off bunbury friday , found a new bit of ground for a pinkie , rat sambo , tiger shark even came up sussing out the rat sambo but kept he's distance from the boat . Back to the dhuie , my oldman was down again after he's yearly overseas cruise towards the end of the day he hooks what appears to be something decent , i get a bit excited calling it a dhuie but oldman recons bloody ray when the line comes up closer to the boat realize it's just a eagle ray , unhook , reposition for another drift , 5 minutes in same thing he's on calling another bloody ray with the line coming up well away from the boat finally color broke with he's PB dhuie and was lucky not to loose it after giving it hammer and tongs thinking another ray

 First post appears to be irretreivably broken, error messages, etc. Try again

Took 2 pots back out this morning, planned to fish after. Tried trolling, water dirty as usual inside, fresh easterly,  nothing after an hour, so i anchored up in close not far from town. I was intent on getting a livie down, so I gave my wife a 10kg baitrunner outfit with a lightly weighted mulie to go on with . Before I could get anything she was into a decent Golden Trevally. Put him back, still trying to get a livie, she has a big Silver Trevally. Then a small Goldspot Trevally, 67 cm Pinkie, legal size Spangled,and a fair Cobia. Meanwhile, i've been dusted twice on the baitchaser rigs between tying baitchasers back on, dealing with her fish, a spot of jigging, and re-rigging after being sharked, and everything else, I still don't have a useable livie after 2 hours-a parade of footballers, baby blackarse, scalyfins, undersize baldie, spinefoot-aaarrrgghh!

Eventually i just give up and start floating a mulie ,  things have gone quiet. So we move a bit, burley up again, and I get smashed on the PE1.5-3 jig outfit floating a mulie--call it for a sambo after 10 minutes it turns out to be a solid Gold Spot Trevally,  nearly as thick through the shoulder as a sambo, must have gone 10kg.

Jesus, am I in the tropics? I mean, I have caught all these species individually before around here, but never on the same day.

 left hillarys this morning on a mission to find some new spots, pristine conditions shot out at 25 knots and hardly felt a bump. 

Sounded around for a big portion of the day and only fished 3 or 4 spots and the result a 93cm 15kilo bundle of joy. 

took a few of the boys from work out wide for a drop had a great day!!!!! Had to hang in close for the weather to drop but when it did it was on!!!!!

Managed to get away for the long weekend with good mate and Fishwrecked member Chinbald for a few days fishing.

Had a top weekend despite fairly stiff off shore  breezes in the mornings and good sea breezes in the arvos.

Fished out of Chinbalds Reefy and left my new rig at home as I still haven't fully sussed the electronics out.

Got plently of quality fish including our bag of Dhu's all 3 days fishing.

Fished depths from 12m through to 70m, with all producing good fish.

Got some good variety on the jigs using the jigging sports assists (cheers Oceanside) for the first time which I was pleased with untill the last session for the weekend when I got completly blown away and lost it including a new Haoli Kanpachi 2. $50 odd bucks worth gone in about a 5 second run, ah well I recon I got my monies worth out of it the couple of days before hand anyway.

A few pics from the weekend.

Headed up to Jurien Bay on Friday evening with my 10-year-old Daughter to fish the Patrons Cup for the MAAC.  The Patrons Cup is an annual event between the Marmion Angling and Aquatic Club and the Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club that has been running for nearly 40 years.  There is one point per species and 3 points if you catch the heaviest of species and the number of bags counted are “equalised” so that each Club enters the same.  It is a comp that is fished with a spirit of comradery, but the Patrons Cup is clearly sought after by both clubs.

The easterly was up early so we decided to stay in close for the B&B species near the reefs.  Conditions weren’t that flash but we managed to burley up herring, garfish and skippy although the bite was slow and the fish were wary.  The highlight was seeing a couple of boats put out live herring (the herring were being chased by sambos when hooked) and connecting with big sambos in very shallow reefy water.

The wind started to drop after a few hours so we decided to head further out to sound some deeper ground (about 20m).  Conditions had got quite nice by this time so we used the sounder to locate structure that was holding fish, and the Minn Kota to “anchor” on it.  Mark from MJ’s Rigs had sent me a sample of a paternoster that is was itching to try so down it went with a whole pilchard and bonito fillet on a very likely bit of ground.  Within seconds I was hooked up and boated a nice 4kg Baldchin – some anxious moments with the deckie and the net but we got it in the end.

Down again and the lovely deckie hooks up to something with size.  Sarah has learned a lot over the last year and she did a really good job with the fish.  It was undersized but a very nice fish for a 10-year-old girl.  Her first WA Dhufish.  Because we were shallow and Sarah brought it up slowly, it released with a very solid “kick”.

