. Took the Indian Ocean Drive on the way home and I would personally take this route if towing a heavy boat.

So to the boating and fishing. I'm sure everyone is aware of the notorious Murchison river mouth. Being my third trip to Kalbarri, I was all too aware of the dangers and hugely intimidated, but just thought screw it, I'm taking the boat this time. The gamble paid off with the Kalbarri weather gods delivering on a silver platter. Largest swell for the whole 6 days was 1.3m and the wind maxed out at around 15 knots with the majority being in the 5 - 10 knot range. Couldn't have asked for anything better and even ended up extending our trip a day longer.

We mainly fished the area to the north known as the Sandpatch and a little further again called Goat's Gulch. Pink Snapper were thick with 7" Jerk Shads in Nitro Chicken colour doing most of the damage and I nailed my pb of 81cm on one of these with my Demon Blood 64cj and 5k Sustain. Sure went hard. Had a few good feeds of snapper but released anything surplus to my immediate needs. Also had some massive runs but they remain unknown. Had the drag almost locked on my 10k Saragosa and line was still peeling off rapidly. Good for the heart rate!

Day 3 and 4 saw us trying to find some mackies and tuna with half a day spent trolling bibbed minnows and skirts around but it proved fruitless. So back to the Sandpatch it was and the macks started to show up, taking baits intended for pinkies. Unweighted fresh whiting, caught from the jetty the night before, were being smashed on the drop by some big macks, but with no wire, unfortunately none were landed but they sure put on some good aerial displays. Makes for a heartbreaking moment when you see a massive mack launch from the water, only to feel your line go ping. Oh well, still great fun.

We spent one arvo/evening crabbing after hearing constant rumours of the muddies being prevalent. We got a few good sized ones and cooked them up with some of the snapper. Talk about a feed fit for a king! We sure were the envy of the entire caravan park and being the first time I've eaten mudcrab, I've got to say they live up to the hype. Simply amazingly delicious!

So in summary, the fishing was fantastic, with some massive runs, dropped mackies, and pinkies on the chew. I would definitely go again and take the boat again for sure. Was a great time of year to go as well, just missing the school holiday peak season, which meant access to the ramp was easy and uncrowded and the caravan parks rather empty. We stayed at The Anchorage caravan park and I would recommend them, with their sites really spacious and top facilities.

The only downside to a great week was a clumsy fall from the boat at a fuel/lunch stop in Geraldton, which surprisingly resulted in a broken ankle. Was told last night that I would need 6 weeks off work but this morning I have just been told that the break appears much worse than the X-ray shows and I might be off work for as much as 12 weeks. At least it happened on the way home and not the way up..

I have no photos to post as they're on my iPhone, but thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy and everyone have a safe and happy holiday next week :)

Did the treck down south with the lads (Dazsamfishing, TimVB, Hoooked and Chrisp) plus one laddette (Sam) on Friday night, fished all Saturday and Sunday morning and back to Perth late Sunday arvo.

We had a ball this year, getting into a few good schools and doing a lot of sight casting to salmon as we drove along thr beach. We all got in to plenty.

All catch and release bar one or two kept by one of the guys who had not tasted salmon yet......will no doubt be all release next year.......

Mostof us fished 7-8 ft light flick rods with 8-10 lb braid and 2500 to 3000 size reels. Japanese stickbaits were the prime lure.

Good fun guys, next year again for sure!

A few photos, a bit average as we were all too busy  catching and releasing.

I've had the boat out of the water for the last few weeks with a trip to Bali and then electronics upgrade. (1kw thruhull tranny - Yew), so getting it out tomorrow, just seeing if there's still plenty of bait in the water and whether a quick trip to the fads for some Dollies, before a deep drop is worth it?

Salmon reports are starting to dry up lately particularly around Dunsborough way. Heading down there in a few days.
Thought I'd start up a new thread as the other Salmon 2013 is getting way too big!

Another year has passed & the pilgramage to Exxy has been made, sadly this year we lost 1/2 our gang & they were sorely missed (Harro, Nizzy, Wind On & Esky Dave's) Novotel & pissy nights just were not the same without you boys.

