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!

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 .

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!

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!

 Hi guys,

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

 

 

 

I've been watching the weather forecast ever since we got back from our Easter weekend in Jurien Bay....keen to wet a line again down here.

Thursday (today) looked the pick of the days so I lined up a mate and I ditched work and we hit the Dawesville ramp at 7am...heading out thru the Cut, we get a warning buzzer going off. Stopped an lifted the outboard to check for weed around the water pickup, even though the telltale was working fine. Nothing obvious so we tried again and as we reached the open water, the buzzer sounds again, then the sounder's 'low voltage alarm' goes off....it appears the battery is dying...but it's brand new, just like everything else in and on the boat. 

Thought we'd limp it back into the Cut but didn't get far before we're dead in the water....drop anchor and it's 'scratch our heads' time. Into the tool box and out with the multimeter on the battery; 12V...hmmm...it's as if the alternator isn't charging....lift the engine cover and the plug that's supposed to be connected to the alternator is hanging in mid-air. Pushed it back into place, heard the 'click' as it seats properly and fingers crossed we hit the key....the 125 bursts into life and we're back in business. Cancelled the call to the water rescue and we head out again.

Funny thing though, we used the boat 4 days over Easter and not a hint of a problem.

The conditions didn't really match the forecast as it was quite swelly, choppy, windy and a bit uncomfortable. Found a previous spot and although there was plenty of colour on the sounder, nothing was really interested (don't you hate that). Had 3 drifts over the spot and we decide to call it a day.

Home by 1pm so we played 9 holes and just got finished when it starts chucking it down....nice to see some rain, though.

Anyone else wet a line today....how did you go?

regards
rusty...

PS. Who was it who said 'the fishing's no good if the wind direction has NORTH in it', or is this just an old wive's tale???? The wind today definitely had NORTH in it, and the fishing wasn't very good....maybe there's something in it after all.

 got this bastard throwing around 3 inch minnow placcys about an hour ago. 49cm. 

hi guys.

thinkin about heading down to e sheds tonight for a fish.

any news on whats been biting recently?

I've always wanted to head down south around Easter to try and get into some salmon, so this year with a few days off work and uni decided to make the pilgrimage for a couple of days of fishing and relaxing (boozing). My Norwegian mate was keen as mustard, he's not too experienced with fishing but loves camping and exploring the country regardless. So after much consideration decided to head to Windy Harbour and have a look around for a campsite for a couple of days. The plan was pitch some tents and some tarps close to the beach and go from there. Neither of us had been there before so it was mostly going to be guess work.

So I headed off to pick him up around 5am Wednesday morning, and naturally we didn't get moving til about 6:30. How good is it leaving Perth down an empty freeway when the lanes heading the other way are choccas!

After a few hours and a stop or two on the way we left Northcliffe for the final leg. By now the ute tray was pretty flooded, so its a good thing everything was stored in plastic clip boxes! Well then the hail began. This was to set the mood for most of the trip...

First off took a drive to Salmon Beach for a few photos from the top. Well it was blowing around 40kn with a swell of several metres so fishing was out of the question for the time being!

After heading through the settlement of Windy Harbour, we took the track east with the plan on pitching tents at the Gardner River mouth. So down went the tyres and exploring began.

After about 8 or 9 kays reached the track to the beach and stuck like glue to the tracks, as the rest of the dune looked nastily deep and soft. Made it to the rivermouth and hopped out for a celebratory can. And got rained on...and rained on. Up went the tents, literally, cos they were basically being blown away. Note: must invest in bigger sand pegs. Spent the next hour or two in between setting up and hiding from the downpours in the car. Only managed a quick cast for nothing

Spirits were beginning to get a bit down as we couldn't even get a tarp shelter set up in that weather. Spending three days and two nights drenched and covered in sand... but that's what campings all about right? haha

Well then two of the best blokes around popped up in their little cruiser and in a nice way questioned why the hell we were so stupid as to be there... and proceeded to tell us about this cabin in the forest up the river, which is free for the public, currently vacant and has a FIREPLACE and DRY WOOD. Well, that sold us. So back everything went in the car and we headed back over the dunes towards the river.

What was I said about sticking to the tracks? Kinda slid off to the side.

I tell you what, that cabin was the greatest thing ever at that point. Ripped off the wet gear, got a fire going and basically stayed in front of that thing for the bigger part of the trip, overlooking the river and ocean. Beautiful!

