Been out a couple times this season, the going has been tough with surge and bad vis making the diving difficult and dangerous. The numbers havent been up like this time last season, however that may be due to the bad surge and the crays still staying in deep. 

But we managed a feed the other day around Rotto, with many berried/setosed/tarspotted released.

These were captured in 5-12m freediving. My mate Brad with our catch. 

Dont know about anyone else, but I reckon the best part of the Crayfish is the Legs...

Besides the legs dont seem to freeze well, cant beat eating them freshly cooked..

We have pulled the pots 3 times now and have had 27 keepers so far, Near double that with seatose and tar spot..

Photos of todays Crays

 Gday all just chasing some info on barrow island i will be launching from fortescue river mouth and pretty much heading straight over . I cant help but noticing the amount of rocks / obstructions etc out the eastern side of pascoe and middle islands which is where will more up overnight just chasing some tips that may help. I have been there before a few times on charters from onslow but have always came in from the west . 

Cheers carry

 I'm putting some led strip lighting under the gunnels of my boat to help aid when I go night fishing. I was wondering if anyone has used red LEDs instead of white? If so how do you find it? Getting a 3m strip for either side.

For some reason as I pushed save on my below comment it deleted everything & can't be bothered rewriting what I had written. So long story short, ended up with white led strip lights & that's my new switch panel I put in today... Previously just pulled fuses for switches & had wires everywhere!

With our normal target species “off limits” and the strong easterly forecast, we decided to have a troll along the northern beaches for tailor.  Hit the water at first light in surprisingly placid conditions with flat seas.  Spent a couple of enjoyable hours trolling quite close to the beach with proven lures.  The water was quite dirty with a lot of weed which I think meant we had to basically troll the lure in front of their heads to get a hit.

We managed to come across a number of schools at different times which resulted in multiple hookups most times we found them.  Lost quite a few at the boat as we only had one net which was in use at the time.  The highlight was definitely landing two fish on one lure as they took the front and rear trebles.

Without any doubt, the best thing was my mate’s new 36V Minn Kota in its first test could easily hold his 8m boat using spot lock in moderate winds – the anchor is now a thing of the past.

We brought a few home but they have been carefully individually wrapped and packed to see if they can be upgraded to larger models in the future.  Not a bad result for a windy morning.

 Just trying to find out the restrictions for fishing in the Shoalwater Marine Park.

I can't seem to find them all i've seen is that you can't spear in there but more interested if there are restrictions regarding cray pots.

Mike

 Wheres the best place to catch some bait to chase the mullaway with and some good spots for the mullaway. 

 Hi All,

It is alarming that only 3 days into the season and already 1 pot stolen. It is really concerning people refer to pots as shopping trollys ( be it a joke or not) and actually do not own a single pot themselves.

I don't have the answer, how we as a group can stop this behaviour, but appeal to everyone to respect both Comercials and recreation pots. Respect is mutual, for Comercials this is their source of income, for recreational it's hard enough trying to find a gap between work and weather to get a feed. I trust the authorities will enforce the full punishment for culprits that get caught, because I know if I catch anyone on mine or my friends pots they will delt with accordingly.

LETS MAKE A STAND TOGETHER!

Im sure this will be contentious. But lets try to civil , reasonably mature about it and have some dialogue around this important topic

I know there are already parks access fees and to me at the time they were a bitter pill to swallow but after having seen the destruction to dune systems caused by irresponsible 4wd use and being unable to find any other soloutions...... I thought that a beach access fee was a great idea. Such a fee could be used to stabilise and restrict access to damaged areas. Litter pick ups and maybe some signage to educate the masses as to why and what the fee is for.

I am all for free access to the beaches but I want to protect that environment also from people who have little regard for it. I do dislike the idea of being policed  and paying fees on everything but self policing clearly is not working as is evidenced by the numbers of 4wds hooning through sandunes past signage disallowing that very act.

Vehicals of payees could display a  coloured sticker as proof of payment

Obviously rangers would be required to ensure that people are complying with this requirement so a portion of the fee would be needed to cover that expense.....Pensioners and low incomes get a freebie.

Ok I have my bullet proof wettie on fire away!

 Hello I was just wondering if there was any helpful advice anyone had to offer about fishing in 80 mile beach or even just up north, eg what baits , lures, rigs , things like that :)

much appreciated

Going to get a bit breezy in the morning.

Looks like I'll be up early, damn cover is off the boat :(

http://www.bom.gov.au/wa/warnings/index.shtml

telly's on the fritz, no bloody foxtel. Might have to start a conversation with wifey. 

Hi all

Final made the mind up and what to fit a Furuno 587 on my 6.1 Ocean Sport Quintrex. Really want to fit the TM260 Transducer. Any experiences with fitting and performance on particularly a Quintrex or similar Ali Boat would be appreciated.

Usually fishing anywhere from 10 to 100 metres but would like to concentrate up to 200 m. Currently have 50/200mhz transducer that came standard with LCX. Has been pretty good up to those those depths at slow speed. I was using it in exmouth a lot at 70 to 100 m range.

 Only the third day of the new season and I'm fed curried cray, is this grounds for divorce??

