Reports

Where are they biting at the moment

Eshed report from last night....

Tryed my luck for a mulla for the 9999999999999999999887755542156 time.

Had no luck but while i had a livie out i was fishing with the smaller rod and landed 4 nice sized whiting and hooked a massive blue manna crab o my fishing line. I released it becasue im no sure if its legal to keep one caught on rod and reel.

Met a guy on holiday from borneo. Really nice happy guy. He wasnt catching much so i gave him my whiting. Never seen a guy happier ;)

 

Also hooked a starfish haha . All in all it was chilly but a good way to unwind after work and it was good to give that guy some fish to try as he hadnt tryed fish here and what better fish to eat than whiting


river prawn run 2011

Hi Guys, been a pretty dry start to the winter and have gone for a prawn a few times this year without almost any luck. I have been fishing from a jetty but not sure how the guys in the boats are going. any updates would be good but i haven't seen or heard of any good catches yet. hopefully things change when we finally get a few consecutive days of rain!!!!!!


Fishing the five on wednesday

Hi everyone im adam new to fishwrecked,

Went out for a fish wednesday about 10am with my dad and uncle grant

headed out to the five at the south end of garden island, started our drift as we just passed it

seen alot of big bait schools but nothing realy chasing them, got a few nice sand whiting and a heap of small flathead on the light gear, and about 6 small scorpion cod, the fish died off a bit when grant picked up this nice flathead on the light gear 

 

The wind died right off and werent realy drifting nor were the fish biting so headed back to the five by this time the wind picked up slightly in the other direction so we started the drift as we hit bank instantly started geting pecked of by wrass caught a few of them, also caught a small black ass and a nice skippy, but couldnt rely get away from the wrass, slowly drifting over it went dead again which i thought was good coz i didnt realy want to catch anymore wrass, not long after grant was on and pulled up this nice 4 kg dhue closly followed by a small hammer head so it was landed pretty fast

 

drifted a bit more grant was on again ended up losing a nice bronzy close to the boat, and no more action for 30mins or so where thinking of packing up when line started peeling off my line and i was on took a good 50 meters off me then short quick runs we were sure it was a shark until i got it close enough to see and we found it was a decent tuna to our suprise after a good 30 mins of circle work from the tuna we had landed the 14kg 1.06m monster me and grant 3 goes each i think its a long tail? thats the first tuna for me i was over the moon hi fives all round.

we decided to head in and this is mixed bag

 

This has got to be my best day fishing and the best fish ive caught.

 


Squiding session

Ok before i start this i want everyone to know this is my first squiding attempt hahaha so was not the best but managed some results!!

 

Went down to woodmans point with a cheapy squid jig from the deli went for the green one figured thats what everyon on here uses, and baught some berly. So what i know about squid weedy bottom with sand patches so found some thing that i thought looked like that(forgot my polaroids).  first hour caught nothing but there was no wind and beautiful so still enjoyed it. I tried ever retrieve i could think off fast wind, sloww twitching, fast twitching. Looked like a bit of a bannana for a while there hahahah

Then when the sun started going down bang i was( retrieve slow twitching)  on my first squid ever and it was big one the tube was 38cm (not sure how this rates with you boys), the next half hour i caught 3 ore squid and one cuttle fish. Kept one more and threw the other two back (only me to feed tonight)  plus was unsure how to clean the cuttle so let him go as well  

 

So first squiding session a sucess i think im on the board and they taste great, got photo but will put it up when i get home


Swan River Bream and Crabs May

Hey guys,

 

Its my first time posting, ive been a avid follower for a good 2 years but for some odd reason i could not get my account to start.. this time however.. it worked!

Anyways, ive spent this month teaching my mum how to fish, it was my mothers day gift to her.. i dont usually fish the swan but this is the best way to get a newbie to enjoy the thrills of fishing.

 

We headed out the the river 3 times and all three times it has been productive. Mums first fish was a whopper 35cm bream.. which obviously annoyed me cos all i got was weed and twigs this was up stream in the Valley. Have a look at the

gills of the bigger one.. check out the reflection..scared the hell out of me!

 

 

The second time out,we fished the jetties in the nedland and mosman area and it yielded good size bream and big crabs. The bream went 30-36cms and the crabs averaged about 18cm.

 

 

The other night we headed out again, but this time with about 5 mates and it got us this!

 

 

Theres a few monsters in there.. a few of the crabs hit the 400g mark.

 

Make sure you have a good look at the first image.. it still gives me the chills!

 

Chino

 

 


Southern Salmon Trip 10/11th May 2011

Hey guys,

 

headed south last week and got into a few, mostly injured ones in the gutters besides 1 school of maybe 80 fish. Got up on the cliffs for a scout and spotted larger schools out of casting range.

