Stolen while my mate was washing his boat, walked out to his shed to get his hose @ 18:15 last night. Came back 15 min later & it was gone @ 18:30. Corner house think it's Bahama dve.

 Up nice and early for a quick fish this morning. Headed out to James Service Reef for a look and fish were on the sounder. Got some burley in the water, but took a little while to fire. About 45 minutes after sunrise a got solid hook up on a soft plastic. Bit of to and fro, up comes a nice 68cm Dhu. They fight pretty good in 12 m of water. About 15 minutes later the brother in laws rod buckles over and he starts losing a bit of string. After another good fight we have a 76cm Pinkie in the net. Home by 7:30. Nice

 Hi Guys looking at heading out saturday morning early as conditions look very inviting. Looking at chasing some pinks around the 5 fathom. Anyone had any luck lately??

Hi Everyone,

hoping I can get some help keeping an eye out for a 54Lb Jarvis Walker SWTSB Watersnake (I think I have to accept battery is gone).
The low life took it at 5:33pm Saturday 12th Jan from Sixth Avenue in Maylands.

I use it with my kids to get the crab nets in and they learn to move the dingy around safely and slowly - so its a real disappointment.

The thief didn't take the foot control unit, so I'm not sure how much use the actual Watersnake unit is to them. which makes it worse in a way - like someone stealing your phone.
costs you a lot to replace and its of no use to them :( :(

Id appreciate it if people could please keep an eye out for it.

Cut wires would be 20-50cm long attached to the unit I guess

thank you

 Did a quick fire trip upto Denham with my 15 and 17 year old boys just after Christmas. As expected very windy so spent 4 days fishing Monkey Mia. Tides not really in our favour as high tide was pretty late but went out regardless.

Took the boat all the way upto Peron and fished a small coral outcrop that has performed well in the past, struggled to get a bait past the Spanish flag, kept a couple of good ones though and a couple of Blackies and then headed back towards Monkey Mia.

Ended up fishing out of Cape Rose and picked up some School Mack and got absolutely hammered by big Forktail catties, all the catties went back.

Fished Faure on the last day for zip and headed back to Cape Rose and sat on the pick for a few hours and picked up a couple of good size Golden Trevally and some more school Mack.

Ate the Trevally fresh and was reasonable, gave some to some tourists who were wrapped.

After travelling reasonable distances to Peron and Faure we ended up getting most of our keepers within 3kms of Monkey Mia!!!! Typical hey.

Kids had a blast, they've pretty much made the transition from berry pickers to hunters, both have got the fishing bug and a becoming great young men.

Hope this helps others making the trip up 

Cheers Marty

Well this is a very late report......

We had our first ever trip to Exmouth back in June 2018, and although the weather was unseasonably crap! We still managed to get out and about and land a few fish. 

Overall we did 10 nights up there, with 4 or 5 days just not workable due to weather or some maintenance requirements....so had a couple of (non-fishing) day trips down to Coral Bay as well. 

As we are currently living abroad, we flew back in to Perth, grabbed our car out of storage, grabbed the boat and spent a couple of days getting our fishing gear sorted out before doing the long drive north. Overnighting in the Billabong Roadhouse both ways. I had one of, if not the best, steaks i have ever eaten there! 

Anyway, this is a fishing forum, so lets talk about the fishing.

As mentioned, the weather was very out of the norm, with floods on our way up, and our way back! There was a fair amount of wind etc also, so it made some uncomfortable and long days on the water. But with a limited window, we made the best of it. Spending a small fortune in fishing gear at the ever helpful Tackleworld Exmouth... thanks to the man in the grey suit imparting substantial taxes on us!

We managed a few different species up there, and really had a ball, and am in the process of trying to get our next trip sorted (June 2019). We are trying to decide on whether to spend two full weeks in Exy or a week in CB and a Week + in Exy. 

A highlight was my son, landing a Sailfish, we tried to release boatside, but the Rapala single was completely through the bill, so had to drag it onboard to get it out. A couple of photos and then a short swim boatside before it swam off strongly. 

Another highlight was my Wife catching her first YFT, which was delicious! 

anyway, here are a few pics from our trip

 So November I had back surgery and haven’t moved hardly at all since except the physios exercises and swimming with my lovely wife acting as an exceptional guard to stop me being silly.

However I slipped the leash yesterday morning and was able to have a walk around and picked these up, nice to be back out and about.

