Even though the weather was going to be pretty ordinary, Nick and I decided to chance our luck. Up at 04h00 and on the water by 05h15 we made our way across a very sloppy FFB with the brisk easterly at our backs. Our target was our regular spot south of Rotto. When we arrived at the bommie we sounded a number of fish on the Raymarine, but with the waves crashing over the nose of the Cruise Craft we decided that it would not be a good call to hang around. We ventured a further couple of kilometres in a north westerly direction in an effort to hide behind Rotto and explore new water. We eventually found a promising lump in 30m with somewhat better conditions about 5km west of Rotto and dropped the anchor.

After anchoring and setting the burley trail we sat and waited and waited. We had a ripper of a current pushing from south to north which eventually forced us to put a 1oz weight on the normally unweighted trace that we prefer to use. Once we did this we were in the zone and it did not take long to land the first Pinkie for the day. Half an hour later it was an upgrade and soon after that I landed my PB Pinkie - 91cm! Nick managed a further Pinkie and ended his effort on a Bronzie. I had one more run which took me straight into the reef below before we decided to call it a day as the southerly and the rising swell was already starting to make fishing rather challenging.

At 12:00 we started pulling anchor only to find it solidly fixed to the bottom. After 20 minutes of relentless effort I was ready to cut the rope when Nick recommended one last manoeuvre which managed to free the anchor. It took us no less than 90 minutes to get back to Woodman Point as we crossed the white caps at a slow but safe speed.

Even though it was a long way out for a relatively short session, it was still worth the effort.

 With the weather forecast looking good for today, me and a mate decided to do a quick day trip up to Cervantes. Well they got the weather wrong but we persisted anyway. We dropped a mackie boat side just behind the main reef which unfortunately was the only one for the day. Headed out about 10mile and managed 9 dhuies for the day, 2 kept and the rest successfully released. Giving them a deco stop helps them swim back down so well. Only one had to go down on the release weight. Also kept 2 avg size baldies (mid 40cm's), released 2 black ass and 2 sweet lip. Also had a few big bust offs and had a hook straightened by a suspected big dhuie, bugger!

 A couple of mates have accounts here so I thougth I would get my own account. So this is my first post here (First first.)

Halfway through the long weekend up in Lancelin and had the morning out on the water Saturday. Conditions not fantastic early so stayed in close and ran north up the coast trolling some lures past the reefs and along the beach looking for some tailor for no luck. Got up to Dide Bay and the weed was getting bad and it was at that point noticed a some birds working another km out to sea. Decided to head out and conditions were not anywhere near as bad as it looked earlier, and significantly less weed further out. Appeared to be a school of tuna but after chasing them for a while came up with a big zero.

Decided to head back south trolling a couple of lures behind looking for new ground. Didn't venture too far out and was only in around 12m of water when one of the rods took off. Had a mate in the boat and while I was driving, he had a hand full of food so he wasn't jumping in so that left me to grab the rod. We were trolling into the breeze and while it felt like a solid fish, once we put the boat in neutral, the line returned fairly quickly. Wasn't long before some colour was see and to our surprise, up pops a 77cm Pinkie. So another first, a Pinkie on a trolled lure - a pink skirt on a wire trace of all things.

I've only had the new boat since mid last year, so was also the first Pinkie from the boat and a PB for me at the same time. Still reasonably new at offshore fishing.

Went out early on Sunday and conditions were good until my son started feeling average so decided to come and drop him on the beach and head back out. However, as we were coming in the sky took on an angry colour and we decided to pack it in early. Pic below is as we were leaving the beach.

i had a epic 3 day live aboard trip on the diversity Exmouth 38' black watch on my last break.

We didn't get the lures in the water till 11 the first bay but managed a 4-4-3 on blacks 1-1-1 on stripes and 2-1-1 on sails.

The 2nd day got us a grand slam 1-1-1 blues 4-3-3 blacks 2-1-1 on stripes and 1-1-1 on sails. Also got a 35-40kg yellow fin tuna and pulled 6 nice ruby snapper.

We had a early start on the 3rd day and managed 2-2-2 blacks 2-1-1 on stripes before 11:00 but had to head for the marina to make our 3:30 flight back to Perth 

 After much to long out of the water, well a couple of weeks, i got to do some fishing today.

Launched from Mindarie at 6:30 and it was almost flat calm. We decided to do some trawling off the back side of 3 mile as the boat owners mate caught a 15Kg YFT there a few days ago. We headed north as our final destination was going to be north of Two Rocks. The sea was calm, the sunrise was great but the fish were elusive. There was no action on the surface and no bait schools on the sounder. After 1 hour of nothing we decided to pack in the trawling and headed to the 35m mark off TR.