Living the dream

 

Regards

 

Jimbo


2 Mulloway in 20 mins

 Hey all went for fish over the weekend just north of Perth

Couple of mates got 2 mulloway in 20 mins!

One went 25kg plus and one went about 10-12kg


Tuesday

Latest report for all from the water off Gero

Left the marina early yesterday morning thru intermittent showers and a squally sth west wind forecast to drop right off. So we hoped....

Along for the trip was robbie my usual spear buddy and a sponsored diver from queensland - Chris Peiro with whom id made contact on a dive forum. Chris had been working in perth and is now heading north and back towards his home in the east. Hopefully we could put him onto some fish!

Fairly average wet trip to the area we had chosen to dive and a quick sound showed some promising grounds in 12-16m. Set the anchor and geared up. 0800

My first drop to the bottom in 14odd m showed promise with small baldies , trout and dhuies about along with the usual buffies. Good signs early. With all 3 of us now in we decided to get to work on some burly so a couple of buffs found the end and a steady stream of scales and flesh was soon drifting to the bottom.

First casualty was a 6kg dhu for robbie followed by chris with a 4kg trout. A monster spangled emp joined in and looked headed to join the other fish in the eski but as i lay in the kelpy weed waiting for the right shot , a couple of average bronzies came flying in and spooked everything! spewing

Bit more burly in the water column soon saw a school of spaniards arrive! Small school fish of around 10kg. I dove first and stoned one , chris second following suit and then rob in pretty quick succession. Sweet

Back at the boat i took some snaps for chris of his trout and everyones macks, we then discussed the next dhu. Being a east coast diver and having limited time in the water of Wa so far he was yet to shoot one. Decided between us that the next dhu was his. What a decision it was!

Rolled back into the drink , breathed up and dropped to a small ledge in 16m. Staring into the gloom and watching my dive time tick by steadily... Felt comfortable but also had that feeling of a large something close by.... Very slowly i turned 180 degrees.... HOLY $hit..... The biggest dhu ive had in range was slowly cruising past.

Looked up at chris and pointed , watching him do circles trying to spot wat it was! No good i surfaced after the min plus dive and screamed at him to dive! BIG DHU!

Chris took a hook breath and was gone..... From the surface i watched him scan the area first left then right... then he extended his euro 120.... Closed the distance a touch and fired!

The rest was history - he had stoned the 15kg male dhu cold! high fives and handshakes between all! AWESOME

Big pic session followed understandbly and we where all very chuffed.... The following 10 or so dives we awesome! Dhuies everywhere! Counted atleast 6 fish over 8kg in the one area and quiet a number of smaller fish aswell. Great signs & a spot to be kept veryyyy quiet and probably left alone for another 6months to avoid over fishing these beautiful fish.

Ended the session with myself nailing a nice 4kg trout.

Moved location 2 more times in search of a baldie but not to be despite considerable burlying and good ground.

Finished the day off in style tho - everyone had spread out just a tad and with the quiet fish action i decided to have some breathhold practice. First drop into a sand hole saw 1min 17.... Feeling comfortable and after a extended breath up i dropped again after 4-5mins. This time set on a min 20 or 30.....

Laying on the sand with my arms folded and eyes closed , my euro laying beside me i felt so relaxed it was great. Opened the eyes to check the watch.... 55 secs and a big spaniard.. WHA! A thumper spaniard with whiting disease had cruised in on the sand checking me out... Grabbed the gun , extended and fired - 20kgs thanks muchly....

Back at the ramp at 1230 for fillet session with 4 macks and 4 demersals between the 3 of us.... no where near our limit but more then enough fish for us all....

Apologies no pics as they are all on chris's camera and he has limited internet access whilst travelling... Will post a couple when they are sent thru.

Cheers guys poddy

 

 


Barra blitz on the Fitz

As some may have known already, 3 FW members: Myself, Marky and Percula were off to Cone Bay for a week.

Well the weather turned sour and we called it off. Travelling 50km in 25kn+ Easterlies in 2 tinnies was suicide!!!

Instead, we camped 3 nights at Telegraph pool we we were treated to some HOT barra action.

We had 32 hookups which resulted in 19 landed fish. We kept a points tally, had beer-skulls for F-ups and great a fantastic time.

No meterey's, 3 in the 90's and only 5 under 80cm, boy these fish were FAT! All taken on lures, with trebles crushed!

The snag in the structurescan pic produced many of the big fish. The scoreboard was Marky-7, Dicko-6, Percula-6....Enjoy!


Mon Morning Squid sesh off Woodies

Had the day off work today, so I headed out for a quick squid bash in the tinny.  Picked up a couple of corkers out towards Carnac, then things slowed.  I had to start heading back so I went right in close behind to the beach behind the groyne and picked up another 7 or so and 2 cuttlefish.  Back home by half 10 with a good feed to tea.  Got to love a solo session, was a little windy out there, but still nice.