Anyway I will keep the write up brief & let the vid & pics do the talking, have regrets for not getting on to the go pro & camera as much as possible because we missed some awesome moments but when it's going off like a frog in a sock (or just for you lads a snake) then it's easily forgotten.

We haven't really posted our exploits in a while, so here ya go & hope you enjoy. Best give the 'yew' tube vid a bit to load with the size & music.

Cheers in advance on behalf of Seaquest, Tiimmbo & I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHwaKuzGwPY&feature=youtu.be

Goldband to the Snake Charmer

Little Red, we scored some good ones (this one is shit)

Troy with a Red

Seaquest with Rankin on jig

Troy's Marlin

Tiimmbo's Grey Band

Seaquest with a lit up blue

Another Red for me & a well earned title of El' Presidente'

Saddle chops

Shallow water Chinaman that went like the clappers with nitro out of his clacker

Smitty on the board

Troy & his beast from the deeeeeeeep!

Sharks love Ruby's & we gotta whole lotta love

One to add to our day of 'grand slam'

Another to 'grand slam' shame we didn't get this fight on the go pro, Troy had an epic sub of a red can whilst fighting it

On dark & about to head in whilst keeping a nice pace whilst the boys clear the spread Seaquest does it & we do the grand slam, yeah baby!!!!

Ater a very wet start on Friday, Saturday morning made it all worth while.

I had better add that this catch belongs to more than 1 person.

The largest fish landed all weekend was 490mm

We released more than we took.

Sunday morning brought the Tailor in again along with some solid Herring.

An awesome weekend was had by all.

 Went off Mandurah over the easter long weekend and came across a school of yellow tail kingies. Kept 2 yellow tails and also landed a 47cm king george whiting. My first time catching a yellow tail kingie and it was amazing. Best sashimi eva!

 Went off Mandurah over the easter long weekend and came across a school of yellow tail kingies. Kept 2 yellow tails and also landed a 47cm king george whiting. My first time catching a yellow tail kingie and it was amazing. Best sashimi eva!

Gday Boys, thought i would share a few photos from our latest Abrolhos adventure. Wallabi Group the week after the Easter long wkend (when there was no wind!).

Burnt 75Ltr getting over inc. a couple drops on the way. 7/8ths of a 513Ltr tank to go!

1st Drop

Staple Abrolhos Diet

Breakfast of Champions

Forgot the cups

forward berth not looking so comfy

Chef P-rock

Guest Bedroom

Aussie Warrior and Top Gun II. aka emergency ice suppliers! thhoght we would have pissed it in with 20 bags. Thanks guys-extended our trip by another day

Morning View

Weather was still turning it on on the way home

couple of large tiggers

Gday fisho's - went for a troll yesterday from 3:30pm - 6:30pm behind the three mile straight out from Mindarie. Was pulling a large white X-rap deep diver, 15cm fluoro pink/green williamson wahoo catcher/jet head and a 19cm Halco hard body (Mulie colours) Turns out these three lures are the perfect combination for catching huge amouts of seaweed Grrrrrrr!  I noticed that when I was more N-NW of the Marina there was hardly any weed in the 15 - 22m depth line but no Mackies or Tuna - anybody else had any luck out there ? There were heaps of flying fish thats for sure and the sounder was showing large fish sitting 5-6 m off the bottom I presume they were Mackies or Sambo's  anybody got anything descent out there lately ?    

Well, another year, another boys trip to Exmouth has been and come, and this one was by far the best so far. This year had the boys coming from all over the place, Nick from Melbourne, and Ben from Queensland 5 of us local Perth boys. Plenty of beer, plenty of food and enough fishing gear to stock a tackle store!

After last years trip, we decided a few upgrades were in order for this year (Also known as Hard Mod's), mainly being the accommodation. The past 2 years we have stayed at the Light house caravan park, firstly in the standard chalets then last year in the lookout chalets. But for the price (we needed 2 chalets) it worked out better value to look at a Holiday house in town.