The window of opportunity out deeper was small and the southerly came in strong.  In my little boat it was certainly time to “run away” and I was pleased we had started the “run home” early.  I thought we could troll the beaches for tailor in “sloppy” water but conditions were so bad, in my boat, that we had to come in 3.5 hours before weigh in.  Anyway, a really nice morning in a magic spot.

The weigh in was where it all went “pear shaped”.  We had “hidden” behind the marina break wall to clean up the boat and bag the fish.  I was stupid enough to leave the comp rules at home on Friday and had asked for them to be brought up to work before we left – 2 plastic bags, one with food and one with fishing stuff.  When I asked the deckie for the fishing stuff bag, unfortunately it didn’t come along – can’t blame the 10 year old though.  Anyway I just chucked the fish in the bag from my iced up live bait tank to the esky.

Wrong, you could only weigh in one fish of each species.  I have to accept total responsibility for being dumb and stupid.  I should have looked after the rules, I should have listened more carefully at the “rev up” and/or I should have checked with other members as we had lots of time.  The worry then was that my stupidity would cost the Club.  I had to put the Baldchin on the scales after the weigh in and of course it was more than half a kilo heavier than the next one so 3 points down the drain (luckily another MAAC Member caught the next heaviest so my mistake was minimised).  As the results were announced it was with great relief that the MAAC had enough points from its excellent fishermen to take the cup.  A lesson for all, make sure you read the rules in anything that you do, so you don’t have to suffer the consequences (yes, the sledging was quite severe).

Finally got out for a fish off Bunbury over the weekend and managed to tick off a big bucket list fish.

First off while exploring some new ground we found a nice dense school so down went the jig and 5 quick drifts later we had boated an 800mm dhu and 3 pinkies. Also dropped 2 good fish which i suspect were also pinkies. Seafloor control gawky 130g in orange doing the damage.

On the way home i put out a daisy chain/flashing teaser with a richter soft grassy 93/lumo and x-rap magnum 20 (favourite macky colour). About 20mins later the x-rap got nailed and after a quick blistering run i had finally boated a SBT off Bunbury. Ive been chasing them for a while now so i was absolutely stoked! Estimated to be about 4.5-5kg.

Went back on Sunday to see if the school was still there and indeed it was. I wouldnt usually fish the same spot 2 days in a row but i had a mate with me who had never caught a decent fish before. Had a quick fish and he managed to catch a 750mm dhu and 540mm pinky. Sure was a good day out putting a mate onto his first dhu and pinky in the same session.

Cheers

Kyle

School on the first day

Demersal bag pulled off the school

SBT euphoria

School on the second day

 Took 2 pots back out this morning, planned to fish after. Tried trolling, water dirty as usual inside, fresh easterly,  nothing after an hour, so i anchored up in close not far from town. I was intent on getting a livie down, so I gave my wife a 10kg baitrunner outfit with a lightly weighted mulie to go on with . Before I could get anything she was into a decent Golden Trevally. Put him back, still trying to get a livie, she has a big Silver Trevally. Then a small Goldspot Trevally, 67 cm Pinkie, legal size Spangled,and a fair Cobia. Meanwhile, i've been dusted twice on the baitchaser rigs between tying baitchasers back on, dealing with her fish, a spot of jigging, and re-rigging after being sharked, and everything else, I still don't have a useable livie after 2 hours-a parade of footballers, baby blackarse, scalyfins, undersize baldie, spinefoot-aaarrrgghh!

Eventually i just give up and start floating a mulie ,  things have gone quiet. So we move a bit, burley up again, and I get smashed on the PE1.5-3 jig outfit floating a mulie--call it for a sambo after 10 minutes it turns out to be a solid Gold Spot Trevally,  nearly as thick through the shoulder as a sambo, must have gone 10kg.

Jesus, am I in the tropics? I mean, I have caught all these species individually before around here, but never on the same day.

Not sure we have totally cracked it but learnt a few nice tips in this mornings KG session.

PB for both me and Langa. My best went 54 cm, Langa's went 59 cm and 1.43 kg.

 Short video clip of our outing on Sunday

https://youtu.be/Cap_3Yqa9gM

Just finished editing a bit of video from last weekends trip. Left them biting.

The video link is below the pic.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOyUPjh2pdM

Crazy wind predictions this weekend past.  Decided to give Saturday a miss as the wind forecast did not look too good - the result an almost windless day.  Go out on Sunday which was to be the better day and it ends up as sloppy as.  It did not stop Gail from catching her PB Baldie though!

