Went for a fish in the tinny with my brother (NinteyMile) off Ocean reef on Sunday. Planned to head out to the 3 mile but wind was up, so anchored in close (300metres from swimming beach) and found some weedy/reefy ground in 7metres. Ended up with a good feed of KG's and Flathead plus the usual sand whiting. The KG's went from 45-50cm and the biggest flatty went 67cm. Also lost a nice +50cm KG at the boat. I now see why they call them kidney slappers! Just shows you don’t have to go miles out to sea for a half decent feed. cheers/Ben

 Hi guys,

Bout the head out this weekend for a fish...

Chasing some nice tailor/mulloway/small sharks,

Any north of the river beaches doing well at the moment?

Cheers

Sam

 G'Day,

Finally took a day off to get out for a fish with the brother in law on Monday, picked a great day too, probably could of done with a bit more wind to help the drift along! But not complaining. Headed SW out to the 30m line & fished around some craypots for about half an hour but pretty quiet so the choice was made to search for a bit of ground in the 40's. Got out there and found some likely looking bottom and I picked up my pb BB, nice and fat too. The brother in law picked up another one a little bit smaller than mine, so I had the bragging rights there!!

So with 2 nice ones on ice, the talk got onto getting my pb Dhu. About half an hour later thought I had it in the bag. Got a good hit on the bottom & it took a couple of powerful runs near the bottom, I started to slowly get a bit of line back and could feel a good bit of weight on the other end. Was starting to get a bit nervous by this stage hoping all my knots were up to scratch. The fight seemed a little bit strange though, a couple of little surges but nothing major considering the weight I could feel. Then we saw it.... A bloody shark! Oh well not the dhu I was hoping for but the shark wasn't too big so we decided to keep it (haven't had much fish in the freezer lately). It came to life when it got to the boat as we knew it would but after a couple of runs near the boat we pinned it with the gaff. Thought it was a nice little Bronzie at first but seemed to have longer fins, then when loping its head and tail off noticed how bloody thick it's skin was. So called it for a Thickskin, know why they're called that now!!! Does anyone know what they're like on the chew. We trunked it as soon it came on board then pumped water thru from its tail section then straight on ice. Also heard from a few sources that keeping shark in the freezer for a month or two before eating makes them a bit more tender.... we'll see.

It was starting to get on a bit now so we decided to head back to the 30's have a few drops then cruise home. It was still pretty quiet but Doug nailed a great KG whiting of about 55-60 cm. To finish the day off nicely. Flew home on a glassy sea! Sweet!

Cheers for reading.

Chris

Took a Monday trip out to the FADs for a troll and came up trumps.

First FAD had fish on it as well as another Fishwrecked member who must have got out there super early as we got there early ourselves.

Picked up 1 Dolly on a trolled skirt and then tried a few swim baits for no success. They seemed to be a bit picky.

We then trolled over to a second FAD with no success but as we came closer to the second FAD there were spashes, birds and flying dolphin fish everywhere.

First pass an we are ON. Fish on board and ready for the next pass with fish all around the boat. Put the boat in gear and lures out and before we could set the drag ON again. Awsome.

Another pass and a missed hookup, next pass ON.

Change of tactic was then decided so we threw around plastics while drifting. Lots of hookups, lost fish and a a fish box full of keepers.

Top day out with awsome water conditions for the 60NM trip. Sport fishing in Perth. Who would have thought it could be so good.

Thanks to my crew. No names mentioned. He knows who he is.

My sons first solo salmon and a couple of mine from this week.

Hey guys,

Went up to the Blow Holes for the first time, had a blast all round including the fishing/camping/cooking and weather. My girlfriend and I were only up there for 5 nights but we managed to get out fishing everyday we were there with no big swells or rough conditions which was a blessing! The daily routine was to take the boat around the reef and once we got over 10m deep we dropped the trolling lures out and trolled to our fishing spots, unfortunately the trolling did not produce as it has apparently in the last few years (apparently mackerel and tuna were almost certainties everyday). We only managed one mackerel and that was at 87cm so it was returned to the water due to it being undersized. The bottom fishing was good, but not great. We were getting a very wide variety of fish including rankin cod, spotted cod, cobia, sharks, mangrove jack, flag, northwest snapper, pink snapper and coral trout. I wasn't complaining about the fishing one bit, but yes apparently that wide variety and a few of each species was still under-par as we weren't hauling them up drop after drop. All up, the trip was great fun and I cant wait to get back!!

I'm putting a few photos up of the trip (quite hesitantly), please no comments on fish looking undersized etc etc as ALL fish were measured and returned if undersize! (and new Gascoyne regulations adhered to).

 Just thought I'd share this catch as I thought it was exceptional!

Guy I deal with through work was fishing with his mate and (his mate) caught this a fortnight ago in the Swan (I won't dilvulge where exactly). Didn't get an exact meassurement as they didn't have a tape but judging by the fact it's larger than two Carlton Draught stubbies I'd say it's very close to the 50cm mark. Either way damn huge Blackie.
 

