In Kalbarri, at least. it has been really quiet, just the odd one here and there. I got two on the Australia day weekend, and a few pinks, but worked hard for them. Sounds like a few turned up yesterday north of the river. We left on sunrise, tried a troll north a bit for zero,  and steamed a long way up. Picked up a couple of  pinkies, then started trolling again. One missed  strike on a brand new lure showed definite mackerel teeth, but it was another long stint until we finally picked up a stray. Didn't seem to have company, so we went off somewhere else. A monster double strike turned out to be YFT, dropped one released the other. Then bang bang bang , three Spaniards in quick succession, largest 13.5KG. So with four Spaniards and two pinks the fish bag was full, ( didn't have the big Madfish bag with me ) and we headed home. 

Tried my luck at crabbing (nets) in the Swan tonight. Just the one size! I usually free dive for them and typically get a feed, but it’s been so murky lately, I thought I’d give netting a go.

I thought I’d save some bucks and catch some herring for fresh bait, but the one time I actually want to catch them in the river, all I get is lots of small pink snapper (about 30cm). After about 2 hrs I finally managed to catch some herring for bait.

Most interesting part of the night was seeing a live crayfish wandering in about 3 ft of water. I’m 100% certain it was a crayfish as the water was glassy and I had my torch on it for a few seconds. I tried to do a circle and go over it again to get a photo, but it was heading for a drop off and dissappeared. I did about 5 circles in the area but no luck.

It was very lightly coloured (pink) like when the whites are running and would have gone very close to size. 

Has as anyone else ever seen a live cray in the Swan?

 Thinking of taking the boat down to Augusta next week after the brats go back. Any recent reports from down there? I know they had a crap load of rain a few weeks ago. Looking at bream and usual B&B stuff. Would it be worth throwing in the crab nets? Or rains have sent them packing!

Cheers 

On the 1st of January 2019, Harro, Kane and myself jumped in the car and headed up to Exmouh.

While the wind was coming in hard for the first few days, it eventually let up, letting us head out wide and get into some nice Ruby's.

It was an amazing trip with some great fish caught.

There's no doubt that we will be heading up again soon to do it all over again.

Below is a link which will probably give a better report then I can type haha. It includes everything from chasing Reds, Ruby's, Pelagics and even hunting crabs.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=NzU1aV87l7M

 Hey guys anyone been down to Walpole lately? Just wondering what the mouth to the inlet is looking like

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.