For those who are interested I've just put together bit of a
video from our trip up to exmouth. We
went from Oct 3rd - 10th and stayed at Yardie Creek
Caravan Park. Although the weather wasn't the best in the
mornings the afternoons seemed to turn it on and all in all we managed to get 5
full days out in the boat - mostly out from Tantabiddi.

To see the video click the link below. It's fairly large so maybe best to download
it to ya computer before viewing it.

www.choiceoutdoors.com.au/fishing/exmouth-08.wmv

for those of you who dont know where parry beach is,

its a place 20 km out of denmark where u can camp for a low fee and is a hot spot for the salmon run

i went down there for the week and it was great fun

got into lots of bigggg skippy, PB being 40cm, sharks, KGs, flatties, herriing, whiting, tons of squid and caught a 34cm bream

took the boat out on wilson inlet but lack of local knowledge left us empty handed haha

all in all was a great trip and a great spot for a fish

http://fishwrecked.com/files/images/07102008633.preview.jpg

Friday looked promising and so with Lockie unable to make it, Staal and I decided to get a quick practice session in for the "date with the Dropzone" trip in support of fishwrecked.

The forecast was for 10-13knot winds most of the day but when we got out there it was much lighter and only really came in around 2-00pm.

First spot was to try and get a pinky for Staal. Knowing the "first fish captured by a new deckie has to be released to satisfy the fishing gods" rule , he was unphased and said he would release anything. (When you have a fellow skipper as a deckie they tend to accept that rule a lot more easily than non skippers) First drop and I was casually talking about what species we had caught on this warm up spot, a few big Queenies here as well as plenty of Pinkies. Wham, my bait gets nailed and a struggle ensues. After a reasonable fight a pretty big Queenie comes over the side.

Another drift and I get a small pinky, which was released and Staal (Rod) thankfully jags a small fish so the fish gods were appeased with a quick release. OK, with that out of the way it was time to hit the Dropzone to see if any fish were awake. Unfortunately with the sounder lit up with lots of individual fish arches they just weren't interested at all. After a few drifts we headed a little wider and spread the load over several spots.

With all my trips out I try and find a new spot or fish spots that I haven't fished for years. These are generally numbered spots that I have no idea what was caught on them before. One such spot was given a try and as is usual I like to name them after new Deckies that are with me at the time if they nail a good fish. Well Rod didn't let me down and expertly skull dragged this fine specimen to the suface with the Staal combo not giving an inch. Actually the truth is that this fish actually took a bit of line momentarily against the drag which was still set for the Dropzone.

We continued on to catch a few more fish and between us we had the V4 covered (Dhuie,Pinky,Baldie,BB) The reds weren't in 40m. I even picked up two nice big KG's as bycatch as well as Staal nailing a nice Pinky (sorry no pic), which was his target species of the day. The release weight got a work out on Pinkies, Dhuies and Blackarse, including a double header off good size Blackarse that Staal caught.

All in all we had a great day on the water, the fish weren't huge but we had a good spread and plenty for a feed. Rod was great company on the boat and I would rate him very highly on the preferred deckie rankings, being a skipper himself, he understands what needs to be done and gets on and does it. It certainly helps that he is a top bloke too.

As a final post script, on one spot I managed a double header of BB on the one supersnell, one good fish and a little baby. We rigged up the release weight and dealt with the baby first and got him down pretty quick only to see that the other fish had a tag sticking in him. A check with Tim on the off chance it was one of ours and you wouldn't believe it, its my second recaptured fish in 2 weeks, this time it was one of Tim's. The tag sheet had the following comments "large swim bladder / stomach in mouth", we had used the release weight in over 40m of water and this fish (which suffers barotrauma just as much as dhuies do) was recaptured 11 months later and had grown quite a bit. (edited by me, just checked Tim's records and it was caught within 200m of the original capture) If you had any doubts about the effectiveness of a quick and careful release with a release weight, let me tell you that Release weights do work!

I'm looking forward to the Dropzone trip with Staal and Lockie, should be great fun. I'll have my new colour sounder by then woo hoo!

Thanks for sharing a great day on the water Rod.

Cheers

Andy Mac

went down for the arvo to the disabled platform. set my big rod out but nothing. not very many fish around at the moment but it was godd day relaxing. good to meet you RAGBAG. two of us had our alveys out and rag had his overhead but we didn't manage to get any. reuben were a r ya mate. iv got ur jumper and hat!

