First post from a few past trips...

JIGGY JIG Anyone....

Sweet Calamari for Dinner

With some Crays

Nice Little Dhuie there son... lol

Bugger has it over me with the biggest Snapper aswell... :-(

Teach them young... Love the Occkys

FRIGGIN Young Blokes, Think they know it all.  LOL

I had to get one on the board...

Nice Harlie..

Love those Calm Daze...

Future fishing buddies...

I can catch them even if they are a bit smaller... :-)

The Work Bench...

Captain Zac at the Helm

Where we clean the Fish and cook the Crays...

Jan 5, 2013

Really, this was a continuation of our fishing through the night. After we changed our baits to cut herring, I was fishing the dropper loop trying to find some fresh bait to use when Michael yelled I have a fish on my rig. I couldn’t hear the clicker since a couple of trucks were passing by. When I finally got to the rod, Michael was already fighting the fish. A little tussle later, we brought a 15” Mangrove Snapper up the bridge. Strangely, it bit the heavy wire on the 5/0 hook.

That was the only excitement all night. There were a couple of short rip on the line, but I suspect it was nothing more than clumps of grass dragging our lines. We had some broken sleep since the reels were clinking every so often when grass foul up our lines.

When the sun finally rose, the fish returned to the pilings. We were once again catching a steady supply of grunts. Michael caught a couple of parrotfish, a filefish and even a Bermuda Chub! I was a bit jealous to say the least LOL.

I did have my revenge when I caught 4 Southern Puffer in a roll and Michael has yet to catch one.

By 10am, we were really too tired to fish anymore. We had been up fishing for 28 hours straight. Since we planned to head home around noon, we packed up and grabbed lunch.

We were originally planning to fish our Midas Cichlid spot to see if we can find more Oscars. I was quite fished out so I really just wanted to drive back to my uncle’s house. Along the way, Michael was begging to try the Tamarac area for Cobra Snakehead. We checked out one spot but it didn’t look promising. As we were running short of daylight, I suggested that we should fish a canal where I’ve seen Snakeheads before.

Michael was fishing a weedless plastic frog while I was fishing a special weedless prop blade hard resin frog lures I bought online from a Thailand lure maker. It was a coincidence that the morning we were planning to leave for Florida (Dec 27) we were delayed due to the snowstorm. While waiting for the highway to clear, the package of Thai lures arrived and I got them just in time to bring with me on this trip.

I was fishing this lure systematically, first casting parallel to shore running them just inches from the weed line, then I cast at 25 degree angle, 45 degree angle and 65 degree angle, before finally casting directly across the canal to work the lure from the other shore over to our side of the canal.

We were about 30 minutes into our fishing when I made a cast directly across the shore and landed the lure on the shoreline grass. I gingerly worked the lure into the water and took maybe 2 cranks when I saw a wake came at my lure and the lure disappeared. I felt the fish, set the hook and was hoping it wasn’t a Largemouth Bass. When the fish came close to shore, I saw the long shape and immediately dragged the fish up the shore and dragged it as far as I could.

Cobra Snakehead (Channa marulius) – new species #22

I had tried to catch Cobra Snakehead in April 2011 but failed miserably. I could see them all over the canals, and big ones too, but failed to get them to bite. Strangely, after some cold weather, I managed to find a small Cobra Snakehead using a topwater lure!

Michael pounded the water for a while longer but didn’t find another Snakehead in the area. I strongly believe that the cold water shut these fish off the bite. I suspect that if we return in warmer weather, these Thai lures would be absolutely deadly for the snakeheads!

Jan 6, 2013

We were hoping to get some fishing this morning. However, we had to pack the car and return to Orlando before evening. We didn’t end up fishing at all.

Jan 7, 2013

Since we started the trip a day behind schedule, we decided to extend the trip one extra day. My sister and George wanted to visit Magic Kingdom and they had already purchased tickets in advance. So while they visit the theme park, Michael and I headed to Tampa to fish.

We arrived in the same creek where we caught Jack Dempsey on Dec 28. While we saw some Striped Mullet, they refused to bite our bread. We fished closed to the weeds and finally found some Jack Dempsey, including this beautiful male.

We saw some Rio Grande Cichlid swimming around but they were extremely wary. We tried all sorts of methods trying to get them to bite. Finally, I had one bit on a small piece of free lined bread but the fish took me to the weeds and the hook came out! I was so adamant on catching a Rio Grande that I made a tactical error. We should have simply spent more time fishing saltwater for species.

Since Tampa was 2 hours from Orlando, we didn’t arrive in Tampa until 12pm. After spending 3 hours at the creek, we only had a couple of hours at best before sunset. It was too late to fish at Skyway Pier, but we found a free pier along a bridge to fish for an hour.

We had no squid for bait. Honestly, I didn’t want to wet too many rods. So we only grabbed two rods each but I mainly fished with a sabiki rig. We only had nightcrawlers so I put on small segments of worms on the hook. I searched by the pilings and found nothing holding near the structure. Instead, I cast into Tampa Bay and worked the grass flats. On my third cast, I felt a strong tap and set the hook into a smaller fish that pulled hard on the light spinning rod and 8lb test. It was a Silver Perch!

Michael joined me on my side of the pier and soon caught his first Silver Perch as well. A few cast later, I was had worked the sabiki back to the bridge when I saw a silver flash on my sabiki and I set the hook into a strong running Horse-eyed Jack!

Horse-eye Jack (Caranx latus) – new species #24

I was hoping to find some Pinfish for Michael to add on his list. We went back to the parking area where I saw some. We quickly caught a few Pinfish. If we only had more time to fish, I would have cast out a cut Pinfish on a shark rig. The bay looks very sharky for smaller juvenile blacktip or bonnethead.

We had to return to Orlando to pick up my sister and her boyfriend from the theme park. On that note, it was the end of our fishing trip. We left Orlando on Jan 8 at 5am and drove to Toledo, Ohio by 1:30am on Jan 9. We then left Toledo at 6am after a night at a motel and arrived in Toronto at 12:30pm.

It was a great road trip to see my family and I fully took the opportunity to catch a number of new species. Many of the freshwater species were very challenging due to the cold weather. We had an absolute blast fishing the Keys and I can see myself fishing the Keys for a week next time! I was absolutely pleased to have caught a huge Grass Carp, conquered the Cobra Snakehead, and tried our hands at shark fishing. Now it is time to read up more on shark fishing and the whereabouts of those pesky Oscars!

With 24 new species added, I'm now up to a total of 301 species!

Jan 3, 2013

It’s great when you wake up to this at your hotel…

We decided to check out a shore spot right by one of the decommissioned bridges. This area has a rubble bottom with some sand patches, a few boulders and beds of seagrass. I was hoping to find a couple new species of porgy here, plus some new grunt species. Everything would be new species for Michael.

It took a while to set up my gear. In the meanwhile, Michael had already landed a Littlehead Porgy. I’ve caught that species before so at least I’m not missing out.

I set up a #14 sabiki rig and started searching for smaller grunt species. My first catch was a Bluestriped Grunt. This was a picture I took of a larger one caught the next day. The smaller ones were just a little darker in colour and less colourful.

Bluestriped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus) – new species #10

A few more White Grunt later, I had a nice little surprise. I’ve caught Lane Snapper before but had a poor picture of it. It was my target to catch some to photograph…and I didn’t expect to catch one so soon.

A couple of casts later, I caught a Yellowtail Snapper. Just like the Lane Snapper, it was a species I needed a photograph for my record…and now there is a stunning picture!

Although the sabiki was doing fairly well, I want to catch my porgy species. I started fishing a dropper loop with squid, and found a Littlehead Porgy…not a new species. Porgy are very strong for their size and they are a lot of fun!

Not too long later, I had another stronger fish on line again, and it was a Southern Puffer!