There were a couple of boats out around that depth and stacks of cray pots so the signs were good for some dermersal action. Not today. The tide was wrong, the moon in the wrong phase, our tounges held wrong, whatever, we didnt even hook the normal bait stealing wrasse after 3 hours of trying everything and every spot we knew. Time to try something different.

My mate had taken his daughter out after school yesterday and hooked two thumping Pinkies in 5m off north Mindarie so we headed in to Linda reef to give it a go. On the way in at about 11:30 the birds started to fire up so we dropped the lures back out and chased around schools of little tuna/bonito and again struck out. We were still trying to keep positive but it looked like today was not going to be our day.

We sounded around the 15-12m mark and really couldnt see any fish so decided to drop on a few of the better looking holes. After an hour of still not getting anything both of us got hit at the same time. Skipper lost his and i pulled up a smaller than plate sized Pinkie. At last a fish.

We decided to anchor up current from the snapper spot and see if we could berly up some bigger specimens. With a nice burley pot over the side and some small chunks floating down current we dropped our lines. We had both downgraded our gear to our KG outfits by this time as we had lost hope of getting anything large. Within 2 min of lines hitting the bottom i loaded up and was on to a nice fish. After a good fight on the lighter gear we finally boated a 6Kg Dhuie. We landed another 2 Dhuies in the next 30min but both undersize. 

We switched spots to another nice hole we sounded up earlier and went the burley again. Within 40min we landed another 3 Dhuies with the keeper being 58cm (sorry no weight).

All in all it was a great day on the water with light winds and small seas but the fish were hard to raise. Stll a feed of Dhuie is a great ending.

Merv

 With the weather looking good for yesterday, took the day off to get out for a fish. My mum who hasn't been out in a boat for years was keen and so was the brother in law. So up early and at the ramp at 5:30 at the spot just after 7. I got mum baited up and she dropped down, she must of dropped it straight onto the Dhu's nose because before Doug or I even got our gear in the water she was on! Couldn't believe it, told her to take her time as we could tell it was an ok fish. and up popped a 60cm Dhu. What a start. 

First spot produced a Dhu, 57cm Pinky and a couple of Very nice Black bums which mum also accounted for. Doug and mum were using bait and I went up the front to jig with some new purchases from Oceanside. It was a little bit quieter on the couple of other spots but managed a Sambo on the jig and got bricked by a bigger model. I ended up with a nice Baldie on the jig to finish off our bag. Was a great day on the water, and awesome to get the old girl onto some good fish.

Total for the day was 1 Dhu, 1 Pink, 3 BB, 1 Baldy and the Sambo (thai fish cakes).  Happy days 

Pinky and a BB missing as Doug took them.

 Was on a beach in Mandurah on Friday managing a few nice eating size Tailor on lures. I was tossing a 110 stickbait and my son was using a popper We had caught enough for a feed when I got a cracking hit from  a fish that screamed off about 5 meters of line and then did a crazy cartwheeling jump......not looking much like a Tailor. Salmon? After A dogged fight out popped a beautiful gleaming Giant Herring. I guess it was around the 60 _ 70 cm mark. Please excuse the picture.  It was a shot of my mobiles screen

 any squid around fellas ?

 read my 3 kings report.

these are only photos, again holding back images for the video.

 Whats going on Fishwrecked!

This is going to be quite the lengthy & detailed report! but there is reason to it.

Well the lead up to the trip was quite stressful, as the charter organiser, someone pulled out with 6 days to do, Just a tad late notice isnt it? we were all quite dissipated at the situation. though it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

There was 6 left (Rob(robert1979), Pirate, Jimmy, Randy , Ethan & I)...we planned to meet in Mongenui at 6 pm for boarding. Unfortunately 4 of us, got sent on a wild goose chase in Auckland chasing camera parts. Who would of ever thought, you could have the same Address number on a specific street 3 times! NZ is certainly backwoods in ways. We were a few hours late, but boarded the boat albiet in the dark! Out came the beers and a few meets and greets, and next thing some of us knew it was 4 am! blind we were, with pirate keeping the entire boat awake with his constant "chilli bin" hatch slams!