We decided on a house in the Marina with its own jetty, and for those who have ever considered this but not done it, i would highly recommend it. It's worth the extra $$ Not only is the acommocation much bigger, but the Jetty just makes things easier with loading and unloading boats. Also the Jetty provides some fun light gear fishing as well. The only down side is refueling, which requires you to take the boat out every 3rd day. Spoke to a local who was building next door and he said an unleaded fueling station will be available in the Marina soon.

View from the house of the boats tied up.

We couldnt have asked for better conditions weather wise, almost every day glassed off at some stage during the day, which generally made the rides out pretty comfortable, and it was 30+ knots pretty much everywhere.

Typical conditions. (20-30 mile out)

First couple of days on the water was spent looking around for new ground, rather than hitting the same spots as last year. Sharks last year were insane, so the plan was to move wider to get away from them, which had mixed results.

The First day looking out past peak resulted in us playing with HUGE schools of big eye and striped tuna for a couple of hours. The boys loved this catching a fish a cast and with the tuna being as thick as they were (atleast a couple football fields worth) the fish were practically jumping out of the water for the slices. There was also a few school and shark macks hanging around as well.

We collected a bit of bait and moved out wide for the rising tide.... After about an hour and a half of searching, we couldnt find any ground worth fishing on, so we decided to move in a little shallow and continue to look. By this time the tide had changed and we didnt expect much. We found a very small school of fish on the sounder and decided a hail mary drift was in order.... (we had had a few beers by then!) and after about 30 seconds the first few fish started to show up, with spangles and saddle tail making their way on board. After  a couple drifts we had 6 fish in the esky which was enough and it was getting late so we cruised back in and made the plan to hit the same area tomorrow for the high tide.

Next day, Same process, a few tuna and surface fish for some fun, then out to the deeper water...This time a little more sounding around found a couple lumps of coral which rose about 1 - 1.5m and held good fish...after a couple drifts and a couple spangles, old mate Laurie finally hooks up to something substantial, and did he let us know about it...the other boat was only 50m away and they were green with envy as they knew he was onto a good fish.. And a good fish it was, being the fish of the trip, and mayube a Photo of the month contender?? this red tipped the scales at over 11 kilos.

Next drift resulted in Scano with a nice red

Nick with a nice Saddle Tail

In the coming days, we did spend some time playing around in the shallows out near the islands and having a couple of really hot sessions on plastics, slices and other lures. In about 10 metres of water we water was just bubbling with Queenies, GT's, goldens, Spangles, Cobia you name it... every cast resulted in fish either smashing the lure or following it al the way to the boat. We would have tied at least 100 leaders that day!! some lost to sharks others just getting smashed! 5-10 kilo GT's and goldens on 10-20LB gear doesnt end well! Didnt get any photos of this as the fishing was just that hot it was litterally 2 or 3 people hooked at every cast! Some blistering runs as well, i almost got spooled on a suspected big GT on the Stella 4k running 30lb!

During the week we continued to fish far north, venturing up past flat island and as the conditions allowed it fished many different locations and depths. Plenty of rankin, Saddle Tail, spangles and Reds about.

My first good Rankin

Scano on a good rankin

Scano on another good rankin

Frank with a good saddle tail

We went all out on the food, ordering a heap of meat from the butcher before we left, taking up Scotch fillet, Pork belly rolls, rolled Marinated beef etc, as well as Fresh S ashimi most nights with home made sauce!

Coral Trout Sashimi!

Big Eye Tuna Sashimi

Scano built a new spit for the trip, and it worked  a treat!

Frank on the BBQ,

Nick with a solid Chinaman..didnt this fish let him know about it. Biggest fish he had ever caught

Carl had an argument with a Shark and his Asuza came out 2nd best!

Scano loves casting a lure into a bait school with birds diving into it!!! well done Scano!

Ben with a solid mack tuna which gave his light gear an absolute work out for about 15 minutes

Saltiga over head and demon blood getting a work out

A couple nice fillets

Frank on the filleting

Carl with the biggest red of the trip for him.

