It has been sometimes since I last posted catch report here.

 Hey guys,

Been a while since I put a post up so I thought I'd share the last catch with you all.

Beautiful day on the water. Fish were in close and plenty to choose from. Heaps of sambos around too. 

Also thought I'd chuck up a pic some of the squid from a few weeks ago

Cheers

Certainly hasn't been the best few weeks fishing, only got out on the boat twice. Started off with me been selected to join the Western Angler nextgenfishing fishing team, a new team that has been formed for young fishos. Great to be a part of it, you will definantly see more of this team in the future. Also great because I'm now sponsored by multiple different brands, can write fishing articles, do fishing demonstrations at events like the mandurah boat show and much more. Fishing was slow with only a couple alright dhuies, a few pinkies, sambos and plenty of other fish caught. Lost plenty of salmon with loads hooked but not landed. Caught a lot of herring around the place. Spent long hours going for landbased pinks, had a lot of trouble with rays, fiddler sharks and port jacksons even though I was ballooning. Most days I was the only one out in the freezing cold weather and storms fishing, despite having fresh squid and crabs for bait and putting in 10hours a session day and night trying to catch them I still didn't land one. I did have some action though, I was hand lining mullet for bait when a had a decent mulluway take a small yellow eye at me feet, went straight under the jetty and on 10lb line and a long shank hook it was never going to end well. Not catching one hasn't put me off trying, it just means I'll be determined to land one. Max

Abrohlos Tackle that is...

Bit of a shout out for a WA company. A mate put me onto a local (gero based) jigging tackle supplier recently and I've been blown away by the fish catching performance of the jigs

Ive had good sessions off Dongara, Lano and Mindarie the past month where they outfished some high end jigs fished side by side. Mindarie session on the weekend I hooked 16 dhus for the day compared to 6 on bait and other jigs (shallow water session so they were releasing nicely)

Hopefully this doesn't boost demand and put the price up but after great service from the company and proven performance on the gear I thought the guys deserved a plug.

The 'All rounder' model has worked best for me but I lost 2 concaves to Mackie bite offs on consecutive drops off Dongara so didn't get to test them properly!

Couple of recent pics below. (Pinky was on bait but thought id throw it in there!)

 The wind was not as strong as forecast this afternoon, and although the sea conditions looked “lumpy” an afternoon inshore fish for pinkies was too good to pass up.  Previous experience has suggested that the pinkies come in close after the storm so it was worth another go.

Headed out from Hillarys around 5pm to new ground about 5 minutes from the marina.  There are a lot of reefs in close so the plan was to fish just off a lump, burley hard and present a variety of baits.  It was a random selection of a new spot and we just chose what looked good on the sounder.  The sea was messy with swell, chop and current all going in different directions.

Within 10 minutes I had a solid take on my bottom rig.  It was a mini pink of about 300mm but a good sign.  Not long after another mini pink and hopes were high.  The bite was generally slow however as there were no other species taking the baits which was a little unusual.

As it got quite dark, and right on the change of tide, my floater went off big time.  This was a fish that picked up the mulie and was heading to the horizon.  The bait runner was screaming and I let it run before setting the hooks.  Solid, and then the drag started to scream which is always a good sign.  No doubt that this was a big fish as it headed to the rock with a lot of repeated runs and head shakes on the relatively light drag settings.  After a while it came to the surface and the concern was that it was a shark because it did this.  As it approached the boat we saw the colour and shape, and this was no shark.  A nice pinkie in the net for a happy end result.

We kept going for a while with another 45cm pinkie boated and released.  We got some big Port Jacksons but it was getting cold and windy about 7.30pm so was time to come in.  A nice target had been captured, and really you only need one.

77cm and 4.5kg (10lb) when measured and weighed.  It was long and skinny but still a nice fish very close to shore.

Had a good session on Saturday morning at a spot on the 4 mile off Busso.. Visibility was terrible due to fog and we only had the mark on a phone as we usually just go on landmarks in the bay, making it bloody hard to find our spot. Berleyed up with mulies and crab shells. Ended up with two pinkies measuring 75cm, eight thumping kg's and a handfull of good sized hezzas. 

I caught the first pinkie on my little whiting setup (Shimano 2-4kg aqua tip with an Alivio 1000 fitted with 6LB braid) which made for a great fight. I got broken off about 10min later on the same gear. The second pinkie had my rig and about 10m of line hanging out of it's gob when my mate landed it. 