 Got out to the islands last weekend for a couple of days, weather was looking good and turned out even better! Left perth Friday night and were out at the islands first thing, got stuck straight into the dhus they were in numbers out there! 

After we had our 2 off to fill the rest of the bag, came back in to some shallower ground got to the spot and found a few snapper feeding around a big school of bait was good fun on the light jigging gear!

Got in the water for a swim in the arvo grabbed a few crays then settled in for a few beers!

Got to test out the new sounder still getting used to all the settings but was impressed can't wait to test it out in the deep water!

Have been fishing Ocean Reef inshore over the last year and the time on the water is starting to pay off. Hit the water at 445 this morning solo for the first time (wife hung out in the car as not feeling well) headed out, full noise, good colours on the sounder around some craypots. Started a burley trail, floated some cubed baits down on 1 rod with paternoster on the other.

Only a ray on the paternoster, the floater scored a big snook at 730mm (released) and a few scorpion cod before nailing a breaksea cod at 380mm. Not an exciting catch by alot of standards but pretty happy with it myself as a great eating fish. Fished a little longer and back at the ramp by 730.

Ramp was chockers by now ppl parked all over the place, fisheries checking catches which is good to see. Flowed pretty good, heard a bit of agro but pretty mild.

Curious to hear how others went as there were plenty of boats out?

 (Sorry about the bad pic, deckie is the photographer!)

 hoping to get some during the break

Trev

 Braved the blustery conditions yesterday at White Hills to get a feed.

Weed wasn't to bad but not possible keeping any big baits out for any length of time.

Had a long term good mate come to Perth for a relatives wedding and we caught up on the weekend and planned a trip if the weather was ok. Today gave us a “reasonable” morning so met Mal and his boy Timmo at the ramp about 5am and headed out to hunt some greenbacks on the nearshore reefs.

5 minutes from the ramp and the bomber and popper went out in 3-5m deep waters. Just near a bommie and the bomber was away. This was a fair fish that headed straight for cover and there was some tense times trying to get it around the rocks. When it was in open water, it didn’t fight like a big tailor and as it got to the boat there was the pink. We landed it to safely remove the trebles, a quick photo for the visitor, measure (66cm) and a strong release.

The other highlight of the day was being in close to the one mile reefs baitcasting the wash, when a school of big (10-20kg tuna) came through. The first indication was birds dive bombing around the boat and then there were the baitfish fleeing and the beasts smashing the surface within 5m. Timmo reacted quickly and got a small commercially caught gar on 5/0 gang into the middle of them. Inhaled by a big fish, and I saw it swim away with the hooks in its gob. A drag set for 1.5kg tailor didn’t really cut it and although Timmo did well, the fish won given the cover it had.

Although the waters looked good we couldn’t find the tailor, but bagged out on herring when the easterly was too strong to fish the reef breaks and we had to hide close to shore. It was an enjoyable and memorable day for the things that happened – I guess you just need to be out there.

. any recent reports, are the Mackies about yet? Hows the track?

 Have been having some success on King George whiting lately. 

Any reports of anyone catching/netting crabs in the swan recently?  

Plenty reds in close before the mooqn. Averaged 12 every day up to the full moon. Most covered in coral, Pulled pots out this morning. Might drop them back in around 14th November.

Been on my bucket list for years, took a charter out of Rarotonga with Akura Charters.....never realised just how hard these fish go until I hooked this one on a halco gold bomber, solid fifteen minute fight on lightish gear before the skipper gaffes it. Went 21kg on the scales.  Local restaurant for $10 a head turned a bit of the fish into five different preparations.....stunning  

its a 490 renegade with a 80hp 4 stroke yamaha. It was advertised it Broome and it so happened that my wife and i were after one of these but ended up giving uo looking as we could only find them new priced at 43k so when this one came up i had to go look and it didnt take long till i was on a sea trial and after it came back from the boat shop saying the outboard was all good i knew i had to have it now its ours and put some fishing on the deck already. 

Thursday looked like a good day to get out for a pre demersal ban deep drop off Two Rocks.

Still trying to figure this stuff out, but we found what looked like a good spot in around 420-430m and got a nice Bass Groper a couple of weeks back... that's the first pic and was 28kg on the scales.