 Some of you may remember old fishwrecked member and very good friend of mine, Darryl (Dazsamfishing)... Well he moved back to brisbane a few years ago and hasnt had a chance to fish for snapper with me since iv owned a boat. He arrived here on Saturday midday, picked him up from the airport and went straight to my local 'South beach hotel' for a few pints of Swan Draught :) . There was no plans of fishing but a a few beers and the ocean looking pretty dam flat in front of us and checking the weather online had changed for the better  we hurried home and loaded the boat and got down to the ramp about 5pm..

He was keen to do a bit of squiding first since he claims brisbane sucks so a quick half hr resulted in just under a dozen nice squid and it was time to head to the snapper spots. Well we were slightly distracted and ended up chasing a school of longtail tuna busting up big time and they were big barrels to. Would cast and cast and cast right into the middle of them and nothinggg. We soon gave up and headed off to the snapper spots again. Found a few fish on the sounder and anchored up. Since poor dazza never fishes in brissy anymore i said every rod that goes down tonight is your take i will just setup/watch. Went to start burleying up and noticed some very big blobs on the sounder. As i threw a few cubes in, instantly a few big sambos came right upto the boat and munched the cubes. Daz puts a bait in the water and before you know it hes on! I only fish cheap 100 dollar combos with 20/30lb mono for drift baiting so i wasnt sure how it was going to hold up in 8 metres of water. After quite a long battle he had a very respectable sized sambo boated considering the circumstances.

.

Soon after we played around with another one again. They then dissapeared and it was time to get back to the pinkys. First rod goes down for the night and daz calls it for a pinky. A pinky it was but a bit small and was released. Waited another half hour and the rod buckles and it looked much better. After a nice little battle up surfaces a pinky. Netted and measured (83 cms) it was put to rest and bled. A few minutes after that all went down the rod goes down again and another very nice sized pinky is boated and put to rest and bled. Another 5 minutes and the rod is down again and its a ray so what does good old skipper/deckie for the night do??? I took the rod and fought the ray for him so he can take the other rod which has gone down but wasnt a pinky this time. A small black tip. Black tip/ ray released and rods back in the water. No more than a few minutes and rod goes down again. Another very nice pinky boated. A quick photo with the others on the deck and it was released.

It was 8pm by then and i made the call to head home as we still had to go see a few family/friends and we had a very early wake up the next morning so left them biting but what an awsome night and daz wants to move back to perth alot sooner i think :) Ended up keeping 2 nice fish and some squid and 2 very happy fishermen!

 So from landing in perth and having nothing planned except a few beers of his favourite WA beer and a pub feed, to having a night of non stop action in a few hours, a very lucky and good decision made me thinks. Cheers,

Marko

Camping as part of school get together weekend just gone. Even though daughter started vomiting 3am Sat, I hit the beach 5.40am with mulies and gang hooks only. Plenty of bites stripping the mulies but nothing big. Jagged a small whiting so put that on. 6.40am and fish jumping out of the water chasing bait, looked like tailor size. Within casting distance but no hits. In the end a ray took the whiting. Others on the beach had no luck either.
Friend caught herring about 7.30am onwards and many had little bite marks on them. They returned Sun morning but earlier and caught nothing.

Also saw herring in the shallows of the river. It was great to get out for a fish but was the worst camping we have had due to daughter being sick - in the camper trailer both nights.

Grey nomads had been there 4 weeks and said the fishing was very lean compared to other years.

Hi Guys

Chasing some bluefin tuna around yesterday, and saw a marlin jump out in front of me!!

Was only about 12kms directly out from hillarys.

Just reporting.....

 Just spent a week working with my brother down in Mandurah, painting a house on the canals at Dudly park. As we were staying in the house for the week i thought a few nights fishing in the canals would be good so threw in a couple of whiting rods and my 30lb jigging outfit for a mullaway rig.

On the first arvo i set my bro up with a whiting rig and some peeled prawns and was setting up myself when the first whiting was caught. Bloody small but it was a sign there were whiting there so i hurried with my rig and got some bait wet. Well the whiting may have been there to start with but the bream pretty quickly pushed them out of the way and that was all we were catching. Must have got 15 small bream in the next 15min. Good fun but at 12cm or so not what we were after. My bro caught a 10cm stripped grunter (i think it is called that) and i pulled out the big guns for some live baiting. Tossed him out and set the rod against a tree to see what was there and kept trying for the whiting. Didnt take long and there was a tap on the live bait so picked up the rod and tightened the line up a bit. Well the stripie was gone. We ended up with another grunter and hooked him up, tossed him out and this time i held onto the rod. Got another tap and felt like the fish was gone again so pulled it in to find just a head with a clean bite behind the gills. Things were looking promising for something bigger than small bream but had to shut it down for the night.