Went down to the new Boardwalk at Hillarys two nights ago for a fish with my new gear.  It was teaming with good sized Mullet that went crazy for the Burley I had made up (thanks for all the advice guys).  After about an hour I started getting some Bream and Yellowtail.  All good fun on light gear.

There were also some real big Whiting cruising the shallows in and out of the light but my limited skills meant they cruised past my bait laughing to each other.  Oh well, I'm learning.

For those that have not been there it's really well lit and seems to be a fish magnet.  I heard your not supposed to fish on the actual Boardwalk but I didn't see any signs

Well, its about time I put up a quick report.

Unfortunately my week in Exmouth was quick and frustrating. Despite strong Southerlies we got out everyday, much to the amusement of Adam Gallash. The crew consisted of me, Mark Wong and Jay Burgess, who drove down from Karatha.

On the first day, we managed to get out to the islands, and popped some spots that I had raised some fish before. I had alot of new gear to get familiar with before my next big trip and I was hoping to get some teeth-marks on them beforehand. First cast raised a GT under a meter - half-heartedly I worked my popper back quite disgusted at its size compared to the massive Ebipop 200. Little was I to know this was about as good as it was going to get. Anyway it gave my Ebipop a shy bump which I casually shrugged off and soon swam off. At this point I had high hopes as first cast, first raise. Jay was getting noticeably amped up.

However the next 3 days consisted of continuous popping on the lead-up tides for another shy look and finally the one and only small GT landed on my 'final desperation' lure. It was at this point that the trip turned more into a diving-freedive trip than anything. Our attempts at popping inside the lagoon with small stickbaits and minnows were foiled too, when not a single sized spanglie, trevally, queenie, or any sort of significant fish life showed interest. I was at a loss for words.

The only GT landed - 103 cm. Don't let the photo fool you though, a conservative estimate using the formula put him at about 15kg.

We did try jigging out the back of Tantabiddi, but the sharks were in full alert mode, and after losing my day's quota of jigs in continuous drops to mackerel and sharks I had had enough. Jay managed a nice Coronation through the toothies though.

Anyway, it was now time to "Kill some shit".

As the southerlies continued to pick up during the week, we spent most of our time in the Gulf shooting fish, either with my speargun or camera. Mark is an avid diver, and I have just gotten into it so we were both quite happy to take snaps of the great variety of marine life. I have noticed that with scuba you tend to appreciate the microfauna that's around - I have some great shots of nudi's and christmas tree worms that I will put up shortly. Jay managed his first few trout, which I must say is an achievement considering how shy and rare they are at the known spots in the gulf. I was told that up in Karatha you don't have to spend anywhere near an hour swimming around just for 1 fish. Unfortunately the two that Jay landed were around the 47cm mark, with two 60+cm specimens shot pulling free. Don't you hate that with trout?

My unlucky streak continued as I was not able to hit a single trout, and of the 3 nice bluebone I did see, the 2 I shot turned around and laughed at me when my spear ping-ed off their heads. In the end I had to contend myself with a 105cm queenie and a small cod, none of which was wasted. In fact I think all the trout I saw bar 1 was when I was under using scuba and only had my camera with which to shoot them with. Nevertheless, I was happy as I was able to push myself freediving up to about the 8m mark. Only a few months ago at Onslow I was struggling with 6m!

Here are the pics of the trout that me and Mark took on scuba, in the same area as we were freediving.

Here's a big Spanglie and a Chinaman out from West Side (no guns allowed).

Adam as usual provided lots of entertainment whenever we met up. He is an extremely busy person though so I suggest anyone wanting to visit him make an appointment with his secretary as he is never at home on the couch playing super-mario.

Thanks to Laurie of Murchison Boat Hire for the boat. The better dive shots are to come once I am done editing them with Photoshop as vis and lighting was not the greatest.

Went on a big mission to day, Gemini to a spot 3 -4 south of rotto Sambo 1, then on to the Sambo barge 10 mile west of rotto.

whats the go? are any around at the moment?

Got some under size Pinks to through back and leather jackets, not to mention th usual Mongrel Wrasse Scurge of the ocean. 

wasted my fuel hunting the sambo.

if the wind behaves i better get out to Key biscane..

Is it too early in the year for sambo's???