Thursday we left the marina at 4:45am and did the first 10nm in the dark...pretty eerie, and we were on constant lookout for cray pots. There are plenty up until 7 or 8nm out, so kept speed down to around 14 knots. Sped up after it got light. which had us fishing 36nm out at 6:30am.

First drop straight into it and a good fish. Unfortunately the line parted, and when it finally reached the surface the reel says still over 100m out, so must have been a weak point. Next two drops we get Blue Eye....the biggest one probably around 14kg, although we didn't weigh it.

Then we hook up the bottom on the same reel that we lost line off before and it snaps off at the boat....It was low before we started, now not enough line to reach the bottom, so we are down to 1 rod/reel...not ideal.

At that point the bite completely shut down...seems we have to get out there earlier. With only 1 outfit in action, we figure we go do some more searching for ground and then head in to round out the bag.

The sounder pic is what we were fishing.

Cheers

Recently back from a school holiday trip up north. All up, was an awesome couple of weeks with friends, family, fish and some great weather. Pic heavy, but has to be as it Coral Bay is a pretty special spot.(sorry about sideways photos though)

Day 1 was the trek up there. Wife, sister-in-law and three kids (aged 1, 2 and 3!!) in one car, myself and oldest son in another with the boat in tow. Think I got the best deal here for sure..
Didn’t start though well when I hooked up the trailer at 430am to find no lights or brakes, despite it being serviced by an external party (first time I have ever had it done by someone else) two weeks earlier! Ended up getting on the road at 830am heading North. Fuel stop at the 440 roadhouse, fuel stop at Carnarvon and then pulled into Minilya rest area around 730pm just in time to watch the second half of the footy. Swagged it for the night and then ready for the final run into Coral Bay Saturday morning.

Day 2. Arrived coral bay around 830am and luckily the house we had booked was clearing out as we pulled in. The other car with the kids stayed overnight in Carnarvon so we had some time up our sleeve to get on the water. conditions looked great for the day so a quick unpack of the boat, and myself and #1 son were heading out to the 100m mark – conditions on the water were incredible.


Unfortunately was a really slow bite.
Fished a few spots and got our ten fish – but nothing that great to photograph it seems! From memory it was a couple of reds, couple pearl perch, baldie, tusk fish, big sweetlip and spangleds.

Day 3. Was another great forecast (in front of a few rough looking days), so made the call to head wider out to around the 160-170 mark. Perfect conditions again and perfect drift out wide, but again, could see the fish on the sounder but they just weren’t hungry. #1 dropped a big fish out wide with only about 20 metres to go (and didn’t float up!). next drift I hooked a fish with the same fight but landed this one, a nice little harpuka! Tried a few shallower spots on the way in for a few nice reds, sweetlip, honeycomb etc. perfect conditions, with a few nice fish so probably 7/10 day all things considered.

Day 4. Mate from Perth arrived with his boy. Picked them up from early Learmonth flight and unfortunately the wind was in early – and forecast for the next 5 days didn’t look great at all.
Bit the bullet and punched out to around 70metres.
Sweetlip were everywhere but couldn't tempt anything bigger so decided to have a sound around. Tried another spot in similar depth but by this time we couldn't hold bottom, so ended up trying to hover on the spot with boat in reverse. Technique I hadn’t tried before, but worked ok and we landed some nice reds in pretty quick succession. This saved the day and we headed in with some quality fish.

Day 5. Wind was howling. Some beach time and also got the boat out to try for a few squid. Hard work for 8 – but better than nothing.

Day 6. Blown out again

Day 7. Forecast looking very ordinary (15 -20kt southerlies). But had booked on the charter to get the boys onto some fish again. Charter cancelled due to conditions! Made a call to drag the boat to Exmouth Gulf for a squid (desperate times called for desperate measures). Boat in the water at Exmouth and wind was blowing straight up the gulf! Ended up dropping of to near perfect conditions, but a long way to go for 8 more squid!

Day 8. Mate left to go back to Perth. Conditions still ordinary so another non-boating day and dedicated beach day. More guests (parents) arrived for the next week.

Day 9. Howling nor-wester, not that it would have mattered – Grand Final Day!! Couldn’t have asked for a better result.

Day 10. Future days forecast indicated that winds were dropping, so fishing was deferred again (need to cater to the crew), so another squidding trip today for the young ones. Headed towards north passage and found a dozen in about an hour. Always a bit of fun with ink flying around.