Southern Puffer (Sphoeroides nephelus) – new species #11

At around 11pm, the current started to build on the incoming tide. The water was littered with seagrass and it was difficult to fish the dropper loop. I returned to fishing the sabiki and found a Hairy Blenny. I’ve caught a female of this species before. Now I have a picture of the male of the species.

I was fishing the sabiki tight against the ledge along the sea wall. Many little Sergeant Majors and other damselfish were hiding under the ledge. Occasionally, something else were hiding there, including a juvenile Black Grouper! This is a picture of another larger juvenile Black Grouper I caught the next day.

Black Grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) – new species #12

While fishing the dropper loop, I had a couple of cowfish follow the larger chunk of squid. When I was fishing along the sea wall, a cowfish came out of nowhere and bit the sabiki! On the first bite, it striped the squid tentacle off the bottom sabiki hook. I dropped the sabiki down fully and the fish started nibbling on the second sabiki hook on the slack line…and when I was confident the fish took the entire hook in the mouth, I set the hook and the cowfish gave a spirited fight!

Scrawled cowfish (Acanthostracion quadricornis) – new species #13

With increasing current, small grunts were found holding around a large rock. We started catching the small grunts to keep as bait. When the tide finally reach slack high, we had about 10 small grunts. Since the slack tide shut down the bite, we decided to grab lunch and headed to another spot near a bridge to try our hands at some big game shore fishing.

This bridge spot was suggested by a friend. He told me that the first and second bridge support often hold Goliath Grouper, and the water in the area is very sharky. We set up a 6/0 reel loaded with 260 yards of 60lb mono, topped with 30 yards of 100lb mono, and tied on a Carolina rig using an 8oz egg sinker to a 310lb barrel swivel that was part of a 180lb single strand steel leader. At the end of the steel leader was a 10/0 circle hook. This is our “big game rig”.

I could cast this rig about 40-50 yards, but accuracy was pretty poor. So before we deploy this rig out, we cast out small grunts using 3/0 and 4/0 size gear. We put a 14” hound fish on the big game rig and dropped it from the bridge to the first bridge support.

We were fishing an outgoing tide. Our bait were dropped in the eddy behind the bridge support on the down current side. We were hopeful that a shark or a Goliath Grouper would come knocking. However, throughout the tide change and the evening, the rig sat silent. When Michael caught a Schoolmaster Snapper, we dropped it as a livebait and even that was not bit.

Meanwhile, both Michael and I had a couple of rips on the small grunts. In both cases, the fish ripped the grunt off the 5/0 circle hook. We could only guess what it may be. When it was dark, Michael found a couple of Schoolmaster Snappers just under legal size around the bridge support. I was watching our livebait well and saw a moray eel nosing around. By the time I got a rig ready the eel had left. However, an hour later, I saw an eel hiding right amongst the rocks close to shore. I managed to get it to bite with the head of a squid. I was successful in pulling the eel out of the rock, but while waiting for Michael to clear his line and step back so I can swing the eel onto shore, the eel cut my 30lb mono with its sharp teeth. That eel could have made some wonderful shark bait!

We fished until 10pm with very little action. At the end, we decided to call it a day and return to the hotel for the night.

Jan 4, 2013

We started the day early again at our previous morning spot. Our hope was to fish the slack low early since it was more fishable when there was less seagrass. The bite was fairly slow to start this morning. I caught a small Littlehead Porgy almost immediately, but then the bite was slow. I tossed out a dropper loop for a while to fish on a deadstick. I caught a couple of Southern Puffer but no more porgy. Surprisingly, I found a Buffalo Trunkfish biting!

Buffalo Trunkfish (Lactophrys trigonus) – new species #14

While checking bait and casting out again, I was just setting the baitrunner on my reel and putting the rod down when line was ripped out of the reel! There was a strong fish on the other end and it was pulling decent drag off my Shimano Baitrunner 4500 with 50lb braid and a 30lb dropper loop. The #6 hook was holding fine and I added a little more pressure on the fish. We finally saw the fish and I was super excited. It was a nice Yellow Jack! There were stunning electric blue marking on a golden body…the picture can’t do the fish justice!

Yellow Jack (Carangoides bartholomaei) – new species #15

I sent out my rig again. Another 15 minute passed before there was a good strong run on the baitrunner! I told Michael to grab the rod since I was fishing a sabiki away from the rod. When I got there, the fish had already ran out 1/4 of my spool. I put a little more pressure trying to stop it, but the fish put on a second stronger run. At this point, I was calling either a shark or a ray. Finally, the fish slowed and I was slowly pumping the rod to gain line. The fish came in fairly easily until it saw us. It was a stingray, and it now decided to sit on the bottom. I start strumming the line to annoy the ray and it worked. The ray swam off on a little run again but we managed to hold it close to shore. A few moments of trying to fit it into the pier net…and we lifted it up over the seawall!

Southern Stingray (Dasyatis americana) – new species #16

It has a nasty stinger that I was trying to stay away from getting stung.

We didn’t have any more excitement when the tide came in. It was quite hard to fish the dropper loop since the current was full of seagrass. We only had 3 small grunts and two porgy for bait, but we decided to grab lunch and try one of the bridges for the afternoon bite.

When we arrived at our bridge spot at 2pm, the tide was still coming in at this spot. We were fishing from the old car bridge. People were casting toward the new car bridge. Michael and I decided to fish in the eddy of the bridge support of our bridge using a dropper loop rig with 3 hooks and a 3oz sinker. We were immediately into a mess of grunts!

We started off with a few Bluestriped Grunts, but then I found a small Mangrove Snapper.

The next fish was a Sailor’s Grunt!

Sailor’s Grunt (Haemulon parra) – new species #17

We set up a couple of rods to target sharks. Maybe we were a little naïve to start. Michael was fishing a small grunt with 40lb mono tied to a 5/0 hook. I was fishing a 6oz egg sinker on a Carolina rig with 60lb mono leader and 40lb mainline. I put a small grunt on the 5/0 circle hook too. Both Michael and I got picked up and broken off within the first 30 minutes of soaking our bait. Michael saw his shark surfaced and said it was a 5-6 foot shark. I didn’t get to see my fish, but it ran off some line very quickly before breaking me off as I engaged the reel.

After that, we set out a large grunt on the 6/0 rig with 180lb leader. On my rig, I tied on 20 yards of 100lb mono rub leader plus a 3’ section of 80lb stee leader. Strangely, neither Michael nor I got another shark hit once we switched to steel leader. It was a little disappointing.

While I was fishing the dropper loop, I saw some needlefish follow my bait. They would grab the bait but let go when they felt tension on the line. So I rig up a light spinning rod with 8lb mainline, 12lb fluoro leader and a #14 octopus hook. I put on a small piece of squid and drifted the bait with the current without any weight on the line. The needlefish were quick to key in on the drifting bait. When one of the picked up the bait, I opened the bail to let the fish take line without feeling tension. When I felt the fish had taken the bait far enough, I set the hook into my first Atlantic Needlefish!

Atlantic Needlefish (Strongylura marina) – new species #18

We caught more grunts on the dropper loop. Whenever we can, we cut up a grunt to send out some fresh bait on the shark rig. While replenishing our grunt supply, I found a female Redtail Parrotfish!

Redtail Parrotfish (Sparisoma chrysopterum) – new species #19

Michael was fishing one piling and caught the first of many Porkfish. For some reason, I caught many more Bluestriped Grunt, White Grunt and Sailor’s Grunt but can’t find one of these Porkfish. Michael caught so many Porkfish that he sent one out on a balloon rig when we saw these guys.

There was a small school of tarpon holding in the current right at our bridge spot. There were a couple of them that looked to be over 100lbs! The current was outgoing now and the tarpon were facing away from us into the current, so there was no way for us to get a bait to these fish when they were holding under the bridge away from us. When they finally swam around, they passed right by the balloon rig without so much as a look. They were obviously looking for something else to chew on…maybe mullet, shrimp or crab.