 With the wind looking favourable, an acceptable swell and an itch to be scratched, it was time for a fish! Started early from Hillary's at 5:30am and only saw 5 or 6 trailers in the car park. I'm sure it was going to be busier later on. Headed out through the channel for a quick stop at 3 mile in 14m but no action. With the light improving and assisting with visibility, moved a little further out into the 20's and picked up 20 odd sandies but left them on the bite chasing something bigger. Out in the mid 30's my mate hooked up to something solid, stripping a bit of line off the whiting rod and size 1 hook attached to 20lb braid with some fresh squid tentacles. After a brief tussle, up came a fat, 53cm kg. Boom! Few more drifts for some fresh bait (wrasse) and we found a couple of floats attached to stuck cray pots. Again, mate hooked up to something very solid with a couple of screaming runs and then off. Very disappointing. After a few fruitless drifts chasing the dream, the decision was made to head out further again. A quick stop in the early 40's netted an undersized spotted mackie and then further again for the 'Hail Mary'. Plenty of bites in the mid 40's, 2 undersized dhus that swam well using the release weight and lots of pickers but no takers. Luckily jagged a seargent baker for some quality bait and finished the final drift, last of the bait with a 50cm baldie for the skipper. Conditions were pretty good for my little boat, always a bit rocky unless you're on the river...  That being said, the run in was superb, riding the rollers in doing 20-22 knots. A great day out in the water, and what's that? Cricket and footy on in the evening after filleting and a couple of beers? Don't mind if I do!

 Got out this morning to the outside of 3mile with ring in deckie matt. Good day with no chop bugger all wind and managable swell, sambos are out in force. Hard to get to the bottom to let something else at it.

Under size snapper, dhu (just under legal), 2 flat heads, scorpion fish, skippy, and about 20 sambos kept it interesting.

On the beach NOR at 5 30 am Salmon were biting then stopped. 1/2 hour later the tailor were on the bite. I was using 40 lb leader with a couple of 5/0 snelled hooks that was ok for Salmon but the Tailor were biting through it with ease. Landed two Tailor then lost the first hook followed by the second hook so chucked it in and when home with a nice feed. Left the tailor on the bite - not something that happens to me too often.

 We headed out in the arvo to chase a Spanish or two but didn't get a touch. The first bottom fish resulted in three keepers but we noted the quietneess of it all considering the shows on the sounder. This was highlighted as we roamed the ocean over the next 6 hours for just three more fish. The radio chatter was the same with very little being caught. Then at 9:30 we stumbled across a spot at Spitfire reef. There were no shows on the sounder but it was worth a prospect drift. A Nannygai was landed so we anchored up. Then they found us. The sounder lit up like a christmas tree and I really wish we had of taken a screenshot from the Garmin CHIRP sounder. We didn't even get time to take a fish pic. Over the next hour all four rods were hooked up within seconds of touchdown. That's if they made it to the bottom. Erica even caught a 5 kilo Fingermark in amongst the carnage. That's the first time I have ever witnessed a Fingermark caught out on the reef itself. We ended up keeping just over 50 fish to share with the friends and families involved but many more were caught. Mick was furiously throwing back spangled emperor and small mouth nannygai to target the large mouth nannygai. An earlier single pic of the big cod and then laying against the lot in the end photo gives an idea of the quality.

Certainly a trip to remember.

Fished the MAAC comp on the weekend for a solid, but not spectacular result.  There were a few notable captures however.

Probably the highlight was a massive cuttlefish that we managed to hook and release 3 times – everyone on the boat got to deal with him!  Biggest one I have ever seen and in the end we cut the hook out of his tentacle so he would go away.

My highlight was a squid that went 1kg even on the certified scales.  He was quite a “beast” that was intent on a live herring and when he came to the boat we could switch bait it.  Biggest one I have caught for a while and the chili squid went down a treat with the family.

We also managed a 500mm harlequin on a live bait which again was one of the biggest that I have seen.  There were a few harlequin landed for the day which is a little unusual.

No doubt the catch of the comp was Glen’s 17kg dhu which he got just before heading in for the weigh in.  The lovely Fisheries ladies, who turn up to every weigh in to “sample” the target species, were very happy to get the “bits” from this one.  A lot of quality fillets there.