Day two involved a bit of fishing but it was the same story again. Wind was a bit lighter but swell was still up. Rain didn't stop. Saw two salmon in buckets as we arrived at salmon beach, but those people said the fish were extremely few and far between. Didn't see a single fish pulled in while we were there on day two. Maybe it wasn't meant to be!

Why the hell would someone wear gumboots in a big swell? Musta still been drunk.

Day three and the plan was to pack up early, cook up a feed, spend the morning at salmon beach again before heading home. Well we didnt make it there til after 10am however the weather was looking great... as it does on the day you have to leave. One salmon had been caught all morning between about 30 fishos. So not looking too flash again!

Multiculturalism..

I walked up the beach to the far cliffs, throwing metals, richters and poppers for about 3 hours to no avail. I had all but given up, plus we had to be back in Perth by about 6 so time was really up. On just about the last cast I was going to give, the richter got smashed and line started screaming off. That's the first salmon I've hooked except for small salmon trout, and I tell you what, I understand why people make the trip. What an exciting fish! I spent the next few minutes sh**ting my pants about losing the fish as it lept in the air and took off every time I got it near the shore. Got the bugger in, it wasnt huge probably only max about 5kg, but man was I satisfied. One fish was enough, straight back to the car and home again!

Loved it down Windy Harbour, will definitely have to treck it down again and explore some of the other huts and campsites I've heard about in the national park.

Hi All

Looking at throwing a line in at Bunkers Bay or around there any way.

I have alwats seen small whiting floating about. Anything else I can be chasing?

Is there any abolony close to the shore?

Cheers.

Took James out for a run in the dinghy to Mewstone today to have a crack at some tailor in the wash.  Wasn't any tailor action, but James was giving the herring a hiding and I even managed to catch one on soft plastic, a first. 

We had some fun here and anchored up a bit later with some burley James got more herring and I got a nice 40cm skippy + some shit fish.

With a few herring and a skippy in the esky we went to carnac for a squid.  The action was not hot, but we had 5 good ones in two drifts before heading to the weed beds off Petrov Bay on Garden Island.  Again a slow start but there were some hot patches with multiple hookups in quick succession.  James boated one of the biggest squid I have ever seen, what a beauty.  We knew it was good, because it was taking drag, which when tightened James looked over at me and goes 'Shit, I cant lift it'.

I thought we had bagged out on squid when we headed back to the ramp but only had 27 in the final count, which I put down to them being slippery and inky.

So, 27 squid, 11 Herring and one Skippy and back to the ramp by 3ish.

Dinner is a work in progress:D

My take of the squid = 1.6kg tubes after cleaning.

 hey crew

after finally finishing moving house went down to north mole not much happening only one herring. guy next to us caught a nice sized garfish. just after it went dark my brothers mate caught a port jackson about 30 cm. called it quits and started chatting to a bloke who owns a tackle store. i questioned him about a saragosa 5000 and he told me to steer clear as they are prone to "basically falling apart" has anyone heard anything about this problem? as i was about to buy one

cheers scott

Trolling the bait schools yesterday,south of Rotto. We were in about 37m running along a current-line,spotted something in the water and slowly motored towards it,was really surprised to see it was a small Manta Ray. First time I have seen one in Metro waters. A one stage it was right next to the boat and then just dived under the boat, was only about 5 foot across, but no mistaking it was a Manta. Will try and post a few pics off a mates camera...

here is a photo of the salmon we kept for some currie there where six of us and we kept one each.

sorry about the bad photo its off a phone

Hi all can anyone give me an update on the spanish mackiel state of play.I'm going out from hillaries on wednesday and wondering if is still worth trolling a gardie around the back of 3 mile. Any current info would be most appreciated thanks

I just got back from a week in Kalbarri, we did okay given I havent been out off Kalbarri before.  The first few days we headed South but only managed a few Tuna and a couple of smaller Pinkies. We headed north the next few times and and managed a fews Spaniards, Tuna, Pinkies and even came across a couple of Whale Sharks.

My first decent Pinkie

The old boy with a nice little Mackie

A couple more Spaniards

The whale shark which came up while we getting ready to start trawling again after a double hook up of Mackies. I really didnt expect to see this out from Kalbarri but it was awesome. He just kept circling the boat checking everything out.

