Fishing Report

Bluewater Tackle World
Fishing Report Friday 7th April 2017

What a season we’re having for land-based metro anglers!
It seems every second customer is coming into our stores beaming, with a grin from ear-to-ear, and a story about landing a snapper or two from the shore. For many anglers, it is their first capture of this type, which makes it even more special. They’re not small fish either, with some topping the 80cm mark. It just goes to show the great work the recreational fishing industry is doing in protecting and growing this fabulous fishery.

If you don’t have a boat and you’ve always wanted to tangle with these hard-fighting, great-eating fish, now is the time. Customers, rightly, have remained tight-lipped about specific locations of their captures, but rock walls such as Woodman’s Point, The Moles and Hillarys are good starting points. If you prefer the feeling of sand under your feet, try Floreat Drain and Leighton. Snapper love an oily, smelly bait, so fillets of blue mackerel and mullet are ideal. Don’t be afraid to use a big bait with a pair of 6/0 Shinto Octopus snelled together.

If you want to get fancy, try wrapping a fillet of mullet (flesh-side out) around a mulie. Then use Black Magic Bait Buddy to hold it all together. Using this style of bait gives you the scent from the mulie and mullet flesh and durability provided by the thick mullet skin.

If you’re not sure whether your current set up is suitable for the job, bring it in to your closest Bluewater store and our experienced staff will give you all the help you need.

Staff member Jeremy had a cracker of a week and managed to get out two days in in a row. His report is as follows.

Monday 03/04/17
“Headed out from Hillarys marina with a mate, the plan was to fish a few spots in close before heading out wide to try our luck. First drop was an undersized dhufish and drop after drop was dhufish after dhufish until I caught a 75cm dhufish on a 7” Z-man coconut ice jerk shadz using a 2oz TT jighead. Ended up with a mixed bag of dhufish and snapper.”


Staff member Jeremy's dhu

Tuesday 04/04/17
Headed out from north of Two Rocks with a couple of good mates, ended up finding a school of mulloway and bagged out quite early, with my brother (Jeffery) getting a nice Spaniard on metal jig using 40lb leader and no wire. Jig used was a Haoli Lamble bait 110g.   


Staff member Jeremy and crew with their mulloway

Salmon are also on the mind of just about everyone.  Reports are coming in thick and fast of fish between the capes with huge schools swimming though every day. In metro waters there are a number of schools around with fish being caught around Freo, Rockingham and even Yanchep lagoon, as well as any inshore reefs also being worth a look. Who knows you might just catch a mammoth tailor or yellowtail king instead. This being said, the main schools are not yet here, but are not far off either and could come flooding into metro waters any day now.

Swan and Canning systems are starting to clear out now with good reports of solid bream coming from both. Fish are being caught on both lures and bait such as river prawns and bony herring. Mulloway also have been caught from E-shed through to the Narrows.

The squid are going off! The squid are flourishing in the shallows around the Cockburn Sound and Freo and even if they are not biting try mixing it up. Staff member Mike dropped his leader size to 4lb YGK fluorocarbon on Wednesday and tied on a jig with a purple base and caught and released 15 within the hour. Basically, if you are over any of the weed beds at the moment the squid will be there you just got to get them to take.

Lastly we simply had to share this pic of a mulloway good customer BK got a couple of weeks ago. Everything about it sums up why we all love fishing. Great capture mate!

 Thomas - A professional fishing guide and great fisherman in Texas, fished with me for 2 days chasing after wild snakehead in Thailand.

Finally the hours have paid off!!

So Ive had my boat for about 5 months now, I installed a new sounder/transducer and wasn't overly impressed with the returns I was getting. I've been spending a lot of time in the sound testing the minor transducer adjustments until I found the sweet spot.

Below is a picture of a wreck in the sound which i was quite impressed with - compared to my original readings (not the D9).

Feeling more confident with the sounder readings I was itching to get out to the FFB to sound some ground and hopefully land my first sized Pink in the boat. I had only been out to the FFB once in my boat prior to this trip so I had no marks.

I left the ramp at 6.30am and set out to the FFB, marked a few fish on the sounder and set up a drift over them. The first drift resulted in an undersized pink and a wrasse, unfortunately the drift was fairly quick so I thought a change of plan was needed. I decided to drop the anchor on one of the marks and drift some baits down until the current slowed.

I started a small burley trail in hope of some larger Pinks following it up. It didn’t take long before I had my first run, straight away I knew this wasn’t a Snapper - with no head shakes, long quick runs and the fish rising up in the water column. As I got the fish closer to the boat it started to do a circle pattern and I knew what it was, up comes a nice Tuna.

I reset the baits with hope that I might still be able to land my first size Pink, unfortunately it wasn’t to be. The Salmon had caught scent of the burley trail and were as hungry as always. I landed 4-5 Salmon with about 10 fish following the hooked fish to the surface.

By this time the conditions had improved so I thought I’d take advantage of it. I pulled the anchor and set out to search for some more ground.

It didn't take me long to find some promising looking shows on the sounder, I marked the spot and set up the drift. The scroll back function on the sounder really helped me pin point this.