Day 11. Second cruising/ whale watching day as I tried to pick a window in the weather. Headed out North passage for a troll and whale watching. A few whales about, and nailed a shark Mackie on the troll that went back.

Day 12. Dedicated fishing day with the old man and #1 son. Dad had never really come fishing with me before and his best fish to date was probably a herring! This days Forecast had looked to be the pick of the week for days, so it was my time to get him onto a fish! Didn’t start well! Heading out south passage with the aim to hit a spot in 70 metres marked a few days before. Forecast <5kt winds would have been pushing 15kt+ and we were heading straight into it! To be as comfortable as possible, we didn’t get above 7knots, so made for a long trip and had me considering turning back multiple times.

We made it half way and then just kept pressing on as surely the forecast couldn’t have been so wrong – and the wind had to drop at some stage!?! well it did drop, eventually, but only to about 10kts which made it at least bearable and once we were out there, was going to make for at least a decent ride home.
Fished the first spot (from day 4), for one red, honeycomb and a Tusk fish! Wasn’t as productive as I had hoped, so moved on to the new mark. First drift was just a test to have a good look at the ground. Looked promising, and missed a good bite – so back around we went, this time everyone ready to go. Second drift, another good bite to me, this time though I was on. Old man got a bite shortly after and he was on as well. Landed mine for a decent Red and old man’s eyes lit up as I was confident that he had a red on as well. Turned out it was a big sweetlip and I was a bit gutted that he didn’t land a trophy (although he was happy as he had now beaten his best fish to date!). Tally was 1 tusk, 1 honeycomb, 2 reds, 1 sweetlip.
Next drift and it was on again. Don’t think I had even hit the water yet and the old man was on– and looked like an even better fish this time. Fought the fish well and up it came – not one, but a double header of reds! One not big, but still size, and the other a nice 60cm fish. Smile on his face was priceless!
Dispatched these two into the esky and #1 son was on. Had him on some heavier gear and I underestimated what he had. I could tell by his grunting and groaning that it was a keeper, but I wasn’t expecting another thumping double header reds. Smaller one prob 6kg, bigger one closer to 7kg. photos don’t do it justice and easily the biggest double header I have seen.

Dispatched these to the esky, grabbed my rod, and within 5 seconds I was one as well – another nice red.
So esky now has 7 reds, plus others.
I called one more drift and we are done as we had plenty of fish. Either we caught a couple more or we went in with what we got. The drift just gave me a chance to tidy/ clean up before heading in.
Started the drift and immediately the old man was on again. Another nice red in the esky. I didn’t even drop my line in as 9 was our limit – we had 8 and #1 was on the bottom. He actually fished pretty well, keeping on the bottom and tension on his line. Just about to call stumps and he was hit hard! He called it for a shark to start with, as it was pulling string. He started to whinge a little and ask for some help which was denied (a bit of tough love). Anyway, he fished it well and got to the boat the biggest red, and bragging rights for the trip. Didn’t have scales, and don’t think it would have made 10- but would have nudged 9kg – again need some better photo tips!!

Day 13. Last fishing day. Head out to 70m again to try for some last few fish. Conditions were brilliant – shame about the sharks!. Hadn’t had any real trouble with sharks for the whole time but today it seemed they were everywhere. Landed a few nice reds and then the sharks moved in. had a double hookup and could see the shark chasing mine. I managed to land it (after the old man got the net between the fish and the shark!). unfortunately his red wasn’t as fortunate. Shark took it about 10 metres from the boat which was frustrating to watch. Had one more drop and nailed a cobia most likely from one of the sharks, and we were done. Another good haul though of solid reds to 6kg and a big cobia – nothing to whinge about.

Day 14. Last day in the bay so a casual one. Trip out to the coral for a snorkel, then a bit of whale watching and a slow troll out of South Passage. Couple of whales, but nothing on the troll, still a good day to end with. Packed up cars and boat and then dinner at the pub. Not a bad way to end a couple of great weeks.

Day 15. Trek home. 6am departure for 6pm arrival back in Perth. Long drive but great to get it over and done with.

Til next year…

Hi all,

Got away with the family a couple of weeks ago and stayed in Bridgetown. Had a limited window to do a spot of fishing, so took a cruise into the Nannup general area for a bit of a flick. Walking one of the banks, I found a likely looking hole in among the snags. First cast had about half a dozen good size fish provide a follow and within 10 mins had pulled a feed out. Unfortunately, had to leave it for next time, despite knowing there are plenty of trout not far from where I was....next time.

