Recent trip to Exmouth in May did not disapoint! 

First real crack at deep dropping for Ruby's did not disapoint. Lucky to get a few Ruby's and a few 8Bar for the trip. 

Abosulty stunning Emouth weather for the entire week. The Billfish were a bit quiet for the week, only managed to raise 3 and hook 1 but didnt land it.

Goldband were thick and luckily the sharks left us alone for pretty much the whole trip. 

Check out the vid of the trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_bl1N2nC8U 

Pretty lucky to score this trip before the new bag limits roll in July 1st!

G'day all,

I've just spent 8 days at Nanga Resort in Shark Bay on the annual fishing trip with a few mates. Usually we head to Tamala Station, but given that's currently closed we thought we'd give Nanga a crack. 

Our trip started with a 4am departure and rendevous with the rest of the travelling party at Cataby at 6am where it was somewhere around minus 35 degrees. A coffee and a bacon sandwich did little to warm us, but undeterred we hit the road. The trip was uneventful as you always hope for apart from numerous stops to allow the non driving members to offload a few litres they were consuming along the way. 

We arrived at Nanga around 2.30pm and having read a few reports on here, and numerous less than glowing reviews on trip advisor, it's fair to say our expectations of the place were not high, but compared to beach camping we figured it would have to be a step up at least having power and a proper shower. 

So how was it? Well if you like a caravan park with maincured lawns, excellent camp kitchens resort style pool and marble bathrooms, let's just say it's probably not for you. But if a more rudimentary site with power, clean and tidy ammenities with very hot showers (bore water) is all you're after, then Nanga has all you need.  Yes it's pretty tired in parts (pool is empty, Motel clearly not used any more and run down and the cafe/restaurant is no longer operating) but for what we wanted it was perfectly fine. The ability to get fuel and ice there was really all we wanted outside of a plot to pitch a tent. There are a few units in the park ranging from limestone brick to clourbond dongas which also look to be in good nick if that's more your thing.

Speaking of tents, mine exploded (along with our gazebo) in the 35 knot winds that greeted us shortly after arrival and lasted the first 2 days, luckily a bit of bush mechanic MacGuyver action and we were set for the week in a camp made out of 75% gaffa tape and zip ties. It takes more than a bit of breeze and rain to dampen the spirits of 5 blokes who have escaped the wives and kids for a week as you might expect. 

From day 3 we had weather that ranged from fishable to spectacular with the second last day being an all day glass off. We fished a variety of ground with mixed results, but did well at and around Fork Flats landing some nice Blue Lined Emperor between 45 and 55cm. They give a good account of themselves in 4-9m of water. Picked up a few smaller pinks to around 60cm here also, along with a truckload of undersize bluebone but unfortunately no keepers.  

Fishing the channels through the middle of the bay proved the most productive on the bigger pinks and we managed a few each day in the 75 - 85cm bracket.  Dusk was definitely the best time to fish, and tide seemed to make little difference as we picked thm up at different times and different points of the tide over the week in this water. Structure also seemed surplus to requirement as the shale/shell bottom worked better than the few lumps we found and fished. this ground also produced some XL flatties which were a nice addition to the bag.

The reef down around garden point looked amazing, but for us produced nothing of size, just a never ending procession of undersized bluebone and emperor, although we did only head down there on a day where the morngin was a bit ugly in the bay so probably didn't give it the time it deserved to make a proper assessment.

At the end of the week we agreed that a place we decided to go as a stop gap measure, is now a place we would happily return to (and likely will next year). The same 5kg limit applies as the rest of the Freycinet inlet, but given we usually fish Tamala we are usued to and happy with that anyway. 

My top tips are: 1. If camping, the 3 beach sites (one powered 2 unpowered) offer the best view in the park (see photo) although it's a longer walk to the ammenities. 2. If you leave your car on the beach after launching, park up the dune a little as per the other cars as high tide floods the beach in front of the ramp (up to knee deep some days). 3. If you need mobile reception, next to the phone box, or just beach side of the camp kitchen are the places to stand.   