I had a rod rigged with a bait and a PE2 set up rigged with a jig, I had the intension of dropping the bait to the bottom and then having a jig. The fish on the other hand had different ideas. As soon as my bait hit the bottom and I engaged the leaver drag I had a decent hit, I set the hooks and immediately felt some very solid weight. Line began to scream off the reel without any big head shakes, I increased my drag and tried to turn the fish. Every time I thought that I was winning the battle it would take long lunges back to the bottom leaving me counting the markings of my braid. At this stage I wasn’t too sure on what it was, I started to think it was a sambo but wasn’t convinced about the call.

After what felt like eternity and backing down on the fish 4 times I was ecstatic when my new PB Dhu at 91cm came to the side of the boat!!

It wasn’t the Snapper that I set out for in the morning but it’s the best bycatch I could imagine and was still a first on the boat.

 headed out from hillarys south towards hale road, anchored up about 5pm and got a bit of burley flowing. Action was good all evening and we bagged out and called it a day at about 8pm. Nothing massive but all quality fish. 

 Headed out with Kevin (Ashen) and Mark (Keg) again last night, with the plan being to launch at Mindarie before 4pm in order to get out to the 30s and anchor up with the burley flowing before the predicted bite time of 5-7pm. 

Upon motoring past 3 mile we'd planned to tow around a few lures and with a heap of bait getting harrassed on the surface things were looking good but unfortunately weed made things difficult and we pulled the pin on trolling without any takes and headed out deeper.

We anchored up on a spot that had produced for Kev before and hopes were high as I boated an undersized pinkie after being there for a few minutes but that was all the action that spot produced (other than a ray) despite pumping out some burley. We gave it until just after sunset before deciding to move in closer and anchor up on the 3 mile. 

As soon as we hit the reef we began marking fish left right and centre which had me wondering why we didn't just pull up here in the first place! We got set and had the burley flowing, still marking plenty but nothing wanted to bite.

That soon changed as I got a solid hit and my rod bent over, 20lb braid peeling from the reel. After a good tussle up popped the first Dhu of the night, not huge at 55cm but a Dhu nonetheless! 

I rebaited with another fresh fillet of herring and sent it back down. Whilst messing around on my phone my rod bent over in the holder and once again braid was peeling from the reel. This felt like a better fish and had me running around the boat, up the front, under the anchor rope and dragged me through the reef. I was convinced this was a ray and as a result neither of the other two paid much attention until another Dhu hit the surface. This one was a bit more solid at 64cm. Again not huge but a PB for me. 

After that the snook and good sized tailor followed the burley trail in and came on the bite. Kev also managed to boat a few reasonable skippy as well as a few rays (one of which led to a broken rod ).

We called it a night at 12 and headed in in  near perfect conditions, couldn't have asked for a smoother ride!

Once again a good night with great company, and a nice bag to top it off. Cheers Mark and Kev, look forward to next time. 

Hutch

Chris and Mary fished with me in Thailand not long ago. 

Morley customer Steve Ducas (above) with an awesome Steep Point bonefish

 Fishing Report

Salmon have made their first semi-consistent appearances at Floreat Drain and Woodman’s Point during the week. Furthermore, boaties have been finding plenty of fish at Mewstone and surrounding rocks. Early reports say the fish are quite hard to tempt, probably because there’s still a huge abundance of bait in the water. If you do encounter a school of sluggish fish, unwilling to take your favourite lure, try something different. Try to aggravate the fish into a strike, rather than the usual hunger bite. Large soft plastic grubs, something with a loud rattle, maybe a brightly-coloured lure and dangle it in their faces. A lure which is hard to beat is a suspending Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow put in front of a fussy fish’s face. Having said that, they’ll probably hit anything you throw at them on Sunday.

Good size schools have been hooked into further south around Dawesville as well. Dunsborough is the place to be however as the schools are thick with lots of chunky fish. Beach and rock fishing for salmon is a very visual form of fishing. Schools can be easily spotted and targeted from shore with a variety of hard body and soft plastic lures. Arma Twisties and Metaliks, Jackson Muscle Shots and Duel Adagio lures are perfect for long casts into the school. A soft plastic on a jig head or a Yo-Zuri Cryrstal Minnow are ideal options for tempting fish that are closer in such as a those swimming along rock walls. They will pull hard and jump like crazy, but are usually clean fighters so it makes for very exciting fishing on light gear. Walking the beach looking for schools is always a productive method, but throwing a mulie out will put you in with a chance of catching salmon as the schools swims past.


Staff member Pete with a chunky salmon

Big pink snapper are running hot in local waters. Good numbers of solid size pinks are providing lots of fun in shallow water in and around Cockburn as well as Hale Rd Reef, Ocean Reef and Mindarie. These areas are very accessible in small boats making it an easy option for many anglers. Drifting areas at the back of Garden island with a 1oz Jig head and a 5 – 7 inch plastic like the Halco Madeye Paddle Prawns is a great way to fish which will see results. Anchoring over some lumpy ground at Hale Rd and creating a berley trail of pellets, fish oil and shredded mulies will bring the fish to you. Not only will you be bringing in the snapper in the area but being set up correctly will put you in with a good chance of seeing skippy, sambos, kingfish and more.

