Enjoy 

 Wow there pushing lots of sand into the inlet north of the ramps, water was clear a couple of miles away today, no whites today

 Took the big duck for a fang to the Great Barrier Reef today. Stopped and picked up a couple of nice red fish on the way. Parked up on Peart reef took a swim. Happy days!. 

 Broke an eyelet on my beloved Assassin Kob Special. Any suggestions for a repairman who deals with Assassin rods ? It's a well treasured rod and one I want a good job done on. Thanks in advance ! 

 Broke an eyelet on my beloved Assassin Kob Special. Any suggestions for a repairman who deals with Assassin rods ? It's a well treasured rod and one I want a good job done on. Thanks in advance ! 

Hi everyone,

Thought you might be interested that we have finally described the WA Greybands as a distinct species and given its own scientific name.

Greybanded Grouper Hyporthodus griseofasciatus

To try and stabilise the common name we used the name most commonly used by anglers (so, please use that rather than Eightbar, which is wrong - see below). Convention dictated we use 'banded' rather than 'band' because there are multiple bands  .  The scientific name literally means the same: griseo = grey; fasciatus = banded

For the record, this species is endemic to the inner continental shelf of Western Australia from about Barrow Island to Two Peoples Bay, usually in 76 - 470m.  The Eightbar Grouper Hyporthodus octofasciatus is found across the Indo-West Pacific and in WA occurs only on the outer continental shelf and offshore atolls (eg Rowleys, Browse). So, unless you are fishing out there - everything in WA will be Greybanded Grouper!

Thanks to everyone for posting images and lots of info from Fishwrecked. I've had PMs with a few to get extra info. Thank @Adam Gallash for the great image of the two bigguns we used in the paper.

summary here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfb.15231 but its behind a paywall. PM me if you are really desperate to read it (be warned - its dry)

Cheers,

Glenn

 I cant do a search for a topic. i have tried to click on the search button. nothing happens. Can someone detail the proceedure please.

Entjoy 

 i had an mail from the council saying that they are puttin U rails up at the end of the path ways to slow the bikes and pedestrians down at the cross walk. Might have had a win there, just have to wait and see.

***************

Gday guys, heading over to the Monties next week for a well earned break. Staying with the guys from Montebello Island safari's with a group of mates. Plan on having one day at least to explore via the dinghy, my questions is in regards to mud crabs, would love to catch a couple as it has been so damn long since I have seen or even tasted so it would really just be for the fun. If possible could someone give me some pointers on where to start ? Best method to catch ? Happy to receive via pm. Not looking to clean up and feed everyone, just want to have some fun with my brother for an hour or two whilst over there.
I have already done a little google earth research and can see a couple of likely spots I believe that would hold crabs but any help would be really appreciated.
If you guys have any other helpful info in regards to fishing that would be awesome as well, my main aim is to flick lures and test a few lures that I have made and generally just have alot of fun and relax.
Cheers Fella's
Scotty

 Hi guys, does anyone know of anywhere that sells 1/2" cast nets?, i can only find 3/4" or 1", not fussed if they are drawstring or bottom pocket

cheers Yewie 

My grandkids be over the moon.would make good marron/ trout pond. About to start to fill

Boat well looked after . Not my style but heaps of storage very very neat .

Little Andy took mate out . They got some crackers .1.7 kg the best

Pemby trout fest Sunday 6 November 10am-1pm at bigbrook dam.

Trout release

Kids clinic 

food trucks

Fly fishing demos/stalls and a bit more

Just seen the flyer down the local and thought id chuck it up for any takers. Cheers

Enjoy 

Any recommendations for reel service - NOR

Stella 6000 - service and new drag washers, would do myself but do not have time due to work, lures and heading to the Montie's in 10 days.

Cheers

Scotty

 Gday guys ive just managed to book the KELS2 camp ground in shelter bay for next year. Gonna be bringing boat over from denham. My question is has anybody on here camped in that spot with a boat before?  is it safe to moor boat in front  ie is there any shalow rocks i have to look out for etc  and is there hard flat rock right on the water edge i gotta watch out for. Also is it worth chucking a line off kels rocks for a  fish or squid if the wind is up and i cant get out to the ocean?  thanks for any info

 I got an Evakool 70l fridgemate. All Evakool baskets are ones that almost reach the floor whereas I am looking for a half height one. Just wondering if anyone knows if another brand like Dometic will fit?

 Hi All

My 5 Amp C Tek charger of many years is finally giving up the ghost.

Was thinking of a Noco Genius to replace it as it does Lithium as well. Any thoughts on this

Thanks

Eric

 Hi Guys,

bought a new cmap reveal which won't run on my older simrad touch screen so was wondering which chart plotter people would recommend to run the cmap in the 7-9 inch size?