Carl with his reds

 Result from the last days fishing on one boat

This is what happens when one boat runs out of beer and the other still has plenty!!! and your 20 odd mile out so sea!

Loading the boats before a day out

The Bling... Everyone had either Stella's or saltiga's

The boys and their toys

Having a flick off the jetty, this resulted in quite a few Mangrove jack and a 50cm trout!

A Few boat / Sunset shots

Never too early for a beer!

On the way home refueling from the purpose built fuel cell for the trip

All in All, a bloody awesome trip, with a bloody top bunch of blokes, a heap of laughs and shit stirring and a heap of beer consumed! Catching a few fish is just a bonus on trips like this.

Bring on Exmouth 2014!

Thanks for reading

Bodie

 FRUSTRATIONS FRUSTRATIONS FRUSTRATIONS.......

two days of billfishing has resulted in 9 marlin strikes (3 the first day, and 6 today) to 0 landed fish.........keep thinking its the hooks..... all in all thats now 22 raised bills to two landed over 5 days of marlin fishing.. one massive wahoo strike which resulted in the ritcher soft grassy being left with only the head of the pusher

its actuelly starting to get moral really down aha! but also moral is up as we are raising fish consistently everyday we just cant get them to the boat....got a few dollies under a huge patch of weed in the 400m mark today as well.... found a bait ball seriously getting busted up in the 450 m mark trolled it, big strike in hope of a yellowfin, and we fought a fish for over 20 mintues on 15kg which stayed very deep, finally got it up to the boat and what was it a 8 foot long bronzie with the skirt hook purfectly hooked in its corner of its mouth. After a few hair moments of it boatside and myself trying to get my skirt at least back..which eventuelly i won and got my skirt back.

oh also found the hoey hole of coral trout.....fish it at the right tides and we bag out with trout over 750 mm long all on jigs and placcies...It got to the point one morning we were releasing trout of over 650 long, then having to moove lumps as we couldnt get away from them

mackies are thicks up here some what turning into a pest if you know where to look, when trolling for other specific species....

when the trip is over still got 9 days, will post a heap of photos.

brett

 What a huge day!

pezzdog and KJ got to mine at 5:40. Loaded up all the gear and headed to hillarys.  No one there!  Ripper!  On the water by 6:30 just as the sun started to come up. Headed over to my favourite ground near rotto. The wind was up a bit, so i will need a chiro tomorrow, but we made good time and had anchored and burleyed in no time. Couple of wrasse, a huge sgt baker, devil fish etc. nothing too exciting.  Got to about 8:30 and we had enough...

moved out to another lump I had passed before, dropped anchor and I was 1st one down.  WACK!!!!  I'm on, huge tail thumps, different from anything I'd caught before.  I dare not call what it is.  After a couple of mins fight up comes my first baldy!  Size, and a good fat fish.  I was feeling generous, so decided to release it to the esky. Next drop, another baldy, about 1cm undersize, luckiest fish in the world.  Then KJ pulls up another baldy. By now were loving the new spot. 

We then pulled up and went back to the original spot.....  It was on!

pulled 3 sized nannygai (swallow tail) and released 1.  Quite a few BA but mostly undersize. But then the fun really started.  We pulled out the bream gear and the skippy were THICK. Easily boated 40+ between us. Some large models that would have pushed 50cm or more.  All released, but just such a pleasure to be able to catch such great fighting fish every drop. 

We got back to the ramp at 4:30. Buggered!

good feed of nanny for dinner and I'm spent. 