Staff member Laith with a good pinkie

Dhufish are in abundance in the deeper water off Ocean Reef, Two Rocks, Lancelin and Jurien Bay. Morley customer Ryan Evans has also been hooking into some quality dhus down south saying it is hard to get past them to catch nannygai. The reports are of good size fish coming in regularly over 8kg. The big fish are responding well to slow pitched jigs but have been taking baits and plastics as well.

 
Morley customer Ryan Evans with a solid dhu

Spanish mackerel reports are still coming in but, all north of Mindarie as the water has begun to cool rapidly. Trolling Halco Laser Pros in in 160 – 190 size in Chrome/Pink and or Chrome/Redhead is a super effective way to fish for mackies. Samaki Pacemakers are also very productive and can be trolled at a reasonable speed. Watching for birds and panicking bait schools in the warmer water can be a great way to find the fish and cast stickbaits like the Jackson Kaiken 140’s at them. This is a super fun and active way to hunt for them.

Morley customer Steve Ducas with a very respectable landbased snapper

 

I took my dad out yesterday for a fish on the 5 out from port Kennedy nothing special caught but my old man had a lot of fun catching these. I rarely see him as he lives in the country so it was great to get out on the water with him for once, when the weather was good. He goes in On April 4 for a new knee,  so I don't think he will be able to come out for a while, so I cherished the day with him yesterday thanks m8.

 perfect day out from Bunno today.Found some new ground in 60m of water and it was on from the first drop.First dhuie within 2mins of jigging followed by a couple of pinkies just size all released.Then the old boy got dragged around the boat twice before being reefed on 20 pound gear.After some swearing from him and laughter from me it was my turn.Big hook up on the jig again this time it was me doing a lap around the island cab only to be bricked by another unstopperable.Nexted drift on again this time blackass went in the esky followed by a queenie released then it was on.Big hook up on the vexed dhu drop jig.This one had me thumbing the spool but after a few solid runs i had it of the bottom and into the net.Nice dhuie around the 15kg mark.Ended up with 2 dhuies 1blackass snapper and a nice gummy

I've been busy with tutoring and volunteer teaching since January. But thankfully, the hardwork paid off as I'll start a new full time teaching position next Monday. Life is still hectic so I'm not sure when the blog posts will be written. But if you like reading my adventures, I will update you later when the posts are completed.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you the new species I caught and other fish we encountered along the way.

This trip was really last minute so I actually didn't have anything planned. We had three main targets - Bonnethead Shark, Midnight Parrotfish and Blacktip Shark. In addition, we also wanted to explore new spots for Moray and Sharks in the Keys. Let's just say everything exceeded our expectation...but we had to work our butts off to hit all our targets.

OK...without further ado...

Green Moray (Gymnothorax funebris) - aka shark bait



Here I am trying desperately to stop a shark from wrapping around a marker buoy. But unfortunately, that shark pulled too hard to stop and the braid was eventually cut by the buoy cable. From later experiences, we concluded that the shark that I lost must have been a big Bull Shark.



Lemon Shark (Negaprion brevirostris) - Species #708



The Lemon Shark was about 6 feet long. The shark I lost earlier fought multiple times harder than this Lemon Shark.



French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru) - Species #709





Doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus) - not a lifer, but a really good pic to upgrade my lifelist photo.



Spotted Scorpionfish (Scorpaena plumieri) - not a lifer, but yet another great photo to update the lifelist.



Rainbow Parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia) - Not a lifer, but always so photogenic.



They don't need to be big to pull serious drag. Either stop them or they will wrap or snap you off under the bridge.



Midnight Parrotfish (Scarus coelestinus) - Species #710



Midnight Parrotfish pulls even harder than Rainbow Parrotfish. I lost two on 20lb fluoro before finally landing this one.



Tidewater Mojarra (Eucinostomus harengulus) - Species #711

Anal fin base vs. SL = 14.5%
Depth vs. SL = 33.6%
Least caudal peduncle depth vs SL = 10.4%
Premaxilliary groove NOT constricted by scales and pigmentation is uniform between nasal nares.





Bonnethead Shark (Sphyrna tiburo) - Species #712





Michael's Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas)



* It was after catching this Bull Shark that convinced us I lost a bigger Bull Shark. My shark simply ran faster and harder than Michael's smaller Bull Shark. Michael also lost a 4-5 feet long Lemon Shark that night and its fight was much more tame compared to the Bull Shark.

** We fished 4 nights for sharks in the Keys. On the first night, we lost two, had one run-and-spit and then finally landed my Lemon Shark. On the second night, we lost one. On the third night, it was really windy and we couldn't get our baits far enough. On the last night, we lost a Lemon Shark, had one run-and-spit, and Michael caught his Bull Shark. We've fished for Sharks every time we were in the Keys (5 trips), but this was by far the most successful. We're looking forward to going back next time to catch more sharks!

Bay Anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli) - Species #713



* You wouldn't think I would quit on the micro species, did you? :P

Atlantic Spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber) - not a new lifer, but always cool to catch. We helped George to finally knock this lifer off the list!



Leopard Searobin (Prionotus scitulus) - Species #714



Blacktip Shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) - Species #715!!!