Toward the evening, there were a few more chunky White Grunts. I could have kept a few for the table…but it was too much work to lug the big cooler of ice onto the bridge.

Finally, after cursing at Michael a few times for catching all my Porkfish, I finally caught my first…and definitely won’t be the last. Once I caught my first one, they seemed to be everywhere!

Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus) – new species #20

The action was good even as the sun sets.

After the sun set, the fishing changed. Fish vacated the bridge pilings and were now found about 40 yards from the bridge on the sea grass bed. Annoyingly, Michael kept catching Schoolmaster Snapper without trying. I have yet to catch a Schoolmaster Snapper, but while we were fishing the same rig in the same area, I kept hooking up grunts. When the fish finally stopped hitting, we simply tossed out our dropper loop and wait for a bite.  Sometimes, it could be 10 minutes until the next bite. Sometimes, it could be 30 minutes. When I finally had a bite, I found an Oyster Toadfish!

Oyster Toadfish (Opsanus tau) – new species #21

We grabbed a couple of camping chair to prepare to fish all night. We were hoping that the shark bite would improve at night. However, the current was ripping all night and we our lines were constantly fouled by seagrass. We had to clear the lines every hour or so, but that also allowed us to send out fresh bait. Between 7pm – 11pm, there were a few guys fishing next to us trying for grouper and sharks. They caught a bonnethead shark using cut herring. When they finished fishing, they left half a mullet and some cut herring on the pier. Michael found their leftover and we changed our baits to cut herring.

Dec 31, 2012

While my sister and her boyfriend spent the day at Sawgrass Outlet Mall, Michael and I woke up at 6am to start our fishing day. Our first stop was the canal next to the Port Everglades Expressway. A friend of ours suggested this location to catch Spotted Tilapia, Mayan Cichlid and Yellow Belly Cichlid.

As soon as we started fishing, we found some Spotted Tilapia hiding under the dock.

Spotted Tilapia (Tilapia mariae) – new species #3

While I was catching more Spotted Tilapia to be used as bait, a Butterfly Peacock appeared out of nowhere to scattered the school. Unfortunately, the Butterfly Peacock, nor the Cobra Snakehead, came around to take our live bait.

We were having trouble finding Yellow Belly Cichlid. I stepped back for a second to analyze the situation, then decided to search the rock crevices lining the shore. My worm was immediately grabbed by a Yellow Belly Cichlid!

Yellow Belly Cichlid (Cichlasoma salvini) – new species #4

My thought was that with predators like Largemouth Bass, Peacock Bass and Cobra Snakehead swimming around, these small cichlids would not be caught hanging out in the open. It was great to figure out their hiding places and we caught many of them very quickly. Michael and I also caught some Mayan Cichlids, new to Michael, but I’ve caught them before.

After checking off our target species at this spot, we headed to a set of urban ponds connected by canals. Our major target here was the Jaguar Guapote. On arrival, we caught a few small Yellow Belly Cichlid to use as bait. It wasn’t long when Michael saw a dark fish refused his live cichlid. I tried the spot again with another live cichlid. As the cichlid swam under a culvert out of sight, my line went tight and I set the hook on a decent size fish. There was a flash of violet and I knew it was the Jaguar Guapote! We were not sure why it had refused Michael’s cichlid but taken mine. I thought that perhaps the fish had seen Michael and refused the bait, while I freelined the cichlid so it would swim under the culvert so it would be out of sight.

Jaguar Guapote (Parachromis managuensis) – new species #5

That was all the Jaguar Guapote we caught this day. Michael said he saw a couple more, and I might have seen another one, but the cold weather we experienced for the last couple of days must have turned these tropical exotic species into inactive mode. They simply didn’t want to play. We knew fishing was hard when Largemouth Bass were refusing to bite a lively cichlid!

We had to constantly watch where we step since any shoreline grass could hide a Water Moccasin. We got a little scare when this snake crept up on us, but luckily it was just a non-poisonous Brown Water Snake.

Aside from the cichlid and Largemouth Bass, there were a large number of Grass Carp in the ponds, as well as a small school of mullet plus a wayward Common Snook! It was quite the sight to see a 5-6lb snook swimming in this pond. There were a large number of plecos that ignored all our offerings, but we found a Brown Bullhead while deadsticking a worm. This southern population of the Brown Bullhead has very cool mottled marking that almost look like a camo pattern.

After fishing at this location for another few hours, we decided to return to Coral Springs to try fishing the canals in the area for Cobra Snakehead. Since the water was cold, late afternoon gave us the best possible chance to find active fish. The water must have been too cold. We did not see any snakeheads nor received any hits. I had one hit that might just had been a Largemouth Bass. We were fishing soft plastic frogs trying for a topwater bite. After searching 2 canals for nada, we ran out of daylight.

We had to return to my uncle’s house by 5pm anyways since we were meeting with my mom’s older sister for dinner that night.

Here’s my family and my sister’s boyfriend.

Jan 1, 2013

To be honest, fishing was very slow by my expectation. On my trip to Florida in April 2011, there were cichlids and Cobra Snakehead everywhere! I didn’t have much time to fish freshwater last time and was expecting to hammer the freshwater fish on this trip. After a couple of warmer days, we were hoping that fish would be active again and our luck could change.

We woke up earlier this day to reach our fishing location by 7am. Our first spot was a canal in Hammock area following a tip from our friend that we could find numerous willing Midas Cichlid and Mayan Cichlid. There could also be a small number of Jaguar Guapote and Butterfly Peacock. Unfortunately, we arrived to a creek devoid of any cichlids in sight. After 30 minutes, I finally saw one unwilling Butterfly Peacock and a school of large mullet. Having fished the area thoroughly both shallow and deep without so much as a tap, we decided to head to the Tamiami Canal for the rest of the day.

We really didn’t know how to proceed. The continued slow fishing really dampened our spirit. Despite fishing hard, we just can’t find many of our targets. We debated whether we should head deep into the Tamiami Canal or fish closer to civilization. In the end, we decided to go as deep as possible. I had a number of areas marked on the GPS to try. Along the way to our final destination, we decided to check out one of my spots for a quick look. Right beside the roadside ditch, we were greeted by wildlife…

Despite the danger of a 7-8 foot alligator, we fished this spot within 15-20 feet of this reptile…since the ditch was literally boiling with Florida Gar!!! We first tried some small lures to see if they would hit artificial. However, we soon changed to pieces of cut sunfish to fish under a float. Once we started fishing cut sunfish, we were being picked up by gar almost every cast! We had to let the fish take the bait for a while before setting the treble hook, or else we often pull the bait out and the hook would not set. It took a few times to figure out how long we should wait, but we finally caught some Florida Gar!

Florida Gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) – new species #6

Michael and I both caught our lifer Florida Gar. We were hoping to find other native Florida species such as Warmouth Sunfish and Dollar Sunfish, as well as exotic species like Oscar and African Jewelfish. We were instead pestered by Bluegill Sunfish, Spotted Sunfish and Largemouth Bass. I even had a Bowfin on the line briefly before the hook came out. I tried to horse the fish quickly to shore since our gator friend was now taking notice of our fish on the line. It slowly approached us by creeping closer, then entered the water to sit about 2 feet from our PREVIOUS fishing spot. We both jumped back when we saw the gator enter into the water and swam toward us. Scary moment indeed!

I’ve caught a Spotted Sunfish on my previous trip but didn’t have a great photo. This one was just a little better…

When we found no other interesting species, and having the gator chased us off, we decided to fishing another spot.