 Went for a fish at floreat drain with my old man, easily most succesful trip which isnt saying much.
we were there from 1pm-5pm just going for whiting/herring. it was quite unactive for some time. After about an hour or so bites started.
my dad managed to reel in 12 herring all over 20cm, 3 Bream on one cast and a 30cm tailor, which was suprising because the hooks were tiny and using very little prawn for bait.
I managed only 3 herring, i do believe i had a tailor hit though, it hit pretty hard and after about 30 seconds of fighting it my line snapped, i just assume he cut it.
we also caught about 25 small whiting, most were no bigger than 12cm

Sorry no pictures

G'day

Quick report from the bank. Me and a mate headed out to the FFB on saturday morning, left in pitch black in the hoped of getting some snapper. We got into some snapper, but unfortunately they were a bit undersize, around the 40cm mark, so they all lived to fight another day and of course there were a few wrasse mixed in with the snapper.  We moved spots, and found a nice sandy patch in 28-30m of water on the western edge of the bank. Managed about a dozen of the fattest whiting I've ever seen in a long time, which was nice. Mixed in with them were a lot of small flathead. You could tell when you were drifting off the patch, as the whiting were thick in the centre of the patch, and as soon as you'd start drifting off the ground the flathead would come on, and they were THICK. I was running a patternoster with two long shanks, and got a triple header flathead, 2 flathead on the one longshank! Was good for a giggle. Started raining pretty hard so we decided to start making our way back in, stopped in the sound for a quick fish, first hook up my mate hooks onto something pretty weighty, that didn't do a whole heap. As it came to the surface we both thought it was a gummy, nice, so we thought! was a big dirty norwest blowy! he had one of his filthy mates hanging around with him too.

All in all, was a good day on the water, no big snapper. But a nice feed of whiting is always nice.

Whiting for lunch today... if the boat stays in the driveway!

Cheers,

Alex

Hi FW members,

Well it was a first for me today, went for a flick this arvo down freo way, decided to tie on a micro vibe (first use) and see what was around. Well as title sugests, first cast, let it sink for a bit till it hit bottom, twitch...nothing, twitch...pause, nothing, twitch...pause BANG. at first i thought oooh good size bream, but then after about four seconds of pressure and i thought i hooked the rotto ferry. Was using a trion 2-4kg rod, 2000 sol, 6lb fluoro carbon. Now to say this fight was on for young and old was an understatement. I was starting to think i had caught a stingray by accident. well after 5-6 minutes (felt like 20) line was almost spooled of the little spool. Finally managed to turn his head and he started to play the game. Now twenty minutes have now passed and i see the first glimpse of silver, this thing was a good size, by my reckoning, the first flash i would have called it for 1 metre. It wasn't done yet though...after it showed itself it decided it didn't like the look of me and went on another run. Here by now i am shiting myself thinking, knots hold, don't rub on the nasty submerged structure, and all the bad things were going through my head. well this time i had his measure, 2 minutes later i had a 75-80cm mulloway at my feet in about 1 -2 feet of water and the smile was huge. I think i blinded a few boat with the pearly whites shining everywhere.

as i was reaching down to grab this beauty...BLAM off he goes. Left me wondering WTF just happened. I look at the lure and one hook of the trebble gone and one bent. Needless to say the earlier blinded boats copped the fury of my abusive language. I was going to let him go in the end after a few pics, but it killed me the f*&king treble broke on me. Was heart broken, it's been at least 4 years since i got my last mully, but to get it on such a small lure was awesome. i read somewhere that a fish may not be hungry all the time but will snack on something small if put in its face.

Pic of lure and treble.

Oh well always a next time.

1st attempt at loading photo - landed this out from rockingham on thursday 1st decent size baldie ive caught

 Hey guys, after a snap decision to go for a salmon hunt yesterday in the rain I found myself standing in front of a ripper school of salmon at one of my local SW beaches. 

Sizes were varied from 4-7kg ( no mystical 10kg models) with a fish a cast.

I've fished Ammo Jetty these last two days. Thought I'd give it a try since it's notoriously dodgy to leave your car there in the evenings.

PLENTY of scaleys around and you can catch them until your heart's content, or you run out of berley lol. I am really surprised that there is hardly any predators around gorging themselves on the massive amounts of food down there.

There are also a lot of bloody nor-west blowies around pinching live baits too. Caught about 6 of em today. Unfortunately I still couldn't open my shark account.