Over two days of fishing, with a total of 16 hours fished and over 12km hiked, I lost three bigger Blacktips to the rocky reefs before finally landing this little 3 feet adolescent. Our flight was at 7:30am the next morning and this was literally the second last bait we can soak for these sharks on our very last evening in Florida.



Little guy got bitten by a larger shark in the recent past. I flip some of my pictures (ie, first photo above)...so the left side was the bitten side.

all done by 7.30pm along with tonight's dinner, biggest tailor went 45cm... 

Headed to Mandurah for the Australian Anglers Association (WA) State Boats Championship on Saturday.  The AAA State Boats is a Member Club based competition and is the premium boat fishing event of the year.

With the weather front going through on Friday night / Saturday morning it is fair to say the conditions were fairly average.  I was lucky enough to fish on Y-knot, Dean’s 8m centre console along with Dunny, so we had a good bad weather vessel, although it was questionable that we should even head out to sea due to the conditions.

The plan was to troll some of the estuary on the way down to the cut and then have a look at the ocean when we got there.  We picked up a couple of tailor in the channel between the inlets but generally the fish seemed fairly quiet.  It wasn’t a good look from the mouth with a large swell and sea state and a fresh SSW wind.  Nevertheless, we had an awesome boat, and skilful skipper, so we decided to head to a close inshore reef, spot lock the Minn Kota on likely ground, deploy the large amounts of Shore Catch Mulie Shred I had in the esky and see what happened.  Conditions were that ordinary we went less than a nautical mile from shore and fished in 5m - 10m of water.

First drop, Dunny hooked up to something quite large and after a short and eventful fight boated an awesome pinkie.

There is usually a bit of banter between Club Members so a text of the photo was sent to a couple of the mates.  It was a classic response received from Birdy, who was restricted to fishing sheltered waters in a small boat.  He later described how hard it was to make himself look happy, but I think he did an awesome job.

We kept loading up the shred and it was on.  I don’t think there is anything better than having schools of big hungry pinkies around the boat, and this is the first time we had really experienced it during the day – usually dawn and dusk.  Another highlight was Dunny being hooked up on the bottom gear and then his floater being taken by a big fish.  Dean picked it up and was fighting quite a “monster” when the gear failed.  There was lot of light hearted sledging around Dunny’s knot tying techniques – although there are probably quite a number of other things that could have caused the failure rather than the weakness of the FG knot.  “Y-knot tie a good knot” Dunny?

We got lots of “trophy” fish in one of those sessions you hope for.  We released sized pinkies and just kept the weigh in fish (1 per bag) and a couple for fillets.  Conditions, were difficult but that’s what brought the big pinkie schools inshore.  Our weigh in weights were about 6kg, 5.8kg and 5kg and we left them biting to chase other species in sheltered waters.  It was nice to test the shred in a place we hadn’t fished before and there is no doubt it worked on the day.

Catches across the board were significantly down on previous years that reflected the difficult conditions on the day.  The MAAC was named the Champion Club for the comp which reflected the skill, and participation numbers, present on the day.  I was commissioned to produce a modern fishing shirt, without logos, for the team and was proud to see how everyone looked in the team photo.

The Mandurah Offshore Fishing and Sailing Club were fantastic hosts, and should be congratulated – I noticed there was a membership drive via reduced fees and free membership for juniors, if anyone is local.  The AAA officers also did a great job, and full results will be available on its website soon. 

Results mean nothing against finding the big pinkies in foreign ground and having a great session on them with your mates.  Spending time with the Members of the Club in a team event over the weekend is a memory of Mandurah fishing I won’t forget.

 Headed out with Mark (keg) and Kevin (Ashen) last night off mindarie. Anchored up and got the burley flowing before 5 but nothing seemed to be on the bite.

It was a very quiet night but whilst I was sorting out a tangled rig Mark's rod buckled and after a quick tussle up popped a nice little dhu to save the day. We were optimistic after that but again it was completely dead so we packed it up around 8:30.

Cheers for the trip out boys, was great despite the lack of activity 

Bluewater Tackle World

Fishing Report Friday 17th March 2017

Whats the ‘GOSS’ you ask? Salmon, salmon, and more salmon. Including metro salmon showing up from Rockingham to Freo, scouts from the main hoard are in town and feeding. Although they are not part of the main contingents literally consisting tonnes of fish and engulfing everything in their path like war machines, these fish are hungry, and worth a shot. These main schools are not far off and providing plenty of sport for Southern residents and the eager and impatient metropolis fishos who are venturing down. Reports from Dunsborough have been hot and for many it’s in reach for a daytrip or overnighter. The usual haunts such a Bunker Bay and Eagle Bay are a good place to start.

.

Max Sampson and Brodie Copeland with salmon caught off some southern stones

Evan Berlinski loves going fishing every Friday after school with Dad

The Canning + Bream = Firing. The tannin stained waters of the Canning have been getting hounded by chop created by the ‘average’ weather we have been having lately. This stirs things up in the shallows and gets the bream feeding and gives you the option to be part of the equation. Staff member Pete Berlinski who knows this all too well got stuck into the bream this past week and pulled a ‘brute’ out from the plague like schools of smaller fish. The father of two also took his son Evan out for a bream bash (disclaimer: no bream are actually bashed in the process) and using bony herring strips, Evan got stuck into 10 bream which he caught and released. Well done Evan!  On a bit of a side note flathead have been scarce this year likely due to our cold summer, however keen anglers have still managed to get into them around areas such as Deep Water Point, and Mosman Bay. Shallow diving minnows such as the Daiwa Tournament Spike have produced good size flatties with a slow roll and pause close to the bottom.