Cheers 

hi all
i am taking a well deserved break from the world and heading to the other K-Town (Kununurra) via a few places each way including the Gibb. We have no agenda other than a week booked at El Questro at the wifes insistence.
Question i have - is there any worthwhile fishing around EL Questro in terms of landing a fish for my son (rather than catching a meal)

cheers

 Went for an early morning run on Friday with a mate on his boat, I've never been this wet on a boat before. Anyhow 7kg of long tail later happy days.

 You know how it is you never have the right size washer that you need when you are repairing reels.
So is there a kit available that has an assortment of flat and shim washers and I mean very small sizes as a lot of the bigger ones you can make from shim material.

Went for dive Thursday got some huge occy . I kept 2 heads (1 kg jobs each head). Went out today ( huge wind waves from the north.) settled down about midday . So I ventured further out to a spot I found few weeks ago. I thought I was first one to find it. I also thought dhues where spewing up dancing occy legs . Further investigation they where white thin plastics that looked like occy legs .dhues only took occy heads ( skinned) I had fresh skinned occy legs / fresh squid . Fresh wrase fillets Un touched. Great few days

Enjoy 

No sized dhues . Baldies on fire . Only 1 kg ( it went 1.245 kg) pretty solid kg. Biggest baldie went 4.2 . I hate cleaning the buggers but good on tooth. Almost turned around when I hit five fathom bank . Few big sets put wind up me . Pretty happy with outcome . I got bricked by ( I think blue gropper) gave me curry . Straight under ledge .s&$t happens .

Hey fellas,

Heading up to onslow in august for the annual trip up north, have fished a few different places the last couple of years so fairly new to the area. We are gonna be based at one of the caravan parks and are looking to do a few overnight trips out to Long island and stay on the boat, (think we have the set up fuel ect pretty sorted now sorted). Just wondering what the bottom fishing is like around the island or how far from the island do you need to get before you find some reasonably good ground? I've been looking around peak island and it looks promising. Will fish generally only hold on reasonable structure or will changes in bottom composition also hold fish?

Any help or thoughts would be great, i might be looking in the wrong direction! Would love to catch a few fish but equally excited just to have a look around another part of the state.

Cheers

 Hi there fellas. I'm looking to replace the main gear in my TLD25 but am having trouble finding them. 

Have tried Shimano Australia, Laith and various tackle shops but no one has them and Shimano are waiting on a shipment at the end of the month. 

I know it's a long shot but if anyone has a main gear and pinion that they could part with I would happy to compensate them with cash or beer. I'm located NOR but can pickup from SOR if needed. 
 

Cheers 

Nathan 

  Has anyone fished the site called Roundrock Margaret River . If so any tips . Fished there last month but found it very weedy on bottom had to pull quite hard to free tackle . 

  Using dropper set up with 2 hooks . Would just a float be better . 

Hi All
Just returned from annual Exmouth trip where we spend a lot of time trolling 8 inch skirts for billfish primarily. Most years we generally raise on average 8 billfish over 7 days of trolling hooking maybe 5 and landing 1 or 2 for the trip. We have tinkered with thin guage hooks etc without much change. Do any boats use a different method like switch baiting or trolling baits with a better success rate? If so whats the preferred method and how do the pros get better hook-up rates?
Thanks in advance

I thought getting a battery isolator would be simple but after reading this im not sure?

I just want to wire my boat up so that i have one starting battery and one deep cycle to run house stuff.

How would you set this up? Last thing i want to do is manually switch to the house battery after i turn the engine off and then manually switch back to start the motor. From what i gather i need to aim for a dual set up with hybrid starter/deep cycle batteries and alternate use between the the two. Im not sure if this hull truth thread is old news but it confused the issue for me and im thinking i might just wire up the starter battery to the motor and run the house totally separate on the deep cycle. But saying that, I would love to charge the deep cycle while underway. Any help out there?

www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/8971-proper-way-use-dual-battery-switch-3.html

 Could anybody in the know confirm that this is the current situation please. Thinking of heading out one last time.

Thanks

  Hi all . I am after some of cuts of alliminum tubing for rocket lancher . 50mm dia x about 250 to 300 mm long . I need six . Any help where I can get them please . I am near the inter airport .