The interesting news; there seems to be something coming through, but not hanging around for long, in the morning harassing the trillions of bait fish. The 1st day other fishos saw something they thought to be a mackie, doing a few lengths of the jetty (don't take my word for it though, I didn't see it) and this morning there was something thrashing around again but it didn't hang around long enough for me to throw something at it. I just wish I could get down there again and try see what it is!! I just hope whatever it is, if it gets caught, is reported on here to ease my curiosity.

Cheers, Alex. PS: It really needs rubbish bins!!!

 G'day lads any reports of salmon down bunker bay looking at driving down tonight

cheers

We had been planning this trip for months and just hoping the weather would be good enough for a couple of days out on the water. A week off over the easter break in Coral Bay..... does it get any better???

The plan was to meet at my house at 4:30am to finish loading the boat and cars and get to Jurien for a bakery Pie and Canarvon before sundown. Next Day check in at our accomodation in Coral Bay then a fish in the afternoon. My mate Weisy had just picked up him brand new Holden Colorado on the day before and figured there is no way better to break it in than with a trip up north. Check the tyre pressures and fuel up and we were off.

Well we are on the road before a little hickup just north of Lano when the triton died trying to overtake due to to much boost. From then on Matt's Trition would be known as "limp trition" So we limped into Jurien for a Good Friday Meat Pie!!!! i know not right but soooo right. The girls were now awake and ready to crank the tunes for the next leg.

Finally after a lond day we arrived in Canarvon and went for a trip down to the Jetty to see what the locals were catching. Then off to Chicken treat for a good friday dinner as nothing else was open.

The next day we were up early  loaded the rods back into the boat and off we went. Arrived in Coral bay to light winds and bright sunshine. I have never seen the boat get emptied so fast in all my life. Clears and shade went on and off the boys went.

None of us had ever fished out of Coral Bay before so we didnt know what to expect. The plan was for a afternoon troll and mark some potential ground. After 4 hours of nothing we headed in with our confidence crushed. For those who have ventured out in the noth passage they will know how long it takes to get out of that zig zagging bay i was pleased just to have achieved this.

Sunday was spent with the girls four wheel driving south up the dunes and at the turtle nursery.

Monday we wereup at five for the long 2 minute drive to the boat ramp where we were met with glassy water by a fog that looked like it was about to roll in. Well it did in a big way. We got just out of the North passage and bang the fog was here. Vis went to only 30/40m which was very unnerving but out the lures went anyway.

 once the fog passed we were on to our first mackie. Matt with his first ever. a puppy.

After a few shark macks and a small tuna by myself we decided to head out wide to a spot i had been kindly given by a FW member. Thanks you know who you are!!!!

After a few drifts over the spot we had a few nice fish. 4 reds, 3 spangos and big shark which gave howesy a great run for his money on his penn spinfiher combo.

That afternoon we decided to try for some more mackies which resulted in a nice double hookup after 20min trolling.

We caught a few more mackies that day and saw a couple of whale sharks crusing along. WOW they are big.

the next day was a all out mack attack and we did very well with 6 mackies, a cobia kept and a few bottom fish.

Another double hook up.

First 2 min of trolling on tuesday

Wednesday was a rest day until at 2pm the girls decided they wanted to go for a fish. Well thats the last time that happens. 40min in and Jess who has only previously only caught fish from a dam went bang. 10min later and with shaky arms she pulled in this 17kg mackie all on her own. the my wife gets the smallest shark mackie you have ever seen and a then got sharked on a 4/5kg mackie. Good effort girls. the locals loved watching the cleaning station and tourists everywhere taking photos of Jess with her Mackie. Biggest fish of the trip to.

After being shown up by the girls and having 50kg of mackis fillets already in the freezer we decided to go for a bottom bash on thursday. A few more reds, spangos and rankin were landed by all.

Over all we had a great trip and plenty of fish were caught. The man upstairs was kind to us with the weather and we all cant wait to go away again.

Coral Bay = Gods country.

Thanks for reading.