A note to make buyers aware, steer well clear of an internet site in the u.s under the name of epal, a koala gps style operation .They have a slick internet site with VERY CHEAP PRICES. Sadly the performance of this mob does not match their hype. My experience is a warning to others, do proper due diligence on the outfit you deal with prior to a purchase. Over two weeks ago I contacted them to be advised that they had stock of a furuno sc30 satellite compass and a raymarine cp200 side view unit, following their assurances of stock and timely dispatch I was informed they need 4 days to dispatch international postage. I had made an instant payment of $2600 fortunately thru pay pal. A week later I checked to be informed that they needed more time to organise customs documentation. As two weeks passed by and no info re dispatch I contacted them to find out what was going, they ignored my emails , I opened a dispute thru paypal that got an immediate response from them , how dare I take out a case against them. I was being unrealistic and unfair and if I did not remove the dispute with paypal they would refuse to post the items. Continued communication with them resulted in a stream of how unreasonable I am but no indication of when they might forward the goods. So I upgraded the complaint to a claim for re imbursement from paypal , which of course means they have a further week or so before paypal intervenses. What a great deal. The public is a cash cow to be milked, you get peoples money for extended periods of time for free. Following this lack of performance I checked consumer complaints re their company and you guessed it ,a litany of disgruntled customers with the same complaint non forwarding of goods reported in stock but not dispatched. So the golden rule due your homework and check the companies out prior to paying for orders. Be very wary of deals that appear to be too god and save your self a lot of heart ache.

 Hey guys,

A couple of mates are looking into a new boat for the summer but are finding it slim pickings. Whats everyones thoughts on the boats available in WA versus buying from the eastern states? Looking at a 6-7m job around the 50k mark.... 

Personally im thinking that a lot of the prices are a bit rich especially from the boat yards..

Enjoy

 hi guys, i baught a 2 piece 2m pole spear with that special lacky band that makes ot shot far, i am a begginer so i thought this would be a good start. i was planning of going to south beach groyne for a snorkle with the spear for sweep, herring and other little species. i was just wondering if i am allowed to go there spearfishing? are there any rules?

Hey guys, after looking for a few months and going to boat show getting close to pull the trigger and buy a boat. I'm looking at a couple on the east coast. Would anybody be able to recommend a transport company and what to expect cost wise? 

 Just renewed my ab licence.. Dam fisheries dropped the limit to 15..

Not completely unreasonable I guess but just sucks a bit.. Thought I'd let others know..

Belly

 Finally got my new boat 6.8m bayshore bought it off fellow member cutter thought we would get it out on the first day of ownership , gave the young bloke the day off school which he was stoked about . We were at the ramp by 5am and on the grounds by 7 am bit of a hike but glad we did the distance as we ended up with some quality fish . Young bloke showed me and my mate up he ended up with a 700mm trout nice spangled and a nice red and rankin as well my mate got the mackie in 10m of water not far off delambre island on the way back to the island for a swim at this stage it was 12.30 and the wind was just starting so quick swim and off home a great 1st trip of hopefully many more.

a low level cloud with lots of moisture has just passed in from the N/W , so a warm current is coming down the coast. look out for a good pelagic and beaky season.

Now the demersal ban is on Im starting to gear up for my first serious billfish season off the trench here and going to Exmouth for a week in March during Gamex (not competing)

Ive got a heap of 8inch soft grassys, 9.5 inch junior oscars and 10 inch soft oscars, Pakula sprockets etc and 11, 12 13 and 14 inch other pakula's, barts

I bought the richter win ons along with the full Richter hook, wire and leader rigs you get in the packets that go with the lures and was going to rig them up how Mr Richter intended them to be done. I had a look at the Pakula website whish is awesome with heaps of info and he rigs his very differently with no wind on just a long 300lb leader going from the swivel at the mainline double down to a swivel which is placed under the lure head/skirt then long wire down to hook running a lead keel weight held by a lacky band. 

I know theres plenty of guys who have caught billfish on this site so how do you guys prefer to rig your lures? any suggestions would be great

check out this link , anyone spot the problem with the gear he is selling ??
it looks well made , but i would not buy them with the problem they have
hezzy

www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/doubleview/fishing/craypots-/1058217049

 Anyone else experienced the plague proportions of North West Blowies we encountered yesterday in Coral Bay. We fished all depths out to 100 metres and got hit every time. $$$ of gear gone. Will give it another go today as a bad day on the water beats working.

Will be going again tomorrow, Have the Parents up visiting so try get a few for them to take back.. 

 Hey all!

I have recently just purchased a 3.95m dinghy. I'm planning on taking it out very soon however I need some advice. Where should I be looking to target bread and butter species such as herring squid and tailor? (I'm freo based). How should I target these species? And 25 litres of fuel with a 15hp 4 stroke outboard how much distance can I cover?

thanks guys

Hey guys,

Just wondering when Bonito and YTK are in season around albany?

Also.. can you catch YTK off the beach? Lures.. or balloons.. or just casting a mulie etc. Thanks :)

 First pot pulled & an occy beat me to the well over sized cray in there, second pot zilch, third pot 1 cray with the occy still attached, 1 occy in the esky, desperate last pot, 1 large & angry wobbegong and 3 youbeaut crays   yeeee

Im wanting to get out this season and catch some crays! Have a 4.8 centre console with new 50hp and Lowrance 7HDI, 2 x jarrah pots and 1 x plastic pot.
Really after someone reliable with some knowledge on cray fishing to head out before or after work and set/pull pots a few days each week.
I really don't want to have to go out by myself or set them with someone and head out by myself to pull them. Im home in Bertram by 4 most day and the boat is always ready to go.
PM me if anyone is up for it. Always good to meet new fishing buddies and site members.