The biggest Mackie for the trip, not sure of actual weight as it bottomed out my mates scales at 12kg but I estimated it at 15kg. The Tuna was 8kg.

Been a bit slow on the fishing in the past 12 months, spending a lot of my free time shooting vermin, but teamed up with my old Onslow crewy James to visit the Berkeley River over the Easter/Anzac break.

Departed Wyndham at 11.00am on Saturday and travelled the 50nm to the top of Cambridge Gulf, spent a bit of time in the late arvo trolling the rockbar at the mouth of the Helby River. Three good queenies, no barra. Moored up in the Helby for the night.

Woke up at dawn and started heading west 35nm to the Berkeley. The 10 knot easterly tail wind becoming 15-20 by the time we reached the mouth at 8.45am. Navigated across the sand bars at the mouth on the high tide and entered the sanctuary of the Berkeley. We decided to explore the system by first travelling to the upper reaches. Looked like we had the place to ourselves until we turned the final corner and came across the True North cruise boat and a couple of yachties anchored up at the top.

We joined the True Norths tender boats up at the rock bar to have a crack at some barra. First pass on the troll saw James hook up and get busted off by an unseen fish. Second pass saw my 20lb braid outfit buckle as I passed over a submerged snag, 40lb + of chrome barra exploded out of the water, power dived into the snag and we were down two lures in 5 minutes. Farkkkkkkk! Unfortunately they shut down after that and the only barra we could entice was a 94cm fish on a live mullet the following evening.

Strong easterlies kept us confined to the river itself for the Sunday and the Monday. We scratched around for a few fish, explored the waterfalls and had a good time. Unfortunately the huge wet season we have had up this way meant the river was almost 100 per cent fresh water, that combined with a lack of bait meant the system fished poorly IMO.

Tuesday morning we crossed the mouth in 15 knot easterlies and sheltered up behind a small island for a while. No action saw us brave the windward side of the island where we encountered a good patch of queenies which kept us entertained. James also caught a good fingermark on the troll. The easterly finally backed off a bit and we took the opportunity to head the 35nm back to the top of Cambridge Gulf.

Tuesday evening we fished around Fathom Rock for a couple of good fingermark and a small 75cm black jew. After catching two seven foot sharks we called it a night and travelled into the Helby to moor up.

Wednesday morning saw us return to Wyndham early to beat the easterly, final tally on the trip meter was 298nm with 373 litres of fuel used.

Good trip, good company and great scenery. Negatives being the quietish fishing, incessant wind and the rockbar I hit with the skeg (thankfully trolling slowly), 6.1m boats aren't really designed for trolling shallow rockbars! LOL

Be back up that way again no doubt, but hopefully the wind will play the game next time.

Hey Guys

went down to the Peasholm Dog Beach this morning to have a shot at some tailor or whatever was around.  Picked the time based on seabreeze saying it was going to be blowing offshore and was lucky enough that that coincided with the high tide.

Took a 9' Ozflex spin rod with my certate 4000 and a 7'6" pfleuger (courtesy of Honsu at Oceanside) and my baby stella 1000FB.

Got there just on 7.00am - though about going earlier but have not fished off the beach so long that I thought that it would be better to be battling away in the light rather than the dark.

Started off with a star sinker and mulie off a trace and left that set while I did a bit of casting with the Pfleuger and a brown snapback.  Couldn't get out that far with my 1/8oz jighead but can't go much heavier because the tip on the rod is so light.  No luck with the snapback.

The set rod baits were getting eaten up.

As I was watching the sea, I saw a herring turn in a cresting wave and not long after, I saw 5 good sand whiting swimming along in a wave as well.  I kept on with a couple of tiny plastics to see if I couild nail a good whiting but still no luck. I persisted with the set line, and eventually went to a little bait rig on the Pfleuger with a small ball sinker, owner hook and squid.  Plenty of bites but they were light even on the light gear and after an hour or so I hooked a baby whiting.

Life was tricky at the dog beach as I had dogs running around my gear flicking sand everywhere and the labradors were partial enough to mulies (labradors being partial to anything edible and quite a few things which are inedible) to knock off half of my bait before I knew what was going on.

Trying to run two lines at once was a bit much so I took all the bait rigs off and started casting a 40g twisty instead.  Hooked one herring on that and after changing down to a 20g twisty got another herring.  My leave pass then expired and I was required back at home.