Anyone caught anything recently or are the fishies not so active

 Went out today chasing blacks...raised 7, for 7 strikes, some fish hit multiple lures one after another....unforuntately got 4 solid strikes and hook ups and lost two two them jumping and two to terminal tackle failure (sucks i know its a learning curve) got get my knots right....(two brakes at the binimi)....

was a awsome day with some times not even waiting 10 mintues between different fish....

think we had a sail come in at one point too or it was a real real small black....

fish of the trip so far has been a 21.2 kg mackie taken on PE2 with a 60 pound fluro leader...no wire neally was spooled.

got a couple small coronations too

brett

Great day today, best fishing conditions for ages. Managed 1 size Dhu, Pinky and huge Black ass. Also copped a Sambo in less tan 10m, lots of fun.

Easter is often associated with the arrival of spring. In the Washington DC area, the warm weather bring about a transformation from bare branches to puffy pink trees adorned with cherry blossoms. It is also believed that the cherry blossom heralds the arrival of shads into the Potomac River – an annual event much anticipated by anglers to target these game fish.

Following the last summer visit to Virginia, Pat had planted little seeds of ideas in my fish obsessed head. These thoughts laid dormant through much of fall and early winter, until the approach of March when the dreams began to germinate and finally sprouting into a concrete plan. The plan was then set to visit the Potomac River on the Easter Weekend to experience the shad run. The early spring timing is also prime to coincide with good Chain Pickerel and Flier Sunfish fishing.

March 28, 2013

It was Thursday morning that Michael and I left Toronto at 7am. After a very scenic drive through upstate New York, between the peaks of the Appalachians in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and dropping over the Fall Line in Virginia, we finally arrived to the shores of the Potomac.

There were still a few hours of day light to fish in the late afternoon, so Michael and I worked a Chatterbait around the shorelines for a shot at the invasive Northern Snakehead. Unfortunately, 3pm was low tide and much of the usual snakehead haunts were left high and muddy. After a few hours of exploring, our effort was all for naught. Maybe we should have spent the time fishing for Blue Catfish instead.

During our time in Virginia, we were hosted by Pat and his wife Lia. We can’t thank them enough for making us feel at home and taking very good care for all our needs. There is a debt to be paid! That evening, Pat, Michael and I strategized the battle plans for the next few days over a couple of beer. I’m not sure I was able to think critically after two beers, but somehow, through my intoxicated mind seemed to remember Pat saying “…water is still cold…” or “…we need some rain…” and “…try to hold off the shad fishing until the end…” I think it was something to that effect. Thus, we would instead explore a set of blackwater ponds on Friday, look for whiskered felines and camouflaged reptilian fish on Saturday, and give it all on a raging river on Sunday.

March 29, 2013

Friday morning, I woke up a bit groggy and I think everyone were also suffering from some residual alcohol haziness. It took a while until we were out the door motoring toward Richmond. About 1.5 hours drive later we arrived in a wilderness area beside a small river. Somewhere deeper along the trail are shallow ponds that may not look much more than a duck pond to the unacquainted. In Ontario, I have often passed by these shallow looking swamps without ever thinking our scaled friends could survive in them. Perhaps the southerly longitude offered a warmer clime where shallow ponds rarely freeze solid, thus allowing the denizens of these dark waters to proliferate in such shallow habitat.

Dressed in waders, our trio started casting little spinners into the dark ruby waters of these blackwater swamps. The water is acidic and dark from tannin. This unique water quality is ideal habitat for some unique species such as Chain Pickerel and the Flier Sunfish. It also prevents invasive species such as Largemouth Bass and Bluegill Sunfish from establishing a stronghold in these little ruby gems.

Chain Pickerel fishing is best during the cold months from December to March. However, on this cool morning our main targets were likely inactive. It was about 30 minutes into fishing when I finally saw a fish ambushed the spinner. However, it was one of these unwanted non-natives.

Pat had already fished on entire side of the swamp and now he was directly across from us. As I was wading to the next casting position, I heard Pat’s excited voice as he hooked and landed the first Chain Pickerel of the day. He was too far away for pictures.

Soon, Pat and Michael moved into a back bay to sightfish for some sunfish species. As I arrived in the same area where Pat caught his Chain Pickerel, I saw a swirl of mud and debris about 15 feet from shore. My approach had likely spooked a fish, perhaps one of the elusive bowfin in this swamp. I worked my spinner with a fan cast pattern and about 10 minutes later, a flash of green erupted behind my spinner but missed the lure. I thought the bowfin had come back to the area. To my amazement, my spinner was ripped hard a few casts later and the fish took a couple of strong runs on my ultralight gear. Shaking with excitement, I fought to maintain my composure as a large Chain Pickerel twisted and turned at the end of the line. Finally, I scooped the fish into my little trout net and Pat rushed over to offer some cameraman support. Target species accomplished! It was an awesome Chain Pickerel if I must say so!

Once I’ve checked off the new species, it was time to switched gear to target the Flier Sunfish. Pat and Michael had already caught some, so I thought it would be an easy feat. Little had I known that these fish were more challenging than expected. Pat suggested to fish a small jighead and Gulp! plastic with a lift-drop cadence. Of course, he didn’t mention that you needed to drop the lure into the weed pockets in order to get bit. This little swamp had a healthy weed growth and we were trying to avoid snagging any weeds for most part. So here I was fishing beside Pat, working the little lure over the tops of weeds and not catching fish, while Pat was teasingly saying “Have you caught a Flier before?”

