Took my in-laws and family to a quick weekend trip to Leeman.

Did not fish too hard. All fish caught in less than 18 meters.

No problem catching our 2 Dhuie with in the first hour. Snapper and Baldie was hard work.

Anyway made sure we where back in the boat ramp before 11 am so we can spend rest of the day site seeing.

BTW, fished only 2 days and Sunday turned average (15-20 Knots SE with 2 meter swells).

Enjoy.....

Headed out from Woodmans Point with most of the southern boating community at 0630 on Saturday morning. Plan of the day was quick bait run for squid then chasing the first intentional Pinky.

Rigged up a squid jig, lowered it down and started to wind up and noticed my line wasn't going around the spool. Closer inspection showed the steel (or 304g SS) screw holding the line feeder end of the bail arm had sheared....bail arm wasn't connected to the reel...shit.

African engineering didn't work, and this, being the first time I didn't bring a shed full of rods, left me with a 5 foot pink kids rod, loaded with 15lg 'shits and giggles' braid.

Headed out to FFB with one squid and start looking for a cray boat to stalk but only found the Jazz boat, hung around them for a tic before seeing a cray boat further out. Went out to chase them but realised they were not going to stop, we were on the back of the bank with all the gear but no idea.

Motoring onto the inshore side of a mound, we threw the drogue in, burley pots and started having a crack, me with useless plastics on a kids rod and my mate with some filleted herring frames.

10 minutes in, I had my first throw up off the side ever...when I look up, my mate is pulling something in. No head shakes but it looked substantial. We both wait patiently until a bloody Dhu pops up on the surface. Rapidly netted, measured (couple of cm over), put on ice and then the high 5's began.

We tried offshore for a few hours for nothing more  before heading in via Mewstone but after counting 50 boats, we kept going. Towards the shipping channel for a go at whiting. Two from two drops then nothing, keep going south and the herring start.

Day ended with 1 Dhu, 12 herring, 1 Squid and one whiting, which ended up as bait for a salmon which took the fish and not the hook....oh and one spew.

My Dad and I took off from Woodman Point at first light and made our way towards Rotto.  We did a couple of drifts over one of my favourite grounds and managed to catch a snapper and dhufish on soft plastics before the wind and swell settled enough to anchor.  After anchoring we introduced burley to the swim and started catching a few undersized fish.  

After a while the bites stopped and I mentioned to the oldman that there were possibly sharks in the area.  This was confirmed after at least five decent runs with short fights were rewarded with frayed mono minus the hardware.  I decided to bring out the heavy artillary to see if I could land one of these toothy critters and in the process hooked a decent snapper on a chunk of salmon that I was using for bait. As the snapper popped up to surface a tiger shark tried to make an easy meal out of it.  With my Dad manning the landing net I rapidly brought the snapper to "safety" before having to share my dinner with the "taxman".  The tiger was not happy as it circled the boat for a while before giving up on the snapper.  

I did manage to get my Dad into a decent bronzie for his trophy cabinet before we made our way home. A quick stop on Five Fathom Bank and my Dad managed a salmon which was not part of the plan.  All said, another enjoyable on the waters of Perth Metro.

See short YouTube clip here

https://youtu.be/y_ip3AEsKDk

Late last year we put together a plan to re-ignite the tradition of our annual boys trip northward to Exmouth. Over the last couple of years I've been fishing with John (JohnF) regularly so threw the invite his way to see if he and the whaler wanted to make the trip up north. It didn't take much convincing.

As with every trip that far north, there were months and months and stupid amounts of money spent preparing trailers (johns was rebuilt) boats (outriggers, electrics etc) and cars in preparation of the 1200+km trip north.

We decided leaving just after the Easter long weekend should make a pretty quiet trip northward on the roads and give everyone a bit of time with the families before 10 days of literally fishing, drinking and eating, in no particular order.

25 cartons of beer loaded, a freezer full of top shelf meat (anyone wants a brilliant butcher who will prep your meat, vac seal and snap freeze if required let me know) and 7 eager blokes at 4am on Tuesday morning on route to Exmouth.

A fairly uneventful trip north with a couple of welds on the guards on my trailer being the only small hiccup, but nothing a couple of truck straps cannot solve!

The 200 series land cruisers towing the Fury and the whaler made light work of it really, only needing fueling in Geraldton and Carnarvon on the way up. We arrived at 7pm, 15 hours after leaving.

A quick unpack and a few beers on ice saw us having a BBQ and downing some coldies about an hour later. The plan was to get up early, get some fuel for the boats and drop the boat into the marina.

The dig

The next day we had the boats in the drink and decided to have a light day on the water and head over to the islands, see if we can find a Mackie for dinner, maybe a tuna or 2 and see what's about around the Murians.

Lets just say it didn't take long, there were birds everywhere and a few lures in the water saw the first decent hookup. a nice 7-8k Mackie! perfect for dinner!

Both boats continued to troll, picking up some shark mackies, school macks, a few small tuna literally every couple of minutes.