As soon as we arrived in the new spot, Michael said he spooked an Oscar. That was quite optimistic…but we only and one other glimpse of the Oscar in the next 3 hours. This spot was filled with Largemouth Bass, some around the 3-4lb range, a very large number of Florida Gar, and a school of tilapia that did not want to bite. We fished the area well trying to find more Oscars or the other target fish mentioned above…but found none. I’m really not sure if it was the cold weather that turned off the bite, or if we were just not fishing the right area. African Jewelfish should be very prevalent in the Tamiami, but we had yet to even see one!

With very little action, I decided to play with the gar. At one point, I caught a bluegill sunfish that was deeply hooked. I tried to keep it in the water to keep it alive while I dig for my hemostat. While the sunfish was in the water, it attracted the notice of the Florida Gar and they started to chase the sunfish. They were following it intensely and I could “walk” the gar like you walk a puppy, haha! Finally, they started to hit the sunfish and grabbed on. The sunfish was a little too big to fit their mouths, so after grabbing on for a while, they would simply drop it. I retrieved the sunfish and cut it up for bait…and that was the beginning of a full hour action with the gar! I could almost get every gar in the area to grab the bait as long as I drift the chunk of sunfish on a free line in the currently to the gar. They would grab the chunk and drift back in the current. Most of the time, I just let them pull around a little and then yank hard to pull the bait out. A few times, I set the hook to fight the gar for a bit before the hook comes out. There was a bigger gar that I had wanted to land for a picture, but as I was lifting the gar out of the water and hand line it up the bridge, the line snapped.

When we had enough of the gar, we decided to fish another spot we passed by. Although the area looks very weedy and every bit the habitat for Oscars, we found no Oscar. Instead, we saw a large bass, caught a couple of bluegills, and hooked a 3-4lb Bowfin that snapped the line when we tried to land line it over the fence. Michael has a picture of the Bowfin on his camera.

We were parked at this place that sells gator tail sandwiches…I just had to try one. It was pretty darn good…MMM!

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With about an hour left of daylight, we tried one last effort. We fished closed to the civilized end of the Tamiami before we had to return to my uncle’s house for dinner. We finally found something new with determination! Michael caught his first Butterfly Peacock and I caught my first Banded Cichlid!

Banded Cichlid (Heros severus) – new species #7

I also caught my third Redear Sunfish.

Jan 2, 2013

Our next phase of fishing will be taken in the Florida Keys. Before we head down to that saltwater paradise, I bought some big game gear from Bass Pro Shops so we can try our hands at shark fishing and perhaps a Goliath Grouper. We spent this morning picking up the gear before having lunch with my mom’s older sister and her husband. After lunch, Michael and I debated whether to try out a spot I’ve identified with a population of Midas Cichlid. To be honest, I was not very confident since the cold weather had all but foiled our freshwater species efforts. Since it was on the water to the Keys, we thought we would at least have a look-see.

We arrived to the canal at 2pm and immediately saw many Midas Cichlids! These fish would not bite worms. When the fish approach us standing my shore, an idea clicked! Ever since we saw the Grass Carp at the other location, we bought a couple loafs of bread just in case we needed it. I suggested that we should toss in some bread to see if the Midas would eat it. Bingo! We’re fishing with bread!

The fish were very picky though. They must have been heavily pressured since they could tell a piece of bread was on the hook. In the end, we had to fish the bread on a small hook with a tiny split shot under a float with a very long leader to allow the bread to sink naturally and into deep water. The fish were a little less wary if the bread sank into deeper water. After about 5 minutes of refining the presentation, I finally had a Midas made a mistake!

Midas Cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus) – new species #8

It took Michael considerably longer to catch his first Midas Cichlid since catch just one from the school spooked the other fish and they became even more wary. While waiting for Michael to catch his fish, I played with some Mayan Cichlids that were guarding their nests. They would nudge, bump or gently remove any offensive or intruding objects in their nests, but they would not pick it up enough to be hooked. While Michael was casting his bread bait, he got picked up twice while on the drop. These were big fish that immediately snapped his line. After he caught his first Midas Cichlid, he was crazy enough to tie on a large hair rig and put on a large chunk of bread. He was once again picked up on the drop about 30 minutes later and landed a 15lb Grass Carp. Seeing the opportunity, I tied on a hair rig too and used a good chunk of bread by wrapping the bread onto the hair rig loop. Michaal had 3 rods now fishing the hair rig with bread on bottom for Grass Carp, but they were not getting bit. So I started casting the bread bait and letting it sink naturally, and once the bread hit bottom, I would reel up halfway up the water column and allow the bread to fall again. I was always holding rod and fishing on a tight line. After about 10 casts, I got picked up. At first, it didn’t feel like a very big fish. The fish was coming up quite easily and I was guessing it was a small Grass Carp. When the fish surfaced and saw me, it put on the after burner! It took about 4 minutes of gentle pressure with the 8lb mono and a couple of tense moments with the net. Finally, Michael had it in the net! The fish kicked in the net and Michael took a tumble, bruising his leg and wet his feet, but he did keep his hands on the net and kept the fish in the bag!

Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) – new species #9

I just had to take a few more pictures…

And the weight on Michael’s digital scale…30.5lbs!!!

A new species, big or small, is magnificent on its own…but this just puts it over the top!!!

After catching the Grass Carp, I had to take a nap before the 2 hours drive to the Keys. Michael fished another 20 minutes without any bites. When I woke up, I walked to the washroom and saw a Butterfly Peacock on the walk back! I ran to grab my rod since I wanted to catch one for a good picture on my list (I’ve caught them in Hawaii previously). We had some pretty gross nightcrawler left, but that was all the bait we had with us. I tossed my worm at the Peacock, and out of nowhere came this Oscar! It swam quickly at my worm, but stopped short when it sniffed the funky smelly worm then turned away. Man, it’s a tough lesson to swallow…ALWAYS HAVE FRESH FRISKY WORMS!!!

Following the failure, I called it a day and we drove in the dark to the Keys. My sister and her boyfriend were already at the hotel room and we arrive just as they were getting ready to head to bed.

Hi guys! Back again to share a recent trip I took to Florida. Hope you'll enjoy seeing some different species

Back in the fall, my sister and I considered the idea to spend Christmas break with our family in Florida. Soon, we roped in my sister’s boyfriend and my fishing friend Michael to join us on the trip. Since we were all on limited budget, we decided to do a road trip to Florida instead of flying.

Dec 27, 2012

We had planned to depart Toronto at 5am for a long day of driving ahead. However, when a winter storm blew across much of the US and part of southern Ontario to create treacherous driving conditions, we had no choice but to sit at home to wait for the highways to be cleared of snow. Finally, the roads were plowed by 12pm and we headed on our way to Orlando. We alternated drivers every 3 hours and drove straight for 24 hours. We were hoping to arrive in Orlando around noon on Dec 28h so my sister and her boyfriend can spend most of the day and evening at Magic Kingdom. However, a traffic jam slowed our progress and an afternoon storm also interrupted the day. In the end, my sister gave me the OK to head to Tampa to do a little fishing with what was left of our day.

Dec 28, 2012

As we were headed to Tampa at 3pm, the sky darkened and looked to threaten our chance to fish. Indeed, about 30 minutes from our fishing location, it started pouring! Oh boy…what a way to start this trip.

Luckily, the rain let up a bit on our arrival. It allowed Michael and I about 30 minutes to find our target species. Jack Dempsey was established in a little creek and we quickly found them hiding among vegetation. They were willing biters and often rush out of the dense vegetation to grab our worms.

Jack Dempsey (Cichlasoma octofasciata)  – new species #1

Rio Grande Cichlid should also be established in the system. We didn’t find them this day. Before long, we lost daylight and had to continue our way to Orlando. It started raining again and we had never seen so many accidents! There were collisions and cars spun out. Even a transport truck drove into the ditch! Being Canadians who driven on snowy roads or blizzard conditions, we laughed about how poorly Floridian handled the little bit of rain and the slightly wet road conditions.