Day 1: Soar heads were everywhere bar the smart one or two for the voyage out, with the weather looking quite pear shaped for the week ahead. Lets say Ol Lancey boy was not very impressed with our drunkenness the night before, and had a quiet word about quietly opening and closing the chill bin hatches. We steamed out from Mongenui , Marlin gear set and headed to the North Cape. To break up the day Lance advised us we would have a jig somewhere off the cape for an hour or so. Unforuntately the place was filled with rats, and we decided to keep on going. We eventually made it to the Kings after sundown and pulled up in North West Bay for the night. We had a quick feed and discussion with Lance about tomorrow, and the main topic was "to brace ourselves". I headed to bed rather early, as the soar head was still soar after a couple quite brews. Our english angler "Jimmy" , found out quickly what having you sea legs was all about, and unfortunately for him, didnt do to well for the voyage over.

Day 2: We woke up ot a very angry sou east wind pumping, i went out for a quick durrie on sun up, and noticed the 2 commercial boats still anchored up inside for protection. Hmmm...i thought, but the bacon and eggs smell comming from the kitchen was to go to refuse and i headed back into the galley. Eating away, at this wicked cooked breaky Phil the decky cooked up , we had lance telling us "lets go for a look, lets just see how it is", so we pulled down some of the rods and started tying knots while Lance attempted the steam out to the king bank!

we made the hour steam out, albiet battling 35 knot winds gusting to 40+ with a nice 3-4 swell. Lets just say it wasnt fun nor pleasant. We arrived at the first mark, so some seriously curling swells, one of the boys was out cold asleep in his bunk, not feeling to shabby. You know its bad, when you see the decky running for cover every know and than in the galley!!!! we pulled up to our first mark, eyes on the on coming 3-4 m SHARP swells and chop. Lance yells out the colours, and down 5 of us went..... a few jigs and we see Rob loaded up to something solid, whack i was on and then Pirate. Mine turned out to be a small fish of around 17 kg and was quickly released with rob only just starting to get his fish up and pirates still going. Rob ended up landing a nice 32 kingie and pirate once the grandma got hsi fish up landed the best for the trip, a 45 kg trophy king. Both we swiftly released after a few pics.  Randy also scored a nice kingy in the low 30s. We soldiered on but the rats was the common word for the rest of the day and Lance decided to pull the pin roughly at 2 pm for the steam back , we were would burely up the bay and possibly get some top water. On one of the drifts a nice curling swell decided to swamp the back of the boat, and there i was not holding onto anything and i slid from port to starboard and back, with rod in hand and nearly going over the rails...Rob said it was quite a laugh! We hit the bay for a much needed beer, and sent out some lives. Jimmy once again was head over side!

For the next couple hours all the boys hooked up some how or some way whether be on livies, plastics or stickbaits. Mind you the livies outfished everthing. Ethan finally came out and landed a few fish too! dont think he was felling the best from the tough drive home. Kingies to 20 kg were landed and the highlight being the decky Phils nice 23-24 kg king on stick bait. Jimmy the pom, wanted to catch a trev , so Phil showed him the rig and a way he went catch his pb trev of about 5 kg!

Day 3: Middlesex bank, with the weather on the improve we headed for the 3 hour steam out to middlesex. There wasn't much current and the kings were not playing the game in the morning so we decided to go for some bass/puka. this is what my main target species for me, i wanted to tick of the 50+ bass. Some of the boys were using bait, some fo the boys jigs, and myself the 800-1200 gram fallings. A few good fish  pulled up, with Ethan bring up a nice puka on a fallings 460, and Randy bringing up a nice bass on a fallings 460 of around 20 kg....the baby bass kept on rolling through, Then there was me, the man using PE6 and getting absolutely smoked. In the morning i list 4 jigs to bass, running up a costly bill. I was starting to be being labelled as "bust off brett"( i think a certain other member on here knows the name bust off quote well ha ha). There was a lot of banter on board so it was all good.  Pirate got a 38 kg bass on dirty bait.

We had lunch, and the current picked up and off we went chasing kings...This was IMO of the trip , the best king session we had, the entire boat was getting railed at stages, with 6 or 7 fish in the 30s boated, and myself contributing to 3 bust offs, and yet to land a decent fish for the day. Thats right PE6 getting bricked constantly.None of my knots were letting go. Just big fish and being reefed. it got to the point i had my drag so locked up, i was actually breaking the braid. Everyone got wicked fish, with a 40 kg fish lost to Ethan by a shark, all we got was the head back. The biggest fish went 37kg to Rob, with a few 30-35 fish for Ethan, Randy , Jimmy and Pirate. Myself 0! after a long frustrating day , with alot of swearing. Thought it was pretty cool seeing the entire boat hooked up and getting railed at the same time!!!