With a bit of fresh bait onboard, we decided to see if we could find a bottom fish or two to compliment the Mackie for dinner. Well, that didn't take long either!. I'm a bit short on pictures for this short session, but basically rankins, Robsin sea bream, spangos were the talk of the session, and not to go unmentioned Scano nailing a nice 7kg Yellow fin tuna on the retrieve!

It was then back to the marina, a quick fillet up and in for dinner. Fresh YFT sashimi, Fresh Mackie and chips, a couple beers a few wines.. no better way to finish the first day!

The next day the weather was looking real good, so we planned to venture further north, heading up past peak towards flat. Leaving a bit earlier to get a full days fishing in

Getting going in the mornings seemed to take a while, which was something old mate John was struggling with!!! this would lead to later in the trip John being honoured with a new nick name... ol cap-i-tan bentneck!

The accommodation from the water and the mornings exercise carrying everything up and down the stairs

Fury on the way out of the marina

We started off fishing shallower around flat chasing anything that would eat surface lures or plastics...Fishing was slow for all of about 5 minutes when old mate Capitan bentneck gets on the radio and belts out Trout City!!!! from memory, it was 2 drops for 2 trout, one on jig one on plastic, and both hooters!!! the larger of the two went to matt on a plastic which went about 70cm!

Johnny boy with a solid trout!

Matt with a honker!

Plenty of fish were caught over the next couple of hours, Spango's, about 10 different trevally species, tuna, red throats and even an occy on a twisty... yep that's right!

Johns nice Trev

Carl another nice trev

We actually had at one stage a school of all different types of trevs right under the boat in about 30m but they were using the boat for cover... drop a jig in and hold on!

Fury on the water

after this, John decided it was time to push out a bit wider and look for some gold band if they could. so off they went and we stayed in shallower looking for some bottom fish.

John went quiet for a while, then all of a sudden a message comes over the radio..... we found the goldies, and did they ever!! Double headers was the name of the game!!

We ended up finding a couple of reds in shallower too which made the day

Franks nice red

Frank again with a nice Chinaman that gave him a run

John made his way over to us later in the day and had a couple drifts around us. I had found a new bit of ground int he 70's and dropped down, only to be smashed pretty much straight away. I had this rubbing feeling on the line which has me calling it for a shark thinking it was the tail of the shark hitting the line, only to be busted off half way up....

At this stage I wasn't too dis-heartened as I thought it was a shark, but instantly after I busted carl who was next to me said...im on.. thinking that was a bit strange we soon realized he and I had tangled. He would up and we found my braid wrapped around his rig, so I grabbed the bait (bare hands) and started to handline in what I thought was a shark... being careful as I didn't want to end up with braid peeling out of my hands it came up pretty easy.

As soon as we saw colour....we knew it was no shark, and next thing the biggest trout popped up any of us had seen, it went 78cm and fat!!! not sure how this trout managed to be stuck mid water for a good 5-10 min whilst we were untangling and didn't get eaten by a shark!!

Unlucky trout, Lucky me!

The end result for the day for John...great day!

Time to head in and with pretty good weather it was a nice ride in from about 34 odd mile out!

Whaler motoring in

The next day we decided with such good weather it was worth another run north before heading west from tanta's in chase of some bills, so north we went again.

This time even further chasing reds, goldies and other deep water delights. the goldies were hard to find that day, but we did manage a few more reds.

Johnny boy with his first red, first of many to come!

Scanos nice goldband

Hooked up

A good day!!

The 4th day was billish day, so we fuelled up, and there was a lot of this!!!! $1k every trip to the fuel station!!

We started off out from tantas in the 200's looking for billfish but the water was quiet, no birds no bait so not a lot of action. We got 1 solid run on my boat, which was a good bill, staying connected and getting to the leader only to have the lure pop out when leadering to the boat. Solid 30 minute fish and looked 120-140kg

After that things went quiet, we trolled down passed south passage and back, John came in closer which proved to be a good move, picking up this nice saily in 20m or so of water!! first for the trip!!

After this we headed in, bill fishing not a failure bot not a raging success.

Back to the accommodation for a good feed and more beer and wine. Needless to say, we didn't do it tough food wise. Home made Cold meats cut up and on this particular night, roasts on the spit!

The following day was more trolling and deep dropping. We all wanted to catch a ruby and motored out of tantas in chase of some. John had sounded some ground the day before and I had a mark on my GPS from previous years, which was not too far away from what john had seen so we headed in that direct into the 200-400m of water.

It didn't take long, I think it may have been our first or second drift for the first rubies to come up. to say we were pumped was understatement! to go with it we had a bill free swimming under the back of the boat which was pretty cool

John putted his way over for a drift. We both setup the drift only 20-30m apart and down went the baits... it didn't take longer and there was a 4 way bookup!!! both boats, all electrics loaded!!!

John loaded

the result! solid GB's!!!