Next time around, I will go with the twisties alone and leave the bait for a more secluded type of beach.  Would have liked the  big whiting, but I think I would need to sight fish for them with a plastic if the big ones are swimming by.

Cam

Headed out with Jody and Jesse for a fish as we haven't hit the local spots much with all the diving of late .So after hearing so good reports we headed out to some ground I don't normally fish and bugger me the fish were there in numbers with our bag reached early on in the day .1x13 kg dhuie 10kgDhuie three baldies and a nice sized snapper.We tagged and released ten dhuies up to 11kg and all in great condition. With the release weight only being used once.One dhuie had a tag in it from some time ago as it was covered in weed .We retaged and released .Will post the info on the fish once i know .will be intresting to see where it has come from and how much it has grown.the second pic shows the tag we aso taged snapper and blackass.Jesse got the bigest on a plastic .A great day out and with the rest of the week off im sure some more tags will be finding there way into some fish

hey hey

 decided last night that a trip to 2rocks was on the cards due to the weather , so got a couple of mates together and decided to search for some likely spots.

the high tide seemed to coincide with the almanac bite time so we had hopes , it was just a matter of finding some ground.

left the harbour at 6 am , 2nd boat in the queue.   nice

we headed straight out to direction bank , and started the search.

droppped on a few spots , me with jig and the others with plastics and bait.

not much action early and worryingly the wind seemed up.

decided to head out further and keep the search going.

ended up finding some nice ground in the 60's and it was dave with the bait who was first in with a nice 9 kilo dhu

other odds and sods but not noteworthy.

continued out and found some awesome looking ground where jarrad scored fish of the day on the trusty 10" mccarthy.  a nice 18kg dhu which wasn't in a good state to be returned , and so joined the other in the esky.  

dave then managed a good baldie , and a lovely queen snapper which may or may not have caused him to break a sweat. 

queenie released but baldie came home

stayed on that spot for the rest of the time we had , and got a few red snappper and pinkie's.   one red came home too.  not pic worthy tho.

met back at the ramp by nice fisheries lady so all good there

all in all , a right nice day out

The wife and I arrived in Exmouth last Thursday after an uneventful drive towing the boat from Perth.  I guess that's how you want them though.  We split the trip over two days and stayed at the Overlander Roadhouse on the Wednesday night.  We have stayed there on previous trips and found the meals and accommodation basic but OK.  On this occasion though we left feeling a little ripped off.  Steakburger with the lot (which was not a lot) $15.95, no chips. 

Anyway we ventured out yesterday for our first fish.  Headed to some ground west of the Murions and got onto a few.  Trout went 73cms and 6.5kg and the Rankin 75cms and 7kgs.  Lost a few good fish to the grey coats as well.  It was a bit joggly on the way in and swmbo injured her back which will certainly impact on the fishing activites over the next two weeks we are here.  More later.

hey all

Went down to long point last night for about an hour to try out the new spinning outfit.I started out chasing some talior and caught 3 no worries all around the 33-34cm mark.After that i though i'd try my luck on  some squid and with in 30 minutes i had four in the bucket and was on my way home for a nice talior and squid dinner :)

Went down my usual location and landed another ripper on mulies. Few mates came and brought down a measuring tape, went 48 cm.

 Couldnt keep a big breeder like this and let her go . Swam off very strong after a brief photos and measure.

Marc

Hey guys headed up to Carnarvon for a week to paint the partners dads house but managed to sneak off to exmouth for 2 nights hehe and get out twice while in carnarvon.

The water has cleared a fair bit since I was last there but still a bit murky looking in parts. First night was spent on the jetty at high tide catching over 15 baby Mulloways (where are the big ones???) did manage to get my first legal Mulloway :) 58cm and got busted off once by something bigger. So far my experience at the One Mile has been funny the first time I was there I could only catch sharks and plenty of em and this time I could only get Mulloway and plenty of em, maybe the fish take turns renting out the jetty?

But yay come Friday was off up north to camp at the lighthouse Caravan park. Wow just a bit busier than when we were there in Summer. But still being landbased  there are always countless options for fishing in your very own spot with nobody to bother you, Exmouth has so many options! When we got there it was just gone high tide and I decided to take my GF to the Navy Pier (haha she did not enjoy the walk) during the walk I was casting various lures but didnt get any serious followers and then once past the navy pier chucking lures didnt manage to get anything either :( First day fail.