Finally, I had my chance spotted a Flier swimming in the shallow. The tricky fish gently nipped and spat my jig twice before finally committing on the third try. I had the fish hooked and was just lifting the fish to hand when it shook off in mid air!!! Argh!!!

Meanwhile, Michael was fishing across from us and caught his first Chain Pickerel.

Pat caught a few more Fliers and Bluegill Sunfish plus a couple of Black Crappie before the bite died. At that point, we decided to move onto another swamp to see what it could deliver.

At the end of the swamp, I found a beaver dam with some deeper water immediately upstream of the dam. Perhaps the woodwork would provide good habitat for Flier Sunfish. However, the only inhabitants were a largemouth Bass and three Chain Pickerel.

It was now getting toward 3pm. Pat suggested that he and Michael should try the stream for a Redbreast Sunfish while I spend more time in the first swamp to catch a Flier Sunfish. So we broke off to find our separate species.

Armed with a few nightcrawlers, I tie on a Thill Shy Bite float and a 1/32oz jighead. The chunk of wriggly goodness was irresistible to the sunfish species, but these were initially represented by Bluegill Sunfish. I had to sort through a few Bluegills before something different came on my line. Surprisingly, it was a Warmouth Sunfish! It was not an anticipated target species…but it was definitely a species I had hunt intently in Florida and failed…so it was extremely nice to finally catch one!

After the Warmouth, a cast toward a pile of fallen branches eventually resulted in my first Flier Sunfish! It was nice to check off another target species!

There was also a very beautiful Black Crappie with shades of violet, sapphire, emerald and gold.

I fished this area until the bite stopped, at which point there was a good catch of 7 Bluegills, 3 Flier, 3 Crappies and the bonus Warmouth. I walked back to the car anticipating that Michael and Pat had already worked their way downstream back to the car. However, they were nowhere to be seen. During the winter, my wader had developed leaks on both ankles and just under the crotch area…so after a full day of fishing, I was completely soaked below the belt and now water was working up the backside of my T-shirt. Seeing it was about 5pm, I decided to take off the waders, dry off and take a nap in the car to reenergize for the drive back.

I woke up at 7pm and just moments before Pat and Michael returned to the car. They had fished the stream where Michael lost a Redbreast Sunfish at hand. Then they fish another pond for bowfin but found none. We left the area just before dusk and if it wasn’t for a couple of accidents, we would have made it back in time to grab some BBQ. Since we were late, we instead ordered a couple of whole roasted chicken from Su Pollo. That was some of the best roast chicken I’ve ever had. I would highly recommend it if you’re in Alexandria, VA!

March 30, 2013

Pat was still recovering from a cold and Lia had unfortunately developed some symptoms. So Pat suggest a couple of spots for Michael and I to explore while he stayed home with Lia. Feeling bad that Michael had lost a Redbreast Sunfish at hand, Pat showed us a warm water discharge where we may find some Redbreast Sunfish.

Perhaps the water was still cold (even beside the warm water discharge) because this area was overpopulated with the non-native Bluegill Sunfish. We had to sort through dozens and dozens of Bluegills before I finally caught a Redbreast Sunfish.

 An hour had already gone by and we might just have caught all the sunfish on the upstream side of the discharge. Michael was slowly losing hope but I encourage him to have faith and persist. It would only be a matter of time. Luckily, he caught a Banded Killifish on tanago hooks to keep his spirit up.

We made a small move to fish the downstream side of the discharge. I had hung up my rod so as not to compete with Michael on his quest for a Redbreast. Dozens and dozens of Bluegills later, Michael finally hooked a sunfish that looked a little more blue and red in the water. It was a Redbreast Sunfish afterall!

It was now 11:30am and we must make our way to Fletcher’s Boathouse on the DC side. Due to some old land ownership deeds, sections of the Potomac River bottom actually belongs to DC and you must have a DC fishing license even if you’re fishing from the Virginia side of the Potomac. By the time we arrived at Fletcher’s, it was already 12:15pm. We got our licenses and spent a quick 45 minutes fishing from the area for Blue Catfish unsuccessfully. We had initially planned to fish for Northern Snakehead with Pat at 2pm during the low tide period. However, Pat was out cold recovering from his cold so he was not aware we had texted and called him. Instead, we decided to fish for Blue Catfish in the afternoon.

We explored one shoreline looking for a spot to soak a few rods. However, the low tide exposed large mud flats that we simply could not fish. Instead, we fell back to a spot I had fished with Pat last summer.

Michael set up two heavier rods for Blue Catfish while I set up one heavier rod for the Blues and one light rod to fish for bait or anything else that would fancy nightcrawlers. On the Blue Catfish rods, we used 5/0 and 8/0 circle hooks on a fish finder rig. Michael put on a whole Bluegill while I use a cut Bluegill.

It took about an hour before we had the first bite. After a decent fight, Michael brought a 12.6lb Blue Catfish to hand as his first ever Blue.

Not long after, he had another bite and landed a slightly smaller model.

It took another 30 minutes before I hooked up a small Blue.