John was keen to get a ruby so he moved out deeper again to where he started and got sharked on a couple good fish. Then it happened, the whaler finally got its first ruby!!

Scano with a nice ruby.

We started to put out way back to tantas in a bit shallower looking for some ground and stopping for a drop or 2 here and there. We managed a few more goldband and Matt with a solid long nose emperor on jig I think it was

John trolled a bit on the way back and managed to hook a nice black for scano to land his first marlin!

Matt directing john during the fight

Scanos Marlin

Days end

The last couple of days saw us head north once more for a good day chasing a few more reds, John getting a couple of nice yellow fin on the troll and another day off tanta's chasing a bill for Matt... This day I jumped on Johns boat and we headed straight out of tantas and dropped the skirts in the water in a bout 70m... it took all of about 15-20 minutes for the first hookup and turned out to be Matt's first bill to the boat!!

We started to set the spread again, only to have the 1st outrigger hit before any other lures were in the water only to have it drop it a few seconds later. This day had the makings of being a brilliant day with 6 or 7 strikes, but only managing to hook and land 1 bill for the day

Heading north had John and Matt on a duo getting into some fish!!

Some solid cobia!!

John looks happy doesn't he!!

Matts cobia

A few more pics from the trip

Matt's Wahoo

the 4000 rods

More YFT Sashimi

Sounder porn!

Nice sunset

One thing we had mentioned we wanted to give a crack whilst up there was the prawns in the gulf. So on the last day Scano and den took the tinny for a run into the gulf. With a little bit of local knowledge the lads had a ball and got a wicked feed of prawns to boot!!

Needless to say the trip was nothing short of epic, 7-8 out of 10 weather wise, Fishing off the chart, plenty of beer, great food and piss taking and the best crew we've had to date on our boys trips.

John aka ol cap-i-tan bentneck, and Matt aka the deckie of the year, couple of absolute cracking blokes along with all the lads and bring on the next trip!!!

Thanks for reading.

 After a 2 week trip to Kalbarri for our 16th year heading up there through the school holidays.

Not alot to report

It was the first time we did not come accross any mackeral. We found the water quite green and weedy in sections. I know of other boats that were up there to that were in the same boat.

Lucky enough we took our pots and were able to bring something in to please the family with plenty of crays on offer so I cant complain to much.

Good thing about Kalbarri it offers so much more with trips up river in the 4wd and out to the Gorges etc.

Family all home safe and had a great time.

If anyone else caught any Mackeral up there through this period let me know.

Water Cooled off over the last few weeks which has resulted with the inshore black marlin off Exmouth really start to fire. managed to go 12,12,9 for the 5 days with most being bigger than average and is always fun getting others onto the first billy. Heaps of Mahi Mahi around which was annoying at times, seen a few whale sharks to which is always cool, but I manage to hit 1 at 17-20 knots when it popped up with only enough time to chuck it in neutral and luckily no damage to the hull or motor and Shark (still cruising around with not a care in the world). All that happened was kick the outboard up, what a relief that was.

 Took a day off on friday, left two rocks marina at 11am. Hit a spot I havent been to for a while in the 43m line WNW of the marina and picked up this boy - went a little under 16kg on the scales biggest ive got lately as most have been around 8 - 11 kg son started chucking so we came home before I could get me two demersals limit didnt matter was happy with this fella,  cheers dave.  

 Hi Fishwreckers

First fishing post so please be gentle.

Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"

It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.

2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.

The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.

Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).

Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.

Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.

One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.

I for one will definately be booking with them again.

Cheers  Hi Fishwreckers

First fishing post so please be gentle.

Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"

It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.

2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.

The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.

Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).

Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.

Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.

One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.

I for one will definately be booking with them again.

Cheers  Hi Fishwreckers

First fishing post so please be gentle.

Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"

It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.

2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.

The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.

Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).

Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.

Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.

One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.

I for one will definately be booking with them again.

Cheers  Hi Fishwreckers

First fishing post so please be gentle.

Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"

It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.

2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.

The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.

Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).

Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.

Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.

One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.

I for one will definately be booking with them again.

Cheers  Hi Fishwreckers

First fishing post so please be gentle.

Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"

It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.

2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.

The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.

Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).

Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.

Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.

One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.

I for one will definately be booking with them again.

Cheers  Hi Fishwreckers

First fishing post so please be gentle.

Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"

It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.

2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.

The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.

Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).

Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.

Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.

One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.

I for one will definately be booking with them again.

Cheers 

very light easterly, so light it had no effect on the drift which was solely due to a strong current running from the north.  It didn't bother the fish that fed hard good dhuie and baldie completed the bag and home at 26 knots on mirror like seas.  Sorry but the photo won't upload?   

 Headed out from Mindarie yesterday with Mark (keg) and Kevin (Ashen) and once again had a great time on the water with the action being pretty much non stop.