 

First time I've kept a cuttly, anyone have any tips for cleaning, preparing cooking.  For what I've seen on a quick search it seems you cook it just like squid, quick and hot.   Seem like slimy buggers.

 

Jared

 

 


Crazy youtube shark bite video

 While filming bull sharks, a shark specialist gets a bite on the calf.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pjbH5OuBc4&NR=1


Squidding out from Woodmanpoint this arvo.

Headed out roughly around 2pm for a quick squid bash,hadnt tried squidding around perth in the new boat, so found some nice weedy/sand looking ground, and boy were they thick!!! Would of caught around 25, lost more easily another 10 , due to conversation/beer drinking and not watching the rods!!!

a couple of things we noticed:

Size wore on as the day went on,it was getting to the point of squid only a 1/4 of the jig size larger!

Pink was colour of the day by far.

Orange did ok....

Was on the water from 2-5 30ish

And now very large feed of squid rings mmmm...!

 

 

cheers all

brett


Quick squid out from Woodies

 Just dashed out with the only chance I had to get on the water for this weekend and nailed a few nice squid. Took my bro out and we had lines in the water for no longer than an hour and landed 21 good sized squid. Certainly the best consisent sizes I've had in any session this year. 

The jig on the handline trailing a few meters behind the boat landed more squid than either of us working our rods surprisingly. Right at the end we had atleast 3 big squid under the boat but none of them were interested in any jigs. Had to go help out a boat who couldn't start their motor, a jump start with a bit of chop was certainly a bit sketchy but somehow they got it started after we took the lead OFF. 

Always great to get out on the water and can't wait to taste the spoils of our labour!


Quick squid sesh friday

I got the chance to pop out for a quick fish on friday arvo, with the medium easterlies i decided to stay in close and get some squid.

Headed out from Mindarie and started a drift close to shore in front of the surf club. The water was a bit cloudy and it took a while to get the first one in the net and with a hood of 30cm i was pretty happy. After that they got a bit more active and within an hour we had 12 squid on ice , the largest having a hood of 34cm.

With enough for a good feed i headed out just in front of the first reef and send down the whiting rigs with the hope of some sandies to eat or for bait. Picked up one straight away and my friend got another two, not very big but good size for bait on the next outing.

The next drift we both hooked up on some thumper skippy and continued till we had 8 plump ones in the esky. They were all about 35cm and were great fun on the bream rods with 4 lb braid . On the last drop before heading in my friend hooked up and line started tearing of his reel at pace, i thought it might have been a pinky as we landed a few small ones earlier. As the fish got near the boat i realized it was a big skippy, and at 43cm on 4 lb gear my friend did well to get it in the boat.

I used to fish like this quite often but now i tend to head out deeper chasing the Dhu and snapper, I forgot how mutch fun the small rods can be , and altho i was chasing whiting there are lots of other species that can turn up and keep you happy .

Cheers Grant

 


applecross jetty

fed the blowies today, fished from 4-8with no real luck, few small whiting and flattys returned but might be worth another go.


Need some tips

Hey guys, my bro inlaw just got an 18.5 ft boat and we are looking for a good spot to go for a fish we live in gosnells so do you guys have any suggestions where to go? Would be great if you could share some spots

Thanks

Nathan


Sound Squid

Headed out late yesterday arvo for a squid. We left it a little late hitting the water around 4:30 Shot over to the islands and worked some banks. Didnt really get onto them but managed some beauties. Best one going a 30cm tube. The $5 dollar green cheapy did the damage.


Coral Trout

Went for a trout chasing trip on Monday. The sharks gave us heaps and stopped us from bagging out. Ended up with 27 trout with a few nanny's and other mixed reef. No pics this time, was a bit slack on that side with the fish biting so much!!


South metro pelagics

Headed out on the troll off Rockingham and headed norwest. Matt Lined out and as soon as he flicked the bail he was on. We dropped that fish but shortly after got a double hook up and boated 2 blues almost double the size of the fish at the beginning of the year. Hunted around on the bank for a while looking at lumps but nothing exciting. Left the bank and headed for home and picked up a few more blues and a big sharky which went a smidge under a meter. Bit sad when it wasnt a spaniyard but thats fishin. Anyways fun session out there.


Old but Interesting

 A 75-pound spotted eagle ray leaps from the water in the Florida Keys, striking a woman riding in a boat, killing her. The stingray died from the impact. Officials say stingrays do leap from the water, but do not attack people.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71ikwk7C0DI&feature=feedrec_grec_index


Some Coral Bay pics

Here's some pics from our time in Coral Bay. The weather wasn't the best but we still managed to get some great fish. The boat is parked up as the next 2 days look too windy and we are leaving Saturday.


Diving Denham

 Time for another trip report!