In discussion with Lance & Phil it was time for PE8 the next day, as they both knew how much i wanted my big bass! Again, Jimmy was alive over red rover throwing his ring up on the bumpy ride home.

Day 4:well it was my day , well at least i hoped but the morning turned out anything of this. Again the currents were slow out at middlesex, so we were chasing the final amount of bottom fish we needed for the trip, a few baby bass, and a heep of king terahki . I got a few on jig , which i was pretty happy with (people say no bait no terahki over hear....) and then slam... on the falling 1200 gram i was buckled over on the PE8 locked drag, it went for a sustained run and i hear " Billy the bass is here , he F****** here!" from lance, to all of  sudden ping. All over red rover. An inspection of the rig, showed me JM monster 13/0 hook had straightened. F*** me i thought, i was never going to win....Rob was stuck with the Tarahki label for most of the day, while a few of the bait boys going some early morning surprising kings and, young Ethan was slaying it on a 460 gram slow jig.

You need to understand here what has possibly gone wrong for me:

• Typical Reefed, cant do much about that
• AG Chain knots with knot sleeve, breaking at the figure 8, on more then once. Never using those JM figure 8s again.
• Braid popping half way down form pressure
• JM Monster hooks straightened etc etc

New assist, added on a glow squid and down went the 800 gram fallings, my shoulder were seriously starting to gear soar from these jigs (along with the 1200), and yet again i was buckled over, and line pealing. This is it, its near on lunch and i knew the current was turning. a few very tight minutes past, and i had got her up. Slowly but surely my bass was coming up. it breached the service and i hear lance go to the decky "you better not F*** this up Nip!" and there she was , not quite 50 but 48 on the scales. STOKED! you dont understand the satisfaction , of keeping with your guns and try and trying no matter how many times i was kicked in the balls to get this fish.

We then had a  lunch, and one of the marlin rods went off bang, a nice 140 kg stripy was soon enough tagged with Jimmy the pom yelling out " i want my mummy" mid fight!

After what was a cold lunch after it got cold! we rocked up to a mark, and had a jig. I jigged up a trev with a few mid 20s kings coming up. the boys having fun, Randy became buckled over, and then i thought what i had on was a trev, then all of a sudden Randy's line (180m deep) all of a sudden starts heading at a very fast pace towards the horizon....I loose contact with mine , only to start winding up and exactly the same thing is happening to me, line going to the horizon. Lance is yelling MARLIN, MARLIN!! then all of sudden randy's explodes at the back of the boat with a nice 130 kg stripy dancing away, Jig flying left right and centre like a pendulum....

I was getting pulled around the other side of the boat, then all of a sudden about 4 metres deep behind the boat, these light stripes and pecs fins appear. We had Enchanters first ever Double hook Up of Stripe Marlin on Jig, and most likely NZ's first ever double hook up on jigs.it didn't even know it was properly hooked at this stage, as it still had its electric blue fins and body going....then all of a sudden it starts bee lining, "loose drags lance is yelling, when the bills on the surface loose drags" i must of loosened if off to a PE5 drag setting and it was just sun setting. Both of are just watching and fighting in aw of what was going on. Unfortunately Randy's leader snapped about 20 mins into the fight, and there just me solo.

to cut the story short, it was an hour 30 mins fight time, we got it to the boat, tagged it and revived and she swam off well. Game over, the day was over and we started the 3 hour steam back to the islands.

Day 5: We decided to target Marlin in the morning before a few kingy drops.... first thing in the morning, we were on switch and teased a nice stripy for around 140 kg for young Ethan, his first ever billiy! yeoow. we had a few more shots but dropped the rest of the fish. We all think Lance kept this mark for the final day, as well of us rooted, and this seem to hold some fo the biggest kings so far. We all get bricked and dusted at some stage with fish to 39 kg landed, and biggens lost!

obviously i could go into much more detail, but quite frankly , this has taken me already 2 hours to report!!! In terms of the charter, its the best live aboard i have ever been on, we have already decided to re book for next year. Lance knows his stuff, and works very very hard to put you on the fish and enjoy the time.

Over all stats:

18 fish over 30 kg

1 fish over 40, and should be 2 if it was for its tail going (it weighed 35 kg with out the tail)!

Biggest bass went 48 kg

Biggest puka just a tad over 20 kg

3 Marlin T&R with another 8 raised over the trip (including the loss on jig).

Enchanters First ever double hook up of stirpes on jigs and Enchanters 2nd ever tagged billfish from a jig. I am the 3rd person to achieve this in NZ history.