A few highilghts from the day:

- Being in the middle of a huge school of YTKs smashing up bait all around the boat. Some very big models in the mix but couldn't tempt any to take a lure or mulie

- Nailing a little spinner shark on a 1/8 oz bucktail from BJ Jigs, had a few screaming runs on the light gear (ended up with 3 sharks for me, 1 for Mark)

- Pulling a little SBT from a bust up only to have it mauled by a pack of salmon boat-side, one of which stole the lure. Fought that salmon for a couple minutes but pulled the hooks on it only to have another tuna take it again right away which I got in the boat safely. 

- Kev nailing his first salmon (also on one of BJs Bucktails)

- Bagging out on good sized skippy and releasing many more, biggest we kept went 46cm. They hung around for hours even after the burley was finished and were smashing big baits as well as lures.

-Getting a bonito on a metal which somehow found the only little hole in the net, managed to slip through and screamed off for another run. It was interesting fighting a fish through a net haha

Hutch

 Made the annual pilgrimage to Ningaloo over the Easter break. Was a great trip this year, ticked off a few firsts and some PB's as well.

First couple of days were slow. Nothing taking on the troll and the bottom bashing was only producing a few fish. We have put this down to the full moon. Very few birds working the bait, and everything was a little quiet except for the sharks. They are worse every year and this year was no exception. 2 out of three solid fish lost bottom bashing, only way to beat them was to fish shallow, or continually move around when they arrived.

Day 3 and after the moon had passed and the fishing turned on! We were getting solid fish past the sharks and the pelagics were on the chew. This year the wahoo were everywhere! We regularly would get multiple hookups. The mackerel were present but finding them amongst the wahoo was a challenge. One fish on my list was a 20kg+ Mack. I tried for days, and the deckies were getting macks and all I could get was Wahoo, lots of Wahoo... It became a running joke as I would lose my temper when a 15+kg Hoo surfaced not a Mack... Noticeably missing this year were the Yellowfin tuna. Last year we were getting 2 for every three fish but not a single one this trip.

We had 6 days of magic weather, with regular glass offs and the ability to fish dawn till dusk. We were all exhausted but with the weather due to turn bad over the weekend we had to make the most of it. After 6 days the deckies headed home as their freezers were full and I was on my own for the last week of the trip. A trip into town for fuel, water, beer and the weather report was made, and the report was ugly. Strong wind forecast for 5 days straight. It was too late to run the boat up coast to the ramp and the decision was made to hold out and hope for a change in weather.

The wind arrived over the weekend as forecast and with it came the seaweed. This made trolling singlehanded near impossible as the sea condition was extremely rough and the lures would weed up within minutes requiring a full reset. Over the next few days I scavenged deckies from other camps and we fished through the bad weather for not much. The wahoo that were thick throughout the week had vanished and bottom fishing wasn’t possible in anything more than 30-40m as the swell and wind made caused excessive drift speeds. Much beer was consumed while we waited for the weather and the fishing to improve.

After a couple of days of wind and weed, there was a small improvement allowing me to get out singlehanded again. I was on the hunt for my 20kg+ Mack! Again the fishing totally changed, and the bait was showing thick all through the water column. I had a solid hit on one rod, but after a short fight the hooks pulled... Whatever it was had serious power and weight, and lacked the high speed of the wahoo we had been catching. I set the lures back and began the troll again. With suspected weed on the center rod, I left the boat running into the swell at 6 knots and went to clear the line. Halfway through the windup the lure got smashed and the fish took off. There were some acrobatics as i had to keep the pressure on the fish, get back to the front of the boat to switch off the engine, and dodge the other lines that were still out, all while rolling in 2m seas. Miraculously the hooks held and after a long battle i got to the leader and my first look at the fish. Even down deep I would see it was a mack and a BIG one! Again, some more acrobatics and I had the fish boat side, the leader in one had and the gaff in the other. Somehow I managed a perfect gaff shot (something my deckies can attest isn’t common!), and hauled my fish over the side. FINALLY, my 20+ mack was on the deck and I celebrated with a lot of hooting, a few selfies and self high fives!

The fish was way too big for the kill tank, and I considered heading back into the beach to clean it. I decided to wrap it in cloth and continually water it under the gunwale so I could continue fishing. I trolled for another hour without a strike and then bottom bashed for a few emperor, but the drift was too fast still. I dropped the lures back out for another troll towards home, and decided to throw out a skirt my deckie had left behind. I have never fished skirts, and expecting little from it, it was sent out on a cheap BCF rod with missing eyelets coupled with an ancient penn slammer that has been living under the seat of my boat. (my other trolling reel had a melt down after a wahoo smoked it and was seized). After a while I noticed the rod tip pulling down intermittently on the skirt and assumed again it was seaweed. Again with the boat jogging into wind I went down try to shake the weed off the lure. After a few jerks the lure pulled back, this happened a couple of times before BANG, it connected properly and the reel was screaming. I was fast running through the line on the spool, when the fish started tail walking towards the horizon with my boat driving itself the other way! As soon as I saw it was a billfish, I resigned myself to the fact I would most likely lose the fish without someone to assist and settled in to enjoy the show. I managed to slow the fish but the boat was blowing down on the line with no way for me to clear it over the cab and the rods in the rocket launcher. So while rolling in the swell with the rod in one had, I gingerly shuffled around the cab onto the front deck where I could fight the fish sitting on the windscreen!