Second day I decided to try what worked for me last time and went down to the set of beaches right near the Lighthouse Caravan park. My gf was using bait and was getting all sorts of different species and having a great time (which keeps me very happy too). Still no luck for me when about 100 metres down the beach I saw some splashing- ran as fast as I could and when I got there chucked the 40g metal and reeled in as quick as the reel would allow and then about 4 trevally racing after my lure and YEOW i was on. The power of these things on my cheap reel with 12lb line was incredible, I literally had to run up and down the beach to make sure I didnt lose to much line. Anywho after about 5 minutes of reeling and drag adjusting got him in :) the lure easily came out, quick snap and off he went.

Back went the lure and again I was on...this time the reel was really struggling and I couldnt even wind after about 2-3 minutes of fighting and nothing happening the hooks pulled and off he went. I noticed my reel was very sketchy-the drag still worked but the handle was being funny. Hmmmm oh well cant stop now-the fish are around. The next hookup was epic fail and my reel was broken the handle was turning but not taking any line back (unless no pressure at all). My partner and I still manged to get the fish in using a hilarious technique this time an ok trev. Off to the shops to get another cheapo!

Back in the game with my new cheapo reel and we were off to the flats. Bundegi- and I had never been there before. Was wicked fun we fished off the rocks next to the sanctuary zone for a couple of hours during the high waters and my partner managed 2 spangled emporers, flathead, bream and countless other fun fish. One of the emporers was a beast :) During the low tide I walked out (managed to find a new twisty lure too!) and was chucking lures out not much success a few longtoms and some tiny trevs but all in all fun and something new for me.

On the last morning just before sunrise I headed to my fav beach again and caught a nice (for me not for you guys haha) trev just on first light. It was low tide and boy did he run-but new reel held to the job and I had him :)

Was a great trip (with a bit too much fishing for my gf) will be up there again hopefully to explore the national park some more and get my first queenie next time :)

Just got back from spending a magical week in Bremer Bay. Weather was fantastic. Divided our time between chasing bottom fish, Salmon from shore and boat, and Bream fishing up the river. Was fishing in the bay on Good Friday, fishing was a little slow until i got taken under a ledge and thought i was snagged. I had my TLD25 drag fully locked with both thumbs on the spool trying to bust it off. All of a sudden this beast decided to go for a swim, after about a 10minute fight this giant popped up to the surface. The fish was completely spent- shame considering size and age! Took it ashore later and it brought the scales down to 30kg. I thought it would be ordinary on the plate, but so far has been pretty good.

Certainly was a Good Friday!

Hey all. Took a flatmate down by blackwall reach last night to get him interested in fishing.(he's got a car!). Blowie on the first cast, and the next, and the next. Got a few juvi whiting myself which went back in the water. Any suggestions where i could go on the river to give them a bit of excitement? Herring and the like should do the trick. (he's got a car!) Looking at places between the leftbank and melville. Not expecting your secret spots, just want to get them interested enough  so they WANT to drive further than 5k! Any help much appreciated in my quest for voluntary transport. Lol. Tight lines all, and have fun!

 A mate and I headed up to Jurien on Wednesday with the plan of getting my mate onto his first Mack. We left Perth at 9:30pm and hit some pretty shitty driving weather and was down to 50kmh at one point due to some bloody heavy rain. We arrived safely at 12pm and quickly got to bed excited about what might jump on the lines the next day. We awoke to some far from perfect conditions but we left the marina at 9am and started heading out, the south passage was pretty efffed with the prevailing 3-4m swell so we decided to head north and hit the areas I had luck on last week and with the lines soon in the water it didn’t take long for the first strike. My mate was up and fingers were crossed for a long slender fish, however after a good fight we landed our sashimi for dinner.

It still wasn’t what we were after so we continued heading north and all I can say is these bloody tuna became very frustrating, we couldn’t have the lures in for more than two minutes before one would jump on, and it made getting my mate his first Mack very difficult. However we still weren’t complaining and it was far better than nothing.

I think it was after our 8th released tuna the call was made to get the skirt out and just leave the deep divers to do their work, and it didn’t take long, 10mins in and the X-rap went off, my mate was up and the early call was made for a Mack. A few mins later and after we had sight the call was backed up.