Second day we set up just before sunset and first fish in was a whiting again. As that is my prefered offshore bait i hooked it up as a livey and sent it out. Bloody thing swam straight to the bottom and got nailed by a crab who mush have been next to, or under the only rock in the canal. Snagged me up and i ended up busting off my 50lb leader. Normally not a problem except i only had my small tackle box with me and only had 6,15 and 20lb leader in it. A bit small for a taylor or mulla. I snelled up a couple of rigs with the 20lb so i had an assist type hook to pin in the skin near the tailof the live bait. It was full dark by then and the small ones were off the bite with nothing but undersize crabs getting caught so we shut it down again.

Worked late Wed so knocked off a bit earlier on Thurs to get some fishing in. Targeted the grunter and got a bucket of 8-9 liveys. To prevent the crabs getting hold of them we rigged up a couple of makeshift floats from wild turkey corks and both of us went at it. First cast out and my brother got smashed and had a hell of a fight on his little rod. Managed to land his first taylor of 30cm. It bit through the leader just as it was pulled from the water but managed to land just on the payvement at his feet. Got a photo and released it. Almost straight away i was hit but got dropped. Was reeling in a very light bait, probably a head, when i was hit and hooked up. Had some great jumping action and landed another 30cm taylor. He had sliced through the leader and my assist hook was missing so it was back to re-rig.

Looking through my soft plastics bag i had found an old spool of 100lb leader but seeing as the hooks i had were only small, the biggest being a largish KG hook i had discounted it. Well i gave it a go and tied on some 100lb leader, that just fit through the eye, and had another couple of rigs. Bloody hard to tie that size leader on small hooks..lol..   We fished until our bait supply was gone with me getting my PB taylor of 35cm and the biggest of the night. No photo's of that one as we were both pretty pissed by then.

Had great fun even if i didnt get the mullaway i was hoping for.

 Nothing gets me more excited than a metro mackerel.

Caught one this time last year when hunting for salmon about 100m from West End at Rotto!

Recent reports are talking it up like there is a plague of them out there - reports of catching them off Woodman Point Jetty, Spaniards and Sharkies LEAPING out at the end of the Freo Moles. Seems to be more speculation than fact but there is talk of schools around the Mewstones and Three Mile... BUT...

No one on here or any other forum seems to be reporting anything - especially from boats.

How are fellow fishwrecked fishers fairing? Do I venture forth or wait it out? If any success, is my trusty red head Halco Laser my go to?

Love to hear any reports - particularly from anyone heading our from my local boat ramp - Hillarys, or around Rotto.

 The wind was down last wednesday so my mate and i headed out early, On the water by 4am at spot by 6am  First drop His nice Pink 800mm ( see pic ) then a Dhu 660mm a Boldie 500mm then a 400mm tusk fish Red, black in top fins never seen one before chin like a Boldie but chin was  light red. At home by 12:30 Good mate was very Happy.

Fished the MAAC Bluewater on Saturday with Dean, Wal and Sarah.  We had a great day on the water with heaps of fish of all various types.  We released everything that was not going to win biggest fish of the species except for Flathead, Breaksea and Baldchin (obviously), and the biggest Samson we caught which was about 15kg.  No winners in the bunch but a great day out with good company on an awesome boat.

The highlight for me was Sarah’s effort.  She is only 10 but her enthusiasm is very high and her skills are improving all the time.  The excitement in hooking and landing her first quality Baldchin was lovely to watch – 2.65kg, as was the 1kg Skippy as well.  That’s what it is all about – 10 year olds on the water not stuck with their heads in screens, and she loves it and can’t wait to go again.

Sorry about the Lions Cap!

planned on getting up around 3:30 to take my oldman out sunday , i slept through to 5:30 after the snooze button got pressed a few times , hit the water had a drop at the 4mile on the way out for just a few bites but no fish in the boat then again at 12 and 16 with one good run but dropped and a few wrasse . motored on out to the main spot for the day first 3 drifts were pretty quick with the wind a bit stronger than i'ld thought and grey clouds moving in quick was starting to umm and arhh about heading in closer before it got worse but stuck it out with plenty of bites but nothing too serious other than a KG .Come 11:30 it turned it on as soon as we dropped solid bites then both the oldman and me hook up , first up pops he's a dhuie then mine which was another dhuie , dropped the oldmans back down with the release weight with mine dropped in the esky for the old lady , few more drifts with some decent bites but dropped and either giving them line when should of tried setting the hooks or trying to set hooks when should of given line happening , i miss one when i see the oldmans rod double over bit of a fight and up pops a baldie a first for the boat , first ive seen in person off bunbury and a first for the oldman so pretty happy . called it a day and had a couple of drops on the way back in for a small pinkie and usual wrasse/rockcod a few more dropped/missed all in all a memorable day

Grab a pot of coffee...or save it for the weekend...

