First of all, great to see fisheries out on the water again before sun up keeping an eye on things. I passed a boat at 4:15am this morning on my way out to my pots who had the fisheries boat along side them haven a chat, I wonder if they got done for pulling pots before 4:30am or not. 

Gotta say I'm impressed with there presence out on the water this year, doing a great job boys!

Secondly, the whites have slowed rite up for me on the back of the 3 mile now, but I'm considering lengthening my ropes and going for a longer run out to try get one last full pot. Question is does anyone know how far out/how deep the whites might be out from ocean reef area now? 

Any help appreciated, cheers Paul

 How is everyone goin at the moment with the cray fishing? Me and a mate have ours out of hillarys in pot city and are doing pretty grim and alot of people at yhe ramp are saying the same....we have our pots in 14m+ and are pulling them every couple of days for better outcomes but dont seem to be working out....any tips or info would be much appreciated cheers

 Hey, Is anyone doing alright with crays behind Garden Island yet? I am away and won't be putting my pots in till Friday, hope i'm not too late?? 

Twiggy

 Knocked up some pots last week and looking for opinions and ideas of what people think?

length 900mm

width 750mm

weight 32kgs

 Not into name and shame. But here goes . They launch at point peron every morning. Even yesterday. Driver of boat larger fella. Deckie slimer build Tatts on lower arm. Very nice Stainless steel pot tipper ( full size). The area they where pulling pots  this morn at 5.35 am. And undoing bridals and putting new ropes and floats  on and moving them to new location. Do not belong to them. I know for fact. Everyone there are people I know very well. Sad thing is definately locals. If anyone on site happens to know these lovely gentle men . Give them heads up , put original floats and ropes back on. And return them to location  within 2 days . I would hate for them to loose there boat for poaching. Put this up just in case someone knows them:):):) bad bad move. No rego numb going up on site. That numb will be going elsewhere...  Age 55 plus both grey haired very sad. Should know better

today was the second day of the abalone season for 2015

i was going to go for a swim, but i stayed in bed as it looked a bit windy, and the forecast wasnt good, plus the trig surf cam looked rough

what were the conditions like this morning ?

did many people go out ?

 Does anyone use it?  Heading to Walpole area over Christmas / New Year and since the Engel will be used for food and booze nowhere for bait.  

Cheers

Dave

 Just chasing some advice on cliff spinning and jigging I'm heading to Kalbarri for a month around Feb and I want to target pelagics off the stones just chasing advice on gear lures and techniques that have worked for others 

Cheers cal

 Got this morning-no idea who is organising this. ** Don't know why change of Venue. But now at Palm Beach Jetty Area**

I suppose "better late then never"?

As discussed in a previous post, we will hold a FW Members get together next Thursday.  The address is 7 / 65 Buckingham Drive Wangara.  The time is between 3pm and 7pm.  We will do the same on Thursday the 17th as well.

Our shop is not ready to open to the public, but we are progressing and will open in January 2016.  The intention of the event is to let Members come and have a look at how we are going, and hopefully meet up with other FW Members in person.  Please don’t expect a fully set up retail outlet, as it won’t be.

We will put a few beers on, and a sausage sizzle commencing at 4.30pm.  You can have a look at some of the fish processing equipment, the general layout and the product range we will sell next year.

Our fish processing licence has been granted by WA Fisheries, however we are just going through the “objections” period before it is formally issued (7-8 January 2016).  I therefore can’t sell processed products, but as indicated previously will give some “test” burley away to Members that PM me.  Some equipment can be purchased but we are not really trying to sell anything, it is just a FW Members get together.

From the 11th, we will receive any second-hand gear that Members would like to place on consignment for sale in the new year.  If you would like to bring anything in, you can do so between noon and 5pm up until Christmas.  Just PM me to confirm date and time (I have received my licence from WA Police).

We received our initial bait order and have had a “play” with some of the specialist packs.  I was really happy with the WA Pilchard quality in the bulk supply, and we will do vacuumed packaged select 6 pack (300g), 12 pack (600g) and 1kg offerings (I would want to buy these).  The packaging and sealing method is not quite right yet, please don’t criticise our packaging, but this is something that we will refine before opening.

Squid tentacles (200g) and peeled prawns (100g) is probably something we will do as well, and I made a few “test” packs of these (KG and live bait lollies).

We have a heap of Mustard hooks that were “donated”.  FW Members will be able to “take some home” on the day(s).

We are “giving it a crack” and encourage Members to come along.  What we seek the most is feedback on what knowledgeable Members want, and a nice social gathering of like-minded individuals.

Just wondering if anyone runs a "Whale Tail" on their 4.0m Tinnie.
I have one with a 30Hp Jonno, it came with it on but not sure if I need it.
Traditionally tinnies are normally front light so it shouldn't be hard to get the nose up, but maybe it will need it to keep the bow down & onto the plane ?????
Your ideas & experiences will be appreciated.