After my mate landed his first Mack we decided to have a little bit of fun on the way home and grabbed the smallest cheapest combo in the cabin. It didn’t take long and I was on, the first run smoked all the line and I was down to the knot, I stretched my arm to get as much distance on it, with some quick driving we were after the fish and somehow managed to stay connected, thank god the knot was solid. After a good 30min battle the fish was on board,

We decided to call it a day after that, a very fun day in some trying conditions but we ticked all the boxes and made the trip back home today. 

Hey fellas,

I was in two minds about doing a write up for our family trip to shark bay, as it wasn’t as spectacular as some of the exxy, abrolhos reports I’ve read. But as I haven’t seen one, on FW, for boat fishing the bays i thought i might as well do it. and FISHNTIME and Faulkner Family gave me some very good advice, that hopefully can be put to use next time if we bring a few more jerry cans ;)

We left home on Sunday the 3rd of April at 4am, with the car choccas with gear and the 4.85m trailcraft in tow, we arrived in Denham around 2pm, and were welcomed by bugger all breeze and .5m swell (tops). But there was unpacking to do, so the fish had to wait.

Monday the 4th
As we (me mum and dad) were accompanied by our fishing-virgin Uncle, who had never held a rod in his life we wanted the first day to be smooth, we went out to Monkey mia, as we had a couple of spots this side and its generally alot calmer than denham. Departing at 10am, we had the lures out by 10.20 for a troll through the channels and over some of our previously marked spots (from 08 and 09) to see if we could find any sort of action. Having a good strike already, dads light 10kg Abu outfit screamed into life and we soon had a nice 12kg Mack on board.

Shit this is gonna be easy I thought. We then trolled for another half an hour, with no hookups. Most of that time was spent chasing longtails. So we went to our bottom bashing spot, from 2009 where we pulled up monster pinkies every drop. Turned out to be empty so I threw a handline in, to get some liveys, but managed to hook my first decent fish on a handline, a just size baldy :) which i thought was a snag, so i let some line out then pulled it up slowly and out of his hole he came.

Michael was bringing a small fish up and then it took off like a rocket and "ting" it was gone, probably just sharked we were telling him, then a tiger shark surfaced and did a big belly flop 20 meters off the back of the boat. which was a pretty awsome sight.
The bite then dropped off so we headed back to the ramp and put the boat back on the trailer, which was a breeze with the new jetty. Cleaned the fish at the cleaning troths in Denham and headed home

Tuesday the 5th
It looked good, so we headed out of Mia again to an old spot to the North West of Faure Island and with a couple of western butter fish collected as bait. 

My uncle got his first esky fish in a nice blue lined emperor (nicknamed black snapper in shark bay) which are a very fiesty fish for their size.

I got my pb baldy at 53cm and mum a nice black snapper, the undersized blackys pestered us all day and we threw back a tonne of borderline ones back. Headed home with 3 fish in the esky. We met a couple of nice blokes at the cleaning troths who just got back from an overnighter at turtle bay and had a good yarn...

Wednesday the 6th
seabreeze said it would be better than the previous days so we manned up and headed out the Denham side, the night before we found some good looking lumps on the map and planned to head out there, before seeing the same couple of blokes from the cleaning table, who told us about a spot called the bent peg (one of the channel markers for the salt ships) which sounded promising and was basically the same spot from the map.
took about 40mins to get there at 18ish knots, fished for a couple of hours getting nothing but small black and pink snapper, which a pesky dolphin would grab some once we threw em back. The bigger fish then turned on with me landing a pb 43cm Spanish flag after marking a big cave on the sounder. too big for a livey it was eskied.

and mum hooking a XOS pinky, but handed it to dad once it took off, turns out it was sharked... massive bumber

threw the lures out and trolled to the next marker and then both rods took off, beauty me and my uncle were on, mine had a massive run under 6kgs of drag then dropped the lure. the uncle was still on and landed his first longtail tuna, which took off after a successful release.

we then trolled a bit further and were overtaken by a giant ship

had another drop for no result then headed back to Denham.

Thursday the 7th
did the tourist thing and went to the marine park as the wind was a steady 20 knots, where they had a big outdoor fish pond with a heap of big fish including: jacks, barras, black mullas, pinkies, an XOS baldy, nor-west snapper and black snapper, just to name a few. give me a pack of squid and 30mins and id easliy have half a dozen new pb's

they also had a another tank full of sharks, but no big tigers.