If you fancy the full, yet brief, daily blog posts, you can find it here starting on Day 1:

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2016/01/2016-hawaii-oahu-day-1.html

** I'm not going to post all the links here...all 28 days of links. I hope you are capable enough to navigate the blog on you own.

It has been over 6 years since I visited my Grandma and my uncles in Oahu, Hawaii. When an opportunity occurred that would take me there, it was difficult to refuse. I chose to kept the blog posts focused on fishing and scenery, so there is little mention of family and other events that also occurred.

Hawaii was the place where my species hunting began. When I was 16, I returned to Hong Kong to obtain my adult citizenship card. On the way back to Canada, I made a stopover in Hawaii. During the 1.5 weeks in Hawaii, I fished with my telescopic rod to catch a few reef fishes. That first experience opened my eyes to traveling and fishing. Since then, I had made two trips, in 2007 and 2009, back to Hawaii and caught 32 new species.

In the past, my fishing was limited by the lack of transportation. I was too young to rent a car. Fishing was dependent on the availability of my family and friends when and where they could take me. Today, I am afforded more freedom as long as I can afford a rental car. Luckily, I made all the bookings early enough before the rental price skyrocketed.

Based on the advice of Steve, Elijah and George, I decided to add a week on the Big Island just for fishing. However, Maui was an island that I had wanted to visit and hiking in Haleakala was a big bucket list item. A few day in Maui was added. Before I knew it, my 4 weeks long Hawaii itinerary took shape.

I would like to thank my family for hosting me for so long, especially my Grandma. I would like to thank my friends Ji, Jason, Stan and Todd for making their best effort fish with me. I would like to thank my new friends Wade, Jamie, Jeffery and Peterson and hope we will have opportunities to meet again in the future.

Food

Keneke’s plate lunch

Shrimp plate from North Shore

Pancakes smothered in macadamia nut ice cream

HI-BBQ smoked beef brisket

McDonald’s taro pie!!!

Nenue sashimi

Menpachi and Moana ready for the pan

Poke – shoyu marlin and limu ahi

Rainbow’s Dine-In plate lunch

Some scenery

Ka’ena Point

Akaka Falls

Waipio Valley

Pololu Valley

Haleakala – 12 mile hike

Day 1

Masked Triggerfish (Sufflamen fraenatum) - Species #486

Manybar Goatfish (Parupeneus multifasciatus) - Species #487

Boomerang Triggerfish (Sufflamen bursa) - Species #488

Wedge-tail Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus rectangulus) - Species #489

Blacktail Wrasse (Thalassoma ballieui) - Species #490

Stocky Hawkfish (Cirrhitus pinnulatus) - Species #491

Hawaiian Hogfish (Bodianus albotaeniatus) - Species #492

Blackside Hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri) - Species #493

Arc-eye Hawkfish (Paracirrhites arcatus) - Species #494

Day 2

Cocos Frill-goby (Bathygobius cocosensis) - Species #495

Rockskipper (Entomacrodus marmoratus) - Species #496

Thalassoma purpureum (Surge Wrasse) - Species #497

Day 3

Fantail Filefish (Pervagor spilosoma) - Species #498

Day 4

Millet Butterflyfish (Chaetodon miliaris) - Species #499

Threadfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon auriga) - Species #500

Bird Wrasse (Gomphosus varius) - Species #501

Hawaiian Dascyllus (Dascyllus albisella) - Species #502

Day 5

Keeled Needlefish (Platybelone argalus platyura) - Species #503

Speckled Squirrelfish (Sargocentron punctatissimum) - Species #504

Iridescent Cardinalfish (Pristiapogon kallopterus) - Species #505

Shortfin Molly (Poecilia mexicana) - Species #506

Day 6

Whitespotted Boxfish (Ostracion meleagris) - Species #507

Spot-fin Porcupinefish (Diodon hystrix) - Species #508

Day 7

Common Parrotfish (Scarus psittacus) - Species #509

White-banded Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) - Species #510