We arrived at my cousins at 8pm and went out for some Korean food. Since we had a long day of driving, everyone went to bed pretty quickly after dinner.

Dec 29, 2012

We woke up early only to find a very cold and rainy morning. Behind the winter storm that delayed our trip, a cold front followed and the temperature plummeted to about 5C in Orlando that evening. My sister had planned to visit Universal Studio and Michael and I had planned to fish in Tampa again, however, the rain didn’t let up until 10am. While my sister and her boyfriend got ready, Michael and I checked out a little pond behind my cousin’s neighbourhood. We found a number of sailfin catfish that were unwilling to bite worms. After I dropped my sister and her boyfriend at the theme park, it was a little too late to fish Tampa. I joined Michael at the pond trying to find a way to catch the sailfin catfish. We did catch a few small Bluegill Sunfish and Michael caught his first Golden Shiner.

After lunch at my cousin’s house, my cousin suggested that we should try the lake close to their house. Among the common freshwater species was the potential of finding Florida Gar, a species new to both Michael and I.

My cousin and his daughter Ava came to fish with us. Ava was the superstar that day when she found a 13” Black Crappie. These crappies were schooled under the dock and we caught 3 more between 12-14” that day!

My own jumbo crappie!

A nice Black Crappie photograph for my lifelist

There were also some very massive (by Ontario standard) Bluegill Sunfish.

Michael cut up a small sunfish to use as gar bait to be fished on bottom and got a fish to take the bait. However, the hook didn’t set and left us wondering if it was a gar.

While we didn’t find any gar that day, I caught a pair of Redear Sunfish. I caught a suspected juvenile Redear Sunfish in Virginia but didn’t count it since the identity could not be 100% verified. The Redear Sunfish was one of my top target to catch so it was nice to check it off so early.

Redear Sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) – new species #2

Later, I caught a 6” Golden Shiner and suggested to Michael to use as live bait. A while later, the Golden Shiner got picked up and it was a Largemouth Bass. Michael said it was at least 3.5lbs…but I said it was between 2.5-3lbs.

That was it for the day of fishing. We took the 4 crappies and one big bluegill back to my cousin’s house and had a Florida shore lunch…it was so darn good!!!

Dec 30, 2012

I spent the day with my sister and her boyfriend at Kennedy Space Center.  We had a great time and it was a non-fishing day for me. It was a little cold and wet but we still had a good time. We dropped Michael off at Port Canaveral and he caught a couple of Bluefish, a Spot Croaker and a Gaffsailtop Catfish. At the end of the day, we drove to Coral Springs to spend the next few days at my uncle’s house.

Loving the diversity of fishing I look forward to the marron season every year. There's something about the journey/destination/catch that keeps me coming back every year!

Yesterday myself, Shaun (FW Shabba) and Michael headed off to Harvey dam to snare some marron. We got down early and got a spot, cracked a coldy,had a swim and cranked up the bbq......It doesnt get much better

We waited for early sunset, set the pellet baits and then waited for full darkness. Once dark the wind had backed off which was nice and plenty of small marron around but a bit quiet on the first few runs!

After a few cold beverages whe did a few more passes and the marron started to fire. It was Michaels first time snaring marron and he did well, we all got marron and ended up with our 3 bag limits!

Was a great arvo/evening with good mates and plenty of laughs.....cheers fella's

Shaun got a cracker marron that he took out of the esky for a pic!!!

hey guys just wondering if anyone has been down the mole lately and if its fishing well thinking bout going down tomorrow night

Hey all,

been up at Coronation for the past 2 weeks with family.  Lots and lots of tailor around.  Over the 2 weeks we got about 130 tailor,

but not much else that was decent.  Just the usual sharks, rays, shovelnoses etc. but i also caught what im 99% sure was a threadfin salmon, which

surprised me, i've never caught one around the area before.  I had a really good burley mixed up which consisted of pollard, aniseed oil, burley pellets, fish frames,

bbq fat, bread, and recycled Red Rooster fryer oil.  It really helped to keep the tailor on the bite.  One night my uncle and myself both caught our bag limit and by 

the time we were catching our last couple of fish each they had the fattest guts i've ever seen.  They must have been in a real feeding frenzy and they were

even attacking the fish we were reeling in.  Later on when we filleted them i found a heap of different stuff inside them.  There was mulies, pieces of dart, pieces of

other tailor and even blowies in their guts.  I'd have never thought that they would eat blowies but i guess they got in that much of a frenzy that they would just

eat whatever was swimming around.  Im also quite proud of myself as i caught a decent amount of fish on lures which i've never seemed to be able to do before.  

I was using soft plastics which i soon realised was a bad idea with tailor around, they would just destroy them.  I didn't really mind because i brought them

all pretty cheap anyway.  I tried as many different types as i could, Squidgie flickbaits, Squidgie wrigglers, Berkley gulp minnows, Berkley Powerbait and even the

the slam soft plastics all caught fish.  Will definetely persist with lures in the future now.

Even had a go at ballooning with the strong easterly we had for a couple of days.  Had no worries getting my bait out there but no luck.  Yet to catch a fish ballooning.

We had the fisheries call in at our camp too, 2 blokes came up the beach on quads and were stopping to check at every camp.  They went through all our fridges but all good we only had a couple of fillets.

I do have photos but seem to have misplaced my camera so once i find it ill upload a few.

Cheers

Yo all

Long time no post, been dealing with some f**k*** bad personal issues, but there is finally what it seems light at the end of the tunnel.

have barely fished at all since ive been back.I only used the boat for the first time 2 weeks ago. Thought id throw up some photos of my final trip. Ill add some more tonight too,

all photos are copyright to all Peter Fordam @ all Fly.

will upload a couple more from my camera soon enough.

enjoy.

Yo all

Long time no post, been dealing with some f**k*** bad personal issues, but there is finally what it seems light at the end of the tunnel.

have barely fished at all since ive been back.I only used the boat for the first time 2 weeks ago. Thought id throw up some photos of my final trip. Ill add some more tonight too,

all photos are copyright to all Peter Fordam @ all Fly.

enjoy.

Yo all

Long time no post, been dealing with some f**k*** bad personal issues, but there is finally what it seems light at the end of the tunnel.

have barely fished at all since ive been back.I only used the boat for the first time 2 weeks ago. Thought id throw up some photos of my final trip. Ill add some more tonight too,

pic 1 -3  10.3 pound female rainbow. Submitted to NZ hunting and game by my guide. - released

pic 12-13 11.2 pound brown submitted to NZ hunting ansd game by my guide.  - released

all photos are copyright to all Peter Fordam @ all Fly.

enjoy.

Hi Guys. I've been lurking on these forums for a while and I figured I would put up a report for my recent trip to False Entrance.

Me and a couple of mates were up there for 5 days just after New Years.

We left Perth at about 6am and arrived at False around 5pm. We took about an hour to set up camp and then headed out for a quick spin. The action started almost straight away with a couple of hits and fish following the lures, but initially we couldn't get anything to stay on the hooks. After a while my mate Jimmy hooked onto a shark mack and managed to get it up to the cliffs and gaffed.

Then it was my turn and I hooked onto a decent sized longtail tuna. I had a fight that lasted about 20 minutes, with the fish going left, right, left, right back and forwards. Eventually when it was just about ready to come up for a gaff we spotted a shark circling. So I flipped the bail arm and let the tuna swim back out into the deeper water. I wasn't sure what to do next, so I tightened the drag up and tried to skull drag the tuna back in past the sharks. It didn't work, and a shark bit the end of the tuna off before I could get it in close.

It would have been a good sized tuna, the remaining head section was still 7 kgs and we managed to get some decent fillets off it so it wasn't a complete waste. It made beautiful sushimi. We also landed a small Gold Spot Trevally which we released.