 Hi all

Well its time to start organising/planning our monties trip we will be going in may next year. This is our first big trip living off the boat so what things should we take and what things have you taken and never used we are planning on staying for 5 days on the islands so need to pack smart. At this stage there will only be 2 of us on my boat. 

If there is anyone who might be keen to tag along in there boat send me a pm this will be our first trip up there we have a 3 week window and will be picking the best weather to head up there.

A big thanks to Pricey10 for his advise it was good to chat about it and it will be good to catchup for a beer when we get up there.

Cheers

Rod

 Got a couple brake rotors if someone needs cray pot ballast  free.pick up baldivis. Pm or call  scott 0417 269 869

 Hi guys

Got some new jigs today and was wondering if anyone has used them and what your thoughts are? Didnt need to restock but thought they were cheap so bought the lot

Josh

 Just an observation,  but has anyone from  Hillarys noticed a big drop in cray catches in the last couple of days? I am in 16 - 19m behind the 3.

Quick trip out this morning to check the pots.
some big ones in the pots. (all were huge or just undersize ...first time we've thrown half a dozen kakas back)

the whites seem to be much harder with more colour.

 Hey Guys,

I am interested in getting some crays by hand, can you get them off the Beach? If so where?

Cheers

Sam

 Are people using the supple trace for line leader and the tough trace for rigs?

Enjoy

 First snapper . Eels .cobbler. List goes on and on. Now birds and fairy penguins. I wonder if greenies kick up now. What next Dolphins . Just silly question did boats go out and warn everyone down garden island about grain spill no. Did boats go out and warn people about sewerage spill no. Do boats go out and warn people about dead fish Sth end off island. LOl. Out causeway in shoal water . Iam never eating wheat or canola again. Really. Grain terminal choka full off yellow tail and norm bait fish that is always there, also low tide today didn't even see the thousands of rock crabs that hang on causeway today not 1. Far out where was first deaths. Many big fish. Not grain terminal that's for sure. What are total numbers( be like guessing how many jelly beans in a jar). Pitty a couple of big Noah's haven't washed up yet. Would be nice.

 Thought I'd start a new topic about this since people are for and against and I'm new to cray fishing but a mate who's been doing this for a while told me to take a scrubbing brush out and keep the pots clean and they will catch better but not keen on scrubbing pots if there's no need anyone no the real truth or what the pros do ? 

i am looking for opinions  / advise to help me make a decision

currently i have twin 60HP mercs on my 5.96 trailcarft center cabin both done around 450hrs (2006 make)

the engine mounts are getting to a point where they need to be repaired

i have been giving an estimate of around 2.5k per motor and been advised by my boat mecanic to just put a new single outboard on

he has suggested a 150hp vtec Honda (approx 20k fitted) and told me to stay away from the mercury.

so the decision is

- putting back towards the 20k would be what ever i get for selling my 60hp twins and the 5k on the engine mounts, then i have a brand new motor

- or just getting the engine mounts done and keeping them untill upgading my boat, which by then the motors could be in excess of 15 years old.

any other Brands, Horse power , or what would you do , or bad experiences comment welcome!

i think this decision will need to be made by the end of summer at the latest and i will just nurse these mercs untill then.

cheers Steve.

Hey guys I'm heading to Busso this weekend and hopefully going to get a bit of fishing in, what's been hanging around?

Chasing whiting, gardies etc and haven't got a boat is there much point in trying the beach?

Cheers, Nick

 Hey Guys 

I'm not going to be home for this and i would love to help but have a read of this article.

www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/crowdsourced-small-boat-armada-to-investigate-fish-deaths-at-cockburn-sound-20151203-gleltj.html

Basically old mate Tim Barlow from Tims tackle plus in Guilldford has asked if people can get to cockburn sound on the weekend and take ya boat for drive around to take pics of any dead fish and to possibly try and get some fresh samples and to " have a fish to see if anything is left alive ".

Great idea to show how many of us fisherman are concerned about the current state of the sound and to get as many eyes on this as possible.

Not sure if many will go but the link said there is already over 1000 people keen on hitting the water for this reason.

Great to see a big show of people there in support of finding out the answers.

Cheers

Crowie

 looking for a rarenium 1000 old modal, thanks

 Heads up if you read this in time- 6 oclock News. Will be interesting?

 Went fishing around success bank yesterday.  Did well on the KGs and flathead. Before I went checked fisheries and the sound was open to fishing and swimming so kept the fish.  With all these new reports getting a bit suss on eating my catch but don't want it to go to waste.  What would your call be? 

 Some photos taken on the Dunsborough Artificial Reef yesterday as a part of Reef Vision.

 Just a quick heads up, the water police were at mindarie this morning at 5am with the radar gun pinging people as they were coming into the marina. Just watch your speed as you come in.