Day 8

Yellowfin Surgeonfish (Acanthurus xanthopterus) - Species #511

Day 9

Bluespine Unicornfish (Naso unicornis) - Species #512

Brick Soldierfish (Myripristis amaena) - Species #513

Bandfin Cardinalfish (Pristiapogon taeniopterus) - Species #514

Day 10

Sixfinger Threadfin (Polydactylus sexfilis) - Species #515

Day 11

Daisy Parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) - Species #516

Convict Surgeonfish (Acanthurus triostegus) - Species #517

Ringtail Surgeonfish (Acanthurus blochii) - Species #518

Eyestripe Surgeonfish (Acanthurus dussumieri) - Species #519

Sailfin Tang (Zebrasoma velifer) - Species #520

Indo-Pacific Sergeant (Abudefduf vaigiensis) - Species #521

Undulated Moray (Gymnothorax undulatus) - Species #522

Day 12

Yellowstripe Goatfish (Mulloidichthys flavolineatus) - Species #523

Day 13

Yellowfin Goatfish (Mulloidichthys vanicolensis) - Species #524

Hawaiian Chub (Kyphosus hawaiiensis) - Species #525 (Potentially)

Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus) - Species #526

Spider-eye Puffer (Canthigaster amboinensis) - Species #527

Day 14

Brown Surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus) - Species #528

Black Triggerfish (Melichthys niger) - Species #529

Lined Butterflyfish (Chaetodon lineolatus) - Species #530

Brighteye Damselfish (Plectroglyphidodon imparipennis) - Species #531

Whitespotted Frillgoby (Bathygobius coalitus) - Species #532

Day 15

Whitespotted Filefish (Cantherhines dumerilii) - Species #533

Forceps Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) - Species #534

Flathead Grey Mullet (Mugil cephalus) - Species #535

Racoon Butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula) - Species #536

Day 16

Shy Soldierfish (Plectrypops lima) - Species #537

Shoulderbar Soldierfish (Myripristis kuntee) - Species #538

Day 17

Pinktail Triggerfish (Melichthys vidua) - Species #539

Ornamented Wrasse (Halichoeres ornatissimus) - Species #540

Tropical Half-beak (Hemirhamphus depauperatus) - Species #541

Paintspotted Moray (Gymnothorax pictus) - Species #542

Day 18

Brassy Chub (Kyphosus vaigiensis) - #543

Blotcheye Soldierfish (Myripristis berndti) - Species #544

Crown Squirrelfish (Sargocentron diadema) - Species #545

Day 20

Turkey Moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) - Species #546

Day 24

African Coris (Coris gaimard) - Species #547

Day 26

Gracile Lizardfish (Saurida gracilis) - Species #548

Day 27

Spotfin Burrfish (Chilomycterus reticulatus) - Species #549

Some pics of species I've caught previously that I also caught on this trip…

Giant Trevally (Caranx ignobilis)

Hawaiian Gregory (Stegastes marginatus)

Christmas Wrasse (Thalassoma trilobatum)

Bluefin Trevally (Caranx melampygus)

Blackspot Sergeant (Abudefduf sordidus)

Kuhlia sandwicensis

Kuhlia xenura

Redbarred Hawkfish (Cirrhitops fasciatus)

Blacktail Snapper (Lutjanus fulvus)

Bluespotted Cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii)

 anyone know if any billfish got caught at the rotto trench for the billfish classic over the weekend. ?

hey FW, in follow up to my previous post for advice on my first charter fishing experience heres the report of how the day went.
first of all big thanks to the crew at Port Bouvard charters, they put alot of effort in to get us onto fish. the crew were a good bunch of blokes with alot of character, i enjoyed chatting and swapping stories with them and picked up some advice aswell. food and snacks were good and plenty of water/fizzy drinks. also even with a full boat fishing shoulder to shoulder it at no point felt overly cramped, idealy a few less would be great so everone could spread out more but it was definately no dealbreaker. next time might take the advice on bringing my own bait as it was squid only untill we caught some seargent baker but still alot of fish caught. i would definatly go out with them again thanks guys.

early start to the morning with bugger all sleep prior (too excited mabye) left at 5am for the 1 hr trip to pt bouvard, gear and eski all packed night before, hopes were high.

sunrise from the jetty and the boat.