A chunky bream caught by Bluewater Myaree staff Pete Berlinski using 'Pumpkin Shad' ZipBait Khamsin. This new colour has been dominating in the tannin stained Canning river.

Snapper are all over the joint now with reefs like 5 Fathom, 3 Mile and Staggies all holding fish. Sometimes it’s worth forgetting a mulie as bait and instead using something much bigger such as half a blue mackerel or whole sanmar drifting down the berley trail. This can sometimes make all the difference and can also increase the average size of the snapper you catch. Landbased snapper have been caught off the Freo Moles and Hilarys this week and with the weekend weather that is approaching there is a good chance we will see more landed.

Newest Morley staff member Kelvin with a good snapper

In the few breaks in the weather, offshore has been fishing well. Joondalup staff member Trent headed out this past Sunday for a quick fish before the storms came in. He managed a mixed bag of dhufish, King George whiting and fox fish. A spot that for the past few months hasn’t fired due to dirty water has finally cleared up allowing the fish to feed properly which was a welcome change. Morley’s newest staff member Kelvin also got a cracking inshore ‘dhu’ this week.

                                                                                         Kelvin’s dhu

We have had a few reports of metro marlin these past couple of weeks. With people being fairly tight lipped about details, we have still managed to get some info. The Rottnest trench is the place to be, with bait and warm water sitting to the north of the Trench around the Hillary’s and Furuno FAD working the bait balls seems to be getting the results and with some good electronics you can see the fish in or around the bait schools.

The catches this week in ‘Metro’ have once again shown that the Spanish mackerel are still on the prowl. Not huge numbers showing up of late, but having a deep diving Laser Pro in 160 out the back whilst finding ground or moving to the next spot is always a great idea. Try trolling around the contour line drop offs and or around any temperature changes. Southern bluefin tuna out from Two Rocks in 30-40m mark continue to frequently show up and are always good fun on light gear. Amongst those the odd yellowfin to 10kg has also made an appearance. Even if there isn’t massive bird life in the sky make sure you’re constantly looking at your sounder for large schools of bait. The fads out from Rottnest this past week have seen the dolphinfish show up again, live herring and slimeys or 5inch plastics have been a popular choice. It’s also worth trolling around the fad with small skirts, the Richter Jelly Babe in colour 46/46 or any Bonze Bruiser are deadly.

If you have any information or photos that you would like to include in our weekly fishing report, please email customerservice@bluewater.net.au.

 CONTACT US:

Bluewater Myaree

85-87 North Lake Rd, Myaree, WA, 6154

Ph: (08) 9330 7766

Email: melville@bluewater.net.au

Bluewater Mindarie

Corner of Sarasota Pass & Pensacola Terrace, Clarkson, WA, 6030

Ph: (08) 9407 9766

Email: mindarie@bluewater.net.au

Bluewater Joondalup

2/19-21 Honeybush Dr, Joondalup DC, WA 6919

Ph: (08) 6244 0344

Email: joondalup@bluewater.net.au

Bluewater Morley

140 Russell Street, Morley, WA, 6062

Ph: (08) 9375 9800

Email: morley@bluewater.net.au 

Headed out on Sunday for the MAAC monthly comp (if Saturday is cancelled because of strong wind or not enough participants then it reverts to Sunday).  Conditions weren’t much better on Sunday but there were enough boats for the comp to be on. 

I have a 5m Hornet so there was no other option but to fish inshore for bait species.  A solo trip for me as conditions were forecast to be pretty crappy and the deckies pulled out.  I was lucky enough to see Ken Matthews at the ramp (Kenny is another one of the “fishing legends” as the MAAC small boat trophy is named after him because he has won the yearly comp about 20 times) and he gave me some insight into hunting local tailor so that was the mission for the first few hours.

The locations were awesome and I put a big effort in with baitcasted mulies and lures into the wash around the breaks.  I took a photo at one location as it looked so “fishy”, but after trying a number of spots I just couldn’t find them.  They are a schooling fish and I guess and they are there or they are not.  I did however spend a few hours checking out great looking ground to visit again, with good knowledge of where all the hazards are.

I got in close at one location and set up a shred and fish based burley slick over the reef and the pike came in.  They were thick, and quite a good size, and after some shredding of the mono leader I swapped to a lure for a fish a cast – I think they were smashing the baitfish attracted to the shred.  I returned most of them and just kept some of the bigger ones for weigh in.  They got annoying and it was time to move on.

A trip to the herring ground was next.  Out goes the shred and I stuffed around a bit rigging rods to look up and see the water boiling behind the boat.  Unweighted mulie fillets on a small long shank, with an open spool and it was a fish a cast as well.  Backed the drag right off so they don’t jump and throw the hook and it was a really entertaining time – I must admit I even netted a big one.  Again, most returned with just some large ones for the bag and I didn’t take my allowable limit.  The highlight was probably the 350mm slimy that beat the herring to a bait and pulled heaps of string on the light gear and drag setting.