These were a pretty good feed, cooked with butter, garlic, salt & pepper on the BBQ (wrapped in al foil). Very tasty, surprised me how good they were to eat with a great texture.

Second pic - roe out of the female (top fish)....and the stomach contents of the biggest male - gives you an idea how damaging these fish can be to our environment.

Thanks to those who provided some advice. These were caught on a red 'McFly' (HB).

Cheers

Buschy

Very sad news about the boat that went missing. condolences to family. Was out fishing yesterday behind GI, saw all the boats searching. Terrible thing. Did catch 4 Dhuies, released 2, plus 48ck Kg and big blackass. Pinkies were hit and miss for me this year. Winds were calm, but the sea was still a bit sloppy. Take care boating and all the best. Richie.

Gday guys,

We have just arrived home (1:15 this morning) from Exmouth after 10 nights up there, so I thought I would chuck a couple of photos up.... It was a last-minute decision to head up - but we were totally over the winter weather down south... We fished the gulf (as usual), but got most fish on the spear as the water was clearer than i have seen it for at least a couple of years! We took the kids surfing, drove to Ningaloo along the coast, and lazed around on the West side beaches...

enjoy the pics...

Great to see guys and girls willing to help a few fellow fisherman out there.

We got our pots stuck out in 10-12m of water while we were up holidaying in Green Head last week.

Came accross two couples free diving about 400m away from our pots. Asked the question if they were able to help out.

Without question they followed us down to our pots jumped straight over the side and freed them up.

Very impressive to see you guys work. Wouldnt of got me down there.

A big thankyou to who ever you were. As we werent able to catch you back in town due to you heading home that arvo.

Hope the Dhuie you were able to spear while you were down there went down well.

I have a carton here for you if I can catch up with you. Message Me.

Cheers Anchorman

Just got back from a weeks fishing off the coast of Karratha and Dampier.
Day one
Early start to the day due to spring tides boat in the water by 4.30am headed straight up the harbor towards Legendre island. Once the sun came up we fished a few spots not far off the coast but found it hard to get past the small GT's and cod. due to the great weather decision was made to head out wide to a spot we were told was guaranteed to produce. got to the spot and the sounder was loaded with what appeared to be Mackies. Lures were out and no sooner had they hit the water then we were hooked up on double headers. 4 mackies in the boat in a little over an hour. moved to another spot which quickly produced a couple of nice trout and some other fish. headed back in early afternoon to fish a well known spot closer in only to donate both quality fish and gear to the tax man. decided to hit up one more spot and managed to snag a couple of Blue line emperor a nice spango and a small Rankin.
Day 2
Loads of trolling no real action. couldn't get anything else past the small cod
Day 3
Another day out wide. wind was up so we hugged the islands and trolled out for a few hours which didn't produce any fish. once the wind dropped we hit up a few spots. the sounder was loaded but nothing was on the bite. around 3 in the arvo we hit up one final spot. 3 trout in 3 drops for myself on the soft plastics.
Day 4
Another day of trolling. I couldn't catch a break this day had fish following to the boat all day and could not get a hook up. That's fishing.
All in all a great trip spent with great mates.

 Just back from 4 days of cruising around the bottom of the Western Gulfs in the Reefrunner. We usually camp somewhere on Tamala once a year, but decided to make this a shakedown cruise to see just how  well we could really live aboard , as a prelude to going further afield. I badly screwed it up, in a way, as I booked for the week BEFORE the snapper ban came off. just too much going on, too little time. anyway, it just meant we had to listen to the qualifying final on the radio as we drove up, and we'll get to see the grand final on TV. As well, the weather forecast was pretty good for this time of year.

So we drove up on the Saturday, didn't leave Kalbarri until 10am. Weather was warm, variable winds. got to tent landing, tide was up and wind was down. talked to some young blokes just came back in an old tinny, said they were up to their *rses in pinkys out in the channel near Salutation, 580-800mm jobs. we were planning on camping at Salutation, so we had a quick flick with sp's on the way over, but, never having visited the iland before, thought we'd better get there well before dark to pick somewhere to anchor for the night. Ended up between the two headlands pictured below--no wind, light and variables forecast.