 Me myself and I. Got bored. Plenty of big ones around I let heap go . Great relaxation.great bait for Saturday

hey everyone,
We went to Albany for four days on Friday for some fishing,
As soon as we got there and unpacked we went for a quick fish down at the Emu point jetty, we only spent an hour there because my younger brother was getting bored and we were catching nothing.
The next morning dad and I got up at six o'clock for a "quick" fish down at the town jetty, we got there and berleyed up, we had a fun couple of hours catching and releasing multiple Bream, Skippy and Tarwhine, nothing was really sized but they were still fun to catch on light gear.
Later that day at around ten we went down to Emu point jetty for another fish, this time we took our little cousin to try and catch him his first fish, we caught a lot of Mullet, Bream and skippy which kept us occupied for a couple of hours, the skippy were pretty small, around the 20cm mark, the biggest Bream we caught was 28cm, I was very surprised in the amount of mullet we caught, about 15 mullet were caught ranging from 15cm to the biggest at 34cm. My little cousin managed to catch to Bream, after that we couldn't hear the end of it about how much he loves fishing, which was a good thing. Later that night, we went down to Middleton Beach, dad assuming that we were going to catch lots of fish seeing though our last name is Middleton. Anyway we got there at about five, we weren't there for long because I only managed a small Flathead and a Squid. Later that night we went fishing at the Town jetty but with no luck
On Sunday morning we went back to Emu point, the fish were a bit harder to come by but with a bit of berley and patience we got onto some fish, we caught the same species as we had the whole trip, Skippy, Mullet and Bream, I also got a little Leatherjacket, my little cousin got two Mullet and a Skippy, it was good fun watching a 6 year old real in a fighting 27cm Skippy trying to dodge the hungry pelicans who were causing trouble. Him being new to fishing wanted to keep every little fish he caught and put it in an aquarium or jump on them. Later that day we headed out to Two Peoples Bay just east of Albany, we were catching lots of chunky sand Mullet, small Whiting and a few Flathead, at around five we saw a few rays cruising around in the shallows, I decided I was going to have fun and try and catch one, I chucked a mulie on a set of 5/0 gangs and waited, eventually I hooked one of them, I hooked the biggest one of them, after a blitzing first run it has spooled 350m of 20lb line, after the initial run it gave in, I got about 200m back, but then he ran off again peeling line from my reel, after 35 minutes of my arms hurting I beached him, he was a nice sized eagle ray, I got the hook out and released him and he swam off fast.
Next day we went out to Camp Quaranup where I caught a little colourful Wrasse. 5 minutes later I saw a salmon cruising around the reef, I chucked out a whole mulie and I was on straight away. surpringly it didn't really fight much, he had swallowed the gangs all the way down, so he was pronounced dinner (I don't know what people are talking about when they say salmon isn't good to eat, we stuffed this one and put it on the Barbie and it tasted quite nice) Next spot we went to Emu point to pick uncle diesel from the oyster farm where he works, I decided to have a fish as I didn't want to waste the opportunity to walk out on the sand bar at low tide, I went out to the end of the sand bar and got 3 nice chunky Bream which would of been about 28 - 33cm. as I walked back I found a few little sand wholes around the weed on the drop offs, I managed 14 King George Whiting ranging from 23cm - 36cm. I walked further towards the jetty and caught a nice flounder, I let him go just near my feet, he camoflauged really well straight away.
Well the last morning, we decided to go for one last fish before we had to come home, we went to Emu point before light to see if we could improve the size of the fish we were catching, anyway we got there at about 6:30, after an hour of catching just one little yellowtail our hopes weren't that high. but then we started talking to the skipper of Spinners charters who had been out for 2 days, he said the mulie boats are going to come in soon so you should get some nice fish. within a minute of the boats coming in we were on to the Bream, fish after fish after fish, all of these fish were about 20 - 30cm. One of the deckies on the mulie boats gave us a couple of fresh mulies, if you see the difference between a fresh mulie to a bait mulie you will be surprised and probably not buy bagged mulies again. Anyway back to the fishing, I cut dad a little chunk of mulie within 2 minutes he was on and on to a bloody big fish, it was taking line and going under the pylons after about 3 minutes he landed it it was a 46cm Tarwhine, he was pretty stoked with his efforts, about 30 minutes of catching smallish ones, it was my turn. I hooked on to a massive Black Bream, I got it to the surface and gone spat the hooks, we estimated this one about 45cm it was a beauty!!! I was dirty with my myself and wanted another one, 2nd last cast of the day my turn comes again I hooked a big bream. this time I wouldn't let the same mistake happen and I got it up on the jetty, it measured 47cm, I was so happy, because ive always wanted to catch a 40cm Bream, people spend years trying to catch that big bream and we hooked and landed 2 in 30 minutes, its just a matter of being in the right spot at the right time and when the fish are hungry, anyway I told dad I would have one more cast, another mulie boat came in, I saw a big salmon swimming around at the back of the boat, I sprinted back to the car to get my beach rod that had a set of gangs on, I chucked a fresh mulie on, after 3 minutes of the salmon sniffing out the bait, he took it and he was off, after a 7 minute fight I went down the ladder to get him, he measured 86cm, I unhooked him climbed back down the ladder and let him go
All in all it was a great fun trip with a few fish caught
I only got pictures of the first day sorry and the salmon we kept because I put the camera in the bait bucket and mum got a bit angry so im not allowed to use it anymore so I just gotta save up and buy my own
I also only got a video of the ray because mum filmed it but I don't think I can upload it
Cheers for reading
Vinnie