Strangely, as night approach, the bite seemed more tentative instead or more aggressive. We had 3-4 dropped baits before Michael landed the last catfish of the evening at about 3lbs.

Back at the parking, we found a parking ticket on the dash. Apparently, you’re not allowed to back into a parking stall in DC. Weird.

March 31, 2013

Anglers were still reporting very slow shad fishing, but action did picking up each day toward the evenings when water had warmed up. We were also expecting a bit of rain showers toward noon and Pat suggested that the warm rain would raise the water temperature a bit.

With that in mind, we decided to use the morning low tide opportunity for a Northern Snakehead hunt. A week ago, Pat fished at his favourite snakehead location and had a few follows. We were hoping to see a few fish.

A short wade across the creek and we reached a warm water discharge. The bottom is muddy with some weed growth. Although many Largemouth Bass congregated in this area, Pat noticed that other fish species such as carp, koi, and killifish were largely missing. The majority of prey items of the Northern Snakehead were the killifish. With a lack of prey, we did not see a single snakehead after 2 hours of searching. Since the tide was rising, it was time to leave if we wish to cross the creek in dry fashion.

A quick stop at Pat’s apartment later, we were on our way toward the Potomac to a popular location known as Chain Bridge. Upstream of the Chain Bridge, a set of rapids slows the upstream migration of shad. Shad, Blueback Herring and Hickory Shad are the early arrivals while American Shad would join the run a few weeks later.

The rapids define the Fall Line of the Potomac and the river carved deep into the bedrock. For anglers, the climb down to the riverbank can be treacherous. Large boulders, loose rocks and muddy soil were made even more challenging to navigate when wet. Under a light rain, our trio cautiously descended to the waters edge where we picked a boulder for the optimal casting position.

Our ultralight rods were rigged with 4-6lb mono to fish small shad darts or 1/16oz jigs with 2” twister tails. On my rod, I tied on a small pink shad dart with another 1/16oz jig and green/chartreuse twister tail about 2 feet above the dart. The lures were cast into faster current and slowly retrieved into the current seams. Shads often rest in the slower water along the current seams. In many aspects, their upstream movement mirrors many other migratory fish such as steelheads and salmon.

On one of my first few casts, my line had hung up on a branch upstream of my position. After I twitched the rod to free the line, I reeled the lure in quickly while jigging the rod tip to prevent the lures from snagging the boulders on bottom. The lures were about 15 feet from shore when a shad attacked it! Unfortunately, the hit was short and there was no hookup.

I tried a jigging retrieve for about 20 minutes without any further hits. A change in presentation was needed. While speaking to the people at Fletcher’s Boathouse the day previous, we learned that shad prefers a slow presentation. Boat anglers often quarter cast the shad darts downstream and retrieve with an extremely slow pace. I started to cast the dart beyond the current seam and allowed the lure to swing back into the slow water. I’m borrowing the downstream swing technique from my fly fishing toolbox.

Surprisingly, this downstream swing worked rather well. I started to get the odd hits and missed a few fish before one was finally on the line. Unfortunately, the lures often tear out of the soft mouths of these Hickory Shads.

Meanwhile, Michael who was fishing upstream made a small move, made his first cast, and hooked and landed his first Hickory Shad.

These shads seemed to move in small schools. I would get a few hits or a hookup within short intervals between long lulls of silence. After half a dozen short hits and two missed fish, I finally had good hookset on a fish. Hickory Shad (Alosa mediocris) are amazingly strong and acrobatic fish. Charging runs are punctuated with a stunning aerial display. In every aspect, these fish are mini versions of their tarpon relatives!

Our timing was not the greatest, but both Michael and I were happy to check off our Hickory Shad target.

We fished for a couple more hours and I missed a few more hits, lost one fish and landed one more Hickory.

At around 2pm, the fishing came to a halt. Even this far upriver, the tidal influence was evident. It was interesting that during the fury of activity, the tide was approaching high tide. The current was a bit stronger and the current seam was closer to shore. As the water receded a foot on the start of the outgoing tide, the current slowed and seam moved out a little further from shore. We decided to move upstream of the bridge to fish a large eddy right below the set of large rapids.

This area was even more treacherous to fish than our downstream location. The rocks were wet with a layer of slippery fine silt and grime. Care must be taken when moving about. A fall into the river could be fatal.

Perched precariously above slippery boulders we pounded the water over and over. Michael was first to hook up with a Quillback Carpsucker that was snagged in the back. This would have been a very nice species to fish for if these fish were actually willing biters. They are very difficult to catch due to the cryptic diet and feeding behaviour.

Finally, I started to get a couple of shot hits and then lost a couple of fish. An hour later, I finally hooked up a Hickory Shad after a sharp hard hit. Strangely, this fish was hooked on the top of the head.

As it was approaching 5pm, we decided to call it a day. Between Michael and I, we landed 5 Hickory Shad while Pat was just enjoying the day. To Pat, this was a very slow day of shad fishing since 100 fish day are not uncommon during the peak of the run. We could only imagine the arm burning fun on one of those days.

We thought about fishing for Blue Catfish in the afternoon, but with limited amount of daylight time, we decided to simply relax for the afternoon.