After a long fight I got a hold of the leader, and then realised it wasnt a small marlin as i thought, but a sailfish! (my first sailfish) I managed to walk the fish to the transom to get it in through the swim door so I could get the hook out. A few photos later, I swam the fish boatside for 10 minutes until it recovered its colour and managed a successfull release! ANOTHER first and ANOTHER fish ticked off my list! As dissapouinting as it was not to share the moment with someone, landing these fish singlehanded is a memory I will never forget! 

Over the last few days of the trip, the weather and seaweed didnt improve much, but the fishing did. I got myself a couple of deckies from another camp and we hit the demersals one last time. Fishing was slow initially, and we worked to find the fish without the sharks. After some exploring new ground we found them, and managed our bag limit within an hour! Its amazing how you can find the energy to wind from 100m when the fish are biting! 

The final day I had to run the boat down coast in some nasty head sea, and as soon as I cleared the sanctuary zone, I dropped the lures in for a troll as I wasnt making much ground fast in the copnditions. Trolling home boated a couple of mack tuna (my first tuna in 2 weeks!) and another nice spanish to top off the fewwzer for the long drive ahead. 

Its only been a week, but Im already planning next years trip! This time we will bring electric reels to fish deeper and hopefully beat the sharks to some of the bigger fish. Ningaloo is a truly special place! 

With a week off work, had to get in a fishing sesh to calm the soul.

Wednesday was looking good and I t'd up my bro in law for an early morning start at my usual around hillarys.

With only 2 1/2 hours sleep we hit the water around 5am.

Burlied up the water and bang on sunrise an 83cm pink that nailed the unweighted mulie like a road train.

My bro in law continued with the belly burley while trying to stay positive.

He had a steaming run that broke him off on the anchor rope, called it for another good sized pinkie, but will never know.

We ended up with one snapper, one skippy and a good size cuttlefish.

The skippy and cuttlefish were cooked up that night and kept the tentacles for future bait.

Was a good few hour sesh but now thinking of the return to work on Monday...

Below are a few of my favourite images from 5 days at the Abrolhos Islands last week.  I have never been there before and it was epic, once I learned how to fish it.

Was thinking of writing up a report, however the content would be too long for one report, or I would have to do a really abridged version.  Just wondering if people would be interested in reading the longer versions over the next week or so, or just do a short one?

 Had a mate coming to Broome for the first time. He talked about coming last year but never got around to it.

I said to him what would you like to target and he responded I wouldn't mind getting into some light gear mackerel.

So with the water temp still at 29.3 degrees I thought it would still be too hot for them but was going to give it a good crack as he was here for 5 days that would be enough time to get into some.

So Sunday we headed out just off cable beach and started trolling, not much bait around and then wanted to hit up some marks that I have caught good flag and blue bone the fish were there but so were the Sharks we hooked some great fish but they didn't last long till the Sharks got them.

So after 5  fish were lost and my mate getting frustrated I though we better move. So we kept heading out further towards some barges I could see a few other boats in the distance.

As we were getting closer towards the other boats there were flying fish and Gardies everywhere. At this point I was getting pretty excited as we found the bait and the tide was just about to turn.

When we got to the spot it was mayhem I have never seen so many mackerel in my life hundreds upon hundred of school mackerel bait everywhere sailfish free swimming. There we 3 other boats that looked like they were all targeting the sailfish so looks like all the mackerel were there for us to target.

In the lures went and in the 5 minutes I landed a big spotted mackerel then from there we were averaging a mackerel every 15 minutes.

My mate got his spaniard on the boat that he was after and another 2 not long after where I just kept getting the spotted mackerel. Might have had something to do that I was running shallow diver and he had a deep diver.

Wasnt long until we had a our bag limit. Most fish were around 110cm and 7-8kg.

Chris 

Spent a bit of time back around the islands off Onslow recently engaging in some shallow water sportfishing. Full moon made things a bit tough at the start and then towards the end, a crap southerly eventually drove us home early.

Just fished my own jigs for the week (no bait) and ended up with 27 different species. Had some great sessions in 3-4m of water with a light berley trail, awesome watching queenies, shark macks, trevs etc hitting your jig at speed just below the berley pot.

Got bricked in the shallows quite a few times but didn't lose too many fish to sharks.

Mate started fishing with stinky bait but he was soon reaching for the jig box.

Here's some pics.

 Gday all,

Here are a few photos and details our annual camping trip to Exmouth...

We left home Friday arvo (last day of the school term) and drove to Galena bridge - arriving at about 1am for a few hours sleep... about 2km out from Exmouth we shredded a trailer tyre, and then about 600m from the caravan park the clutch started slipping in the car (the joys of towing a 1982 Quintrex with a 198& Landcruiser)...