  Tight lines 

Tank to fit and new battery boxes. Turned out mint solid as.his box seats he made are spot on ,hull is perfectly sealed.

Polyurethane foam . Solid as concrete once glassed over

 Suppose it was only a matter of time, before a young child was attacked. Today, a 10 year old boy snorkeling at the very popular 5 finger reef at coral bay, has apparently had his foot bitten off. 

All this, as the DPIRD dodged the shark mitigation policies recommended by recfishwest in the latest bout of rule changes. 
 

im deadset fuckin sick of this shit. Something HAS to be done about the shark numbers in wa. 

Nothing  to see here 

Enjoy 

 It's a bit off topic but for those who haven't had their COVID vaccinations I thought I'd share my real world experience regarding side effects. I'm 48 and pretty fit and healthy (or so I thought). Had my fist Pfizer dose three weeks ago with no real side effects apart from a sore arm. Went in yesterday for round two and I woke up at one o'clock this morning freezing my tits off and shaking uncontrollably (This is definitely not normal for living in the Torres Straights). Had a hotter than hell shower for a half hour with all of the doors n windows closed in my bathroom and was still freezing afterwards. Tried using last nights towel to dry myself and it felt like it was liquid ice, switched to a dry towel and managed to get myself dry with chattering teeth and uncontrollable shaking. Hopped into bed with a doona ( definetly not normal ) and managed to get warm and get to sleep. Woke up an hour later soaked to the bone and feeling like I was on fire. Managed to get back to sleep and woke up this morning feeling like I've just met Marsellus Wallace's friends with the blowtorch and a pair of pliers. Every single joint and muscle in my body is absolutely munted and I'm hurting in places that I didn't even know that existed. Looks like a day on the couch with plenty of Netflix coming my way. Interesting thing is my wife had the Astra Zeneca jab and she got flattened by the first dose and felt okay with the second. Just be prepared when you get whacked to have some downtime available to get your back on track. Now if I can just get my dog to get the remote for me all will be good....

 200mm of rain in a few hours last night. Looks ok but its high tide and you can see a big sand/rock bank out behind the ramp similar to what happened last time. The water got to nearly the same height  up the rocks as the last big flood. Hopefully its not as bad.  Just an update.  Defineately not as bad but still not good. 

anyone heading out tomorrow? wind loks good, swell not too bad, but looks like a lot of rain, and poss arvo storm?

was considering heading out, but wasnt sure if the showers would bring more wind/stir things up a bit?

 Hi All,

I am purchasing a deck wash for my boat and just need advise on an intake design. I intend to mount externally on the transom and was thinking of using somthing like the below pic as the intake. 

When underway would the pressure of the water on the intake find its way though the pump or are they designed to auto shutoff a gate when you depress the trigger?

TIA

New Rules:

Pelagic Fillets now need to be stored with skin on! Generally with skin off - fish is less "fishy in flavour".

Now we will have to skin and trim fish up into cutlets etc at food prep time! No longer at clean-prep time. Will take longer to defrost as well etc etc!

www.fish.wa.gov.au/About-Us/News/Pages/new-recreational-fishing-rules.aspx

rules which will apply from 1 July 2021.

The new rules are a proactive management response to issues raised by the WA fishing community, in consultation with WA’s peak recfishing body, Recfishwest, to help manage the impact of increased fishing activity on demersal scalefish.

The most important change is the introduction of trip limits. The possession limit of 20kg of finfish fillets remains, but all fillets in excess of 10kg must be from large pelagic species, stored separately with the skin attached. 20kg is the equivalent of 100 x 200gm meals – that’s a lot of fish!

Fishers will also welcome updates to filleting at sea and the definition of whole fish, which include the removal of the 30cm minimum fillet length; and that whole large pelagics can be cut in two pieces and still be considered as one fish. For both rules, skin will need to be attached while still at sea.

To help support catch care principles across the State, the master of a boat fishing for demersal scalefish by line, both recreational and charter, anywhere in the State, must be in possession of a release weight.

Just thought I would put it out there, just got my boat back from getting the transom done, Greg from Gt fibreglass did the work,

have got to say extremely happy with the work, if you need a transom done or anything else fibreglass contact him,top work and legend of a bloke.