Finally got some good winds to clear

up the beach . Managed a early season

tiger weren't getting til the end of

November last few seasons . Got to

test out some new hooks were using

this year . Good night with added

lighting show . She swam off strong .

Cheers pirate .  

 I know its early but with the content on here turning to utter bullshit and complete crap  maybe some fishing talk might lighten the mood? I have had my pot in since before the snapper season ended Was getting good bags of crays when my pot was left alone,  hitting a spot i like from the past but this year someone was nearby they weren't only pulling my pot but actually stealing my bait can't believe it, but hey shit happens moved my pots still having trouble with them being tampered with but what do you do,  by the way fishing same spots last 5yrs and only lost 1 pot before now but at the moment nor stealing my pot just the crays. But anyway all of a sudden crays have dropped off for me making me wonder,  my experience with whites is that they always hit on a full moon you may get splurges on a big swell  but the main run is around the full moon. Which to me says  is it mid November or mid December? Any thoughts.  I have also been catching plenty of double shells lately. 

Enjoy 

 Hi all, I'm heading up to lucky bay near Kalbarri next month..will be chasing mulloway and Taylor from the beach. 

My question is will there be any mackerel around? Not sure it's worth taking the boat with the demersal ban in place. 

Cheers 

 Hey Lads I haven't been on here for a while, hope your all good. Anyway thinking of grabbing the swag and a couple of rods and heading up the fresh in the Fitzroy. Any suggestions like tips and secret spots for land based ? Probably do a bit of live bait and lure but be interested to hear what anyone suggests ? Probably getting a bit hot too no doubt, I'm down the Southwest so could be in for a bit of a shock.

Cheers fellas

Around September 2021 I exchanged posts on a NZ fishing site with a fellow NZ fisho I'll refer to here as AL. He escapes the NZ winter to fish Vanuatu waters where he has a second home located at Port Havannah on Efate Island, some 40 minutes drive from Port Vila. The initial discussion lead to some 1700 further email exchanges between then and now covering a wide range of fishing topics pertaining to fishing in Vanuatu, NZ and Australia. I think it would be fair to say that we are both rather passionate about our fishing even though we are both 70 plus years young. The pic below is the view from his front verandah looking over Havannah harbour, Moso Island on the other side. Depth of water in between reaches an incredible 130m. The drop offs are insane around all islands.

What you don't see in the above pic is the boat ramp, choice, no queues at this ramp.

AL's second home.

AL has the very same model of boat in Vanuatu as he has in NZ, a 5.3m Fryran plus everything else necessary to fish regularly, weather permitting. How could I decline AL's invitation to fish with him in Vanuatu once the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted from the respective countries? Well I didn't and this post is about my recent fishing experience with him in Vanuatu.

AL picked me up from the Port Vila airport on 29th September. Of my 30kg baggage limit some 20kg consisted of tackle that I just couldn't leave behind in Oz. Months of planning had gone into this despite AL's advice that you don't need to bring any tackle as I have all bases covered, and he was correct.

Fishing methods we engaged in included jigging, deep slow jigging, trolling skirts / bibbed lures / strip baits / dead baits / poppers and drifting dead baits as well as numerous methods of catching live-baits to be deployed as livies. In addition we would deep drop baits in mostly 250 - 400m water depths targeting poulet. Marlin were not on our radar despite regular hook ups and catches of small blues by charter boats in the areas we were fishing. Without going into daily reports AL put me onto some great fish and our captures included the following species:

Barracuda

Coral trout Coronation trout

Dogtooth tuna

Flying fish

Long nose emperor

Mahi mahi

Pygmy red poulet

Queenfish (not the same as the Oz Queenie, but similar)

Randall's snapper

Red bass

Red snapper

Saddle-back snapper

Scad

Sharks - too many but managed a few for the village

Silver jaw red poulet (Pale snapper)

Skipjack tuna

Sottel red poulet (Ruby snapper in WA)

Yellow fin tuna and I'm sure I've missed a few others.

The majority of the boated fish was distributed among the local indigenous population (Ni-vans), shark being their favourite. Hard to figure but they seem to prefer shark to mahi mahi or poulet.

Every fishing trip has a hard luck story and mine was to drop a 'fish of a lifetime' wahoo according to AL at the side of the boat just seconds before it was about to be hit with the gaff. The first run was huge despite 15kg of drag, impressive stuff.

I was fortunate to experience a good stretch of weather and we fished 16 of the 20 fishing days available. Lay-days only on the day after arrival, the day prior to departure and two sightseeing / shopping days.