Numerous XOS lost bass and Kings, which will be there for us next year.

you want a charters, hands down head with enchanter!

There is photo of a wall of water behind a shot with randy and a king...that was a nice swell say on the first day!

There will be another thread for 3 kings Marlin on Jig. i cant fit enough photos and the fact i still have 100s to sort through............ We will be making a vid too. Some photos have been intentionally left out for the video

Cheers

Brett

Whats going on Fishwrecked....

been a while since i posted a report, so here is the first one! 2 weeks ago, i spent 5 days chasing trout, having a break and preparing my self for the kings. Fishing was hard, the fish were indicator shy, and the water levels were rather high, Rheupau had a recent snow dumping, yes summer and the flow was comming back down. It seems i timed it at the wrong point!

No tropheys this trip, we saw a few, but there getting smart now! Lots of fish on dry and a few on nymphs. Few 8-9 pounders in here. Enjoy the photos, 3 kings report will take a day or two. So maybe tonight!

Brett 

Horrox Beach fishing 

Just outside the camp grounds.

15 dart

7 Tailor

4 stingrays

2 possible sharks or mulloway

2 Western school whiting

Amy with 2 of the 7 tailor

Coral bay

 

I love this place so much. Moments after this photo i was in a lot of pain as i jumped down on dry coral which tore a hole in my foot!

This happened on a Sunday so after a bit of mucking around and alot of pain as she put the needle in my foot 6 times to numb it i justified that we should go on a charter as i wasn't allowed to wet my foot

  ill let the photos do the talking!

And she said YES!

I caught 13 fish Amy 7 massive total of 19 Fish.

My first Goldban snapper

My first red Emperor

 Beers and filleting

20 bucks a head to get the chef to cook the wings how i wanted!

Secret spot north of coral bay.

Hooked a bonefish and lost it!

3 blacktip reef sharks,

1 spangled 55cm

all released

Selfie

Australian sheperd meets Reddog

Point Samson

1 queenfish.

Tried the causeway no luck.

Broome = lots of fish which i will write up at a later stage.

Highlights coral trout from the jetty, Mud crab on a soft plastic and getting out of this for a carton...

Willy creek special!

 Hi All,

Coming up to that time of year again. Heard reports around Albany and as far west as Yeagerup. I know it is a bit early but any sign between the capes??

 Went down to Denmark yestaerday with a mate chasing whiting in the inlet.

Launched at rivermouth boat ramp and had a great morning on the water.

 i was lucky enough last week to have a few days off last week and spend 2 of them filming with the Ifish crew and paul worsteling for the TV show.

the first day was landbased with a nice groper the target then some salmon on the way home, after picking them up at 6am we headed out. 5 hours later after breakfast and a few filming stops we finally made our way to the spot. i was stressing out as the whole entire day was riding on me, no one had been to where i was taking them and they where all relying on me to get them onto fish, a lot of pressure that i wasnt used to thats for sure.

howling wind but it was straight offshore and no swell, conditions looked prime for the spot i had taken them to.
set up the gear and did some more filming, Scott coghlan from western angler mag was first to hook up with a nice fish about 8kg (phewww releif we got a fish for the camera!!) fished for a bit more and burleyed a bit more then decided to give the other side of the point a crack, so we set up the gear over there, went through some stuff for filming and they said to keep fishing as they set up a bit more, second cast after change of spot i hooked up big time!! my expo 5500 was screeming as i struggled to stop this fish, had to go through what i was doing because it was all on film and after what seemed like ages a heatly blue ( well actually dark green) surfaced, a few minutes of timing waves and we got it up!! i was so so happy, PB blue on line and to do it on camera with paul was an awesome experince.

after i got my fish up Ryan got onto a healthy blue around 13kg and his PB as well. finished the day off cruising up the beach casting at salmon schools having a blast and doing some more filming.
such a releif that the day was such a hit and it all went to plan.

couple of days later we where off in the boat jigging off albany. 
had a horrible day with tony from spinners charters doing his best to find the fish but they where so shut down!! sounder was just about having a melt down with sambos on the screen but just couldnt tempt them, managed a heap of rats up to 20kg but nothing like the normal arm, back and rod breaking monsters we normally find, still had a blast and got some good fish for the camera. we also hit the shelf for a go at deep dropping for a cod on jigs and only got some big nannys so all round a very quiet day but still beat working thats for sure!!

had an awesome week and pretty stoked for what we achieved, big thanks to scott coghlan from westertn angler for making it all happen. was a good experience to see how it all goes on behind the scenes.
the shows will air between march and december this year depending on when the tv station puts them into the programing so keep your eyes peeled for albany on Ifish.