ended up taking my baitrunner/terez combo with 30lb braid, 40lb leader and an extreme botton rig as my bait rod. due to some advice from FWA pro tackle and the weather looking to be really good with only 1m swell and bugger all wind all morning. i decided to take my FWA rod and new 3000stradic to fish some soft plastics, 20lb braid and fluro leader, 1 1/2oz jighead and some mcarthy plastics. full boat with 19 ppl fishing, only myself and another fishing braid so we were setup at the back of the boat.
because of the good weather skipper decided we would head wide straight away and work our way back. left around 645 and headed out, they threw out some skirts to troll for tuna as soon as we left the marina. was a long trip out, time in which i learnt i get seasickness, distracted myself chatting to the deckies and keeping an eye on the horizon. hr in first hookup on the troll, a young kid took the first one and reeled in a nice bluefin tuna, biggest one of the day about 750mm. 2nd came up about 15mins later landed by myself, not bad and my first fish on troll/first tuna. no real fight, we were trolling fast, over 15knots so possibly buggered by the time they caught the lure and we stoped the boat,  got setup etc. got another about 30mins later, after over 2 hrs travelling with a few tuna stops we made it to the first spot.
morning was slow with only the 3 tuna, some seargent baker (used for bait) and some undersized fish, a little frustrating admittantly. didnt spend long at each spot and i didnt even have a nibble for the first few, by 1130 only a breaksea cod and an ok snapper on the boat. each spot seemed to get a few more bites and by 12 it was starting to go well got my first hookup on baits, pulling up an undersized snapper at 450, spewin. few others had started catching aswell, had sweep, more baker, breaksea, a couple snapper and a sized dhu.
second hookup with a bit more fight, scored a nice breaksea at 480mm. not his lucky day, or week as he had a bit of a tussle with a shark or other toothy critter recently with scars and a wound to show for it.

bit more moving (usually oportunities i took to have a sneaky chunder over the back of the boat) and things start to heat up some more when someone lands a massive dhu, wieghed in at 18kgs, was a horse, only thing that wouldve made it better was if it was mine haha. sounds like it put on a bit of a fight and was called for a stingray at first as was moving around the bottom alot. guy next to me also caught a whiskery shark, approx 1300mm thing went spastic once it hit the deck before being subdued by the priest, deckies were really efficient head/fins off, guts out, flushed with the deckwash bagged and in the freezer. moved on again, woulda been nice to do another drift over that spot but no go. next spot i hooked up big, started to come up as a big wieght before it took off surging down and pulling drag. fought it up gradually between surges, before some colour appeared, hopes were up for a dhu but deckie called sambo and up it came. still another first for me, wieghed in just over 4kg and 750mm, after that fight i can see why others on here target the bigger ones! we moved on again, dropped drifted into the zone then bang, back on big time,  big hard surges of another sambo but alot more power/weight. ended up just holding the fish in place couldnt gain anything on him for a while between surges before he took off forwards along the boat, collected everyones lines with it... deckies and others were great, keen to see this fish landed, between myself and the deckies we were moving along the boat going up, over and around lines and rods. ended up in a big tangle up the front deckies tried to undo it but the line was hitting the boat at this stage and busted off, rig, leader and about 50meters+ of braid gone. it was about 2 by now so i didnt bother re rigging for another go as i had the plastics rod all ready. some tips from the deckies, a drop off the other side of the boat to check the drift and i was fairly confident i was getting into the right zone. 2 more drops, worked the plastic up and free spooled it back down, as i flipped the bail back over the rod loaded up, few pumps and dropped it. quickly free spooled it back down, flicked the bail back over and was on! good weight putting a nice bend in the rod, some head shakes, decky was calling snapper or dhu but after a short fight i landed my second blackarse on a 7inch bullhead minnow in pearl. also my first fish on a soft plastic! a good one at that, bit fatter that the first at 2kgs and 470mm. plastic was chewed up rerigged for another drop but the seasickness came in again and i was burlying up over the side while they were still asking me if i wanted to keep my fish or not. had my bag of demersals so opted to keep the blackarse and give the foxfish away. had a few a few more drops with some small bites but missed the hook before the skipper called it quits around 330.
part of me would have loved to keep going but i was done, sea sickness subsided for the trip home which was good, got back to the jetty at 530 and for everyone to collect there catch and award catch of the ay trophy that went ot the lucky bugger with the monster dhu.

the kill tank after docking.
was a great day out, would have loved to get into some dhus or even snapper but ive heard breaksea cod are great eating and i love a bit of sashimi so stoked with my tuna. ended up keeping the sambo as some said the small ones arent too bad, which i fileted up when i got home.did the sambo first and got alot of meat off it, tried a bit first fried up in the pan and was good, flakey, white and quite mild. next bit i overdid a little and it turned to mush, parasites i believe cause this? i tried another bit deep fried and made sure it was only just cooked to experiment. not mushy at all and tasted good but as i was breaking it apart found a not so small worm, pulled it out of the flesh and it was about 15cms long... i know this shouldnt affect the taste etc but i just dont think i can eat it after that, got a strong stomache but yeah...
 