 Hi FWer's

Well our mid year Shark Bay family trip has been and gone for another year. This year we went into the Francois Peron National Park. We camped at Bottle Bay this year as all the campsites at our usual haunt (Sth Gregories) were taken. So had to find some new ground to fish, which isn't very hard up there.

So being a family trip, it was a pretty laid back approach to the fishing. Went a bit like this most days, get up have brekkie, slowly get the kids ready, hit the water at around 10am travel about a mile, anchor and fish for a few hours, come back to camp have some lunch and a couple of cold ones, then if I was still feeling keen go out for a solo arvo sesh. If I wasn't, just kick back and drink more beer. What a life.

My young fella absolutely killed it this year, ticking off new species nearly every day. He caught: Heaps of Black Snapper, heaps of undersize Pinkies, a small Coral Trout, Golden Trevs, School Macks, Undersize Blue bones, big Tarwhine, a 39cm Bream pictured and a few different types of small cods. He reckons the Macks were the best fun. Thought I was going to loose my rod and reel, when I gave it to Scott to fish with while I tied him another rig. Forgot to back the drag off and sure enough a just undersize Blue Bone grabbed it and went hard. He held on though much to my relief.

Its a great spot to take kids fishing, as the action is normally on straight away. Here is my 5 year old with her first BBone.

My fish of the week came on a solo arvo sesh. I was anchored up in 6 metres of water catching undersize Pinkies one after another. On a couple of occasions something was following up the hooked fish. It looked a bit like a Mulloway. About an hour before the sun set, I got a very solid hookup on a piece of mullet. I was thinking big Pinkie and the way it was fighting, taking line on a pretty hard drag setting and big head shakes. I was actually getting a bit worried because if it was a Pinkie, it was definately going to be over the max 70cm rule. Then I saw the flash of silver, and the adrenaline spiked! Upto this stage my biggest Mulloway was about 60cm. Luckily the gaff was close at hand and I got him. He was 116cm but pretty skinny I think, he only went 10kgs.

Anyway, it was another really good trip, had perfect weather until the day we were leaving as the wind really picked up, but that didn't bother us then. Will pencil in next years trip for sure.

Tight Lines

Chris.

 the Abroholos islands is one place that has always ranked very high on my list of places to visit but i was never lucky enough to get over there until a few weekends ago. Got a call from Paul G about a posible weekend trip and i was all over it and beyond keen to tag along. friday lunch time came around and the road trip from Albany north started. 
Got to Gero late friday night and slept the night there and off to the islands at first light. 8am and we where in sight of the first island and suited up the dive gear and where greeted by fish busting up on the surface, jump in and straight away a school of shark mackies and spanish cruise right up!! couldnt help myself and shoty a nice little mack around 11kg. from then on it just got better and better!! the coral life is just out of this world, fish life is amazing and just the sheer vertical drop offs and coral on coral is a great sight the great fish is just a bonus. 
some of the highlights for the weekend where... Jody and her Yellow fin on stickbait, Jesse with his first speared mack that resulted in a encounter with a rather friendly shark, diving wreck point behind the reef, coral trout like flies, monster baldie from the shallows, Jody and Pauls after dark dhuie and spango, little blue macks destroying baitfish all around the boat at night, big coral trout and my first common trout.

Had an awesome time and its a place i would love to spend a lot more time exploring, big thanks to Paul, Jesse and Jody for letting me tag along and was an awesome weekend well worth the effort.