 Hey All

My boys and I have been seeing and hearing of these huge Sman River blues so we decided to come up and have a crack yesterday.

Spend some time putting the long ropes on and we headed off. Was a nice morning on the water,well most of the time, more later.

We had a look along Blackwall Reach but here was already a boat working there so i thought we just move a bit further up stream. We got all the pots out along Mosman Park in about 18mts and started getting some on the first pull. Old mate that was crabbing at Blackwall decided to move up near us so i shifted the past five pots of our string back and had two strings of five.

Was all going well but our new friend kept on sticking his pots right next to ours so we moved five further upstream past the yacht club.

When we got back to the first five pots our new friend had his in between ours so this was when i lost it and offered some detailed advice on potting ettiquite and a few other things.

We had 15 by this stage and decided to call it a day.

Well the forecast for this morning was looking pretty good so i talked the young fella into getting up at 4 and heading out to see if we can grab a pinkie.

Got out to The FFB and anchored up and in went the burley,which was a blend of old blue macks,crab scraps and old bread put thru a mincer.

Didn't take long for the first touch which turned out to be a nice little Black Arse. This was quickly followed by the first of two nice pinkies.The firts one went 70cm and the second one went 65cm

These were a good workout for the Pe 1-3 AJN Jigging Jacks.

 Hi all heading down to Austalind on the llong weekend 

are they scooping any crabs at the  moment  info on where to try would be appreciated 

 Hi all,

Went down to the local store in Perth today and was told there is a bit of pollution in the Murchinson river at the moment with accounts of dead fish and ill health upon locals. I would just like to confirm this news with anyone here that's up there as I've planned a trip to Kalbarri in 2 weeks time. 

Thanks in advance,

B

 So after takeing a couple of mates for a while now, decided to join them in the wet stuff. 

Did my first cray dives over the weekend, those loop thingys are harder To use than it looks. After a couple of dives I'm starting to get the hang of it but. My mate got 3 on the first day, we managed 9 keepers between 2 on The second day's attempt. 

Headed up to Jurien bay on Saturday afternoon with the weather meant to be awesome on Sunday. Stayed in the Caravan park in town in the swags and hit the pub for a counter meal and a few beers before getting a few hours sleep and up bright and early.

Up at 4am, and on the water before 5am saw us heading out well before light.

There was a little wind early on, but nothing to complain about, and headed out at 25+ knots. Decided to check out the barges on the way out for a little sambo action to warm up with. It was jigs only today, no bait onboard.

Plenty of sambos showing up on the sounder mid water, so swung the boat around and lined up our first drift.
First drift resulted in me landing a 50cm flattie, which I thought was bloody weird in 50m of water, only to get another on jig on the 2nd drift at 55cm! First for me to land flatties on jigs.

Swung around for the 3rtd drift and finally a couple of solid hook-ups, both Scano and I were on. After a few minutes these 2 came up, which was a surprise. I knew they were about but didn't expect to get any so easily!

High 5's all round as it was our first mullas on jig.

Decided to swing round for another drift, and I hooked up solid again. I expected it to be another Mulla, which I really didn't want as they don't release well and we already had 2, but to my surprise up popped this 9-10kg fish!

Was pretty happy with this one, my best dhu on jig to date.

Did a couple more drifts trying to find some sambo's but they just didn't want to play today.

so moved out a bit to some ground I had found in the past and sounded about on a new area. Plenty of fish about, with us landing fish on every spot, even venturing out to the 70m finding more fish.

Scano landed a nice Dhu on jig as well.

We ended up getting our bag on Demersals with 2 dhus, 5 black ass and 1 pinky.

On the way in decided to give the barges 1 more go to see if the sambo's would fire up.

First drift, both me and Den were on.....but not your typical Sambo fight... and up popped 2 more mullas.. So we called it a day and headed in

All in all a great day out, plenty of fish caught with us landing 16 Dhu's included and all released fish were healthy and released well.

Had some Mullaway last night, and it tasted really good, I was hesitant but was happily surprised with the taste.

Bodie

 Hey went out Saturday morning to a spot at wonnerup and got 8 good sized males in 40 mins threw 2 smallest ones back as 6 was plenty for me, they were full of meat was a good feed,

Just a short report on my Exmouth trip last week with a mate.
Weather was pretty good, hot obviously, and we seem to catch more fish on the days with a bit of wind/swell.
We trolled off Tantabiddi early most mornings for some big Spaniards, caught 5 and released 3. We lost another one right on the strike to a shark. We lost 2 fish to sharks for the whole trip, but they were never far away.