Leading into the weekend it was either a Abrolhos sojurn or a SharkBay adventure... Closer to the date and a monster swell put payed to enjoyable diving so it was Shark Bay here we come!

This was to be my first big trip in the tub since we joined forces and i was pretty excited at the chances of some good fish and good times with the boys.. Along with us was "Team Rukkus" Consisiting of capt Toddy & his faithful deckies Briso and Friesy on board the ever reliable Quintrex hunter 445. "Team Shoot 2 Thrill" was myself and Dave on the "big" centery

Left Gero around 6 friday arvo with some coldies in the waeco and full tanks of juice. The 4 hour trip passed comfortably in the cool night - regular bearing checks and tinkle stops the only interuptions beside one unlucky roo. Saw the poor bugger 400m ahead in the big lightforce spotties and slowed to a crawl litterally... 15kph... the roo bounded off the road , stopped and bounded straight back into the car and under the drivers wheel - no damage done beside the poor skip. Hit Denham late friday and went straight to the jetty to try for a few squiddlies!

Dang the poor things had copped a hiding over easter! Just the site of a jig on the jetty sent them screaming for dirk hartog! We perservered and managed 3 for a quick taste but nothing special - couple more beers and bed for the next day.

Team Rukku's where up and off early - keen to hit the board while the late start of Team Shoot 2 Thrill saw a more gentlemans approach. the rukus mob heading west to the bent pin area in search of big pelagics while dave and i had our sites set on reefies north of town.

The big Yammie 4 stroke pushed us along at a easy 26knots in 3-4ft of sharkbay's crystal shallows and after a quick stop to film a decent tiger moochin around hunting rays , Dave & myself finally reached our first destination. This was where my decision to wear the 2mm top and wettie shorts quickly revealed itself to be a absolute shithouse idea. 20C warming later in the day to 22C.... BRRR

First area showed some good tuskies but too elusive and plenty of other odds n sodds. The 2nd spot alot more sexy! Dropping in revealed 2 thumper trout. Did the team thing and let richo have first crack as he hadnt shot a real big trout yet. First one spooked tho as he dove on it and the 2nd one ripped off under a ledge on what dave called a good holding shot? Very disappointing.

Abit of a swim away from the boat saw a monster 10kgplus tusker spook into the gloom and a decent rankin evade me. Not happy jan - dave however fared better locating the first big trout again and this time it all went like clockwork. He did however have the decision of Big trout or big Rankin as they sat side by side. The pics show which decision was made! Mandatory photos taken and a visit from a beautiful manta ray (my first time seeing one underwater) and back into the spearing proper.

this time i came up trumps with a solid 6kg tuskie and 2 nice rankins. Things looked up!

Few more spots changes here and there before time ran out , the water too bloody cold and the sun gettin low we hit the long road back to Denham at 28knots and 3 icey bevvies each where appreciated.... No BCF here but this surely is Livin!

Final tally saw Team Shoot 2 Thrill with 2 good tuskies 2 good rankins Daves big trout and a thumper spanish flag. Add to that 2 jumbo Red crays and we where stoked.

Team Rukku's where very dissapointing with just a small spanish and average grey mackerel gracing there decks... 

that night we hit the most western pubs on the mainland and entertained ourselves before hitting the sack around midnight. One Ruku's member a tad worse for wear... Victory was nearing for dave and I!

Day 2 dawned another magic day - light easterlys. Boats everywhere for the fishing fiesta and all sorts happening in town. Twas now that Team Rukku's , down one member after the previous nights entertainment declared there innings short and returned to gero tail between there legs. Dave and i pressed on tho in absolute magic conditions...

First dive was good - coral & fish about but nothing was killed. Again big tuskers seen but all too flighty. The half dozen boats zooming around showed that this little patch must cop a fair hiding. Did manage to hand feed a couple of Ripper Cod tho in the shallows.

Without too many details we ended up searching high and low in the glassed of bay but it just wasnt to be. Raging current in one spot was undivable safely - filthy water in others and spots that should have held fish void. Never mind you have days like that. Only added one more good Blackspot to the bag.

Overall tally for the 2 days saw richo and myself do about 275ks and use 90l of fuel which i was stoked about. The 100hp pushing us along at between 25 and 32 knots when allowed effortlessly. Being my first extended trip in the girl i was fairly stoked... "look out exmouth!"

Left denham at about 7 sunday night and cruised home steadily. Monday spent cleaning and packing and Dave off to perth with a eski full of prime fillets...

Gotta be happy with that


Bluebone and red sunday

Took a couple of mates down to tantabiddi sunday to get a bluebone first then nail a red when the wind dropped later. Gotta love it when the plan comes together so well . . .

Aarons new pb bone. 830mm and 8 kilos of jaw and muscle.

 

 My red from 30 metres water just outside the reef . .

 


2nd trip report: the day of the Pink Snapper!

