Making use of the good weather conditions with a variety of fish for the day.

 Some sounder shots of spanish mackerel chasing bait fish

 Heading up to jurien for the longweekend....Any Reports? I'll be fishing offshore & free diving.

Headed out of Hillarys around 5.30am on Sunday for a magic trip over to Rottnest. Sunrise over the island looked impressive. Bait fishing at West End was a bit of a challenge, but around 700am we managed to get them going. In the midst of chasing bait we managed to nail two nice sized Skippy that were destined for the table. We then headed out to the Southern Fads. Just short of the shallow FAD, we put out a spread of skirts and bibs and sent the doctor out the back. We came across a huge pod of Dolphins that were bow riding for a good few clicks. Fun to watch on such a nice day. First pass of the FAD resulted in a hookup on a Halco Laser. The pace at which it took off had us calling it for a Mackie, but a bit of aerial worked showed it to be our first Dolphin Fish for the day. We pulled the lures in and setup for a pass of the FAD with baits. Current was opposing the wind, and we almost able to hold our position about 20m from the FAD. Made for easy casting. First two baits in the water lasted about a minute, and resulted in a double hookup. Plenty of hooting and laughing on the boat and before long we had two at the transom. Dropped one, kept the other. By this time, another 6 boats had arrived and it was getting a bit busy. We dropped a few more baits in, but all the activity spooked the fish, and we were not able to coax another one up. We moved north to the next FAD and it was a similar situation, with multiple boats holding close to the FAD, and keeping the fish wary. We moved onto the next FAD, to find it with just one boat trolling at a good distance from the FAD. We were able to sneak in, get a few baits in the water, and a few instant hook-ups. Both were dropped, but still made for some fun. On a time constraint, we headed for Hillary’s, stopping at a few lumps on the way. Picked up a Dhu and a Baldy to finish off the day on a high. Calm water meant a 35 minute trip from the 90’s and we were back and hosed down by 3pm. Great Day, great company, and a nice feed to top it off

My first post on Fish Wrecked thought it would be good to share our day out on the water.

Took my boat out of Two Rocks to have a bit of a bottom bounce great day to be out on the water. I pulled myself a nice size Dhuie at 660mm which I thought was a great fish. Only then to be upstaged by my mate Dean who was fishing with some soft plastics all day and then his hard work had paid off. He was smashed by a huge Dhuie pushing 20kg measured a 1050mm. A lot of swearing and high fives everywhere. All in all a good day out with 2 x Dhuies 1 x Baldie and 1 x Black ass. See photo of all the fish, Deans Dhuie made everything look small. Finished of with a few beers and fresh feed on the BBQ for all families to share.

Good weather forecast down south and a quick call to FW member Chrisp who lives down that way now confirmed there were fish around meant a trip south for some catch and release was a must do.

Last minute thing meant all the normal suspects could not make it so took my daughter and her boyfriend, neihter have beach fished before let alone sight cast to salmon with light gear.

We were met with perfect weather but salmon were very sparse on Saturday. Saw a few fish only on Sat morning, hooked and lost 3, so lunch was a bit glum. I headed off for a solo sess late in the arvo and found some fish, had a ball on 10 lb 2500 size gear with some solid fish, landed and released a few which took the monkey off....

Few beers that night and bacon and eggs breaky followed by a fantastic Sunday morning session. We fished a nice gutter for 10 minutes before a few small schools came through and we got a few, then a large school was pushed in by dolphins and it was on. Great fun, a lot more lost than caught, all released.

Gods country!

Excellent weekend.

I decided to have a quick fish in conditions that I normally would not go out in. Mate Nick and I launched at six from Woodies and made our way to a bommie near Rotto. We dropped the anchor in rough conditions and set up a burley trail. About an hour into our fish my Shimano Tekota 500 attached to the Shimano T-Curve Jig-200 made a click, click sound to indicate a query at the other end. The business end was loaded with 60lb floro with two snelled 7/0 Gamakatsu hooks. Attached to the hooks was the favourite bait for this water - a whole scalie.

As I lifted the rod I could feel the fish pick up the slack and ever so lightly tug as it swam off with the bait in its mouth. I set the hook and hung on for what was arguably the greatest fight which I have had in my 30 years of fishing. The fish managed to pick up the other lines before Nick had a chance to pull them all out. It also took me down deep on two occasions where I could feel the resistance of the 50lb Power Pro braid as it ran across the reef below. Yes you read it right 50lb - you can not go lighter on these dirty wrestlers of the ocean.

After a good 10 minute fight we eventually lifted the 120cm Yellowtail Kingfish onto the boat. A quick measure and a couple of photos and it was released to fight another day. I have lost my fair share of what I believe to be YTKF in this area. This new rig is sure to see the tables turn. The next goal is to upgrade this new PB.