Hi guys! Left Hillarys headed straight out to 110m. Wasnt much around out there, and i didnt feel one tap on my braid. But Claire (my other half)managed to get a double hookup..small pinky and small kingy. We then headed into the 80m mark. Alot of big skippy and swallow tail were brought up and one pink and one  queen snapper.... and again Claire brings in a nice Breaksea...bitch!

Things were not so good there either so we headed into the 60m mark. We caught lots more swallow tail and one lucky guy got a nice sized red snapper. Then back out to the 80m mark. I felt a small fish on my line..called it for a skippy...then all of a sudden it felt very heavy...i was thinking shark...i was battling to gain any line as it was so bloody heavy....but only small bumps on the line. Twenty mins later i raise up a skippy...around 1 km of old fishing line people had lost....two jigs and a 10kg lump of coral. I wasnt happy as the old arm was done in after this effort...and i was also thinking to myself...gee they have fished this exact spot a couple of times..as you could see 4 different types of fishing line and all had been there a fair while!

Then 2 nice dhuis were pulled up first one clocking in at 8.5kg and the second at 13kg.. and also a couple of kingy/amberjack.  We then started heading back in at 1330 and back in at Hillarys at 1500. I wasnt really happy with the day..but hey..beats working !

Has the V5 ban gone?

went down to moore river yesterday and stayed overnight...

we started off fishing the river bank with running sinker and hook and even though people round us were catching with that, we weren't

so we decided to move spots and change to paternosters with the river prawns

took 10 minutes to get onto our first blackie after making the change

after that we caught quite afew but were all undersize

bit dissapointed we didnt get any size ones

but was just fun being out there

cheers,

reuben

Well today thanks to Bodie for taking me out in his boat i caught my first Dhuie!!!! Just scratchin 9kg 8)

I also landed 2 nice pinkies

Now for the funny part, guess what bait i was using????????

Strips of rainbow trout!!!!!

I had 1 left over from golden pond and i chucked in in the freezer to use for bait.

In the pics you can see the occy on the top hook but the botton hook had the rainbow trout on it and was the only hook out of the 2 that the fish would touch :lol:

Might have to go back to golden ponds and get some more trout :lol:

Bodie got a snapper and a shark of some decription. I had a solid hookup on a freight train. I managed to get some line back before it spat the hook but it was HUGE!!!!

Here are some pics of the dhuie...
(Thanks Bodie, great pic)

Well the weather was good and we meet up with Colin and Matt at the marina, the boat was launched and we were of, there were some high hopes with Colin still to get his first Dhuie and Matt to better his P.B. Colin got the show on the way with a nice harlequin

Some small fish followed ,Sergeant Baker and a small Blackass ,moving out a little further and the next spot and Colin was on to a good fish ,only the have a bust off ,two minutes later and Matt was on this time the fish was brought to the surface yes a nice Dhuie and a P.B for Matt 6.5kg dhuie


After the photo i went to get the hook out and there was Collins hook sitting in its mouth

The day was a little slow with only one or two fish pulled from each spot .Jesse still got the gift even after his hair cut, he got a nice 10kg dhuie

Well Colin won the most species and Matt got the most dhuies he had a good run with his jigs nailing 4 dhuies in a row Colin did get his first Dhuie even if it was a little one. They can only get bigger hopefully.


In all a great day and good company thanks guys and I’m sure we will do it again

Went out yesterday with UncutTriggerInWA(aka Vince) and my nephew Major Mitchell(aka Shaun).

Was looking reasonable on the way out and we were keen to hit the 60's+. Half way out and you could see the wind coming across the water from out deep!!!! 5 min in the wind the first school showed on the sounder in 38m of water and that would do us!! Turned and couldn't locate the school but some flares on the sounder. Dropped the large gear down and Vince his NEW outfit(well worth the price paid) and he was straight into a nice plump whiting(yellow fin I believe). So did the same while Shaun persisted with the laeger(nothing there) a couple of good bites but no hook-ups!!

The wind was not going away so we decided to head in a bit closer!!!

A few drifts and a couple of sea anchor launches (there are some things a deckie just has to do)and thats just ONE!!!!! Vince hooks up to a nice fish and 5min later this beautiful leather jacket hits the deck!!

Couldn't get over how well it was painted up!!!!!

I got myself a nice KG but not much about!!!! Well maybe next time!!!!!!!!!!

Just thought'd I'd do up an Exmouth report.