was 560mm and 2.5kgs, lotta meat on these. peeled the skin off and cut into 4 loins, trimmed the dark red section off (bloodline?) and ended up with a fair bit of meat

the top fish looks like it lost some weight or was unable to grow due to healing the bit wound as its the longer fish but alot less girth.
got some thick fillets off the cod, nice easy fish to fillet, no pin bones, and each fillet is enough for me and my gf to share so theres a few meals there, cant wait
.
fresh sashimi, was a bit nervous at first but was delicious! also have some soaking in vinegar in the fridge and froze the rest along with the fillets.

Hey everyone

Didnt end up going to North Mole, but spent 2 nights at Rockingham Jetty. Plenty of tuna jumping but they won't take a ballooned bait. First night got a few small sharks and rays, second night was a bit more quite, there was lots of rays a port jackons. The second night there was tonnes of bait around, so we filled a bucket if nice size blue mackerel and scaly mackerel, so next shark fishing trip is looking pretty good

Sorry about the crappy phone pics they don't do the fish justice.

Cheers for reading

Final results for those that are interested.

Dhufish - 16.3kg - G. Harrold

Pink Snapper - 8.08kg - G. Bennett

Baldchin - 4.31kg - S. Brown

Samson - 17.5kg - N. Rowse

Break Sea Cod - 2.19kg - A. Borrello

Garfish - 0.284kg - B. Shepherd

Queen Snaper - 5.59kg - T. Bell

Tailor - 1.63kg - T. Moran

King George - 1.15kg - S. Brown

Skipjack - 3.07kg - C. Ackerman

Herring - 0.384kg - R. Riches

Sand Whiting - 0.251kg - A. Thomas

Flathead - 1.88kg - B. Campbell

Harlequin Cod - 1.93kg - M. Langridge

 sbject says it all

 Double hook up dolphin fish at the hillarys Fad today, We  landed one and the other fish is swimming round with a halco red hed shallow diver, shimano sargosa reel and 24kg shimano jig stick hanging out of its mouth, very expensive day fishing, but just another great fishing story to tell. yes i am a D..k head.

Weather looking average so we are taking the floating gin palace (Boston Whaler Conquest 285) out of Ocean Reef.

Come and say gday in the Marina while we are waiting for the shotgun, out wide expect a snapper sinker coming your way if you get too close.....haha!!!!

Good luck for those who are going. The lack of Tuna on the prize list has shhhhtoomped our plans this year!!!!!

 Having just got back from 3 nights at the mouth of the Moore River with 2 mates I thought I'd chuck up a quick report.

We arrived around midday Monday and set up the camp in good time, grabbed the bream gear and headed down to the river for a quick flick. Two hours of tiny bream passed with only one legal fish landed and we decided to head back for some food and to set up the big rods.

Over the 3 days we did a bit of breaming, although with the plagues of tiny fish we didn't put too much effort into it. The better quality fish came from the mouth at night whilst we were passing time waiting for the surf rods to buckle over.

Night one was windy and the weed was prevalent but we persisted for a few small shovel nose and a nice mulla coming in at 120cm, my first and by far the highlight of the trip.

Night 2 saw great conditions, with a fairly light south easterly keeping the conditions pleasant. Matt lost a horse of a mulloway right on sunset that nailed a live tailor. A 60cm soapie on the bream gear kept things interesting in the surf. After that the night belonged to rays and rays alone, with us landing 7 or 8 alongside 5 tiny shovellies before calling it quits just after midnight.

Night 3 was very tough, with a howling SW and heaps of weed, we struggled until about 11pm before giving up, keeping a bait in the water was near on impossible despite using 10 ounces of lead. 

All in all, the tiny shovelnose were a major pain in the arse, with well over 10 landed across the 3 nights.

We yakked out large baits every night, with the baits sitting for over 8 hours each night without a touch which was very surprising to us. We thought the Sharks would be in numbers in that area.

A great trip and one we will do again in the near future, especially since it is barely an hour from home.

Hutch

 I did it. I finally caught one of these legendary fish that I can cross off my list. May not be that massive ones you hear the morning after but I got a sized one at 62cm and didn't camp a night for one. 

Caught on a live trumpet that I had jagged just like the legends foretold that it would. 

I'm a happy fisherman having struggled weeks to catch anything at all. Caught in busselton ;)