Back at the apartment, Pat sent Michael and I to order some great kabob dinner from Kabob Palace in Alexandria. This little joint was super busy on Easter Sunday. We had an hour wait for our food, so Michael and I took a little trip to the Tidal Basin on recon mission for future opportunities. As the sun was setting, we only had a brief look at the area, but at least we had an idea the span of that basin and the amount of fishable waters.

April 1, 2013

There wasn’t too much to report on my end. I decided to sleep in since we would be driving back to Toronto. Michael woke up early to fish the morning low tide hoping to find a Northern Snakehead. However, he found none again but there were more signs of life at the warm water discharge. He saw some koi and hooked a possible goldfish. But by 9am, we really had to leave.

Our 9 hour drive was largely smooth going until we were near Rochester where we ran into some nasty snow squalls. But God was watching over us and we arrived home at 9:30pm safe and sound.

Overall, this expedition was extremely successful given the subpar conditions. We later discovered that other shad anglers were either skunked or caught only a couple of fish on Sunday, so our collection of hits, lost fish and landed fish was actually pretty decent. We were happy that the Chain Pickerel were quite cooperative and the Flier Sunfish were not very difficult. I was happy to find a bonus Warmouth Sunfish and even happier that Michael was rewarded with his first Redbreast Sunfish, Banded Killifish and a couple of 10lb+ Blue Catfish.

I’m already thinking about a summer trip back to Virginia to try for Flathead Catfish, a couple of micro sunfish species, and perhaps some more saltwater surf species.

Just wondering what typicaly northern species are being caught around the metro area.

After recently getting a bigger boat that I am able to get out abit further I have finally found some decent fishing grounds.

In the last couple of weeks have caught what I thought were mainly northern species out around Rotto

Baldchin groper...I have heard of these being caught around the metro area before

last weekend we caught a Red throat Emperor....has anyone else caught any of these or is this unusual

I know we are having a marine heat wave and wonder will these soon be a common species during the

summer months.

Hi all

After experiencing my first trip to the Abrolhos Islands at the end of last December, and keen to go again, we finally made it over there after a couple of false starts....Australia Day and Labor Day long weekends were blown out by the weather. The same 3 boats went: me on mine, Paul G and his crew of Jesse, Kevin and abledog (aka george) and Mr & Mrs outdoinit (aka Lyndon & Rosie).

The plan for Thursday (28/03) was an early knock off for me (11.30am), then meet up with Paul G at his place in Yanchep. We'd then travel up to Geraldton, fuel up the boats and stay overnight at the marina, before heading across at first light on Friday. I hit the road at 2pm and made good time until half way up the Kwinana Freeway....that's when the stop-start traffic congestion started. This continued all the up to the Mitchell Freeway, where roadworks also slowed the traffic to a crawl until we finally got a clear run up to the end of the freeway and onto Marmion Ave, arriving at Paul's just after 4.30m.

We pulled out of Paul's just after 5pm and after a fuel stop at Jurien, we arrived in Geraldton and fuelled the boats (without incident this time), then down to the marina where we met up with Lyndon. A quick feed and the boats were in the water, cars and trailers locked away and we hit the sleeping bags on the jetty around midnight. 

We were on the water just before 6am and with the conditions a little rough, the bigger boats made better time than us (a big thanks to Kevin for joining me for the trip across and back) but we weren't too far behind. Once we reached the islands, breakfast was the first order of the day and just as we pulled up alongside the others, abledog was releasing his first fish of the trip....a nice looking coral trout.

Later we went for a dive, where was all managed to spear a fish or two, my highlights were seeing a school of dhuies and other fish, all happily swimming close to me, but just out of speargun range, before a 67cm coral trout came a bit too close! Had a visit from the fisheries guys, too. Found a sheltered bay where we anchored for lunch (I suffered thru my Jurien Bay crayfish sandwiches), then a snorkel around the shallows in the afternoon only netted me cramp in my legs and a close encounter with a 5' bronzie.

We anchored up for the night but the wind was pretty strong, which made for a restless night's sleep on the deck....ok for those snuggled up in their cabins!

After brekky on Saturday, we motored over to the Coral Patches and snorkelled amongst some amazing coral formations, complete with all manner of fish....trout, baldies, spanglies, etc. We followed this up with a dive on a nice coral ledge...again, we all managed to bag a fish or two. A nice 60cm baldie found its way into my esky!!

After lunch, the big red boat went for a fish outside the bay, while the rest of us went kayaking...it's easy going with the wind in your back. Later, after losing a fish to the reef, outdoinit and myself decided to go for a snorkel. A short time later, the boys on the red boat were back at anchor and dragged out their kayaks, while Jesse joined us in the water. The bronzies showed up and gave us a few hairy moments, with a couple getting up close and personal with outdoinit....captured on his gopro and looking forward to seeing the video.

As the sun was going down, the sharks showed up again and out came the big gear....lots of hookups but all were busted off. This was an hilarious hour of fun, mayhem and screaming reels as various rigs were tried, wire traces hastily made up and drink bottles doubling as 'balloons' to keep the baits off the reef.

After dinner we hit the sleeping bags, hoping for a better night's sleep.