Christened the new Evapac cryavac machine from Compleat angler Nedlands with some baldy fillets. Worked a treat! 

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Hey guys

We have just returned from our first trip up to Gnaraloo Station, with most of the six days spent on the beach trying to shelter from the bloody wind which made things a bit difficult on the fishing front for us. Didn't get many photos despite having the camera with me.

Managed to get out on the kayak a couple times for not much, only a 93cm Shark Mack and a couple undersized spaniards of around 60cm along with a crapload of grinners and tiny cod to show for about six hours trolling. Didn't do any bottom or bait fishing due to the wind but hopefully next time we can drag the boat up once the trailer has been made sturdier.

The Sharkie was actually sight casted with a 10cm Saltwater X-rap and no wire, which was a bit lucky. There was a fair bit of activity with free-jumping mack tuna and queenies, mackies and tuna carving up bait inside the bay but nothing worthwile seemed to want to bite our X-raps or Laser Pros aside from the two or three times we got bitten off (forgot the wire ).

As mentioned above, a lot of time was spent combing the beaches looking for likely opponents and I managed to find numerous Goldens around 60cm and a couple small Queenies but nothing much else other than plenty of dart and small Trevally ranging from 20 to 45 cm which provided plenty of action on the ultralight gear and small artificials. A white 14g bucktail and 110mm Squidgy fish in the dropbear colour seemed to be the only lures that consistently pulled fish, with a range of Gulps, plastics, and other lures also trialled. On the light gear the lure of choice was the Scumnline 65mm Amphibian bream bait on a 1/8oz jighead with colour not seeming to make any difference.

On Friday evening (our last night) we headed down to the bay for sundowners, sheltering on the eastern side from the strong easterly which died down a fair bit close to sunset. I had a great two hour session on sunset standing on the reef near low tide casting poppers and slices and landing Tailor, small GTs and Brassy Trevs to around 55cm. Not huge but the trevors gave me a run for my money on 20lb. 

At one point there were so many GTs of about 50cm that I was standing on the edge of the reef jigging a metal slice and they were smashing it less than 2m from my feet. Insane.

The sight of a fleeing popper getting hunted down and smashed by a GT, albeit small, in front of the setting sun is not one I willl forget soon.

Despite the apparent lack of fish it was good to finally get up there after debating about it for ages; it really is a magical part of the world. 

Cheers

Hutch

 Hey all,taking the missus and girls to seabird for a few days next month and will be hitting the beaches for a fish.Who knows of any good spots up that way and what might be biting?? Cheers...

Well as mentioned earlier this week, I headed out again today for another splash around Gage Roads looking for dinner. After scraping ice off the seat and deck, I launched at the very decent hour of 0830 and headed around to the northern side of North Mole for a quick squid. Only managed one on a read head Big W jig, and then headed over to Hall Bank to see if I could get an upgrade on the pinkies I was getting on Monday. No pinkies today, though I did catch a mutant silver bream which I am sure had flecks of pink in it, so it went back. Managed 10 skippy on one squid ring, and kept the biggest 4. Next move was out towards the Windmills, this time stopping around where I stopped on Monday, on the edge of the bank, drifting in a northerly direction. First drop - bang - double header of fat whiting. Over the next hour, I must have pulled up 25 or so whiting of varying sizes, three flathead (progressively getting bigger) and the worlds smallest skippy. After getting a feed (16 whiting, putting back small ones as I caught them), I headed towards Rotto, to Pilot Reef, for a look. Upon arrival, I looked down to see a fairly large, silver backed fish swimming away and after throwing a plastic at it, it had a look though kept swimming. I threw the pick in and burleyed up though couldn't get it to come back. It was a good way to get rid of last weeks scraps though. Time to head south towards Mewstone to see if the Salmon were around and I was met by a large black cloud moving through the water. They were still around. First cast with one of the Recfishwest Halco lures and it was on. Healthy fish though bleeding heavily, it didn't swim away. After going to retrieve it, I passed it across to another boat whom was keeping them. Another few casts with a variety of poppers to try to get some surface action though it wasn't to be. Had to head home as the wife had to work, so with 16 fat sand whiting, 4 skippy and a nice squid, it was a good day out on the water. Only used 15l of fuel which was a plus. Neighbours were happy with a feed of fish, I was happy that my daughter preferred the whiting over chips (!!!!!!) for tea, and I will be back out on Saturday for another play. Below pics in order are Skippy, whiting and salmon.