It then got dark, so we went back to camp and finished setting up. Then we went out for a bottom bash off the point. The bottom bash scored us a couple of stingrays and that was about it so we headed off to bed.

The next morning we got a few more shark macks and one just sized spanish mack. I didn't take my camera so don't have any photos.

We moved further into the bay to try and do some bottom bouncing. This resulted in a couple of rock cod, an octopus caught on gang hooks, a tarwine and a buff bream that managed to get foul hooked. All across the bay we could see shark macks jumping out of the water.

In the evening we went back to the point to spin and caught a few spanish macks, unfortunately we couldn't get any of them past the sharks. The sharks at False all sit further out so you can't see them coming and can't throw rocks at them either so there wasn't much we could do.

The next morning the swell started picking up and the water was getting whitewashed, so the spinning wasn't working that well. I still managed to get a decent hookup between the sets of swell and landed a decent longtail tuna. This one must have already been tired when I got it, because it came straight up to the cliffs and was gaffed easily.

It was 110cm and 13 kgs.

The fishing died off completely at the point after that. I think that the fish couldn't see our lures through all the whitewash that was coming in from the big swells. So we decided to go further into the bay and try our luck there.

At the other spot I landed two barracuda and a Tailor which at 63cms was a PB.

After this the swells picked up to 4-5 meters and combined with a howling southerly wind it just made fishing impossible anywhere. Our camp started getting damp from all the spray crashing over the cliffs and we were getting sand blasted too. The swell didn't drop off for the rest of the trip so we gave up on the fishing and did some 4wding and exploring and just relaxed and drank beer for the rest of the trip.

The blowholes were pumping from the big swell which was impressive to see, but the swell pretty much put a damper on the end of an otherwise good fishing trip.

With yesterdays arvo weather forecast looking superb and a taste for Swan Crabs on the cooking agender Shaun (FW-Shabba) and myself took off late arvo in chase of big Swan River blueys!!!!!

We had a late arvo launch on my boat and after baiting up at Mosmans Bay it was just a matter of dropping the nets and having a swim to cool off!

After retreiving the drop nets several times we bageed out in 2-3 hours. This arvo sesh was enjoyable and we released many legal sized crabs and just wanted the well over size biggens!!!!

We only wanted a feed and I said to Shabba 12 will do, that we got (released plenty well oversized also) but on the de-baiting run we got a double banger blueys and a few extra so theres's 16 .....YUM =)

Good to catch up again Shaun.........see you tomorrow for Marron mate

Back last year I had a crack at the deep drop and struggled to get a fish. Five trips and never seen a good fish, green eyes were all we could catch. we kept on trying and as they say we cracked the code. No blue eye yet but we havent gone out wide enough yet. A few pics from the last six months.

 Got wet for the first few hours then as the electrical storm passed we made our way out. Caught a few dozen plump whiting as usual and then hit a few old favourite spots to get a demersal fix. I haven't been out in several months so it was good to wet a line.

Ended up with a nice Baldie a couple of Dhuies, a couple of Breaksea and a Flattie all for the esky, plus a PB Sambo for Ellen, quite a few undersize dhuies and pinkies (tagged and released) and two dhufish recaptures which I was very pleased about. See seperate report.

All in all a great day on the water.

Triple hookup including a nice aerial strike from a real horse that subsequently pulled the hooks, resulted in only one being landed........by this roughnut........a bit of ginge creeping in the beard as well.......at least he took his straw "Buckwheat" hat off for the photo, but the Armani sunglasses just do not fit the style.......

 Here's another video for you fellas, with Goodie. 
Started off like a good day on the water, however the weather turned for the worst which made things hard. 

Goodie nailed the good demersals and dropped a big dhu :(....well that's fishing. 

youtu.be/vCnnvC_kufA

Woke up after a big night on the scotch to my partner randomly asking me if I wanted to head up to Cervantes for a night or two of fishing. A quick call to the caravan park to secure a camp spot first followed by me loading every bit of fishing gear I own into the car, having never been there before I thought I should bring it all just incase.

Had a few unexpected hold ups but finally got on the road to pick up some bait and make the trip north, finally arrived at the campsite with an hour or so of sun light left to set up the tent and get our gear organised. Made our way down to the main jetty around 9pm (took us forever to setup the tent even with the missus telling me I'm shit every few minutes for encouragement) where a few groups of people were catching quite a few small tailor plus a few larger models along with a large snook. Wasn't much action for us between nine and ten with the missus trying for herring and me soaking some big baits, eventually the herring switched on with her hooking up almost every cast and providing me with some live bait. Sent out a fresh dead herring on one rod and a livey on another which again went untouched for another hour or so. Finally got a slow steady run on the dead herring which I called for a big black ray but turned out to be a large eagle ray. Spent a bit of time getting the ray to the jetty where it kept diving straight down resulting in a fairly vertical fight on a 12ft rod, this was to much for my back to handle with two herniated discs so I locked the drag to try force it around the jetty to land resulting in my main line parting and the unfortunate ray swimming off with my trace. Straight away sent the live herring back out on the other rod which sat untouched for about another hour, just as the missus had said she'd had enough and wanted to leave the herring started darting around making the rod tip bounce around like crazy. This went on for about 5 minutes with something seriously freaking the herring out when all of a sudden the rod was buckled over with line flying off the reel, by the time I picked up the rod it was all over with the line having gone slack and a clean bite off above the 1m of 100lb wire.

The next day we decided to try the beach where it took a bit of walking to find a section which wasn't too weedy and the water was a bit deeper. The missus managed some XL herring and some nice size dart which gave a good account of themselves. The big baits went untouched with the exception of one massive run which unfortunately didn't connect, even more annoying is that it felt like it was definitely something other than a ray.

Went down to the jetty again that night and saw heaps of small tailor being caught by others plus some large herring. Similar to the previous night the herring seemed to switch on around 10pm with the missus catching quite a few and my big baits going untouched. A 30km southerly was making it quite uncomfortable so we ended it early in preparation for battling the take down of the tent in the morning.

Had a bit of fun in my impreza here on the way home, especially since we missed the exit and had to go round twice so tried to do it as quickly as possible.

- Brett

Headed out today, weather was downright nasty early on & had me thinking of pulling up stumps after spending time on inshore spots with no reprieve. On board I had Xtreme Dave and a late sub from Harro saw donlovesfishing keen to get into some SW fishing. The boys did well in trying conditions & when we came across a bit of ground they put on the runs.

Dave followed straight after by Don

A switch to jigs & we got some good tagging done

Don new to jigging picked it up super quick & slayed it with a caprice

With our confidence up we started the radio chatter getting into Seaquest's tub however the boys did a late number on us... pricks

Finished the day with some light gear sambo jigging

 25 kms off rockingham water was like glass!!

2 undersized dhuies released on weight.

lots of black ass but kept 2 good ones for a feed.

size pinkie and nice little bit of shark for fish and chipping.

could have stayed out there all day with the weather like that only thing I struggled with was bugger all drift didnt even use the sea anchor.

Hey guys, Was just wondering if anyone has fished from the beaches here in the last few days and give us a heads up as to what is out there. Also any good spots to drop some crab nets. No boat so has to be a jetty etc Thanks. We are coming from 2 hrs away so any info greatly appreciated.

Was just going to add a few pics to Pauls post but seeing as we went about it quite a bit differently to him I thought I might type out a brief trip report.

Had been quite a few years since I'd had the chance to get over that way so kind of felt like a homecoming of sorts.

We headed off on Thursday morning and arrived in Gero around 3pm. Got a bit of rain on the way up but a fairly quiet trip. We were nearly tempted to launch the boat straight away and camp behind the Hummock as conditions were awesome but decided to go with the original plan and catch up with family for the evening.

A little bit of regret as we watched the sun go down I can tell you.