Sunday morning saw a return to the shark action and this time Paul got one to the boat, before releasing it after retrieving the rig. A dive on another coral ledge netted some more fish, before the others coming across huge schools of dhuies, snapper, mackies, etc. Looking forward to seeing Jesse's footage.....bugger about the demise of Paul's gopro.

At 11am the decision was made to take advantage of the relatively calm conditions and head back to Geraldton. Once back at the marina, cars collected, boats retrieved and a quick check by the fisheries and we were on the road just before 2pm.

With a fuel stop at Jurien, we called into Lyndon & Rosie's for a cuppa and while the others decided to camp the night there, I decided to hit the road, arriving home just before 9pm.

The road trip was 1041kms and the boat trip was 116kms....only burnt 80L of fuel this time.

In closing, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to Paul, Jesse, Kevin, George, Lyndon and Rosie for another fantastic trip. Your hospitality, generousity, and friendship means alot to me and I look forward to doing it all again sometime soon.

Hope you enjoy the photos, will compile the video and get that up in a day or so.

regards
rusty... 

Cheers to the bloke that left my craypot rope near the bins at Ocean reef marina after flogging my pot. All the worst to you and your boat in the future. At least you were good enough to put the rope near the bins. You do realise its bad luck just pulling others pots.
I'm putting it on here as more of a vent and heads up as I know most of you guys aren't that type at all.

 Steep Point was very average in terms of fishing across the easter weekend, no sign of anything big except for the sharks, which seemed regular on the line. A mate got in a 3m Bronzie, and were plentiful numbers of Long Tom that were good bait, however sharks also loved them. Plenty of Snapper about and Spangleds but no sign of any macks from spinning and balloning. Few small mully about. Could anyone shed some light on the performance of this once world renound land based area?

 easter monday.

 Anyone have much luck in the canning today

all i got was a big blowy and a 3cm grunter

hooked some mullet but all spat the hook

Wifey and I headed up to Sandy Cape last Wednesday for a few nights of free camping with the family. When we rocked up the ‘FULL’ sign was up, but as we were the 5th car in a convoy (the other 4 came in and got us a spot on Tuesday), we new we would be OK. Upon arrival, there was a pumping southerly with a large rolling swell coming up the beach, also pushing a lot of seaweed around the bay.

As we are not yet set up with a car topper, I brought two Kayaks, two rods and my scuba gear to have a look around some of the bombies in close by.

On Thursday morning I packed up the scuba gear and headed out along the southern end of the bay along the cliff edge trying to get some crays. There were a couple around, but due to the full moon and large swell, they were tucked right back, and they were tiny. I pulled one out of a hole to have a look but put him straight back.

There were a couple of tarwhine and Wrasse but nothing like herring or whiting around that would warrant a fish.

In the afternoon near sunset, I launched the yak with a Halco Hamma trying for some tailor but got weed with every cast and pulled the pin after 30 minutes.

After going for a bit of a walk the next morning, I was speaking to some other campers about the crayfish, and fish, one of the people said they went out at 6:00 one morning and grabbed a couple of jumbos on top of the reef with a scoop net. In the dunes behind where we were camping, there was a big Cray head, like 140mm big,  with three prong holes in it, so there are big crays around, you just need to find them so it seems, legally….

Later on in the week, I had another dive in the northern end of the bay (out of the sanctuary) and found heaps of crays, but once again they were small. I grabbed a couple to show the kids but they went back pretty quickly.

As the weather improved, and the swell dropped, there were a few more fishers on the beach, and out in the bay. The only things being caught were little whiting, and what looked like baby Skippy

When kayaking, I did see something that resembled a mulloway swim under me, and a small shark (50cm) right in the shallows but by the time I got my gear, both had long gone.

Finally on the last morning, while I was appreciating the sunrise, I saw a Snook jump out of the water, and a lot of baitfish swimming around, so I guess, like the crays, there are bigger animals there, you just need to be there at the right time.

So in summary, the fishing while we were there was non existent really, but the weather didn’t really help, nor did the lack of boat. We will be back for sure after really enjoying our first real ‘free camping’ experience.

https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=jurien+bay&hl=en&ll=-30.179802,114.996171&spn=0.013615,0.027788&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=56.398622,113.818359&t=h&hnear=Jurien+Bay+Western+Australia&z=16

Hi All,

        Been fishing for a while at a Perth metro beach (North) and been pulling up heaps of Mullas around the 700mm-1000mm mark lately. (Last 2 months).

Had been fishing on Friday/Saturday and Monday night and have pulled up 5 decent size Mullas rangin from 750mm-850mm.

Been an awesome season for them. I had a full run on Monday night which would have been at least 10kg Mulla, but it wrapped my line around a reef and snap.

Also caught a Salmon Trout and a 5 kg Salmon. Didnt think they were running up this far North.

All in all, it was a good weekend. Cant wait for the thumping Snapper and Tailor at this beach durring winter.

Cheers

Headed out from woodies about 6.30am .. we went for a couple of squid drifts got 8 a couple with around 30cm hoods.. then had a largish fish grab a squid jig and went for a run came to the surface away from the boat cartwheeled and spat it , something different not sure what it was. Headed out behind the islands , got a couple of kgs then had a big school of fish go under the boat ended up pulling up a rat sambo ( fish curry tomorrow night ) ... we were going to head out deeper then we started getting smashed by good size skippy so we just stayed put in 13m.. nice day out and got a feed ..