 Morning all, 
can anyone reccoemd a rod repairer south of hte river, i have a game type J which needs a couple of eyes fixed.  

TIA

Guy

Just saw this on Perth Now:

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/breaching-whale-slams-boat-injuring-man-and-leaving-teen-critical-c-3046490

 Done and dusted for the year's trip and a bitter sweet memory.

Still love the place, fishing drinking heaps of booze and of course the fishing. Some serious lessons learned this year both on and off the water. 

Number one never underestimate that F%$&ing track and never use single leaf parabolic springs on her, have ordered some 9 leaf so back to basics. 

500m from the homstead in a merry state after a couple of beers and the end in sight we hit a water rut not going that fast  and bang both springs snapped, ahhh lovely. Luckily had a spare as I was always dubious of the bloody things from the start, but the guy at Martins assured me they'd never had one snap since they'd stopped galvanising them (riiiight)  Anyway after 2 hours and some bush mechanics later  we crept into the station and unloaded.

Luckily Saturday wasn't a fishing day so one deckie back to Carnarvon to thankfully pick up a spare spring (last one in town) underated load wise but would get us on the water for the next few glorious days. 

Farken lucky enough to get Johnno67 on the phone who was heading up Sunday and brought us two more proper rated springs ( thanks you grumpy prick lol)  

Sunday  was 100m day  and it was on,  Good Reds and massive Goldband, Deckie managed a nice Yellowfin on the troll which we had some as Sashimi that night, bloody beautiful!

Monday   was much the same as we headed back out there, more good Reds, Goldband and some big Redthroat.

Tuesday  was blowing NE so decided to Head north and fish shallower grounds, it was the first time I've ever fished Gnarloo and not come back in with a demersal. The sharks are horrendous and I mean horrendous, stop the boat they'd literally be circling, where they weren't they were waiting on the bottom. It's pretty well unfishable from 30-70m , spots I have in 40m where we'd never seen a shark they were there. It was a matter of getting fish past the sharks as they'd be be chewing on your rig as soon as it hit the bottom.

Managed a 13kg Spaniard on a floater a 10kg Cobia and that was that. 

Got on the piss Tuesday night with the boys a few FW members up there, big deep fry cook up of Red and Goldband wings they are the bomb! Cheers Col!

Bloody good to meet you Blair and to see Paul again. A good laugh and I promise not to parade in my jocks again lol. 

Wednesday a lay day so got the trailer properly sorted springwise, made up a heap of rigs and were pumped to hit the water.

Thursday back on the water and fished in close for 1 Rankin and a GT another crap day feeding the sharks.

Friday was the last opportunity to hit 100 and with a Westerly slop wasn't pretty getting out there in my smallertub but the skipper hit his straps  with a fat day of 2 Reds and 3  Goldband the boys finishing off the bag with more Goldy's to end the fishing side of the  trip. 

This I just had to mention because it was a highlight of the trip and for a few other blokes at the filleting shack one night as well.

We'd nearly finished filleting and a couple of older fellas wandered over and asked if they could have the Goldband wings, no probs as we already had a heap for the trip. Well these blokes who were 80 and over entertained us all with their back and forth banter beween each other. One comment to his mate " Can't you hear me you old fool?" To a reply of " No, I took my bloody hearing aid out so I couldn't" 

These old troopers (6 of them) have doing the Gnaraloo trip for 36 years. Towing up two big dinghys and fishing the bay, just pure gold. It inspired us all. They said once one drops off they'd probably give it up but also said no one bloody well has so they keep coming. Fella I spoke to said he'd been mates since he was 14 years old with a couple of the group. How's that for mateship!. 

Few pics attached, not many as we'd forget after a few stubbies. 

Hi

Just bought myself a Hobie Mirage Passport 10.5. Does anyone have any suggestions as to a suitable Kayak trolley. The one at BCF gets bad reviews.

Plan to use the Kayak in Cockburn and out of Hillarys for squidding and also on the river for crabbing. Either Crawley or Blackwall reach

Also be keen to meet up with a Kayaker at one of ther above locations for a joint session and to learn. Never done Kayaking before so am a total amateur. Retired so available most times

Cheers