Off to the whiting ground.  A bit of sounding to make sure I was on a good patch of sand and back out with the shred.  A 2 hook baitchaser with squid tentacle and every time you hit the bottom it was smashed.  I got some nice sand whiting and kept the bigger ones.  A bycatch of yellowtail was a bonus, and a few undersized flathead added to the entertainment.

Then my mistake of the day – it’s calmed off a little bit, head to the 20’s to try and get the 2 demersals, some nearshore finfish, a sambo and/or a shark.  The mongrel “footy fish” were there and a skippy, and a brief run on the floater without hookup, was about it.  The weather was ok for a little while but the storms off Rotto formed and they we fuelled by the storms on the hills and it started to howl.  When the Minn Kota battery failed after a very hard day it was time to come in as the cross wind between storms was about 20kn - a very slow trip back to get in the lee of the land. 

Was setting up to troll the coast for tailor when the lightning started off the coast.  A quick check of the BoM radar and it was “run away very fast” to the marina.  5 minutes after I got home the heavens opened.  I couldn’t believe people were actually launching when I got to the ramp!

5 “weigh in” species, 5kg+ weight, biggest herring and biggest sand whiting was the result for me.  I tied for most species with a few others but was eliminated on the weight count back.  The fish of the day was a 17kg+ Dhu to James Omond, and quite a few big male Dhu were weighed in.  It was good to see WA Fisheries scientists at the filleting tables collecting the technical data from the demersal fish.

I would never normally head out in conditions like Sunday.  The “you have to fish the conditions on the day” is a good challenge and even though I only caught bait it was a very nice, eventful, day on the water.

Went North of Two Rocks last long weekend and got onto a couple in close. 

Started in 18m and ended up with about 6 dhus ranging from 450-550mm. Big Johns white spire point leadhead jigs doing the damage. One of the dhus spewed up a seahorse on the deck which is a first for me. All went back well in the shallows but caouldnt manage anything bigger.

Moved out a bit further and managed a couple of nice baldys one of which went 670mm. Then out to 29m where we found some larger dhus.

A nice change getting some fillets in the freezer in the shallower stuff.

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Went for a bash on Saturday arvo around 2pm in the sound not many boats out. Took my brother in law who doesn't do much fishing and lucked out at our normal squid spots. Decided to head out behind Garden Island around 4pm and target something bigger, had the burley trail pumping for about an hour with no luck when right on the start of the minor bight time my brother in law's real started fizzing. He has never caught anything large before so I had to talk him through what to do and after about 5 mins up pops his first legal snapper at 750mm. Hi fives all round then my reel started and after a short fight got tangled around the anchor line and busted off. About half an hour later got another run this time It managed to stay way from the anchor line, It was fighting pretty hard and seemed to have alot more stamina than the brother in laws snapper. Thinking I was onto a large snapper I can't help but say I was feeling a little jipped when a Sambo of about 850mm broke the surface. Speared him back and started heading in as the wind and swell seemed to be increasing. Traveled back in the dark listening to 94.5 party mix and drinking a coldie good laughs all round. In my experience newbies always bring good luck on my boat problem is they catch all the fish. 

Headed out from Woodies at sparrows getting out to the 50's before the sun broke the horizon, first drop and the dhuies were on, and were they ON, between the two of us we hit double figures despite moving to shallower and shallower water to try and get away from them, sure several were undersized but returned brilliantly thanks to slow retrieve. Kept two around 65cm as they are prime eating size, back in by 11 to beat the storms.  Roll on the next lunar cycle !

If you had to choose between catching your bag limit of 70cm+ pink snapper or a Spanish mackerel, which would you take?

Well, the good news is this weekend we have high tide just after sunset, so just like the girl on the taco advertisement, why not have both? One can expect the period from about 4pm to 6pm to fish very well for Spaniards. The sun sitting lower in the sky, the tide rising, it’s a baitfish’s worst nightmare. Keep your eye out for a decent drop-off, in clean water, ideally showing baitfish on the sounder. The back of 5-Fathom and 3-mile should be good starting points. Trolling lures is the easier option; you can travel at 5-7 knots and just wait to hear the ratchet on your reel scream. Trolling baits such as mullet and garfish is likely to yield greater results, but takes a lot more preparation and attention to detail. If you’re prepared to make the commitment to trolling baits, jump on YouTube or come into a Bluewater store for rigging instructions.

Once the sun gets close to the horizon, it’s time to find a nice piece of structure, anchor up current/wind/tide and start your burley trail. I recommend an unweighted or lighted weighted mulie drifted back in your burley trail, a paternoster mid ship and flick a soft plastic around. There is a lot of by-catch for those targeting snapper at the moment such as samson fish, skippy and the odd dhufish as well.
Offshore the demersals are still fishing well with a lot of Baldchin groper being landed North of the river and big schools of dhufish in the 30-40m mark. 


New staff member Jeremy and his brother with a good pair of dhufish. Welcome aboard Jeremy!

There is very some warm water out at the fads now, with dolphinfish, striped and blue marlin all being caught this week. If you can get out there, do it, and you will be in with a serious shot at a metro marlin, with the chance of tuna, dollys and wahoo as well.