Gail and I did a session on Cockburn Sound on Friday evening which resulted in a number of Herring and undersized Snapper.  This was not enough to quell my fishing appetite, especially as I had not been on the boat for three weeks.

Well after missing out on a day out yesterday, I took advantage of what was meant to be an relatively OK morning forecast, without much rain forecasted.

Launching at Leeuwin around 10:00, I headed out in what was a fairly light north easterly, headed for the windmills for a couple of whiting for kiddos dinner. Half way out there I copped the first real greany over the bow and had to throttle back. Out near the anchorage the breeze was gusting to 18's and my thought of going to the windmills was over so I threw the drogue out and sent out some of last weeks squid to see what was around.

First cast, whilst setting up a squid jig, my line started twitching and I wound in a small flathead (getting one or two each trip, around 15cm long)
That was all that I landed on a 30 minute drift, and with the seas building, rain coming in, I headed over to Hall Bank.

After using it as a sailing mark for the best part of 20 years, I had always seen people fishing there and was curious to see what it had to offer.

My first drift was slightly west of the marker and resulted in nothing though the next few drifts were over the actual bank which showed plenty of fish, heaps of bait, and plenty of potential.

Managed to land 6 small snapper (10-15cm) which went back, two skippy (turned into dinner) and a couple of wrasse.

After realising that my parking was due to expire, I towed a 7m diver abound the lump and back to the north mole, with a lot showing on the sounder though nothing showed interest.

Not the best conditions out though still got enough for a taste, managed to get snapper on the boat, even though they went back, and entertained the dog.

Looking like heading out on Thursday to have another go.

Hi Crew,

Shot out from Woodies yesterday morning solo in the tinny with the light winds forecast. Got onto them straight up with some crackers coming onboard with tubes over the 30cm mark. Making up my bag was few cuttlies with one stonka that managed to absolutely hose me before I got it on board. Put some nice bags in the freezer for the table and stashed away some as well for in a couple of months to hopefully convert into rankin and reds up at Coral Bay. Water depth was 5-7m and red heads were doing most of the damage.

Cheers.

When are you going to take us fishing they said?? Mate I love fishing how about as soon as we get a chance.

How about Friday. Yep. Done. They rock up at the ramp 6.00am with a carton and some bait.

Do you guys want a kwell I said?? Nah we bought beer. No worries

let's go fishing I said. So we decide to head out of Rotto. 

Nek minute. The boys were over the side spewing

Caught a heap of fish though unfortunately all undersize and were all released well. The boys got home safe but may have been turned of boating for a bit. I do realize there's nothing worse having been there myself. Fortunate we were able to get the boys back early on another boat that was with us.

On the way back it glassed of beautifully and could see everyone setting up for the night snapper session.
How did you guys go?

hey all shot out off rocko in fog but glassy conds got 3km from the spot and the westerly turned up bit washy few fish around mid 50s but wouldnt bite went to a second spot whack big girl dhuey 12.7 kg

Had my dinghy for 4 years now and never been out at night so the weather was looking good on tuesday so headed out from ocean reef. Launched at 5pm and headed out to the 3 mile stoped on a few lumps in 8 to 12mt the sounder was lit up i knew there would be pinkys around. Did a few unsuccessful drifts so decided to move in to a lump in 8mt it was pitch black by then around 7pm first drift and my drift bait got smashed my drag was screaming  with big thumping head shakes i felt a few knocks on the line then tail beats i was caling it for a shark or big sambo. Ive never had a pinky go that hard before finaly after 4 big blistering runs i managed to start geting some line back on the 4000 stradic and up poped a 770mm pinky couldnt beleive It was hooked under its pectoral  fins no wonder it felt like a shark. Did a few more drifts but couldnt manage anything else was a good first night fish.