The first couple of days were pretty quiet - sorting the car and tyres, but we got out to Cooper Shoal and lost a few lures to Macks, had a Spaniard 'torpedo' out of the water in front of us, had 2 big tigers eat a Spaniard next to the boat, and finally landed a little Spotted Mack for tea...

We spend most of our time down the bottom of the gulf, and the spring tides made it tough! The water was filthy! We managed a few Cod on lures and I speared a couple of Bluebone and Jacks, but next year I will try for neaps!

After 10 days it was time to head home - straight into a headwind for most of the trip - so I was forced to sit on 90 to keep the temps under control..... getting passed by every grey nomad in their 200 series towing massive vans....

Until next trip!!!....

Got up at sparrows this morning to chase some snapper well inside FFB, anchored a little too close to the reef as it turns out and, as I was chasing snapper had rigged all rods with light mono as you get far less tangles than braid particularly when fishing several rods in the dark. First fish was a huge port Jackson but then the snapper turned it on, I know they were snapper as twice I managed to get then close enough to the boat to see them in the torch light....WRONG! Bloody things went ballistic, one went around the berley bucket and broke me off, the next around the prop same result, then hooked what I called for a big ray on the lightest gear I had, coaxing it to the the boat I looked down to see a huge flash of purple and silver before it dived back down, at least a metre long it was a huge dhuie, re rigging I dropped half a fresh pike down the burley trail only to hook up again....this one was played to a standstill ...another dhuie, 70cm,  all out of 17 metres of water and all before dawn.  Snapper turned off the moment the sun poked its head over the island.  Sambos and salmon then became a nuisance do I pulled the pick and headed in.  For a supposedly crappy solunar day I had an absolute ball....will anchor fUrther from the reef next time and might upsize the mono to 15kg 

 Hi all, just wondering if anyone is still getting crabs in mandurah ? 

Cheers 

First time poster alert...

Purchased my first boat about 3 months ago (2006 Trailcraft Trailblazer 660) which im obviously still learning more about each and every trip out.

We've had her down south and out from Hamelin Bay for a week in early March which had fished a few spots we had previously worked on my uncles old boat (2nd photo down south) and tried anumber of no spots without much luck.

Although, I've certainly found metro/cockburn sound fishing is a lot of trial and error - all part of the learning experience. I've had days were i thought i picked the wind right & swell, arrived early to woodies & we've caught nothing and been bashed around a bit in the process - but hey thats fishing.. Then we've had days like Good Friday which is what this post is mostly about, where we have struck gold.

Again taking off from Woddies around 6:30am, (car park littered at that time already) and headed out to a few previous owners spots marked behind Garden Island, not luck for about 30 minutes. Dad & I have always wanted to head to the FAD's, although my Garmin GPS model is now 10+ years old (like the boat) & doesnt allow the option to enter specific marks to be able to set a correct track to the FAD locations - again probably something i need to learn some more about.

however, we tinkered off from behind Garden and spread a bit wider and back north to the back end of Rotto. Saw a few boats sitting all pretty close together, so though we'll keep out distance and track around try to find some ground.

after a few bad days previously, i've not had much faith in my Garmin Fishfinder250c model in picking up good ground. however, found a great lump that picked up a reasonably quick depth change & thought lets have a drop.

Trial and error never really had us burley up, which i was cutting up some mullie every now and again and dropping that over. I got slammed by something, which we pulled up & was a reasonable 4kg pinky, my first Metro one also.

Picked up the sea anchor and slid back up the drift line we had come down on, and Dads Rod went bang.

I get excited thinking about it now, as i was yelling, screaming, & trying to get ourselves sorted around the boat for when he hopefully got it surfaced.

It wasnt the biggest Dhui i had seen, although first to crack the 10kg mark on my new boat & no one better then the old man. For the 3 of us at home, there was enough fillet for Friday lunch on the Pinky, but topped the day off being able to get the grandparents over for a lovely feed of Dhui & Pinky.

Dad's apart of a local Beach & Rock based Amatuer Fishing club, (which im not sure if Admin will let me give a plug to, as they're always welcoming new members). Although to see the enjoyment he had with this dhui is something you can't trade in the world.

He dropped something else big, which we reckon was another dhui & looked to had frayed line in a similar area that hadh tangled over mine when i grabbed the pinky earlier (god send to get the first dhui up also).

We're off to the Abrohlos with Apache at the start of May, which after last years week trip, i cant wait for.

Now - got the long part out the way & as mentioned always looking for some help with the boat,

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction for a reasonable Marine Trimmer, who'd be able to make me a custom fit full cover for the boat - she sits out the front at home & looking for that bit of protection to help in keeping her condition for a few more years to come.

Also, GPS/Sounder combos, im looking for a new combo which i've had a couple freinds tell me about their Lowrance Elite 7ti, and getting the upgraded transducer / structure scan etc.