The marlin seem to be around still with it being hit and miss. Some putting in many hours for nil and others getting lucky. The boys on Sugar daddy got 6 bites on Friday converting 2, one being an 30kg black and the other an 80kg black on 10, good fish for that line class. Yesterday I put my mate Poida onto a small black, but we got lucky and it only took 20 mins of trolling to get him on. We also got a 71cm spanglie and got busted up by some solid reef fish when the bite came on.

The weekend saw the first switched up gulf sailfish for the season caught on a live yakka, should only get better from here. Baitfish are starting to show up more frequently in the gulf, but the tuna still seem rather elusive.

The mantas have been everywhere in the gulf still with a few numbers of cobia under them, not huge fish, but still pull some line on light gear.

The landbased front has been a little quiet, 2 10kg+ gt's were landed last night and one solid fish busted off at a hot popper spot. (can't give any more info than that)

The water is slowly starting to warm up and the weather has been suprisingly good for this time of year to date. (touch wood)

Cheers,

Adam

Well, we got stuck back into it on Tuesday morning!  After the great success of our trip two weeks ago, confidence was high as we launched in the river at 8am.  This time it was Ron, Brad, myself, and my lovely bride, who happens to be 8 months pregnant!!  Talk about a keen fisho!

My wife was lured by the promise of plenty of fish, a short ride to the grounds, and a chance at her PB fish(her previous best being an average sized herring! haha).  We got to the reefs off of Freo in no time and had our lines in the water.  First few stops yielded no bites and the wife was beginning to suspect that she was a jinx.  We assured her we would find them.

Soon we were into the fish.  The fish weren't biting like they were two weeks ago.  We caught 20+ fish like before, but it took us twice as long to do it.  Also, the bites were softer and the casts had to be more accurate to draw a strike.  We noted that the water was fairly cloudy, probably bc of the high winds over the weekend.  We thought that might have played a factor in the fishing being a bit tougher to come by.  The average size of these fish were a bit smaller than last time as well.  Most of today's fish were between 1-1.5kilos.  I managed the best of the day which checked in at just over 2kilo, my PB tailor.

Great story about the wife.  Her first tailor of the day was a very respectable fish, at or above 1.5kilo.  She was rapt!  It was much bigger than any fish she had ever caught before.  I told her that I would take a pic of her and her fish, and showed her how to hold it.  As I turned the camera on she sat there with a huge grin on her face.  Just as the camera was ready, the fish gave a huge flop and lept out of her hands and back into the drink!  The three of us were just cracking up while she stared into the water with the saddest face you've ever seen!

I told her later that it was good for me that it happened.  Now when I come home with a story about the one that got away, she can't say any smart remarks!!

Late in the session, my mulie was hit by something big!  It took off for open water, stripping my line with it.  We gave chase in the boat, but everytime I gained much line and seemed to dig in a bit, the fish would just take off with another blistering run.  I could feel strong headshakes, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a ray.  We guessed it was either a big Kingie or maybe a sambo.  The fight lasted about five minutes before I was busted off.  I don't think it would have been one of the monster YTKs we saw last time.  This fish was strong, but I was able to fight it and turn it a bit.  

Let's see if I can get a couple of pics to work:

Here's Ron; our guide and guru

and one of me with my PB tailor at 2kilo

howdy .just a heads up .my bro is holidaying for two weeks camping along all the usual haunts between Worra station and exxie .i spoke to him last night .tells me him and a couple of mate were fishing off the beach, havn a few cold ones while fishing out of deck chairs just on sunset .using squid for bait.his rod took off. my bro pulls in a nice size BONE fish ...he now knows why there called bone fish as they ate it later that night .full of bones as you would expect but still nice flavour .he is of to exxie for 2 weeks . so if any ones headed that way and needs a deckie .give us a pm and ill give his mobile number.but just remember he is the arsieest fisherman ive ever met so be prepared to get shown up....
ill post up some pics once he gets around to sending them to me

After what seemed like months, and was, we finally got a chance to head out from Albany this morning.

Seabreeze forcasted all the right ingredients, low swell, an off shore minor wind, and clearing showers. Hey! That's good down here for this time of year.

After a 5:00 am wake up, a coffee, toast and a kwell, we drove the 30 minutes down to Albany and hit the water.

Oyster harbour, the launching inlet that leads onto King George Sound, was GLASS.