YouTube clip here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otbspaNjhDU&feature=player_detailpage

Hey guys, mates taking me up to Gnarloo for a week and ive never been there before, just wondering what i can get i have all gear was thinking balloning and sharks but i dont know if i could get one out just general advice and even what you have heard from other. By the way i am all  landbased

Cheers 

 Thought I'd mention that I picked up the two fattest tailor I've ever caught at the Floreat drain tonight.  Just shy of a kg each. Significantly bigger/fatter than your run of the mill drain chopper. just after sunset (and moon was "up" if you like that sort of info). a few herring around too - one of which accounted for one of the tailor.

Are the fish gonna bite ????
Keen to know have booked charter

After a frustrating period of not being able to fish dusk due to the winds, a mate and I got out today.  We have been planning our pinkie baits and rigs (a number of different combinations) since the demersal ban in 2014, and it was nice to go, at last, and give them a decent try.  Yes, we missed the Word Cup Semi-Final and went out when rain was likely, but checked we were not at risk of lightning storms [tkup.net/lightning].

We fished a bit of “new ground” I sounded up when daytime conditions allowed.  Untested for “dusk” pinkies but clearly hard ground with lumps and weed in 20+m of water.  Headed out at 5pm and back by 8pm for a very nice few hours on the water.

Started with undersized pinkies and dhu, which we brought up slowly to ensure they released.  As dusk moved on and we got to the “pinking hour” the fish were fairly hungry.  Nice to get our “first 2015 pinkie bag out”, and a good sign for the season.  Not huge pinkies but quality eating at that size, and the frames will go to Fisheries for research.

 Seems quiet on the cray front with nobody really talking much about them so I though I would throw a line.

We went out today and got 9 keepers diving with a couple of soft ones amonst them. Seems the second run hasnt happened yet. Does anyone have any theories??

PS Aussie V Kiwis cant wait t... Cmon Aussies!!

 Hello all.

It's that time of the year again when I pack up the family, the dog, the camping and fishing gear and the boat.  we're off to monkey mia next week for three weeks. 

As always there is much planning, much shopping and this year a bit more shopping as I inadvertently turned off the deep freeze with about 12 monkey mia meals in it.....  hmmm lost browning points there.... 

One more day of work and then it's holidays.  off to rottnest this weekend purely for a wedding.  no fishing opportunity there unfortunately.

Tuesday we're off to s bend (we leave late to accommodate my daughter's specialty music lesson).  and the Wednesday onto monkey mia.

my wife tells me wind finder says no wind on Thursday  so hopefully boat in the water and tight lines.

now I have mastered photobucket, I will post reports in the comments.

watch this space 

 Hi

Just  super quick report from me. We went for a quick squid bash in the soud on the weekend. Ended up pretty much bagging out within a couple hours. Colour of choice was pink, and orange did OK. I don't know why I ever bother with new brands and colours, I always end up dominating with a pink size 3 yamashita.

Kept these guys for a feed and used a few as bait. Chased a few birds around too for a couple Mack Tuna - big wide spread schools, but the fish were picky, threw heaps of different lures at them and even trolled a few.

Got smoked by something big too! hooks failed and snapped, called for a Mackie. We have gotten into pelagics every time we have launched the boat in the last 6 weeks.

Been spending so much time chasing pelagics and demersals lately - I forgot how fun a good old squid bash can be... and how good a fresh grub of calamari can be!

Alex

Finally fixed the one thing I really hated about the Boston Whaler Conquest 235.....the lack of overhead rod holders (only 3) and the fact they were too low and me and my deckies have hit them with our head several times, resulting in a lot of swearing.

Called a few local boat fab joints but either they did not call back, costs were stupid or they could not do it for ages.....ended up getting an ebay special S/S 7 rod rocket launcher for $280. My expectations were pretty low but when it arrived on my door step 4 days later it was better than expected, but had a dodgy bolted section to join 3 of the holders with the other 4, presumably to make transport cheaper.....

Time to finally learn how to TIG weld (I used to be pretty good on MIG).......result was I managed to stick the two bits of S/S tube together, but I aint giving up my day job anytime soon......angle grinder and buff made a decent end product (too embarrassed to put up any photos....). Plenty of cutting, heart in mouth stuff cutting off these beautiful rod holders, but thoughts of blood dribbling down my forehead eased the pain........

Lots of grinding......

Final fitup.

And hey presto. Less than $340 all up including everything and a days work.

 Fished whitehills last night in very windy conditions. From the outset 5pm the fish were on the chew. Hoping for tailor and mulloway we were surprised when by 7pm we had our bag. Not of tailor or mullas but pinkies. 