For me the highlight of the trip would have to be the dogtooth tuna. We had experienced bust offs after being buried in the reef by others before we finally boated a 30kg doggie a few days before my departure. It was a huge buzz with the fish being hooked in 20m of water. 15kgs of drag on the reel again and trying to led it (perhaps bully it would be a better word) into deeper waters before it could bust you off on the reef. Bejesus they go hard. Two happy guys when it hit the deck I can assure you. Job done, tick the box, we eat doggie sashimi tonight, better than YFT.

AL was a great host and one of the most modest guys I have ever met. His knowledge about how to change tactics and fishing methods to catch fish in a fishery that has been seriously depleted (read fkd) by the Chinese long liners and purse seiners is impressive.

AL doesn't frequent this site however I feel obliged to thank him once again for the invitation and his hospitality. Tusker time; cheese, red onion and tomato on crackers; sashimi, fresh pawpaw / banana and yoghurt breakfasts and especially deep fried fish in the secret batter recipe will all feature in my many memories of my journey to Vanuatu. A few pics to finish.

Fruit and vege market in Port Vila

Fish & chips with the secret batter recipe, very yummy.

Trolling at sunrise near Nguna Island

Poulet and Randall's snapper

Mahi mahi time

And another

Dogtooth tuna

Sharks were a problem

But we took a few out

When the onshore terrain looks like this you know deep water is not far away.  We were probably in around 300m when I took this shot.

There are some shallower waters though.  The next two pics is coming through the gap between two islands.  We were pushing the boat through at 5am one morning.  Pics of each side.

Launch a little further down Moso Island.  Broke its mooring during cyclone Pam 2015.

I just had to take a pic of this

This is what is known as a banana boat.  Multiple uses and often used to transport people and produce between islands.  20+ persons in one of these is not uncommon.  Not much freeboard.  Adults on the outside, kids in the middle.  Everyone sits upright and stiff, scared to move so as not to rock the boat.

Lastly the fire dance show on Mele Beach.  Not my pic, I stole it off the internet, great show.

Late edit:

Just to clarify the background effect; there is a guy there which the pic doesn't see rapidly swinging a container around which generates the effect.  This is not a Catherine Wheel fireworks show.

Another tough day in the office.  This was the best weather day I had.  We were at a location called Scott Rock, approx. 6kms east of Emao Island.  There were a few lumps coming up to about 12m from 100m+ not far away from one another.  Doggie country but sharkie.

Locals were always friendly, happy and would give you a wave.

Many of the Ni-Vans do it hard.  These structures are typical of their houses outside of Port Vila.

During WWll the Americans introduced a fast growing vine to act as camouflage for their equipment.  It has taken over in places and just smothers the natural jungle / landscape.

We later added a single hook further back to the FF rig.  We went 100% hook-up rate on this rig but AL's since missed a couple.

My last nights scooping efforts, eleven fresh FF for AL to rig up. 

Hi

I recently hit a floating cray rope and unbeknown me at the time, the motor suffered substantial damage.

The drive shaft sheared in the driven gear but a sufficient length of splines remained intact and allowed me to continue boating on the day and subsequently until the service as detailed below.

I only discovered the damage when I started to do the 1100 hour service and dropped the leg to carry out the impeller replacement.

Once the leg was off it was immediately obvious that the shaft was damaged. The top of the shaft had sheared off and remained stuck in the driven gear in the powerhead.

I submitted a claim to Club Marine and was told to get a quote from a Marine Mechanic. This was not realistic as the powerhead had to be removed to ascertain the extent of the damage which in itself was 50% of the work so I decided to proceed with the repair.

I was extremely happy with the work which was done by a marine mechanic in Perths Northern suburbs and I submitted the final invoice to Club Marine for their response.

Unfortunately Club Marine have declined the claim for the following reasons (as submitted by their assessor) I personally find the finding totally unacceptable, unreasonable and unrealistic. They have decided the +- 25mm shaft failed as there was wear on the splines which allowed movement between the splines and the shaft. I find this an incredible assumption as in my opinion, the splines should have failed and not the shaft. I believe this was not a gradual failure as is being ascertained by Club Marine, but an instantaneous failure on impact with the cray rope. The sad fact is had the shaft failed below the splined area, I believe the claim would have been honoured as the boat would have been rendered unusable immediately leaving no doubt as to what had caused the failure.

I am asking for opinions as to the damage on the shaft and the views put forward by Club Marine and for any advice from anyone who might have had similar damage and a subsequent claim to their insurer. Be great if anyone with lots of metal experience / knowledge could comment

Thanks - Eric

 Watched a show on 7 Mate this morning and it was about snapper fishing in Port Philip Bay. The state government has bought out prodessional fishermen in order to get 1 million recreational fishermen out in the bay fishing. Could not be more different than this state government in that they realise the impact to the local community both health and economical.

Port Phillip Bay Commercial Fishing By-Catch Limits Announced | Premier of Victoria