A 2.5 meter sea, with a swell minor to that, promised a good day!

Our mission was to head further out in about 100m, in search of the ellusive Dhui (well, at least down here), but conditions on the water weren't, as is often the case, not what they were meant to be.

As we arrived at the ramp, intermittent drizzle, turned into constant drizzle, so it made for a very wet morning.

We targetted a reef system that had undulating ground, varying from 10m to 50m. In theory, it sounded (if you'll pardon the pun) good, but the 'washing machine', that Albany is renown for, was as active as ever.

Sandra (my wife) as always, did well with two good BA's in short order, I managed to pluck a smaller one that was sent to the bottom via a realise weight due to the baratraumad condition.

Here's the first of Sandra's black bums, she caught another of the same size.

The catch of a seargent baker (by me as usual) told us we were on good ground. However, despite the prognosis, all we could pull was small reddies and swalls. 

I did however, manage amonst the 'smallish' action to pull up some creditable LJs, Sandra amused herself with some 'water bags'

After a big day yesterday, I have to confess that the skipper wasn't 'feeling well', so headed back in  

Other photos were taken, but I'm saving that for a FWA magazine article.

Got Jody up for a fish today, We had a bit of a sleeep in as it was Fathers day ,hit the water around ten and headed out to some close in patches were we had caught fish last week .The fish had thined out a bit with only a small school left .

didn't take to long and Jody was on ,and a good fish from the bend in her rod.

After a short but hard struggle a nice dhuie hit the surface 13kg not a bad fish.

Soon after Jesse landed a nice 6kg dhuie. Thing were going a little slow when some whales came in for a close look, after a few minutes and they dived out off sight.  At the same time Jody's line was peeling of at a good speed and she was still losing line so we started the boat and started to chase the fish ,still line was peeling of when suddenly the whales surfaced ,Jody's line pulled free and thank god ,as i didn't have a net big enough to land a whale Im guessing the whales had swum trough our lines , i dont think the hooks had hooked in.
Plenty of snook and wrasse then Jesse was on ,NO a snag .I took the line and gave it a few good tugs NO it was a fish and a big one , but what if it was a dhuie it was a big one . 10minutes later and it was in sight a large carpet shark aroud 20kg The breeze came in quite strong and the fish were off the bite, but still a fun day with some nice pics ..

Went out this morning for a fish around the reefs off of Freo.  My mate, Brad, and I went with a retired friend of ours, Ron, who has been fishing for tailor in the Metro area for 40 years.  He promised to put us on to some good fish and teach us some new techniques, which we much appreciated!

It turned out to be a perfect morning and we were on to the fish in no time.  In the less than 2.5hours we had boated more than 20 tailor between 1-2.5 kilos.  To say the least we were rapt.  Ron kept us moving and kept us on the fish.  We were using metal slices and ganged mulies and he did a great job of showing us where to target our casts.  We had a lot of doubles and it was rare to make a pass without at least one fish.  It was definitely the hottest fishing I've had since I've moved here!

I'll share the most exciting time with you.  Ron kep a rod up next ot the wheel and if he had a chance he would fire his metal slice into the mix.  On one pass on the outside of a reef, Ron hooked up to a very nice fish, at least a 2-3lb fish.  Suddenly as he got it near the boat a huge shadow came up and just engulfed the tailor and was hooked on the slice!!  Ron went from fighting a 1kilo tailor to fighting a 20+kilo YTK!!  The fished toyed with him for about five minutes before busting him off. 

Later we had come back to this same spot and I hooked into a nice tailor and we noticed as I brought it in that it was jumping alot and staying at the surface.  Ron warned me that the Kingies might be after it.  Sure enough, as I got it close to the boat, four of the monsters were swarming around my tailor!  I somehow managed to keep it away from them and got it into the boat.  The four YTK cruised under the boat for the next few minutes.  They were all well over a meter, i would say more like five feet.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any heavy gear on the boat.  I was dying!!  I wanted a run with one of those big boys!  Brad and I have already said that we can't go out there again without at least one heavy rod in the boat.