 Back in Freemantle after the short sortie for the Salmon down south I was excited to recieve a message from Ben (goodz) saying that there was a chance to head out on his boat for a second trip; of course depending on the weather conditions.  The plan was to begin fishing in more sheltered waters close to coast, and as the day progressed, and if the weather forecasters were correct, we could move out to deeper water as the wind was predicted to drop at midday.  Snappers were on the list of species we could target and how could I refuse after previously seeing pictures of magnificent big hump headed Pink Snappers on Fishwrecked.  A nice pinky would definately keep me happy for a while. Along with Mulloway, it's one of the two fish I am really hoping to catch while over here in Australia.

 

 

 

As we weren't out at first light the big ones might have to wait until later in the day so the first port of call was to flick some metal and small soft plastics around some likely looking headlands and bombies.  Ben had heard that some Tailor might be on the cards, which would be good as they are a species I have caught before in South Africa so one of their Australian cousins wouldn't go amiss. Looking at the ground we were fishing, I imagined some big fish would be found in the area at the right times, so was fully expecting to hook into something big as I worked the lures through the white water breaks. Maybe we were a little late for the big ones, but luckily greedy little herring were keen to keep us busy as they repeatedly scoffed the lures. They seem remarkably adept at jumping the hooks just as they are about to be swung over the edge of the boat, so most managed to rejoin their group of mates who had followed them to the side of the boat.
 
 
 
 
No Tailor had decided to eat the lures after half an hour, so a move was made in search of Sand Whiting a little further out from the rugged coast.  Apparently squid tentacles hooked so they go with the flow are the number one bait, and it wasn't long before we were lowering two hook paternosters down on to the sand 10 metres below.  It didn't take long before little Whiting were gobbling our hook baits along with the occasional small Sand Flathead. It wasn't going "off" as expected so a we made a couple of moves to look for richer fishing grounds. Ben told me on previous trips while fishing in the same way he had nearly been spooled by what he thought was a small shark.  So to get in on the action we drifted a big bait on wire over the back of the boat while we continued to feel for bites on the light sticks.
 
 
 
Amazingly half the day had already passed, when we started to catch some colourful wrasse on the squid baits as we drifted over some weed beds.  They fought hard on the light rods and gave us fun for a while but quickly we became bored as no other species showed. By now as predicted the wind was starting to die down, and in turn the sea was calming making it a perfect time to leave the toothy little wrasse behind and go in search of something a bit more substantial in deeper water.  Near the offshore bank we found a nice dropoff that screamed fish.  A change of depth of 5 metres over a relatively flat bottom is surely a magnet to our piscatorial friends and the depth sounder confirmed our suspicions! It looked pretty busy down there so Ben suspected and hoped that the Pink snapper would be hanging about amongst all the activity. 
 
 
 
 
And would you believe it after setting up a nice drift Ben's bait was snaffled and after a good scrap a fin perfect little pinky was brought aboard! A nice example of the beautiful species but not quite of the size we were hoping for.  As we set up for another drift over the hotspot all hell broke lose as a shoal of huge Long Tom suddenly turned up and started slashing at the squid baits as we tossed them over the side. As they darted back and forth, Ben soon hooked up but just as quickly the hook popped out and the fish swam free. A few seconds later another took the bait and this time was properly hooked. Bens little reel sung a merry tune as the Long Tom decided it would rather be as far from the boat as possible.  Jumping and cartwheeling, it removed line with ease, while all the time we wondered how it was possible that such thin line was holding up to the abrasion caused from those sharp teeth.
 
 
 
 
I grabbed my lure rod and cast a Bomber out, and with a fast retrieve it was hounded in time and time again by a pack of Long Toms, but unfortunately none of the fish hooked up.  A change of lure to the metal slice resulted in another five strikes but still no hook ups! All the time we could see the fish through the clear water darting about striking the lure as well as following the fish Ben still had on his line. After ten or more minutes the Long Tom Ben had been playing was tiring and came to the side of the boat. Neither of us had seen this species before.   We were used to the more or less plain silver fish found in warmer waters,  these had bright yellow jaws, and a vividly coloured body together with some dark spots throughout their length. It was a striking and beautiful fish and we desperately wanted a photo to remember it by.  Of course there was no way to fit a fish of at least 1.20m into the environet, but we had no other ideas apart from making a mad grab at the body. Figuring the best way would be to get the head in the net and then grab the body, we gave it a go, but disaster happened and the fish spooked, jumped, threw the hook and said bye bye! Any idea of the species guys as I would love to know?
 