Had some meals heating up in the Travel Buddy oven, as we perched up on the bow to toast the sunset I woke up in the early hours, and couldn't hear a thing. Anyone who has slept on board an ali boat knows it's like sleeping in a rainwater tank with someone throwing rocks at it, and fibreglass is much better in that respect, but, nothing? Utter silence. It was so totally glass there wasn't a ripple. A light easterly came up in the morning. Bacon and egg sangers and proper coffee (courtesy of 12v Handpresso machine) for breakfast, then off towards the Guano Islands, with a short stop in the channel on the way. Couldn't see any big showings, but we drifted for a bit over the weed, hoping for a black snapper. All we could get was this 75cm Pink We wandered around for the day, tossing sp's in the shallows on light gear, found a patch of undersize pinks going off, and pulled a nice black snapper from among them, so there was dinner. Sou'west came up a bit in the afternoon, so we chose Three Bays island for our camp for the night. Cooked up the fish and some pasta, and toasted another sunset sitting just off the beach . Good little spot, best in south to sou'east. Left in the morning to look further north, headed up to Baudin island first.  Had a poke around there, didn't look a good overnight anchor, then headed off for Freycinet Island, off the top of the peninsula. It went off to absolute glass, and was quite warm. We poked around Freycinet, and found a tiny bay in the north end, which contained at least 3 dozen little whalers just cruising hard against the beach. We anchored, the odd one came out to look at us, then went back in. One of the little gems you find up here when you are not absolutely focused on fishing. The breeze eventually came up a little, so we anchored up and had another session where we hoped to catch a baldy, couldn't get past the masses of mostly undersized pinks, with just one 55cm fish among them. Breeze really freshened from the south, so we steamed down to Tea Tree Camp and anchored between the point and the camps for the night. It blew hard, but we were comfortable tucked in there. The wind went sou'east after dark, then dropped out at sunrise. As we were pulling out that afternoon we headed back around the peninsula to the west side, and island hopped down killing time, waiting for the high tide due at 4 in the afternoon. Spent some time at baudin, then anchored up on the north side of Three bays island again, this time going ashore for a walk around. Terrific variety of life on these islands, no camping allowed ashore. Rocks are sculpted into fantastic shapes by the wind and salt. The osprey wasn't happy about me being on the island. https://photos.smugmug.com/Shark-Bay-cruising/i-GZFmqsZ/0/a63e09fb/XL/20180925_111550-XL.jpg We left for Tent Landing into a strong southerly pushing into a strongly rising tide, Reefie just ate it up. Got to the ramp, way too shallow, wind howling, so we went down to a beach with the wind blowing off it, and anchored up waiting for the tide. Water was ok, wind was not, but with some help from a camper we got it on the trailer no worries, and packed up and left. Certainly beats packing up a camp :-) Dinner at the Billabong, home after 10. Not really a full fishing trip, but we both really enjoyed it, learnt a bit, even found some new coral lumps around areas I thought I knew. And there is now 19 k's of bitumen at the start of the road in, just gets better every year.

Hi all, havent posted for a while so thought i would put something up. Got to two rocks marina on first light expecting a biq queue due to the great conditions forecast for the day, couldn't believe it only one boat launching and maybe 8 - 10 boat trailers in car park (maybe a few hangovers morning after the eagles win) Went out NW to our usual spots in the 30's - 40's, fish on the sounder and they were biting. First drop and my brother is soon onto something big on metal jig, after a while up comes an 89cm 16kg dhuie( two weeks before he pulled a 17kg dhuie out of the same spot on a soft plastic and I got a couple in the 8 - 10kg range on bait). Next im on to a good fish, called it for a pinky by the way it smashed and grabbed the bait and all the head shakes and up comes my fav eating fish a nice fat baldy went 58cm. A few more drifts with lots of sea sweep smashing the bait and usual king wrasse. Tried a bit more north, got two more duies 65cm and 70cm (returned smaller dhuie) nice breaksea cod (my second fav eating fish) and more undersize dhuies and breaksea. The last few times we've been out we've had descent size bronzies in the range 6 -8 foot hanging around the boat. My mate hooked one deep down and it rocketed straight to the surface behind the boat, smashed around a bit before biting the leader off - gave him a good arm stretch on 80lb braid. The bite pretty much stopped around 11am, we moved around a bit but nothing else much around. Came home in good conditions with 4 good fish and passed a couple of whales cheers for reading! Dave.

Got back late Monday night from 4 days chartering out of Gnaraloo Bay.