Had a Trevally session inside the reef one afternoon which was great fun. Caught some big Gold Spot Trevally and heaps of Queenies and Bludger Trevally. One Gold Spot turned into a large whaler shark which I got boatside before it had one last dive under the boat, snapping my jigging rod. (not cheap a PE8 Seed Shiren!)

Fished the beaches most nights for some Spanglies, Queenies and Baldchin, also a couple of sharks landed and released and a Coral Trout caught from the beach.

Here's some of the better fish.

Cheers, Pondy

Hi All,

Just wondering what the Cray movements are like at the moment?

Have they started coming back in close to the FFB yet

Cheers

Ash

 younger bro caught this in the swan.

Very interesting is missing a back paddle leg

Saturday morning arrives and the wind is still humping, the same as it has been doing for the past couple of months. The only decent days seem to be during the week when I have to work. I tried convincing my boss to allow me to work from Thursdays to Mondays, and I guess you know what the answer was.

After consulting WillyWeather the evening before it was evident that the afternoon would see a small window of fishable weather as the wind changed from an Easterly to a Southerly. Regular crew member Nic was unable to make it, the missus had an assignment to complete, and it was short notice to find anybody else interested. So it was another solo session, but what the heck! I had been becoming grumpy (or grumpier as the missus would say) and needed to get the smell of fresh Indian Ocean up my nostrils and escape the reality of the crazy world around us for a while.

I launched from Woodman Point at 10:00 and made my way toward Seaward Reef on Five Fathom Bank. As I approached the area I noticed two large schools of Tuna smashing the bait fish and tried unsuccessfully to entice them in taking my Halco Twisty. Being solo it was difficult to keep up with these fish as they were constantly changing direction. I decided to rather drag a couple of scalies behind the boat in anticipation of a good take. After two drifts I gave it up as a bad job and made my way to a bommie on the 40m mark about 10km further west in an area where I had seen activity before. When I arrived at this bommie the sounder indicated activity, but nothing compared to the previous time that I had been there. I tried a couple of casts with a soft plastic (7 inch Gulp Jerk Shad) with no success. By now the wind had abated somewhat and I decided to throw caution to the wind (literally) and race off to a spot near Rotto where I always seem to get a decent fish or two.

When I arrived at “the spot” I dropped the parachute anchor to slow the drift whist dragging a weighted scalie behind the boat. After a short while I picked up a bronzie and as I was bringing it up from the depths below I noticed a kingie following it up. I dropped the weighted plastic into the swim and continued fighting the bronzie which eventually bit me off (thankfully). The next moment the rod with the SP started protesting and I set the hook into what I believe was a YTKF, as it reefed me within seconds.

Without further action I anchored upwind from a fishy bommie and started burleying scalie cubes. Within a couple of minutes I started landing undersized (only just) pinkies and hooking up into a few bronzies. A little later I hooked into a YTKF which almost took my rod overboard before I eventually landed it. For the rest of the two and a half hours that I spent at this spot, I managed a decent sambo, a breaksea cod and a pinkie for the pot. By 18:30 the wind started picking up again and I decided to call it a day and make my way back to the ramp before either the wind or darkness caught me.

Even though the session was of short duration, it was good enough to satisfy the craving for another week, maximum two.

YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/tW-3RN-rEqk

So a good forecast for Friday saw an early finish at work, and the boat was in the water heading behind Garden Island with high expectations. Seas were good, but there was a reasonable swell running, nothing over the top. Warm humid and overcast conditions added to sense of expectation.

After reaching the five fathom bank, the plan was to follow it North trolling, with the occasional stop for a bottom bounce. Out went Decky Dave's laser pro 190, and not a minute later it was hit. I started bringing it in, then said "nah, it's off." There was no weight on the line, but I could still feel occasional head shakes, so dragged it back in, wondering what it could be. As it got near the boat, I could make out an elongated silver form, with a long mouth full of sharp teeth. First thought was a baby mackie, but when it came on board was a 70cm snook, that had been foul hooked through the eye and gills. It looked terminal, so instead of being released it ended up as some nice strip baits for next time. It was good to at least see some teeth marks on the Laser Pro, and we thought it was a good sign that there was some action about.