Haz anyone dealt with Hummingbird or alternative combos and would recommend something around the $1500-2000 mark?

appreciate the help, and happy fishing to all.

Hi

This is my first post and happy to say it's one that I'd like to see one day.

I've been fishing for smaller reef fish and skipjack near tub rock south of Safety Bar. Happy to say I've caught two jewfish (and a number of undersize and lost a monster) over last three weeks. Might be worth a try.

 G'day all , haven't heard any reports as yet , mustn't be far away but ? 

Cheers Andy 

the salmon provided many a holiday maker some great fun yesterday and today.   Many fish caught within 20 metres from shore.    Even the dolphins enjoyed the swell and a feed.   Was also great to see many fishers showing patience with others during the frenzy with only the occasional crossed lines.    Was also great see the bulk of fish returned to the water to live another day 

How good is it when a plan comes together. With the weather looking good and leave pass from the misses a mate and I headed out from Freo with a plan to have some fun on Salmon, and hopefully a snapper or two. Arriving at Leeuwin ramp at 7 we were lucky to be one of the last in before the car park was too full. My mate hadn’t caught a Salmon for a long time so the plan we to get him on to one early then move out deeper. We were pretty pumped heading out between the heads with a light easterly blowing and all day to hit the water (too rare an opportunity these days) Arriving at “the spot” it was absolute mayhem. I remember some chaos chasing Salmon around Mewstones last year but this was another level. Either way, I wanted to make it a sure thing he got one, so we snuck in for a couple. First fish was pretty funny as we both hooked the same fish. After that we went for another drift and he got one solo. Happy days, we got that ticked of the list. With all the chaos we decided a move off was wise and headed out to the five fathom to chase Snapper. Arriving we saw birds working everywhere and big schools of Salmon busting up. Old mate was keen to chase the Salmon but I insisted we give the pinkies a try. Arriving out our spot around 9:30am we went for a couple of drifts for nothing. We decided to anchor up and see if we could bring em around with burley. Once the burley was in the water it didn’t take long for a couple of pinkies to hit the decks. Soon the salmon moved in again and after landing a few of these it seemed the pinkies had moved off and we decided to head in. If only every Friday was a day off!

 hi all heading up that way next week is it worth while taking your pots ?

targeted species for this trip where billfish and ruby's. ticked of both in what was a great trip away. had no real desire to fill the fridge with fillets 

we lost 3 days to weather but still managed to push on and scored some great fish.

went 1-1-1 on sails and 2-2-1 on blues

handfulls of ruby's and a solid 18kg 8 bar

by catch trolling was 2 wahoo one of them was a hooter of a fish needed to be bent in half to fit in the big esky

no real shark problems had a few circling the boat but only lost 1 fish to sharks

chrisG hooked and fought a well WELL over 200kg blue for just over an hour before the little tld 25 couldnt take no more and the blue decided to take 400m of line straight down giving us no choice but to try and lock up the drag and unfortunatly....pop. the reel was to hot to touch after the run that finished us off

the other 2 boats in our convoy struggled till late in the trip with dirty water but managed to clean up on macks last couple days

not nearlly enough photos but to much high fiving and beers

huge thanks to matty for leccy reel usage and a massive thanks to mick and the team at shore catch, your time and effort sorting our bait was much appreciated 

thanks to all the members ive hassled for tips and techniques as well

next years already booked bills bills and more bill fish 

thanks for reading guys, 

 spent all day throwing my guts up but late in the day and after a swim with the sharks to refresh we hooked this sail and it put on a nice show

my first ever marlin had me grinning for days

chris getting worked over by a big marlin on the smallest reel of the fleet

lay day shallow water fun

solo run today, came home with 3 squid & 3 decent sized salmon!  

Lachlan Bell caught this ripper in the sound this week

Bluewater Tackle World
Fishing Report Friday 13th April 2017

Do you remember going fishing as a kid? Kids love fishing and nothing beats seeing the look on their faces when they reel in a fish, no matter the size or the species. Fishing is a great way of getting the kids out of the house and connect with the outdoors. So, whether you’re heading away or staying local for Easter, why not take advantage of the mild Autumn weather and build some memories that will last a lifetime?

If you haven’t already, check out our Easter Escape Catalogue (click here). It’s full of great deals and if you’re not sure where to start, come in to one of our stores and let our expert staff talk you through everything you need to know. We’ll even rig it up for you and show you where the fish are biting, as part of the service.

The past week can be summed up in one word… SALMON. Love them or hate them, they’re here and it looks like being another epic season. Schools are already entering Fremantle Harbour, which means last years scenes of salmon terrorising baitfish as far upstream as Mt Henry Bridge are likely to be repeated in the coming weeks. What an opportunity this represents. Whether you’re a spinner or a fluff-chucker, the prospect of catching a salmon on your ultra-light gear, at your regular bream spot, must get the heart pumping.


Staff Member Geoff with salmon on fly!