Friday the 8th
the wind was up again so we 4wd up to point Peron, the track was real good, mainly soft sand ontop of hard ground, making it 60kph in some spots and down to 10kph in the really soft spots, which were mainly up near the top.

we were hoping of getting some greenbacks, but couldn’t find any at the point so threw out light rigs and got some whiting for bottom bashing bait.

we were all getting a bit pissed off by all the flies, which were incredibly friendly, so we went over to skipjack point and then to big lagoon before going to mia as mum wanted a sunset pic, while waiting Michael and dad got more whiting as bait and I hooked a 30lb ish ray, which was my maiden run for my 5k stradic, 20lb braid and fwa 9ft rod. took a good 30mins to get in and I pushed the rod to its limits and it felt good (I measured the drag I put on it as 5kg!! it felt sweet).

Saturday the 9th
weather looked alrightish so we went in search of some big whiting off Mia, the spot was from a guy at dads work called the red cliff, and didn’t produce much more than western butter fish. so we went for a drop out deeper, but only got small blackys and pinkies so we trolled back to the ramp without any luck.

Sunday the 10th
we were meant to be blessed with 5knot breeze and .5m swell all day according to seabreeze but it was up around 20knots, so we waited til 12 when it looked like it was starting to drop off. then launched from Denham and started heading towards the bent pin, but it picked up again to 20knot northerly, coming straight into the bay, so we headed back to the ramp after being drenched for half an hour. and we lazed around for the rest of the day.

Monday the 11th
we went to the industrial area to get our tire fixed from a slow leak and got to hear all about the owners’ life for no extra charge. and also got the radio checked out as it wasn’t getting any signal, turns out the antenna and base were stuffed from unscrewing it from the base, so a warning never unscrew the antenna from the base, always lean it down or the antenna and base will get corroded.
then took the boat out north of Mia for a change, it looked nice from the shore, but once we were out there it just picked up

Tuesday the 12th
Went out of Mia again as the weather was really average, so we stayed close to the west side of Faure for some protection, had one long drift looking for structure. the bite started picking up and the wind dropping off, so we went for a troll waiting for the wind to drop more and dad found some really good ground on the lowrance, so we headed back and had a couple of drops. dad picked up a great baldy that bet mine by a couple of inches and we got a funny pic where it looked like it was eating uncle Michael, who was also hooked up.

Michael ended up with a good little stripey seaperch (Spanish flag) and then not long after landed a baldy, both firsts for him.

mum was complaining about not hooking up when she got big bites all day and when we got home we realised the hook was bent out.

Wednesday the 13th
weather looked bad again, so we went for another treck up to the point with some balloons, which we forgot last time. the track was allot softer and took an extra 20mins to get there.

we got a hit from a small shark on the balloon, but the mulies from shark bay fish supply were so fat the gangs we bought weren’t big enough and didn’t have enough barb showing to get a proper hookup. I was throwing a twisty around but didn’t get any attention, except one good flash close in to the rocks that shot off after I lifted the lure out. we then went back and soaked our toes in the natural hot tub containing 40 degree water from 520m underground.

Thursday the 14th
the weather looked like it was gonna drop off in the Avro so we headed to the tackle store and stocked up on some old school style tuna circles for mum, so she wouldn’t bend it out. and some more sinkers as we lost tonnes. we launched at Mia and went to our new favorite spot from Tuesday. I went for lures today, losing a black magic demersal knife to a dodgy hawian snap, and then a lucanus jig to a rushed polamar knot and finally landing a frog fish on a Gilles rubber. :(
mum put her new hooks to use landing a 3kg estuary cod that was the only esky fish for the day, nothing else was caught but the sounder was going off!!

Friday the 15th
Today was talked up as being a great day and we were on the water at 8am heading towards the bent peg. we got there and had bites straight away. I lost my Gilles rubber to a nick in the mainline, no more jigs left, I put a placcy on and got nothing so switched back to the dark side of bait. we then got massive schools coming up on the sounder and Michaels drag started screaming, and he pulled in a 76cm thumping pinky, but the max size for shark bay is 70cm, so back it went. it was a bit big for the dolphin to grab, but shot off like a rocket once it hit the water anyway.

then dad had a massive spangled emperor sharked. which i just had to get a photo of

after that the bite dropped off so we went north to the next marker and found a patch holding some huge blackies, mum got 2 of the biggest and I was the only one not to chuck one in the esky.

the fish went off the bite again so we went back to the first marker, where Michael finished it off with a 45cm Rankin and we headed back to Denham.