A few guys up the beach also got amounst them.

All up we caught 10 with  afew dropped fish right up to 11pm. By then the fish were still there but had become timid.

Tailor were scarce with one caught and afew small soapies in the mix.

The pinks weren't fussy on baits with a mix of mulies, herring, tailor fillets and whole whiting doing the damage.

 Hey fellars being trying to find some sand whiting off of Bunbury in the boat any ideas at what depth to start in ?

Hi All,

Said last week I'd post how we went with our first Rotto trip, so here it is.

Launched at Point Peron at 7.30 on Weds with my mate Mike and we were off for a couple days. Spent the whole day finding ground in the 30's, 40's and 50's between Rocko and Rotto, we found amazing ground with 6-8m flares and no luck. The type of ground we'd expect first drop bag outs off Mandurah or Rocko. Finished the first day with only a small pink, black arse, sargents, scorpions and wrasse, all released. Entered Thompsons safely, beach penned up, had a couple cans, steak sanga at pub, happy. Pingers everywhere!! 

Thurs saw us do our first FADS trip, on the way out we tested ground, another black arse and we shot out deep. Trolled for three hours with no joy. Went back to the last FAD and 20 odd mutton pingers there, kept trying to work mulies and plastics and finally got two hits. First ever Dollies, not huge by any means but went to the island stoked.

Friday morning the weather was awesome.

Tried a repeat trip to the FADS, saw divers taking a couple but we couldn't attract them on lines. Ended up trying for about 5 hrs when we came across a huge school of Dolphinfish jumping and running the surface. We tried to get them for another two hrs, at points we would have up to 8-10 fish swimming less than two meters behind the transom, beautiful to see but so frustrating. Headed off in still awesome conditions

Left there to head back to Pt Peron and found a bit of ground in the 80's for a pink and black.

Couple of fish and a fun trip.

Cheers,

Ben

Hi All

Just a quick report from a trip to Busso a few weeks ago.

Did a bit of drifting around in the bay down Dunsborough with squid jigs out with not much luck. We didnt try to hard there but.

walked out the Busso jetty one nights flicking a Shimano Egixile in the UV White. Caught 8 squid in a couple of hours nothing huge but still a good feed.

While we where on the beach just beside the jetty cleaning them in the shallows i had a little Blue Ring Occy swim between my legs and i seen a pic on facebook of about 8 blue rings in a bucket that someone had caught in the same area.

Went out a couple days later in the boat to the weed patchs straight out from the marina and got a couple more squid there aswell.

Sorry no pics this time.

Cheers Jayce

How has everyone been going lately ? 
Thinking of heading out later today or tomorrow for an arvo / evening session, looking for a feed, has anyone got any tips ? Cheers 

With Cyclone Olwyn bearing down on Perth over the weekend and predictions of heavy rain and wind, all hope for a fishing outing was being "blown out of the window". When I woke on Saturday morning without experiencing any significant indication of rain or wind overnight and Willyweather, BOM and Meteye all indicating improved conditions, it was time to revisit weekend plans.

I called Nick and suggested we convert our Saturday evening barbecue into an evening session on Cockburn Sound. It did not take much convincing and we decided to include the girls in the evening session on the Sound. Previous evening outings in the Sound have resulted in decent Mulloway, Snapper, Shark and other species, and every session was different from the previous one.

We launched from Woodman Point at around 17:00 and followed a squall moving in a South Westerly direction whilst staying just out of reach of the falling rain. Our target was Sulphur Rock - a spot that had provided us with some good fish in the past. This "fish attractor" which is located about 700m east of Garden Island would offer us fair protection from the predicted South Westerly which would turn Westerly as the evening progressed.

We circled Sulphur Rock twice to see where the greatest concentration of fish were and selected a likely piece of ground to anchor over. It did not take long to get the fish on the bite and soon after burleying we started to catch an array of species. We caught butterfish, striped trumpeter, herring, tailor, snoek, pinkies, tarwhine, whiting, skippy, fiddler ray, shovelnose ray and bronze whaler - 12 species in all. Highlights of the evening included a two meter shovelnose that Nick caught and several bronze whalers that the girls caught. The predominant bait was blocks of snook (which were around the boat in plague proportions) attached to a 6/0 or 8/0 circle hook. Even though no large pinkies were caught the girls had a great opportunity to catch a couple of fish and Nick and I were able to quell some of our addiction (to fishing that is).

By midnight the wind had started picking up and had turned to a southerly which made the conditions challenging. The changing conditions sent us back to Woodman Point content with another great outing on our doorstep.