Hey all,

Drove the boat and family upto Shark bay for a couple of days R&R and had an absolute ball.

We fished in close and caught plenty of fish. Sad to say that the missus landed the fish of the trip a beauty of a Bluebone.

We also caught plenty of Black snapper & Cod and my oldest boy landed his biggest fish to date, a really solid Gold Spot

Cod. Was also Plenty of School Mackeral around but really hard to get them to take a bait or lure.

Almost had a Manta ray almost sink my boat, it decided to launch out of the water about 1.5 metres from the boat, the thing was atleat 2.5mtrs

wide, scared the shit out of us.

Cant wait to get back up there.

.

 7am launch from Mindarie, 5 min wait at the boat ramp with some big trailers parked up, many of them worth more than the tinnie that I would not sell for my entire collection of testiculii (being two).

1.5ks's from the boat ramp, admiring the procession of spectacular craft powering out on such a fine day, stopped inside the reef and well away from the 20-odd other boats there and drifted around only to bag out on squid. And one cuttlefish.  Pinger jokes were flying like berley, I am adamant that there was a Bertram 45 following me for at least 40 seconds. If I see him again, I am going to climb on board and delete MY spot from his gps.......

Colours used were whites and a green/red. Any of the big weed patches produced and some were big, 2Kgs of clean tubes.

Saw a couple of blokes standing on staggies !! Classic, yaks and all. 

Berin

After some good fishing on friday a quiet one at home pickling some occos sounded good. Headed down to mangles for a shore based occy hunt and bagged twelve between two of us. Time to fire up the pressure cooker. Kids go crazy now about what comes home in the eski!

 Fishing around Geraldton at the moment for mullaway has been outstanding, behind the lives is producing good numbers each night, now that I have moved north of town I have been hitting drummonds Cove with a lot of success. in the past three months I have caught sharks, large tailor, a 5.6kg snapper and mullaway From between 9 and 16 kg on regular bases. Mullet is my chosen bait and tonight was know different at the beach at just before 6 and after the second cast a solid hookup, 16kg mullaway flapping on the beach 10 minutes later, packed up home fish cleaned sitting in the lounge relaxed by 8 pm. Will post some pics soon, bloody wife refuses to take picks " it's just another fish blar blar blar" returns inside unimpressed. 

 Albany salmon has been going off! Been catching at least 15 salmon within 2 hours and plenty released,  when they come around everyone hooks on, if your planning on going down nows the time, all salmon caught on lures.

Hi all im new to this website and i was just woundering if any one could help me out. I have been fishing many times before except i havnt been landbase for your bread and butter fish for quiet a while now. Does anyone no were the herring, garfish, whitting or squid are bitting at the moment? And how have u guys been catching them. Im also looking to only fish around the Fremantle area up to cottesloe and down to woodmans point.

Cheers Mike

Just out off Capel river in 14m. Knocked off a few jackets, but only one of size. Moved a mile and found another spot and picked up the three in 5 mins.

Christo's one man army

Looking forward to getting away for Easter as I'm sure most of you are!  Heading down to Mandurah this arvo, so here's hoping the fishing turns it on for us and everybody makes the most of the top weather we've coming for the next few days.

Love fishing the waterways of Mandurah, so here's a few pics of a few Bream me and my young bloke have caught and released from the outlaws jetty on the canals!

All the best for a safe and enjoyable Easter with plenty of tight lines!

Regards

Wazza

* Sorry looks like ya gotta click on the image links to get the pics to come up  :/

Well our Abrolhos Is live aboard charter planned since Oct 12 has finally come & gone all too quick unfortunately. Though considering we planned so far in advance we nailed it weather wise as we were advise March/April is generally a sound bet for good weather or as good as the Gero region gets. So we board Top Gun II Saturday arvo to met Aldo and his crew & then off to a local pub to meet the team over a few ales which our team decided to continue on with the theme for a while. Anyway we motored out of Gero early Sunday morning with a couple of sore head with all the excitement of the previous evening, which soon passed as we headed west in flat conditions.

Within a few hours the island were in sight and skippers call “lines down in a hour” had us all heading for our rods to gear up and conditions only got better. We had certainly heard that the Abrolhos group of islands held its fair share of baldies & pinkies, but fair suck of the sav they were everywhere. Every drop amongst the team ended in a quality fish landed, drops like this in the metro would get you excited but after the 1st day will had all the baldies & pinkies you could hope for.  Brock O pulled in the pick of the bunch of the snapper & Brendon getting a better size baldie.

Day 2 – seen us head out behind the islands and fish the 50-60mtr depths to try for the other well publicized species the Abrolhos is known for and as if on cue they made their appearance all bar one noticeable omission the Dhuey. Ol’mate Jeff Young fresh with spin stick combo bought 48hrs earlier at Oceanside, certainly put the combo through its paces and didn’t disappoint with a 75cm trout hitting the decks. Jeff wasn’t done there, boating a double header of cobia soon after with one returned & one for the esky. Brock was also leading the way with the drift baits on his light gear, which the pink snapper just loved. Brock did have his chance of out doing Jeff this day when hooked into a decent yellow tail kingie only to drop him close to the boat.