 
 
 
That was unfortunately the last time we saw the Long Toms, so returned to our bait fishing to see what else might be hanging around the hump.  I soon hooked up to a lively fish that bent the little rod double. Would it be a pink snapper as I hoped? it turned out to be a double header consisting of our old friend the wrasse along with a Blackarse. Close but not close enough.  The next customer was pretty lively and tried its best to take line from the reel. The first glimpse revealed a solid silver bar rising from the depths which turned out to be a Skippy big enough to come home for dinner. It really was great fun to catch these small fish on the according tackle as every fish made us grin from ear to ear! More skippy followed while a pod of Dolphins played in the swell some way off into the sea.  Even a big barnacle encrusted turtle rose to the surface to take some gulps of fresh air before its next dive, and right on time as I had asked Ben earlier if he ever sees them about.
 
 
 
 
 
We had a quick count and found that eleven or more species had been landed throughout the day. Nothing big but throughly enjoyable all the same.  By now the sun had dropped and turned to a burning haze on the horizon. The wind too had also completely vanished, leaving us with a picture perfect evening to fish on through. It was fast approaching fisho'clock when the chance to hook a bigger fish would vastly increase.  The talk of big Snappers and Dhuies kept us wondering, as we celbrated the already succesful day with some ice cold Coronas.  Ben had been burlying the water with old mulies and the like, so we hoped there would be somewhat of a frenzy going on below. Our only problem was that anchoring in the desired spot had proved to be almost impossible. It was only a small problem so just continued to drift the spot. 
 
 
 
 
 
It was reaching that magical golden time of day when you should be holding your rod tightly.  I had given up bait fishing a few minutes before and put on my all time favourite lucky soft plastic lure, the Storm Wildeye sardine.  Now if a fish won't eat this lure I feel for it, as there must be something seriously wrong with it.  Sometimes I even get the urge to eat the lure myself and more than once I have had people comment on my catch, only for me to tell them its actually a piece of rubber! I could imagine large fish below, stirring ready for an evening of gorging on small fish as I lowered the plastic to the bottom.  having not fished this technique much before I was aware that the best chance of a strike was to keep the lure as close to the sea floor as possible. A little too high in the water and all chance to induce a take might be lost irrespective of how good a lure is on the end of the line.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Savouring the beautiful evening I contemplated the dangers of rolling a cigarette at such a time of the day. Rather I started to tell Ben how I had once spent a day strolling the local river in the UK flicking spinners for Pike, Perch and Chub. The morning had drifted into the afternoon and still I hadn't put a fish on the bank, which was surprising as it usually wasn't so quiet. Fed up and with the lethargy setting in the unbelieveble happened! The spinner flew across the river and was let to sink a little more than usual as I thought possibly the fish were sitting deep. After a few turns of the handle something bit and I struck into solid resistance. It was a slow steady fight and to my amazement a can of Stella Artois emerged from the water, neatly hooked in the ring pull and within the useby date. The fishless day didn't seem so bad anymore as I cracked open the cold can and took a sip.  
 
 
 
 
Just as i reached the end of the story my rod gave a hefty tug and pulled around in my hands! A fish was on and I tried to gain some control as Ben shouted "PINK SNAPPER" and grabbed his camera to film the action. My fireline zipped from the little shimano baitrunner as a solid fish made a dash for some underwater sanctuary.  Everything had happened as we had hoped, the timing was perfect and now my heart was in my mouth as I gently played the strong opponent.  Slowly I gained line but didn't give the fish too much stick as it was possibly my first Pinky! There was no way I was going to lose this fish! Ben had the net waiting and as the fish broke surface he expertly netted it, to shouts of joy and a congratulatory hand shake.  A fantastic big solid Pink Snapper lay in the net with the hook perfectly placed in the bottom jaw.  The factory hook on the lure was bent, but luckily the terrible hook I had attached saved the day. Of course I couldn't stop smilling as we peered into the net. A decision was made to stay out a little longer after dark and see if any more fish would take the lures.
 
 
 
It wasn't to be but we were both content with the fantasic day. A heap of species had landed on the boat with the grand finale of the a big Pinky. Life couldn't have got much better as we zipped over the swell, through the charcoal night towards the orange lights on the horizon. A big big thanks to Ben for making it possible! Cheers buddy!
Hopefully i'll have some more luck soon and will be able to post another report, All the best, Scott
 

Walpole Report

Just a quick report.

 

Spent the last 3 days down at Walpole on a house boat with some friends who had been there for a few weeks already. Fished pretty much night and day all through out the inlet and at Circus beach. First night we fished close to the mouth of the inlet and picked up a dozen king george with the biggest going 56cm along with bream and gardies. Within ten minutes of fishing there were about 2 or 3 rays around the boat. Second night we fished the Franklin river for bream and flathead, picking up the odd king george, and again the rays were among us. We set out a few live small mullet under floats and on the bottom. We lost one mysterious fish under the float and I picked up a lovely 4 ft gummy shark from the Franklin river among the snags on my stradic ci4 2500 and 2-4 kg nitro rod.