If you want to target salmon specifically, high tide at the North Mole has proven to be a reliable location in the past few days. If you’re lucky enough to have a boat, head to the offshore reefs from Fremantle; Mewstone, Stragglers and Seal Rock have been holding fish for a while now and their numbers keep growing as the bigger schools make it to Perth waters.  

Salmon lures needn’t cost you the earth, we’ve got Samaki Flash sinking stickbaits in 35g and 55g for $8ea at the moment and not to mention 30% off all Arma Metals! If you're struggling to make the distance to those just out of reach schools, metals are a great option for lures that cast like a bullet but still maintain the small profile that the fish are likely to be feeding on.

Fishing tip: using single hooks makes for a solid hookup, easy dehooking, whilst also making it safer for the angler, and fish if you are going to release it. Above: staff member Geoff dehooks a salmon before release.


Strada Tera's rigged with singles are dynamite on salmon

For those more interested in putting fish on the table this Easter holiday, there are plenty of options, with herring being plentiful along the beaches and demersals fishing great in a large array of depths. Great catches are coming just 5 minutes from some boat ramps, however for those willing to put the distance in to reach the 40's have been well rewarded. Fishing for snapper in and around the Cockburn Sound has continued to be a popular and productive place to fish the week. With depths between 5-15m usually holding a good abundance of fish, you just need to find them on your sounder. Soft Plastics in the 5-7 inch are an ideal lure choicer with the Madeye Paddle Prawns being the go to lure of many successful anglers.


Staff member Kelvin with a solid ‘pinky’

For those who have been able to get out far enough for a deep drop, they have been reporting great catches of the likes of bass grouper and blue eye trevalla.

Squidding has started to really turn on lately and it presents a great opportunity for some Easter fun whether you are by yourself, with mates or the whole family. Drifting anywhere around weed beds from two to ten metres of water has been productive. If you are fishing the dirtier water around Fremantle Harbour red and purple jigs have been doing very well, whilst in the clearer water jigs with UV on them have been the standouts.
 
If you want to venture in and around our estuarine systems this long weekend, the bream have been caught around Nedlands on soft plastics by anglers fishing the areas near boat moorings and piers, as well as along the flats in the Canning. The crabbing has been relatively good the past couple of weeks as the water has started to clear up somewhat. Deeper areas around Black Wall Reach have produced reasonable catches of the tasty morsels lately.
 
Lastly on behalf of the Bluewater Crew we wish you all a happy and safe Easter. Tight Lines!

Haters will say it's photoshop.

 Entering in the ORSSC Mason's Bar Classic for the second year in a row, dreams of winning a Stella were in the air and hopes of some good fish were high.

After a somewhat delayed start waiting for a member of the crew, we hit the road and arrived at Guilderton just after dark. The wind was pumping and the swell was up but on first inspection there didn't seem to be too much weed in the shore break.

We set up and began fishing. As soon as the first line went in I could tell it wasn't going to be easy with the large swell magnifying what weed there was around, making it hard to keep baits in the water. My solution to this was to bomb out an 8oz grapnel with a mullet/yakka combo on a couple snelled 6/0 circles on my heavy Beachmaster.

The bait wasn't in the water for more than a few minutes before I heard the ratchet on my torium go off and as soon as I saw my line heading straight down into the waves I knew there was weed on. I cranked up the drag and winched in what I thought was a huge clump of weed. It pulled a bit of drag as the wave receeded and I had thoughts of a fish but thought I knew better and kept cranking. 

A small amount of weed hit the beach around my leader knot and as I shone the torch at it I thought I saw a glimpse of silver behind it so kept pulling and up washed a fish! I ran down and gilled a reasonable mulloway which came in at 96cm and just over 7 kilos. I was very lucky the circle hook had pinned it securely in the corner of the jaw and I didn't lose it considering the pressure I put on it and the fact I was only using 60lb leader. 

After the good start things were very quiet for the rest of the night with only one more hookup (big dirty ray which spat the hook eventually) so I decided to have an hour or two's rest. I woke up at 3:30 and got to work resetting the burley (was using a bunch of frames along with Mick's mulie shred blocks from Shorecatch) and put out some fresh baits.

An hour passed and as I was sipping a lemonade for a sugar kick I heard my big lethal screaming in protest as a good fish had the rod buckled over. A very violent fight ensued with big headshakes and dogged lunges. I was thinking either a shark or a good mulloway had picked up my bait but when a big waves washed up my PB pinkie of 86cm and 6.5kg I was stoked! Never before have I caught a legal snapper off the beach and now I'd picked up two in as many weeks!

I though I was a shoe in for the Twinpower 10k and Assassin prize with this good fish but alas I got smashed as two monster snapper over 7kg were also weighed in. I can't complain, I got well and truly beaten by quality fish and don't think I could've have done anything else.

For the rest of the weekend we tried to build up our bags with the smaller species but the sizeable swell made things difficult and we struggled. 

All in all a great weekend and another well run comp by ORSSC. Ill be back again next year to hopefully get on the winners list!

Hutch