Then my brother chimed in the first decent Spangled Emperor, the condition couldn’t be scripted any better with the swell continuing to drop to a 1mtr and the wind struggling to reach 8kts. The usual suspects of baldies, pinkies and an endless supply of Chinaman Cod were brought aboard, but by the end of the day we were content with we caught kept & released. I don’t need to reiterate how good freshly caught pinky fillets are cooked on the bbq, with a squeeze of lemon you can figure the rest.

We did a little snorkelling that afternoon back when on the mooring, awesome coral to snorkel around but the crays were proving hard to pull out of the coral fortresses . Thank god we brought a couple of pots for insurance, we desperately need to find some limestone ledges for easier extraction.

Day 3 – Seen us work towards the northern group of islands and again fish the 50-60mtr marks and again we woke to good conditions. But word had spread amongst our team, that we’re into day 3 without any sign of a Dhuey landed. Though we thought the previous day Brendon dropped a good one, but he dropped a sh#t load that day & by calling it a dhuey he was clearly trying to save face. It was almost like Aldo had the ace up his sleeve for such an occasion as our first drift for the morning resulted in Brendon boating the biggest dhuey of the trip at 15-16kg. The 2nd drift for the morning resulted in no less than 7 more dhueys boated including 2 x double headers at the same, the release weight was quickly set up and a few size dhuey can count their lucky star as they got sent back down to their reefy homes. Day 3 was by far our most productive, with Spanish mack, spangled emperor, trout, mulloway, dhues, sambo all hitting the deck and esky this day amongst the usual pinkies & baldchins.

Entree

Ryan's Mulloway

Brendon’s 15kg model with Brock onto another pinky in the back ground

Small Spanish trolled up on a skirt

My PB 80cm Spango

So later that afternoon, once back another mooring in the northern group Brock O, Gaz Mero and myself jumped in and snorkelled some 150mtrs over to some fringing coral reef only to bag 1 cray and take more photos. Upon returning to the boat, Gaz notice a little bit of flat reef on the other side of boat. So he ventured 10mtrs past the boat to come across the type of ledges we’d looking for and they were loaded. So only 8 were taken for entrée that night, the rest were left as we were planning to return this mooring the next day.

You have to love live aboard charterers (thou you do pay for the privilege) as by the time we got out of the water, stepped straight into a nice hot shower & clean clothes, crack a stubbie the deckies had entrée served. Freshly caught squid the night before adjoined the crays, but got eaten too quick for anyone to care about a photo.

The team getting restless waiting for more entree

Day 4 – Skipper had mentioned that we’d reach our limit on fish and with the wind starting up from the south, it was a good day to fish the shallows and pull out the jigs & placcies. Again the baldies & pinkies were hitting everything with gusto with Gaz Mero smashing them on the 7” nuclear chicken colour & Brock O having fun with the halco jigs (which the norwest blowies adore too). We were back on the mooring in the early afternoon and popped over to grab a few more crays in the 3mtrs of water on the mooring. Being our last night and not want to lug too much gear home seemed a good excuse as any to give the sauce a good nudge that night over a few games of cards.

Jeff’s SP caught dhuey

Gaz Mero’s smug look….more crays

Ol’mate seal making his daily trip out to our mooring for his inspection.

Day 5 – forecast was for winds 20-30kts from the south, but luckily still the swell was only 1-1.5mtr so we headed south for snorkel in one of the sanctuary zones to reel off a few photo before the trek back to Gero. The water comes up from 40mtrs to 4mtrs and presented excellent conditions to take some underwater snaps, even with the most basic of cameras.

Gaz Mero lining up a nice trout

The trip home took about 3.5hrs, we finally watched a couple of DVD we took over and never watched. I can certainly recommend Aldo and his team onboard to anyone as they certainly do look after you, we’ve never eaten so well and all fish kept were looked after with the upmost of care to ensure we took some quality fillets home. The hardest part of the trip was deciding how us with wives & kids can convince our respective War Dept’s to allow us to go again next year. So thanks to the boys who came along and made it into the trip that it was, it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Cheers Boys

This is a report for all the FW members who will be heading down this weekend and going for a fish from the jetty. Bonito are still around in good numbers from the bend all the way to the end and are on the chew in the late arvo/early evening and even after dark. Tailor numbers are steady but they are not numerous like they were in Jan, you can still pick up a good feed though, some real stoinkers over 50cm have been in the mix also. Tailor have been coming on the bite from about 6 pm onwards. Squid numbers are steady, a good feed can be had if you work for it. Herring are thick at the moment with bag limits easily being reached. There are plenty of medium sized Snook around, they become a bit of a annoyance but make good bait for the herring and tailor. Crab numbers are down on the jetty, if you are after them you are better off scooping along the beaches. Two Spanish Mackerels have been landed on the jetty in the last couple of weeks so you may be in for a chance at hooking one. There have been a few sharks hanging around out towards the end on some nights, a 5 ft tiger gave almost everyone a run one night last week. There has been a heap of rays hanging around so try and avoid the bottom.

That is all for now, have a safe long weekend, tight lines and enjoy.