Next day we fished Circus beach, however conditions made it tough with seas to 3m. Picked up a few salmon around 6-7kg, a dozen bull herring and a good skippy close 1kg. We then retired to a good night in, with drinks and some freshly cooked fish.

 

Sorry about no pictures, didn't think to take any pictures. Shark and salmon were all released at the water. 


Super Squid

Picked up this monster during a herring bash yesterday arvo.  Tube length checked in at 36cm and I think it was about 58cm from tip to the end of its smaller tentacles.

Can't wait for tea tonight!


quick dhuie hunt

Waited for the wind to drop and headed out at 3:30 .lines in the water at 4:15 good fish on the sounder not really going ,off but still some good fish caught .Jesse pulled the big one again on a plastic went 11.5 kg.we tagged three dhuies and a 480mm BB. home just after dark .


Jurien Mac 'n' dive

Had a great day off jurien yesterday. Me and the girlfriend pulled into Jurien for 2 days to get some fish and crays In the esky for the next week as we slowly make our way towards exmouth.

Woke up at 630 probably the earliest we ever have in the last 6 months, The boat was already packed and ready  to go so it was just a matter of hooking up and straight to the marina, we pushed in just after the sun rose with a bit of a fresh easterly blowing. The idea for the day was to troll along the 15-20m line from south passage northwards hopefully to hook a tuna a definitely some macks… definitely hopefully… then a dive just out of north passage in the same depth.

We hit the drop off out of south passage about a mile south of seaward ledge and started a bit of a zigzag northwards. We ran a pusher and the trusty old battered 150 scorpion chrome pink. It was quiet travelling for about the first 20 minutes until my old TLD that’s been lacking in action since it was bought screamed to life, finally the sucker got its work out, after the 3 runs, a short fight, plenty of surface circling with me slapping the surface like a man possessed for the one handed gaff job we finally had the first serious fish onboard the new tinny, a nice Mackie probably of around 10-12kg unmeasured though and caught on the scorpion. We had a few pic’s with the fish, dispatched it and then I was left  with me  staring at the meter plus mack and my little 40 litre coleman cooler then back at the mack and started to think maybe we should call the dive, head back and get this thing on ice…

 

but first to get the woman onto a fish. The team together decided to pull in the pusher as it seemed macks were the call for the day and we swapped it for another scorpion, a deep diver. We motored around over to the same spot we hooked up previously and two minutes into the troll the tld lit up again. Just as I was passing the rod forward to Jac,.. SNAP! zzzzzzzz turned around to see the heavy outfit that had the deep diver hanging by an inch inside a snapped rod holder with line peeling away at a rate of knots, Jac’s fish had come off the TLD so I handed the next  over and she was straight onto the rod holder busting bastard. She’d tell it like a story of triumph and brute strength but all I remember were girly screams and whimpers and her wildly calling out if I have enough line on this reel! Anyway she did a good job and of the 700 meters of line on the reel it had only really pulled out around 40, but she’ll tell it different. Soon enough we had it boatside and for a littler but still decent mack it put up a great little tussle. Now we already had more than enough fish to get us through the next few days so it was a case of a quick tail grab a few more photos and it was speared back over the side.

Then the wind died off and in 15 meters of water we could clearly see the bottom zipping by under us and it was decided, to hell with it we’ll do the dive anyway the fish can wait for another hour under a wet towel. Not far away was the dive site and we were soon washing the Mackie blood spatters off our blood soaked dive gear.

We hit the water like two oversized balls of shark chum and conditions were much better than our last visit to this reef where vis was less than 2 meters. The ground was awesome last time but this time when we could actually see it was amazing. The ground had heaps of ledges and swim thru’s, soft corals everywhere with yellow turret corals the stand out covering most ledges but no crays in sight.

 We swam around for about half an hour and almost got attacked by a cuttlefish that was intrigued with my reg. Next we headed west for the deeper ground that was around 18meters, as soon as we glided down the 4 meter ledge we got buzzed by a school of 3 macks and the broken flat sandy ground away from the drop off was crawling with baldies we counted around 12 some undersize but most were legal. We were down off that bit for around 15minutes and about four times we had macks coming in and checking us out above us at around the 10meter depth. The rest of the dive was just all the usual suspects and then back to the dory. We didn’t see any  dhuies  this time though  and unfortunately no crays.

 

So yea pretty stoked with our effort today in our little dory, in and out by 10 o’clock, a great dive and two macks from 3 hits in less than half an hour of trolling. Just worried seeing were going north chasing the fishing and diving might just be easier to do the same in Jurien and save the cash.

Next stop were off to check out shark bay for the first time with a lot of fish to eat!

 


Hillary's squidlies

Shot out for a quick one after work yesterday to the weed banks off Hillary's. Two of us got 12 squid in the bucket and 4 let go in about an hour of not really trying hard. Got pissed on though when that nasty little squall came through!