With the water finally starting to clear up from all the rains, the bait has shown up along the beaches and with it the tailor. Most fish around the 30-40cm range so not big sizes but the numbers make up for it and make it well worth throwing some lures around the beaches. The whiting numbers have been hit and miss with good reports coming from the Mandurah beaches. Some reports of school size sharks being reported North of Lancelin with a few taken each night as well as a couple school size mulloway.

In the river, bream have been providing plenty of sport for anglers targeting them with hard bodies and soft plastics alike. Myaree staff member Jeremy Cui spent a very enjoyable afternoon wandering from Barrack Street, across The Narrows Bridge, to the South Perth foreshore. He landed multiple fish in the 20-30cm category and found the biggest specimens around the southern end of The Narrows Bridge. Jeremy recommends using the Zipbaits Khamsin Jr Tiny. Meanwhile in the Canning, Myaree staff member Laith Rickman, has continued his success from last week on soft plastics in the Canning. There are good numbers of herring to be had in the mouth of the river as well as a few other bait fish species such scalies and slimey mackerel if you are planning any adventures.

One of Laith's chunky bream before release

Staff member Hon-su fished the Dawesville Cut this week and reported it to be “chockers full of undersize skippy and salmon trout that were plenty of fun”. He also reported seeing scores of garfish in there as well. Staff member Curtis also got stuck into some herring and chopper tailor in Mandurah.

One of many herring Curtis got on his 'yak'.

Even with all the recent rain the number of squid have still be good as well as the average size, with most people that put the morning in to drifting the inshore weed beds coming home with enough for a feed and a lot of fresh bait.

The casting finger of metro salmon anglers has begun to twitch in the last week, with reports of isolated captures from south of Mandurah, to Yanchep in the north. Perhaps none more so the Myaree staff member Geoff who wrote the following. “Now is the time to make sure your salmon gear is in order. If you’re land based, any rod in the 7’6” - 9’6” range that can cast 15-60g should work. Pair that with a reel that holds 300m of 15-30lb braid and you’ve got a great combo for flicking lures at salmon. Speaking of lures, anything that casts well and swims true, will entice a hungry salmon. I like to carry a variety of lures including; metals, plugs, sinking stickbaits and sinking minnows. Plastics work as well, but tend not to cast as well in the breezy conditions we’re used to locally. I’ve got my split-ring pliers and lure trays ready for the next time my girlfriend chooses the movie we’re going to watch on tele. That’ll be when I change all my lures to single hooks. I might even be sporting this year and crush the barbs to look after the fish”.

 Went for a rock fish this morning south of margs . First balloon with live herring, intended for a king, was instantly surrounded by 100 odd salmon and engulfed.Only ended up with the one,i Keep them for bait , was a solid fish good fun fight getting wrapped around a ledge and then a few jumps after freeing the line. Stayed for a few hours saw another two solid schools but no joy from mr kingfish. All you metro salmon chasers shouldn't have too long to wait

Well after the great session recently up in Tworcks on artificials I went back up again yesterday. I knew the seabreeze would come in early but thought what the heck ... we're going!

Staff member Ben came along again and it was good to also catchup with my step bro Andy. Andy had never used artificials before and I said use one of my outfits and I will rig you up with a softplastic!

Armed with Abrolhos softplastics and metals I ventured back out and first drop Andy hooked up into something solid. I called it for a big dhu and he got bricked after a short fight (spewin). Within seconds I loaded up also to something equally as big and after a great fight on PE2 up came a surprise!

 Finally got around to attempting to sort all the photos from our trip to South Africa over Xmas and the new year. Was mainly a trip to visit family and old friend so didnt get to fish as much as I would've liked. There were way too many photos to decide which ones were the best so I've picked a few random ones to post.

I pretty much only fished for Largemouth Bass and Tilapia but also landed my first Natal yellowfish. Not a large specimen but I can see why they're known locally as freshwater bonefish - they go hard! Most of the bass were around a kilo and a half with the biggest being just under 2kg. The fishing was hard with heavy rains and the water dirty for most of the time we were over but I still had plenty of fun.

My main combo was a crucis Aegis 7023 matched with a sienna 1k and 3lb fireline, a cost effective combo but it got the job done on some good fish and light enough to hold all day. Pretty much exclusively used plastics but also gave Big John's jigs a bit of a run and got a few smaller fish on them. The fluoro yellow jigs worked well in really dirty water.

Not sure when we'll get back over next but hopefully there'll be more fishing done.

Cheers

Hutch

Finally got my act together and organised my boat and a crew to fish Kalbarri for the 31st Kalbarri Classic this long weekend. It's a comp I've wanted to fish for quite a while, but the stars haven't previously aligned.

Left after work Wednesday with Dad and made good time up the Indian Ocean Road until we ran into the mother of all storms about 50k's from Dongara, the storm went all the way up to and past Gero but the worst of it was before Dongara, horizontal rain, strong wind and lightning which you could read a book by had us down to 50k's a hour at times. Safely arrived at our Kalbarri Accommodation just after midnight.