 So it was a great morning and we're looking forward to a great feed tonight!  Sorry I don't have any pics.  I keep saying that I'm going to get a new digital camera, and after today, I've got a real reason to get one!! haha

Well the day started with a buzz as we hit the water at around 6.30, the plan DEEP to get the gray band and ruby snapper. Well after 1.5 hours of getting crap knocked out of us we arrived. 200m +.The westerly was in at around 10 -15 knot and a three meter swell not the best conditions but we were very determined to catch one of the gray ghosts. On with the bait and downnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn we went, after a short time and we were on, not big but a fish, so upppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp it came, not what we were hoping for ,but a green-eyed shark, so on with some more bait and downnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to the bottom again , now we were really having fun ,after a few more shit fish and a lot of uppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppps and downnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns we thought it time to head in a little closer , as we old men are not use to working this hard for our fish. After lunch we started heading back to shore, with was a longgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg way in .

Any how the day was not a total lose with Mr. Magoo saving the day

A few more fish and time for home thank god as the day of upppppppppppppppppppppppppppppps and downnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns had taken its toll and I needed a cup of tea and a sit down..

as can be seen in the last pic no money had been speared with only the best harness for Menopaul.

Well what a day on the water the weather gods were not on our side but took off from Rocky around 7.30am with Neander on board. Ended up in the sound to do some squidding but they were not on our side either mind you sandy did catch one for the Squid 2 pound challenge.(in another post). After a few hours and nothing but one small squid , 1 small leather jacket and 3 herring we decided to brave it and headed out, the swell had calmed down a bit  so went to the other side of the five for some KGS  at 8 knots *LOL*. Russell caught 2 leather jackets around  1.8 kg , 2 KGs

Nathan  caught 1 undersize snapper (released)and a sergeant baker , 1 KG  and 1 leather jacket Neander caught 1 nice size black asse  and 1 KG

Sandy Caught   1 Leather Jacket , 2 wrasse, 1 Kg   

not to mention the 2 darn big banded sweep returned

Not a large catch but KGs are darn nice eating

The Table Shot

Not the best of days but hey any day on the water with good company is a good day

Russ & Sandy

this weekend has held heaps of whiting and yellowtail down on the north wall at hillarys

along with some tailor

I've had a good weekend, I was fishing down at hillarys this morning and a family friend saw me n said hey as he was refueling his boat and he said hey u wanna come on the boat and i was stoked and went along.

We went out to 3 mile reef and got heaps of massive skippy, a nice sized pinky, a sambo, some wrasse, octopus and an eel in a few hours of fishing.

so i was pretty happy and came back to hillarys and got a goood feed of whiting and yellowtail.

anyone else go for a fish round that area this weekend?

A LONG-running undercover operation has closed a significant black market business, the Department of Fisheries claims.

It allegedly uncovered a black market in abalone and rock lobster operating from business premises and homes in Perth and regional towns.

The joint operation between Fisheries and Marine Officers and police officers carried out searches last Thursday at a suburban retail fish shop, two city restaurants and several homes.

Two people are expected to be charged.

On Monday another swoop on businesses and homes in Perth and Collie allegedly uncovered further evidence and Fisheries said at least three people will face charges over illegal abalone sales, purchases and distribution.

Other potential charges, include dealing in illegally obtained abalone, illegal possession and sales of abalone and rock lobster and breaches of the Abalone Management Plan for W's commercial abalone fishery.

Breaches of the Management Plan carry 12 months imprisonment and/or fines up to $25,000 for an individual or $50,000 for a company. The same fines apply for illegal sales, while illegal possession offences attract a penalty up to $5000.

Some offences would also lead to mandatory penalties related to the number or weight of abalone or rock lobster involved, and forfeiture of gear and equipment.

Five vehicles, large amounts of cash and other items allegedly used in the distribution and sale of the black market abalone and rock lobster have been seized.

Department of Fisheries Central Support Manager Ian Jones said Fisheries officers had been working on the investigation since late last year and carried out many hours of surveillance.

``It may be several weeks before we can complete interviews and conduct further inquiries so we can finalise all the charges against the alleged offenders, but we believe we have put a stop to some significant black market fish trade in WA,'' Mr Jones said.

The weather's been especially kind lately - and yesterday was no exception, when it completely glassed off. Adam and John have been killing me with their pictures up North lately, so I thought I'd take a few of the conditions here in Perth yesterday, just for all those who were stuck at work.

We set off just after noon to the 40m mark, jig rods and blingy reels all loaded and good to go. I thought I was bad, but my partner-in-crime has since eclipsed me. With a Smith AMJ, a Jigzam, a custom-rolled GUSA, Certate 3500HD, Saltiga z4500 and Morethan Branzino on board just for 'a quick duck out' he was almost showing off!