Interesting I found that when the wind was blowing and the water chopped up, all squid were hooked in their tentacles and when the weather passed and the water settled down, they were all hooked in their arms!


First trip report at last!! Super salmon fishing!!

 Hi guys,

 
Its good that i can finally make my first catch report after arriving in Australia. Up until now i haven't started on the cycle trip but have managed to catch some fish nonetheless.  
A big thank you must be said to Ben (goodz) who very kindly took me out on his boat for some fishing out of perth.  Although we didn't land the big one we had a great time and managed to land one sambo on a butterfly jig.  Unlucky for me, the one got spat the hook, just as i caught sight of him below the boat. You can't win them all!  on the way back to the boat ramp we stopped and tried for some squid at one of Ben's favourite spots.  Nothing took the jigs to begin with but on dusk they came on the bit,e and we soon had a good few in the esky which i would be lucky enough to taste a few days later at a bbq. It was great to get out on the sea for the first time and get more of an understanding of the fishing over here on the west coast.
 
Since that trip a good friend from India came to join me for ten days. The plan and mission was to hire a camper and head south to catch some salmon.  From what i had read this seemed like the best bet to get Abbey onto some decent fish.  And although there has been mixed reports of fishing we figured with 7 days looking for fish we would surely get something.  Unfortunately the weather was against us so for the first few days we looked around the forests and national parks hoping the rain would pass on. We decided to follow Ben's advice and head to a beach that has produced for him in the past (thanks mate!). Reaching the beach we realised it would be a bonus to catch a fish on top of staying in such a beautiful spot. 
 
 
There was a report of Salmon the week before but for the first day things were dead quiet. I flicked a wedge for a while and was pleased to get a little lively herring on my first cast. I caught a few more before calling it a day. A few other guys fishing hadn't had so much as a touch so it wasn't just my bad luck!
 
 
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
On the second day we were starting to doubt whether we would ever see a salmon, let alone be lucky enough to land one. Then the question was whether to sit tight and wait it out, or run around the countryside looking for the fish.  We opted to stay put as we were sure it wouldn't be too easy to find another great spot within spitting distance of the water to park our van . 
 
 
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
 
Later in the day we were pretty happy with the choice to stay, as the ultimate sight for a fisherman greeted our eyes. A little way down the beach the water was erupting as little silver fish fled  for their lives! An attack was being launched from below  by a big shoal of plump salmon while from above hungry gulls dived to catch the confused baitfish.  It was definately not a good time to be a small fish! we sprinted down the beach after grabbing out rods and before i had even stopped running a wedge was flying in the direction of the action. Almost instantaneously the lure was smashed by a good fish and braid whistled from the spool. Abbey was also in to a fish on the first cast but unfortunately the braid was cut on the reef. After five minutes of carefully playing my fish the line went slack and i reeled in to find a bent treble! 
 
 
 
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
 
 
 
Next cast i was again immediately into another salmon which wasn't as lucky as its buddy as the hooks held good.  By this time Abbey had returned from the van and with more lures and leader and was frantically trying to tie a new leader to the braid before the fish vanished from the beach. I was into my third fish as Abbey cast a popper behind the breakers.  Abbeys popper was taken quickly but in his excitement he struck far too hard and snapped the leader.  The excitment was obviously getting to him, leading to silly mistakes. After a few words he played the next fish like a pro and it wasn't long until he had caught and release four beautiful salmon. The grin on his face said it all! I couldn't belive our luck and also couldn't wipe the silly smile from my face. We kept the first fish as it was plenty to eat and another ended up being kept as it took the lure deep and couldn't be succesfully released. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After catching a couple i changed the metal slice for a skitter pop and was amazed on the first cast when a greedy salmon followed the lure nearly onto the sand. At the last second it grabbed it and took a long run back into the breakers where it scooted back and forth jumping and shaking its head in a bid to throw the hook. As i was playing the fish i noticed something in the corner of my eye which turned out to be a herring hopping about in a mere couple of inches of water. Unbelievably a salmon was right behind the small fish almost beached on the sand with its back poking completely out of the water. The herring got lucky and made a dash for it, before its pursuer could turn and follow! unbelievable!
As the light dwindled the salmon slowly melted away back into the deeps so we decided to call it a day and head back to cook our catch.  From what i had heard it seems salmon is a an aquired taste but it was perfect fried with a little garlic!
Sstaying for a few more day in the hope of another run proved more or less fruitless. I managed one more salmon casting a lure at dusk and a few herring but that was it.  It didn't particularly matter though as we were still on a high from the previous days session. We had fulfilled our mission and were very pleased with the result.
 
 
 
 
So hopefully  the luck will continue as I cycle up the west coast. I plan to leave perth in the week so hope to see some of you guys along the way!
 
All the best, Scott