The plan was to do a pre-comp recon trip and try and find the spanish mackerel, hopefully giving us a headstart in the comp. First day was a good one once we eventually found the fish, catching 8 spanish mackerel from 6-10kg and a couple of 4-5kg striped tuna. That afternoon my brother Paul, arrived to complete the crew.

Comp Day 1

Plan was to catch some fish on 6kg to get some points rolling and then scale down to 3 and 4kg to try and get some high point scoring fish. We started with fluorocarbon leaders and caught two nice fish straight up, the next four however bit us clean off through the leaders so we went back to light single strand stainless leaders. We learnt a lot this first day, taking seven fish including a nice mack for my brother Paul on the 3kg barra outfit. We probably had 25 strikes that first day but dropped a lot of fish to pulled hooks on the light gear and sadly, sharks taking our fish.

Weigh in that arvo saw Paul take out the Top Gun - Gamefishing award for the day, and a healthy boat tally for Further North. After the weigh in we purchased half a dozen lures to replace some of our MIA and spent the evening rigging.

Comp Day 2

Blasted back to our spot where Dad hooked up to a good fish on 6kg, unfortunately the double popped after about 20 minutes with the fish about 15 metres directly under the boat. We worked the area unsuccessfully for about half an hour until the sun poked over the cliffs and started hitting the mirrors on the witchdoctor teaser. The fish went crazy for about two hours, we blew a lot of fish again to pulled hooks and the occasional shark.

The wind came up around 11am but we decided to grind on, chasing another fish or two to turn it into a good day. Two strikes were the end result for the next two hours, with both lures pulling during the initial run. Buggar.

We weighed four spaniards that arvo and a yft.

Weigh in that arvo saw us extend our overall boat lead in the 6-7m class, and Paul take a good lead into the last day for Champion Angler Game. Purchased another half a dozen lures and spent the evening respooling reels, rigging the new lures as well as our dwindling original survivors.

Comp Day 3

Slow start on the fish, nothing to show after the first 90 minutes, causing the skippers nerves to start jangling. Desperately we cycled through some artists on the Fusion Stereo until The Rolling Stones got things started. A nice mack for Paul on 6kg and then another one about an hour later calmed a few nerves onboard. All hell then broke loose when we hit a hot patch of fish resulting in a quadruple hookup, Dad was the only the one to boat one though, with a couple of hook pulls and a broken stainless leader about 5 metres under the boat for Paul. I hooked two more good fish on 3 and 4 kg string but the taxman came into play once again as the fished neared the boat.

Total fished weighed in that arvo was three. After watching the rest of the game competitors weigh in, we headed to the presentation night feeling hopeful.

Presentation Night

The Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club put on a fantastic evening, with an awesome array of prizes and an excellent meal. We came away very happy, Paul took out the Top Gun - Game Angler for his day 1 efforts along with the big one, Champion Angler Overall - Game. Our boat 'Further North' also took out Champion Game Boat 6-7m.

We had a great time and I'd highly recommend next years comp if your into gamefishing, bottom fishing, kayak fishing or river fishing. Some great captures were made in all categories, with a very friendly and welcoming competition put on by the KOAC.

 Headed up to the midwest on Thursday with decky Boydy for 4 days of fishing. Not sure the weather forecast was quite as expected but torrential rain at Jurien and isolated thunder storms made for an interesting day, headed out to the bank dodging the lightning. Was well worth the early start leaving Perth at 0400 as was the pick of the days. Numerous Cray pots out at my marks made drifting hard work as big currents and lots of rope made picking a good drift line hard. One bonus was the area was one giant fad. Will let the pics tell a tale but had a cracking time with yet another southerly smashing on Friday. A Saturday trip to Jurien with more pingers than a rave party and an awesome shallow water jig 9 (metres) that we couldn't get away from the Dhu,s on Sunday. Put out a small pusher lure on Thursday after spotting some Dolphin fish under the boat resulting in a memorable bucket list capture. Hope you like the pics

 Down Sth for the weekend and caught two salmon on consecutive nights off the beach. Both around the 38 cm mark. Would these be front runners for the year? Good fun on the herring rod.

Pretty happy to catch a feed both nights, on the beach near Dunsborough.

Bit the bullet a few weeks ago and went Hollywood with the trailer upgrade, bought a set of transtyle 2.5 t torsion axles, landcruiser hubs and stainless steel rotors, 15 inch rims and big tyres, but drew the line in the sand at slotted rotors. I know there are some on this site that like that kind of thing (haha....just for you Scanno).

The axles arrived yesterday, and my old man fitted out the axles with brakes etc while I was at work.

Scanno and Bodie then toiled all day today to pull out the old crappolla leaf springs and fit the torsion axles, while I madly drove around time trying to sort out some flexi hoses to fit the new callipers (slight oversight!!!)....ended up getting sorted out by Pirtek, for a considerable ransom....

ENORMOUS thank you to my old man, Bodie and Scanno, friggen legends!!!! Got the whole job done in a day, from dropping the Whaler in at Mindarie at 6.30 am with the old suspension to picking it back up late this arvo with the new suspension all fitted. Bloody brilliant.

Just a few height adjustments tomorrow and fit the guards etc and she is done.

Thanks again Bodie and Scanno, owe you boys one.

 so far it's been a bust for us