The water was alive with fish - baitfish that is. The sounder was blotted with them, but jig-eaters they were not. With the whales providing entertainment, we moved around a fair bit. There was a hit here and a hit there, but nothing yet landed. I did manage to hook somethign big early on though, and as my line cut through the water while the fish powered off, I must have been out of practice as I begun to set the hooks like a girl. After about 5 seconds there was slack line, and I was warned that I should smoke alot less dope. Bigfish no.1 droppped - but I wasn't hooked on long enough to make a confident call. I can only say that from the way it lazily powered on without speed and me not being able to lift it, this was no sambo.

Anyway, we soon moved on to find more productive ground. Leading up to the change in tide we managed to come across a new lump that rose about 5m and had good shows of fish hanging just off it. This is more like it! Anyway on about my second drop I had a big bang and I was on. I told myself, no mistakes this time, and my mate reiterated that by gently reminding me that it was a long swim home and that dope is no good. This ruffled me up a little bit. I set the hooks as hard as I could and put the pressure early on to try to turn him, getting him off the bottom and quickly gaining about 5m of my colour-coded line.

*ZZzzzzZZZzzzzz*

Power dive straight back to the bottom. This is definately a big one - I already knew what this was, and told myself, "Don't you friggin lose it." He just sat down there and I should have brought a bloody gimbal belt as I kept maximum pressure on this fish and tried once again to lift him. Meter by meter I got him off the bottom and I knew once I stopped seeing blue (which, by my coloured line meant he'd be 10m off the bottom) he was pretty much mine.

Swimming up in an vertical arc now I was slowly but steadily gaining line as I could feel him starting to give in. White line - yes! 30m to go and he was mine. Staying calm and maintaining pressure it was now all about the lift and wind.

Then, as my eyes widened with horror, this sucker must have got his head turned and as I held on and feathered the spool, he took 30m off me in one slow, deliberate power-run. *bad word bad word bad word* this fight was far from over. By now my mate was out with the camera and while he was almost ready to help me land it a few seconds ago his words now turned to "Don't you lose him! Its a bloody long swim!!"

Anyway the fish now went around the side and towards the back of the boat and in my heart I knew this wasn't going to end sweetly. There was no kidding myself too - I've had 3 fish fight like this on a jig out of Perth in my whole life, and the only time I've won so far produced a 24kg Dhuie. I could now feel the hooks slipping... slipping... Now, it was a matter of whether I maintained the same kind of pressure, knowing he already had 30m of line and was right on the bottom, or take the softly softly approach and see...

--

Oop! Before I knew it, slack line.....

--

I dropped to my knees at this point and was breathing hard. I didn't want to look up at my mate as I was sure he was about to throw me in. That was a BIGGGGG fish. I slowly reeled my rig back, leader, hooks, jig and all intact and couldn't believe it - my head-to-head ratio now fell to 1 in 3.

As a consolation prize my next drop produced a 5 kg pinkie almost as soon as I lifted it, but I easily ripped him in and he didn't take an inch of drag. Taking revenge I did the old "boga-slice" and chucked him straight into the esky. A couple more bits and pieces hit the jig including a bloody scorpion cod which my mate reckons is fair returns (he still hadn't hooked up solid yet at this point, hehe - in fact he was now using BAIT!!!).

Soon it was time to head home as we wanted to get in before 6, and last night was a restless night of haunted dreams..

(more pics to come)
Thanks for reading

Hi All

Just wondering if anyone has had any reports or heard any from around Mandurah, out on the 5 Fatham or anything???

Looking to head out there tomorrow, but been a while since ive had a crack out there.

Cheers Guys

Bodie

 Went down to Albany on the weekend with the weather looking good i was keen to get out on Blueback charters again as i,ve had a great time previosely with them.We headed out with the ocean looking glassy at 7am.On the way out Bill the Deckie told us stories of the old days when he could carry his 22 rifle round on his back and ride around town without anyone blinking a eye..Gold.Im sure hes over 70 and still a stoked as a someone half is age to be out there fishing and sharing his years of knowledge with you.Gotta watch him though cause he'll outfish you with his alvey loaded with 80lb mono...Ok got to our first spot around the 70mtre mark at 8.30.First drop got a double header of Reds..Good Start, but after that the fish were playing a little hard to get.Jason the skipper worked hard all day to put us on the fish but they just did'nt seem hungry today.Second drift pulled up a slimy mackerel...interesting catch in 70m.Caught a couple more Reds  and my mate mark caught a pretty solid skippy and a queenie.Everyone on board got into the action eventually with a few big bustoffs and a big sambo coming on board..I sent him back down on the release weight so i hope he survived.No du's or any real trophy fish but a fun day with blueback  boys and are a great charter to head out on as they pretty much have a max of 11 people on board which makes the chances of hooking a good fish a bit better.