Launched around 6 am and was a nice quick trip over. Made contact with Paul just to let him know we were in the area as we came through the top.

First drop with a placcy in one of the channels and I was straight onto a nice Dhu. Put back and then got one a little smaller next drop. That got me out of breakfast chef duty.

Headed out past Gee Bank for a look without too much action before heading out behind Half Moon reef right down the back. Picked up a few Macks on the troll and quickly gave that up and jumped in for a freedive. Lots of very large Baldies hanging around that would of been very welcome if it wasnt for the ban. Got painful very quickly watching them swim past.

Moved behind the reef and found packs of pinkies destroying everything that came past them. Few nice Baldies mixed in and a solo Sambo that gave Pauly all kinds of grief on PE2.

Cruised back in between the islands and found a secure anchorage as it was suprisingly breezy through the evening. Few rums and the handlines came out for a little hand to hand combat with the local bronzies. Best was around 2.5m and rather pissed off about being skull dragged to the boat.

Vis around the anchorage was awesome with lots of big Baldies clearly visable as we drove along the drops.

Headed back to Gee Bank for a look while Paul was having his dive. Picked up a few Pinkies and mixed bits from around the edge of the bank before he headed North and we went back around Half Moon area. Played for a couple of hours in the surf but really needed a bit more swell to get it working properly. We found tow in worked better for my way out of shape body.

Worked our way all the way around to Boiler Reef and just couldnt get past the pinkies.... or Baldies. I reckon we released probably 20 over 4 kgs.

The next morning we headed back to Gero and fished a few spots along the way. Couple of little Dhus and Reds and finally some Baldies we could keep for the esky.

Boat went back on the trailer around 4 and the warm shower felt so good.

Had a couple of mates in town that wanted to go for a quick morning fish off Gero so headed out straight into a 25 knot Northerly on Monday mid morning. The fish didnt really play the game but put together a good mixed bag for them. Lots of little trout around making a nuisance of themselves.

Marcus with a Gero Pinky.

Im starting to question why it has taken so long to get back there after all these years. Next trip is already in the pipeline.

hi

off to augusta in a couple of days and would like to know if or when the crabs usually come in?

and whats the fishing like there atm in the river

thanks

Hi all

Ever since Paul G posted in October that he was heading over to the Abrolhos after Christmas, I was keen to tag along. It gave me time to get a few things sorted on my boat, including building a canopy for added shade, installing an Air Head Composting toilet and sorting out how much deck space I had, so I knew what I could and couldn't take. I also rewired the boat and added a second 6 gang switch panel for deck lights, etc.

As I was planning a Kimberley boat trip for May this year (which is on hold now....but that's another story), this trip gave me a chance to see how the boat was set up and how I'd handle living on the boat.

From the outset, Paul has been vey supportive of me tagging along, and our PMs, texts & phone calls gave me the encouragement and guidance to ensure this trip would go smoothly and hassle free. Lyndon (outdoinit) and I had also been in constant contact, bouncing ideas off each other, too.

Come the big day, Thursday 27th and I was packed and ready to hit the road for the trip to Paul's place in Yanchep...arriving at 4pm. After meeting Paul, his son Jesse and brother in law Kevin, it wasn't long before we hit the road for Geraldton...with a planned fuel stop in Jurien Bay. As we drove north, the skies got blacker and by the time we reached Lancelin it was bucketing down....I mean bucketing down, with no end in sight. However, by the time we reached Jurien, the skies had cleared and that was the last of the rain. 

We reached Geraldton just after 10pm and fuelled up the boats, before making our way to the marina, where we were met by Lyndon and his mate Andy. We launched the boats and tied up to a couple of spare pens at the marina and Rob H ferried us back from the lock up yard that Paul had arranged...thanks Rob.

Friday morning we hit the water early (4.30am) and Kevin accompanied me on the trip over. This was the first of my 'firsts'....I've not been out in my boat before sunrise. We made pretty good time and reached the southern group of islands around 6am. With a couple of boats in our planned mooring, it was off for an early morning fish. The excitement grew as I hooked something descent, only to see a boltcutter on the surface a few minutes later.

Later on, we headed back into the mooring and rafted up alongside Paul. We all piled into Lyndon's boat for a dive and enjoyed fresh fish for lunch. In the arvo I set up the inflatable and paddled around, then fitted the outboard and Kevin and I went for a troll while Paul & Jesse kayaked. Managed to hook the very edge of my finger on a lure treble but the pliers came in handy for cutting the barb off....no real damage done.

Hit the swag early as it had been a long day....my second 'first' - the first time I'd ever slept on my boat.

Saturday we dived on Gee Bank...a huge lump that comes up within 5m and covered with plate coral....and plate coral attracts coral trout....and lots of them. The visibility was fantastic and I nailed my first coral trout on spear...another 'first'. The sharks turned up after I got out of the water but we had some fun watching them swim around the boats...have some video, too, which I'll post soon.
Headed over towards the middle island group for another dive with Lyndon while the others fished. Saw a nice dhuie, some trout and baldies...and a 5' shark which didn't get too close. 

We then motored to a mooring behind Wooded Island for lunch and a lazy afternoon....I'm amazed at how you can be in 20m of water and it comes up to less than 1m as you approach the islands....you certainly have to be on your guard while navigating these waters. Later in the arvo we headed around to Serventy Island and found a safe anchorage for the night. 
A seal was hanging around and Jesse was able to hand feed it...that was a great experience, seeing as this is a wild animal and probably doesn't have much contact with humans. I have some footage of that, too.

After brekky on Sunday, we headed out for a fish. The birds were working the surface so we followed them and the boys were having fun casting poppers into the bubbling water. There were a couple of sharks busting up the bait balls, too. Drifted over some lumpy ground and caught a couple of nice trout, both released. Later we fished some other ground and I landed a 53cm dhuie which I released. Andy got a fish hook stuck in his finger so he and Lyndon decided to head back to Geraldton.
We made our way around Serventy Island, around past Rat Island and ended up back at Geordie bay and set up on our mooring again. The weather looked like coming in but whatever rain there was, it managed to miss us, thankfully. 

Up early on Monday and after brekky we headed around to Whales Bay for a dive. Navigating thru the coral bombies keeps you on your toes and with Paul's guidance, it made it easy. Anchored in the shallows but the deep trenches were 25m+. Plenty of fish but nothing was speared. After the dive, we headed out for some bottom bouncing and while the other guys were catching their fair share, Paul hopped on my boat and tweaked my sounder and showed me how to set it up for best results. Then he showed me how to catch fish. I learned so much in that short time with Paul and I caught more fish in an hour, than I did in a week at Coral Bay. This little session with Paul saw me boat and release snapper, baldies, charlie courts and a small dhuie.....the highlight was the 5.5kg dhuie which I kept. This was another 'first'....the first time I've caught so many fish in a short space of time. Thankyou so much Paul for taking the time to show me how to catch fish.

The decision was made to have some lunch, tidy up the boats and head back to Geraldton and we were on our way by 2.15pm...arriving back in Geraldton around 4pm. The trip back was a little bit bumpy but we still managed to sit on 20kts. After walking back to the lock up, we retrieved our boats, caught up with Rob H again, then we fuelled up the cars and hit the road. Stopped for fuel at Jurien, said our goodbyes and headed for home. It was midnight as I backed the boat into the shed, weary but excited about the past 4 days....another first, the first time I'd been on an extended trip like this.

There is so much to see and do over at the Abrolhos and we've only just scratched the surface, so I'm sure I'll be going back there real soon. I learnt alot about what to take and what to leave behind, how to set up the boat, but more importantly I realised that I need to gain some more boating experience before I tackle the Kimberleys. I'm still going up there, but not by myself...tagging along with someone who's been there and done it, would be the best outcome.