Hi crew, After watching all the weather sites Thursday night I was unsure as to what conditions would be like.
All the sites had different wind directions, swell and weather predicted. But I made the call to give it a go and just fish without a plan deciding what to do when we hit the water.
It was a bit messy in the morning but the wind was very light so out to the 30s was the call. Taking our time in the small boat to stay dry, we headed out slowly and not long after crossing the 3 mile line my deckie spotted a small tuna jump out to the side of us. In with a lure as quick as possible and barely 50m later I hooked onto a small SBT .
Trolling out to our spot I picked up another slightly bigger, then we set up for a bit of bottom bouncing.
First to hit the deck was a nice KG , followed by a few undersize Dhu fish. We were getting messed around by cuttlefish a lot but unable to hook them. But did have a large squid follow a bait up, always having a jig ready on a handline saw it in the boat quick smart.
Catching the usual wrasse, one was cut up and sent down hooking the only sized Dhu for the trip.
Few more hook ups and lost fish we were getting ready to head in and my mate hooked a nice bronzie, don't always keep them but this one drew the short straw and I processed it ready for the esky.
Over all wasn't a lot of action but I have had plenty of days worse and was better than being at work.
One thing we did see further out, was a huge school of tuna smashing bait, they were huge ( nothing like the SBT's I caught ) By the time we got over to them they had gone. I don't know what type of tuna they were but at a guess they were larger than 10kg, with some maybe 3 times that.
Sorry about the picture, but I didn't get a chance to get any fresh shots . Cheers Grant

I took up Michael’s (zOOm’s) FW offer for a deckie spot today.  He proposed a long day but after finishing the draft web site and not being out for a couple of weeks due to a blown seal on my tilt and trim (burleying with hydraulic oil is not cool), and with the weather forecast, I was keen to get out there.  What a top day!

We started about 9.30am and first up tried to catch herring and gar for bait not far from Hillarys.  Not that successful really with only a few herring, and plenty of toads.  From there we headed to the back of the 3 Mile to give that a go.  Wrasse, parrot, a couple of bronze sharks (up to 1m), a just undersized baldie, a 5kg eagle ray and a nice squid (Michael’s first) was not particularly spectacular either.  Time to move on and try somewhere else.  We headed South to sound some ground off Scarborough and found a likely looking patch that seemed to be holding bait and fish.

What a nice little spot this was.  We spent the next 4-5 hours there for what could only be described as epic metro near shore fishing.  Once the burley started to work, we had fish in abundance.  Michael landed a “horse” of a black arse (well over a kg) and then the big skippy and tarwine moved in.  You couldn’t keep a bait on the bottom for more than a few seconds before it was smashed.  The floaters were going off as soon as they got down and fish on all rods was common.  Throw in the double headers, some with undersized pinkies, and it was very entertaining indeed.  I reckon we landed 40-50 fish with most going back (especially the tarwine), except the 10 or so we kept.  Michael also put out a live wrasse that got hammered by a big shark to add to the event.

And then it got to the “pinking hour”.  Hopes were high as the ground had been so productive so we switched to the best baits and rigs to try and capitalize.  My floater went off and when I set the hook there was no doubt it was a sizable pink.  Alas, it spat the hook and a predicted 5+kg model escaped.  Not long after, Michael’s gear went off and this one made it to the boat.  60cm, not huge but nice, and we were very happy when it came aboard.  Michael hasn’t caught many pinkies before so this one was special, as was his first demersal bag out.

I then hooked a large ray (15+kg) on the little Gomoku with the 4000 Ci4+ so that took valuable “pinking hour” time to get to the boat on the light gear – my back is still aching.  The pinkies had shut down by then so a bit more effort to confirm and it was time to come in.  It was a lovely day with excellent company and lots of good sport.

 G'day

Went out for a fish  with a mate on Wednesday from Ocean reef, Hard fishing very quiet,Managed a Dhuie about 700mm long,nice Baldie,Black Arse,and a good flathead in 45 mtrs which was a suprise.

Went out Today Friday still pretty slow going but got my first double header,dhue fish both about 8kg, also caught a banjo shark (ray) but let him go,was about 1.5mtrs.Caught them off the beach before but not that big,Not sure if there any good to eat or not.

Looks like a good nite to fish tonight,hopefully some good stories.

Sorry no Photos.

 Headed out from Woodies bright and early to see how far out i could get in my 5m runabout. Got out past Carnac heading for 5 fathom but the swell and chop was making it like a washing machine so decided not to chance it and played in the sound instead without much luck. By about 11am the wind had dropped off so headed out again. The conditions had settled down and i managed to get to the west side of the bank. Ended up with a snapper, a blackarse and a cuttle. Lots of cuttlefish around smashing the bait. Some were huge but only boated one. 

 Went for a wander down an old favourite beach today. Didn't get past the gutter in the foreground of pic 2. The greenbacks got in the way!! My foot is a size 13 for scale.