Saturday the 16th
we had no wind all night and it was meant to stay like this all day so we headed out of mia, and went to the north of Faure, then the east and got nothing, then threw some lures out and still nothing. Michael got his first ray, a shovel nose, which tested him out. but it was a shame we couldn’t match any esky fish to the great conditions. and got back in denham around 1 to strat packing up.

all up the trip was an awesome brake from life, but most of the time the fish weren’t playing the game, but when they were it was great fun. well that’s why it’s fishing not catching.

cheers rob

Just got back from exmouth after roughly about a week there. Here's a quick report of our trip.

The first few days were spent off tanta's with the plan to troll until we found some good looking ground to flick plastics around. Got 4 mackies in the first 2 days without really trying so that allowed us to focus more on fishing with plastics. After getting buried countless times on 20lb by what we finally managed to land a few fish. Highlights were a nice coranation trout and a 3kg coral trout.

A few days in and we were joined by Petervb from the site and went out for a fish. Headed north of tanta's in search of some ground to chuck softies around. Got a few red throat but by this time the wind picked up and drift was too quick which made lure's diffucult (and expensive). Resorted to fresh bait and scored a 10kg cobia and a 5kg trout not too mention all the red throats.

Checked out the bay of rest on one of the days but was really quite down there with visability in the gulf not the greatest. Did get a couple of jack on the straight hooks for dinner tho.

Also checked out Murions which we did a bit of fishing and free diving. The corals/bombies and visability around the island are amazing. Heaps of fish about even saw a good red bass (damn they are one mean looking fish!). Caught a heap of spanglies, blue line and a baby cobe. Saw possibly one of the coolest things too.. was just getting ready to move spots when we turn to the back of the boat where we saw a mackie grab a flying fish out of mid air, it would have jumped a good 5-10m into the air (no shit) with the flying fish out hanging out of it's mouth. It looked so elegant in the air which is a weird thing for a fish! After that display i chucked out a pusher which got me a 20kg? longtail for my trouble (geez they go hard)

Last day we went back to the old faithful spot where we got smashed day one. Similar result with 2 good coranation trout, a little rankin and a long fin snapper from out deep.

Was a good trip with good company and plenty of fish. Weather wasnt too shabby either! Cant ask for much more.

Oh and how tasty are coronation trout! Just polished off a bit for dinner tonight and it was brillant.

Hit the river again last Saturday arvo in the usual spot, looking for my 40cm + Bream (My PB being 36cm). Took the gf along as i always do, and started fishing around 4pm. Pretty nice conditions, wind was non-existant and the tide seemed fairly high. Figured first up i would test out my newly bought HRT lures. The main problem was, like always, im pretty awful at lure fishing. I love the concept and the idea but cant seem to find the right technique for hooking those bream on them. Fished for about 3 hours with it, to my suprise i was getting bites (other then blowies) on it. I kept reeling in till.... a pretty decent size squid happened to be chasing the back of it!!!!! I was pretty shocked and enjoyed watching it chase the lure. But no hook on. For about half an hour we had 4 squid chasin the lures but no hook ons. No bream either. Eventually it got dark and i decided it was time to put the lure away and change to bait.

Wasnt a bad night, but it was much more quiet then usual. Hooked into some nice Tailor and Herring. Caught 3 of each up till midnight. But still no Bream to be seen. Finally as i was about to head in, i hook on to a Black Bream.... not the size i was looking for though, about 25cm. It made me want to stay though, figuring maybe the guys were finally coming out. The blowies kept destroying the bait though, even after dark. The time hit 1am, we were almost out of bait, and the night had seemed pretty much up... Untill out of no were i was on with a fish that felt the biggest of the night. It felt heavy and i was hopping it was that 40cm Bream i had been chasing. I slowly reeled it in until nothing.... I figured i had lost it, and was now snagged. I moved along the river and managed to pull it out of the snag... i was still on! i pulled it up and landed it... I measured the fish and it was a.... 36.5cm Bream. It was still a nice fish, but damn... exactly the same as my personal best though haha. I still kept trying though, figuring that big one had to be around with them... eventually i ran out of bait and the night was over. Better luck next time i guess.

I would post the photo of the bream but i cant find my camera cable to upload it :S 

Ill have a look around tonight and hopefully upload it for you guys.

Mitch