I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to you Paul....for not only letting me tag along on this trip, but also for your support and guidance. I'd also like to say a big thankyou to Jesse, Kevin, Lyndon and Andy for making this trip so enjoyable. I loved every minute of it and learned so much. The weather was kind to us, the fishing was fantastic, the diving was the best I've done and the camaraderie amongst the FW community is something I'm proud to be a part of.

The boat clocked up 213kms and burned 198L of fuel.....an average of 0.93L/km or 1.07km/L.

I'm already talking to a local boat builder about a bigger underfloor fuel tank (to get the jerry cans off the deck) and I'll be selling the inflatable in favour of a kayak!

regards
rusty...

PS. photobucket didn't want to upload my photos so I couldn't post them with commentary, sorry.

Figured it a lot easier to post a video which sums up my reports :)

 youtu.be/iYElFeJ-uA4

With the weather looking good with light winds and low swell forecast we made the call to head over for a three day trip to the Abrolhos Islands .Russel [R Gates] from the forum met us at my place for the trip up to Gero. All packed and on the road for 4:45am with a light breeze behind us looked like a nice trip straight through. Once on the road the sky’s up ahead darkened and lightning started lighting up the sky .Once we were past Lancelin the havens opened up and the wind began to howl .We  were now heading into a 40 knot wind and the boat and car were being pushed all over the road ,not to say foot flat and only doing 60kph.I haven’t seen rain like that for years .Half an hour later and the skies cleared and we were back up to 85kph .We got to Gero around 10:30 and fuelled up and made our way down to the ramp, where we caught with Lyndon [Out doing it] and Andrew his crew for the trip. Rob H met us there and gave us a lift back to the marina once we had dropped the trailers at the yard .Thanks Rob.  We slept at the marina and got off to an early start winds around 10-15 knots made for a comfortable ride over once there .Once there it was out with the rods and a few hours off fishing with dhuies, baldies, snapper and other small fish being caught.

We headed into the bay where we would be staying  the night and tied  up the boat .

Jesse and I headed out for some kayak fun casting stick baits along the reef ,nailing a number of trout up to 450mm long GREAT FUN.

The next day we headed out to gee bank which is between the southern and middle group of islands. The seas were flat and cruising on 27knots was great .we anchored up in glass calm seas and 30+m viz. This was a great dive a large coral lump in the middle of nowhere coming up from 40m to 5m .We were in the water for an hour and had sharks with us for the whole dive at one stage I got separated and wondered of as you do .only to be confronted by up to ten Sharks up to 8 foot. I back tracked and found the others chasing trout around looking for that big one to shoot. The sharks never made us feel uncomfortable keeping their distance and just checking us out, they did show a little interest once we shot a fish but still nothing to worried about .AWSOME place and will be diving that one again.

After the dive we headed out to the middle group of Islands for a look around. Lyndon and Rusty did another dive on a lump as we came into the Island .Jesse and I went in the kayaks and rounded up some more trout. Kevin worked soft plastics of the back of the boat ,catching a dhuie and snapper .After the boys finished their dive we headed into the island ,Cristal clear water .We were going up the edge of the reef which was only inches under the water We were a meter away and we were in 23m This edge ran for miles. We pulled up at one of the public moorings and had lunch.

Then it was into the kayaks for some snorkelling .In amongst the reef were blue hole some dropping to 15m, heaps of baldies and small trout.

We then headed to the top end of the island and found a small bay for the night .Waking early I went for a walk around the island .seemed to be a sleepy hole for some young pup seals ,as I stumbled across a few on my walk

.After some bacon and eggs we headed out to some birds that we had spotted while having our breakfast .throwing stick baits and small plastics at them Jesse was on first with a nice shark Mac and the Kevin with a snapper ,yes a snapper on the surface in 28m of water .Then off  too another lot of working birds. Another Mac and a nice tuna, and a coral trout on stick bait in 28m of warter”.what the.”

The boys were onto some snapper out a little further .so we headed off to the next school of birds ,which had a dozen sharks rounding up baitfish and a couple of big ass yellow tail kings with them .We didn’t get anything of this school but it was fun to see. The sharks turning and thrashing about. Lyndon came over and told us Andrew had put a hook in his finger and they were going to be heading back to Gero, as he was in a little discomfort. We headed off to the rat island and had a look around for a few hours and then headed back to the southern group. By this time the seas had flattened out and we did a little fishing .As soon as the baits hit the bottom we were on dhuies ,baldies,snapper,emperor,and then sharks ,bloody things up came a nice dhuie head  so time to move .

We found another small lump and it was on again the fish were going off. The sun was getting low so back to the mooring for the night. After 10minutes break Jesse and I were in the Kayaks and heading for the shallows, Jesse got a tailor around the 4-5kg and did it give him a good run. We also got a number of trout .

The next day and we were in the water early doing a dive on some shallow ground dropping to 23m Lots of trout and a few dhuies also heaps of sand snapper, we returned to the surface to find the breeze had swung still very light but enough to put the boat onto the reef .after dragging the boat back around to deeper water we climbed aboard and lifted the motor which has a few battle scares on the leg from the coral.

Then out to the fishing ground were we finished the day before .the fish were still hungry and catching fish was full on .I jumped across to Rusty’s boat and showed him a few things with his sounder and how to set up a drift and then he was into some fish himself, landing a good dhuie and numbers of other fish .

Well all good things come to an end and we headed back to Gero .Then on the road for home. Thanks to Lyndon, Rusty, Andrew, Kevin and Jesse good trip and good company .Already planning the next one

[IMG]

 Hey there, are there crabs running in the cockburn sound at the moment? Thinking of taking the kids tomorrow but its a 2 1/2 hr drive for us. If not is there any suggestions?

Managed a couple of trips around Chrissy, one a little before and one on Boxing day up North plus a third day trip out from Cairns. The day trip was great fun with several Mack and Stiped Tuna landed plus some awesome GT action on the poppers. We got a feed of trout and a Spanish Mackerel along with 2 small sweetlip.
As for the Daintree trips, both were short in close off shore trips to get the missus back into the fishing groove and she did it big time. She caught three fish of note, all big Large Mouth Nannygai (Saddletail Snapper). The smallest was just over 83 cm and 8.5 kilo and the other two went 90cm and 9.5 kilo. The boxing day trip produced 13 fish in all with 6 Largies with the smallest being 5.5 kilo. I also got a nice Emperor in amongst them so was a good trip to go with the earlier one. I'll try and get some footage up on youtube next week.

In late November we also had a quick trip and hit a patch of Nannies. The biggest Nannygai in the boat pic of the fish pile was a little over 10 kilos.

Also had a play in the Daintree a couple of days ago and landed around 30 fish. All were small apart from a 68 cm Barra that was released after a quick snap.
A pity the weather has turned bad as a Fingermark trip would be sweet.
Forgive the couple of black and white shots as I left the camera in Black and white arty Christmas mode from the day earlier before I realised.
 

G'day

Just a quick report. Spent the last week in Dunsborough. Managed to get the boat out a couple of times. Not being locals we struggled a little on the bottom, and it seemed like a lot of people we spoke to weren't doing that great either.

We ended up sounding around some fishy looking ground and getting on the troll. Over a couple mornings worth of fishing we boated ~25 bonito and a few SBF tuna. Good fun times.

Goes to show if something isn't working for you, try something else.

Got them on a mix of skirted and bibbed lures. Most of the bibbed lures that did the damage were in the ~2m range, although some of the 7m + divers also got taken. Colour not an issue.

Happy fishing,

Alex

Good shot of a dhuie released via release weight today on Matts Raymarine, clearly showing it going down on the release weight, the release weight being brought bacl up, and the duie swimming back to its hidy hole.

Two dhuies released without weight, two needed weight, all were brought up slowly and swam for a minute at 10 m before bringing aboard, which normally does not require the release weight. A couple of dhuies, a nice baldie and black arse were "released" to the esky.