Spent another night down the beach last night chasing a big toothy critter on the slide baits with my brother Aron, mate Ryan and myself all having the heavy setups ready to go.

Set up our gear and out goes 3 grapnels to sit while we prepared our baits. Ryans sinker pulled trying to get the bait out so he had to reset while Aron and myself got ours out, about half an hour wait and my Sambo head gets absolutely hammered!! swing into it to set the hooks and im greeted by a bloody heavy dead weight, stupid black ray im thinking but after a few minutes it woke up and took off with a heap of huge head shakes. Yep this was an ok shark after all. Because there was very little swell it was so hard to tire it out and steer it around the beach, took ages to get it in close and got it up for a few quick photos and the hooks removed. nice 2.3m broinzie and my second in 3 days!! bloody stoked with it and kicking myself its been so long since targeting them again. 

Ended the night with Ryan pullling hooks on a monster right at the shore break that would of gone 3m after a very very hard fight on full drag and some powerful runs.

 after the Cyclone 

had a great long weekend in Albany,The weather was good and the swell down.The sambo was taken off the rocks near shelleys on a big pink plastic by my sons friend.I caught my first jewie drifting of west cape howe on sunday.salmon patchy at best seen a few at shelleys but no big schools yet

I havent been for a decent fish in about a month as ive been way to busy but managed to find the time this arvo to get out and have a crack at an old favorite.

Got to the beach just before dark and sent out my first slide bait on the heavy setup. 15 minutes later it screams off!!! burnt the crap out of my thumb from grabbing the spool on full drag to stop it from making it behind a reef. managed to turn it quick and it fought back and forth in the waves for a while before we where able to grab the leader and beach it. was a nice 2.2m female bronze whaler, awesome start!!
i sat out while the others put their rods out, Mate ryans screams off not long after. bitten off almost straight away above the wire and the slide.

15 minutes later Aron's races off very very fast!! swinging into it to set hooks and it just picked up speed full drag did nothing before quickly pulling hook on what was a huge shark!!

I re rig mine this time and out it slides, another very short wait and my rod starts bobbing, swing into it to set the hook and a huge headshake meets me as i do. good news it not a ray at least haha
quick fight on full drag and a monster of a wobby is up on the beach.

all up i spent 2 1/2 hours down there this arvo for an awesome session and a good way to get back into it and ready for the shark season following the salmon.

 G'Day all

Heading down Busso way over the next weekend and am thinking about taking the little bloke for a scoop in the evening along those beachs out front of the Holy Mile.. I was thinking about staking out some fish frames or sticking some in a bag so the rays don't clean them up and then scoop for crabs if they come in.. That's the plan... now, are there any crabs about or are we wasting our time???  if there are no crabs about I'll leave the scoops and get the little guy on to some herring down Dunsborough way..

Cheers...

Will have kayaks but interested in shore based too. Staying at Coalmine Beach.

Any suggestions? Tackle, locations etc - all thoughts welcome! Keen to do some lure fishing.

Cheers!

Hi All, went for a fish with the Old Man yesterday.

Plan was to drag the lures for hopefully a mackie. Trolled the whole south side of Rotto and around the west end for nothing, fair bit a of weed about made it a bit painfull more so towards the eastern end of the island. Anyways after a couple of hours of this we decided to head back towards the eastern end of the island and find some shallower ground to try and get a feed of KG's or Skippy.

We found a good looking patch on the sounder that was showing fish in about 16m of water. Threw the pick in and dropped the baits in to see what we could rustle up. The old mans rod got touched up and proceeded to pull in a nice KG, not a bad start. We both went on to get a few skippy, wrase and an under size baldie.

Couple of minutes later Dad gets a solid hit and the rod buckles over. In typical style he calls it straight up for a sambo and suggest " this will be rig for sure".

In pretty quick time he had it off the bottom and being so shallow I made the outline of what looked to be a Dhu. Told him to whoa up a bit and take his time only fishing with a #2 bait keeper hook. Got it to the surface and netted a very nice little buck Dhu @ 75cm on the little whitting set up. Not an amazing capture but considering what we were after and the set up being used thought it worthy of a mention. All in all ended up with a pretty good couple of feeds.

Here's a pic of the the Old Man looking pretty pleased with himself.

To all you Aussie girls and Guys who love to rough it, fishing, camping and chillin out without the crowds.
Please go to the link below and sign the petition.

If they take this away from us, it will be a very sad day for our kids.

https://www.change.org/p/hon-ken-baston-mlc-save-the-wilderness-product-of-the-warroora-station-world-heritage-ningaloo-reef-coastline-from-unwanted-developments?utm_campaign=responsive_friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&recruiter=239248116