  Had a few work mates up for a fish today,We headed out a first light to get to the new mac lump on sun rise.Lines were in the water just after sun rise and a couple of laps around the lump and we had one shark mac and a nice spanish mac on board with the biggest strighteng one of the hooks and being lost ..,not bad for 15 minutes of trolling..lines in, and out to the 80m mark where thing were a little slow.Good fish showing but not many bites .We gave it a couple of hours in the deeper water landing 5 baldchin 8 snapper ,with only one snapper being kept. Headed inside the bank and hit some of the dhu ground boating 10 dhuies ,only kept one.,also landing blackass and sambos.The end of the day and a good bag off fish for the boys. Steve is heading back to the UK Sunday so he was rapped to get into so fish as he only get small ones back hom,e.Sorry no pics on my camera .

Went for a fish in the tinny with my brother (NinteyMile) off Ocean reef on Sunday. Planned to head out to the 3 mile but wind was up, so anchored in close (300metres from swimming beach) and found some weedy/reefy ground in 7metres. Ended up with a good feed of KG's and Flathead plus the usual sand whiting. The KG's went from 45-50cm and the biggest flatty went 67cm. Also lost a nice +50cm KG at the boat. I now see why they call them kidney slappers! Just shows you don’t have to go miles out to sea for a half decent feed. cheers/Ben

 Hi guys,

Bout the head out this weekend for a fish...

Chasing some nice tailor/mulloway/small sharks,

Any north of the river beaches doing well at the moment?

Cheers

Sam

 G'Day,

Finally took a day off to get out for a fish with the brother in law on Monday, picked a great day too, probably could of done with a bit more wind to help the drift along! But not complaining. Headed SW out to the 30m line & fished around some craypots for about half an hour but pretty quiet so the choice was made to search for a bit of ground in the 40's. Got out there and found some likely looking bottom and I picked up my pb BB, nice and fat too. The brother in law picked up another one a little bit smaller than mine, so I had the bragging rights there!!

So with 2 nice ones on ice, the talk got onto getting my pb Dhu. About half an hour later thought I had it in the bag. Got a good hit on the bottom & it took a couple of powerful runs near the bottom, I started to slowly get a bit of line back and could feel a good bit of weight on the other end. Was starting to get a bit nervous by this stage hoping all my knots were up to scratch. The fight seemed a little bit strange though, a couple of little surges but nothing major considering the weight I could feel. Then we saw it.... A bloody shark! Oh well not the dhu I was hoping for but the shark wasn't too big so we decided to keep it (haven't had much fish in the freezer lately). It came to life when it got to the boat as we knew it would but after a couple of runs near the boat we pinned it with the gaff. Thought it was a nice little Bronzie at first but seemed to have longer fins, then when loping its head and tail off noticed how bloody thick it's skin was. So called it for a Thickskin, know why they're called that now!!! Does anyone know what they're like on the chew. We trunked it as soon it came on board then pumped water thru from its tail section then straight on ice. Also heard from a few sources that keeping shark in the freezer for a month or two before eating makes them a bit more tender.... we'll see.

It was starting to get on a bit now so we decided to head back to the 30's have a few drops then cruise home. It was still pretty quiet but Doug nailed a great KG whiting of about 55-60 cm. To finish the day off nicely. Flew home on a glassy sea! Sweet!

Cheers for reading.

Chris

Took a Monday trip out to the FADs for a troll and came up trumps.

First FAD had fish on it as well as another Fishwrecked member who must have got out there super early as we got there early ourselves.

Picked up 1 Dolly on a trolled skirt and then tried a few swim baits for no success. They seemed to be a bit picky.

We then trolled over to a second FAD with no success but as we came closer to the second FAD there were spashes, birds and flying dolphin fish everywhere.

First pass an we are ON. Fish on board and ready for the next pass with fish all around the boat. Put the boat in gear and lures out and before we could set the drag ON again. Awsome.

Another pass and a missed hookup, next pass ON.

Change of tactic was then decided so we threw around plastics while drifting. Lots of hookups, lost fish and a a fish box full of keepers.

Top day out with awsome water conditions for the 60NM trip. Sport fishing in Perth. Who would have thought it could be so good.

Thanks to my crew. No names mentioned. He knows who he is.

My sons first solo salmon and a couple of mine from this week.