Next stop was Casuarina shoal for a bottom bounce, and I think it was my second or third drop and up comes a nice and fat black arse, you rippa, and into the ice slurry. Decky Dave is complaining about the swell, and following my advice from previous trips (if you're going to spew, you might as well make it taste good!) starts downing the coke zero and rips into a packet of Salt & Vinegar chips. The decision is made to keep moving, hoping that will make the poor dear feel a bit better.

No more hits on the laser pro, but as we approched Seaward reef, the birds gave away some action. As we got closer the excitement started to build, and dear old petal was starting to feel better. Big splashes on the surface, and bait fish jumping high to escape the predators below. The tuna were out to play, and they were playing hard! Huge surface splashes with fish clearly visible, and some big fish in there. We couldn't entice them to hit the laser pro without driving right through them and spooking them, so I pulled up the boat short of the action, and Decky Dave grabbed the closest rod that was already rigged with a gold 30g twisty. (It just happened to be the lightest combo on the boat) First cast heads towards the school but falls about 5m short. Dave startes the retreive and then BANG! it is on!

The poor little Shimano didn't know what hit it, and I can honestly say I have never seen a fish take line like this thing did. The hookup only lasted probably twenty seconds or so, before pulling the hooks, but man, what an adrenalin buzz. All thoughts of seasickness gone, we drifted and kept casting near the schools as they busted up, at times there were schools on both sides and ahead of us, absolute madness. Couple this with the swells breaking at times over the top of the reef made for some pretty hectic action, but we couldn't manage any more hookups. DD even tried his own special blend of burley, a mixture of coke zero & salt & vingar chips, without success.

The decision was made to have another go trolling, yes, DD was looking green again. After several laps around the school towing the laser pro and a popper, we couldn't get any action. The schools seemed to be getting used to us, and we could get in closer and closer without spooking them. We finally got another hit on the laser pro, but no hookup. DD did a pretty good job of steering the boat in close to the school, watching the breaking swells and berlying all at the same time, but eventually it got too much and he called it.

So we left masses of tuna busting up, on a rising tide, aproaching sunset without even trying for a bottom bash, to head inside garden island and out of the swell. I was quite pleased to note that on the way in, even though we weren't trolling, he was still giving the burleying a massive go, leant over the side just as the boat came down off one of the swells and he managed a nice saltwater mouthwash, hehehe...

Back inside the island we anchored up for some bread & butter stuff, but apart from a couple of 35cm pinkies (obviously returned) the only thing to show was a thumping occy that took, you guessed it, a piece of occy. A couple of beers as we watched the sun go down, and talked about the tuna madness we had just seen, when I mentioned to DD that he must forever wear the panties of shame, for calling mercy on such a promising trip. With a look of resignation he said "yeah, I was expecting that, but I nearly passed out and went all tingly and stuff" - whatever!

So now, FW crew, it's over to you. All suggestions for panties styles & colours will be welcome, and he will be forced to wear them on the next trip (over his boardies, don't need any wardrobe malfunctions thank you very much!)

I headed out with the old man tonight on the swan for a crab despite hearing a few reports they had died off in the last few days we went out regardless.  Left Pt Walter ramp around 5:45 pm and after some shit chop we rounded the marks and were off around the spit and into the lee of Blackwall reach.  We only had 8 nets and on unwinding one the old man saw the mesh bottom depart to the bottom so we were down to 7 nets.  Two tuna heads in each pot saw us off to a slow start with no crabs in the first two pulls.  

On the third run we got our first size crab with a few undersize and berried females thrown back, then another two size crabs.  It still wasnt hot and there were a few boats working Blackies so we picked up two of our nets and repositioned them off chidley pt which was also quite calm.

From then on it just took off with at least 3-4 crabs per pull of the 7 nets, often with two size crabs per pot. Headed in by 10pm with 19 nice swan river crabs.  Another top night on the swan with dad.

Bryan 

 My boat arrived from Brisbane today delivered by CBC Interstate Courier. They really did a great job, boat arrived without any problems definitely recommend them.

 Hi guys Any beaches producing tailor or anything else around busso at the moment,just looking for somewhere easy access and close, as I might be limeted for time,I may get a chance over weekend if all fails I may just try the jetty,be gratefully for any reports or suggestions cheers!

Bit of a late report from a couple of weeks back and the photos are pretty ordinary as they were taken on an Iphone. Some good fish landed across the 3 species and good to see the Fingermark are on the chew.

We got one 'small' Fingermark around 60 and the rest were over 70 cm. The biggest went 81cm. The Nannygai were about 6 and 7 kilos and Narelle once again got the biggest fish of the trip with a 12 kilo Gold spot, my favourite eating fish.