After about 3 weeks strait of non stop wind out of nowhere we got a perfect 4 day weather window for our 4 day Gnaraloo Charter. Left Coral bay Thursday morning with a strong easterly but as forecast dropped off by midday. Had a bit of prospect on the way down but not much seen other than 8kg Mullaway from one of our older marks in the 50’s but not much on any of the new spots we marked. Spent most of the day setting up our mooring ready for the strong sotherlys forecast for later in the trip. We managed to float and move 2 large concrete blocks back that we normally use down there, but last year we found that someone had dragged into the reef. Getting them back into the sandy area of the bay. Met the crew of 8 we have for the week on the beach in the arvo and came up with a plan for the week.

Day 1. Plan was to work our way out to fairly deep and try to get onto the Goldband for some kg. First Anchor in the 80’s saw us boat about 15 got Reds strait up. I thought you beuty, fish are on and Gnaraloo was going to turn it on like I know it can. But things seemed to get slower after that with only a fish or two each anchor until about 1pm when the Goldband started to fire on last couple of spots. Having to stop fishing as we had bagged out just as a few horses started to show up. In the middle of the day a trevally that measured 1.2m showed up. It is about as big as I've seen for a Gold Spot.

Day 2. Started a bit deeper in the 90’s and found much the sam with a short morning bite and then slowly came on the late arvo. We found ourselves on some old ground in the 110m when the came back on in the late arvo and finished up quickly with double header horse Goldband causing chaos on the relatively light gear the boys where using. Had to again call a stop right in the middle of it with when we got bag with fish still coming up and lying everywhere on deck most is a mess of rigs o some kind. I don’t normally let other boats bother me too much, and being Gnaraloo we really even see one. But in the middle of the day did have one cat come from nowhere and try to set up drift next to us. But as we where anchored over the small spot I knew he would not even get close enough to see a show on his sounder. Plenty of ocean so I decided to pull Anchor and power 4 mile to leave him to it. Only to have him again come from out of sight and thing time do a full circle of us and then head back to where he came from???

Day 3. Now having plenty of kg in the freezers we decided to have a look around in the shallowes (shallow for us anyway). Starting in the 30's it was a bit of a slow morning with the odd good fish comming up. Reds seemed quite, but where they should have been there was Rankin Cod. Slowly picked up through the day. Tryed a few pinky spots but did not really se them schooling and where not on the bite. Ended up fishing a lot of spots but paid off still bagging out and in the end with at least 20 good sized Rankin amoungst a very mixed bag for the day also including another Mullaway. A few unstopables through the day that I assume where big cods from the was they went, but luckilly sharks whre allmost nos existant with only a coupple hooked during the day. Wind came up as we where finishing and had to punch into a 20kt s/w on way home but where not too far from the Gnaraloo Bay so was allmost (allmost) a nice change from the just about glass conditions we had had al trip so far.

Day 4. Bit of wind in the moring and we knew more was on its way so the plan was to get out there get what we can get back. But fish seemed quite hungy today and starting in the 70's and working our way in with a reall mixed bag we where allmost on our limit after just a couple of anchors. We decided to come out with the 6lb chalenge where we attach the hooks to the rigs with a 6lb bit of mono and the biggest fish landed on that wins. Once snapped off you are out and back to normal gear. With the Rankins still firing and every other fish being a horse Spango not many fish made it to the surface, with a small sweetlip being the end winner. Finished the day and the trip drifting over some mixed ground in the 30's, for a bit of fun catching and releasing lots of little stuff untill we finally got onto what I wanted to show the boys. I think we hooked and list a few but finally got a nice Malabar cod at abut 1.5m to the surface. being 30m it was still quite well so got the deck hose over the gills and after a quick photo it swam off strong.

We love chartering out of Gnaraloo and want to do more so if you are intrested have a look at our website www.seaforcecharters.com.au 

I know it can be hard to get groups together (let alone orginized) So we are looking at trying to put a couple of smaller groups or individuals together with packages including accom at the station and meals. So send us a email or pm us if you are at all keen to register your intrest.

 Hi all 

Has Anyone been to the Perth  Boat show?

Wondering if they have any deals on the Raymarine axiom Pro 9

Cheers

 Hi all 

Has Anyone been to the Perth  Boat show?

Wondering if they have any deals on the Raymarine axiom Pro 9

Cheers