Went out from Rockingham on Sunday with Makros and Major Mitchell. Decided to have a look out in the 70's. With only one mark to go by (which looked alright but didn't produce anything), we looked around for about an hour(man there's alot of nothing out there).

 We decided to head to a spot we knew back in the 50's. on the way there I noticed a nice little bump on the sounder and turned for a look. It looked quite promising so down went the lines. 2 sea anchors and we were finding it hard to keep bottom, which didn't bother these Queenies.

So on with the 24oz sinkers(largest on board). Still not the best but thinking it was more the current than wind and boat speed!!! Back for another drift and WHACK I was on!!!! 22lb of dhuie (must learn conversion to KG's)(if anyone can tell me).

When on one of the drift I noticed a school show up 5m under the boat and when we looked over the side!!!!! TUNA !!!!! Not having another rod on board I grabbed the spool of 30lb line I have for sinker line and chucked on a slice. It had only dropped 2m before getting slammed by a rampaging tuna!!! Because we all had our bottom gear out it was very hard to stop it wrapping the lines(lots of burns and cuts). But I got it on board before a rod and reel hooked fish(which turned out about 200grams heavier). Down went the slice again to meet the same fate. Only this time I think the fish knew where I DIDN'T want it to go as it kept heading toward our other lines!!! I eventually LOCKED UP (wrapping the line around my hand) and busted off!!!! Then in a blink they were gone(Mental note ALWAYS take a second outfit, 30lb hurts as handline)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't get bugger all at 3 known spots on the way back in(46m, 41m and 38m) but had a good day and found some new ground.

went out from 2 rocks yesterday, got 2 the ramp about 6:40 to b greeted with a nice queue of boats, must of been about 12 boats waiting 2 launch. eventually got on the water & the plan was 2 head out 2 the bank, we got 2 the inside of the bank and stsrted 2 fish. we tried a few spots with out much luck, so we decided 2 head 2 the 35-40m mark & do some driftbaiting as the wind had dropped rite of. 1st drop got a solid hit & after a 5 min fight pulled up a nice pinky it went 75cm & about 4 kilo,my pb 4 perth waters so i was very happy, as i was fighting it a old bloke pulled up about 15m from our boat & droped his line ( rude f##king prick ) so we decided 2 shift after he pinged our spot. we went 2 some outher spots & i got a nice kg went 54cm. we tried a few more spots, justin pulled up a couple of cods, and a nice harly. we also got a couple of undersize dhus & pinks, which were released with a weight. got some more bits & bobs which we released & i pulled up a monster port jacson which i released then 10 mins later caught the same1, think he would of learned after i caught him the 1st time. it was a great day on the water, here is a pic of the fish we kept 4 a feed............

Took the girls camping down to Long Island for the first time on Saturday Arvo. Weather was good then and glorious on Sunday.

Ate bluebone and crays around the campfire, and then the girls hammered the toasted marshmallows.

Did some exploring, found some new places and caught a few fish. Drifting with sweetened leadheads did the trick on the demersals and we also had some light tackle fun on the shark mackerel just south of Long Island.

Shot one nice Jack on the gun (59cm) but the spearing was very quiet. Left some big ornates in their holes for another day.

Came home at 30 knots, dozing off at the wheel.

Nice way to spend a weekend.

John

Flatrox 08

A few pics from the weekend.  Perfect weather, a few fish and a cracker of a night.

Went for a paddle Sat arvo which was nice.  Harassed by Wrasse and caught a big banded sweep.  Someone might have a pic of my flash A1 setup (which took about 10 minutes in the shed scourging around for quality fitout items).  Launching off the rox was a breeze.

Alls quiet in camp at sundown;

Sunset;

The Morning after;

Half Bill fish in Moon light;

The one Macca’s rejected (he was just too slow….and ugly);

The $20 camp;

Cheers Pete