Was out in the sound this morning with a mate fishing for whitting we endid up with about 10 keepers also caught some grunters anyway mate decided to float one out the back ,rod took of he grabbed and line went slack he left it 15 seconds later took of again then went slack regaled in all that was left was head with hook.wonder what it could have been. Tried again with new livey nothing for about an hour then we same something on the fish on the surface anyway slowly retreived and it was a big squid having a chew ever so slowly realed in greedy bugger wouldnt let go . Got him right next to boat and I managed to net him what a laugh first time caught a squid on a live bate.

Headed over to rotto with the boys for a dive on Saturday morning, and came across this big girl a couple km's short of Rotto. Not really what you want to see just before jumped in for a dive.

Was close too the whale carcass, we actually thought it was an upturned boat from a far.

She was big, guessing 4.5 - 5m

Was us on the news last night and tonight, and no not us who jumped on the whale. We did hear about this on the way back from rotto when we came up to the dead whale on the way back, there was a 2nd great white circling there about 3m.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdW6dSBByU&sns=em

To give it perspective, my boat is 8m long

As per yesterday’s post, the demersal ban is all about still getting out on the water but doing different things to broaden the experience.  Today was about learning to catch and troll live bait for large things.

With the forecast being for light winds first up then going to sh*t, an early start was required.  Got to Mindarie at 5am to be greeted by fairly good conditions.  Not much action at the ramp at this time and after we were impressed by a guy that turned up really early he took on the classic rampie persona of a dawdler, and what a dawdler he was.  I am still constantly amazed by the personality types at the ramp – when we came in we also had some guy taking up our “retrieve only” lane “processing” his boat (http://server.fishwrecked.com/forum/rampies).

Anyway, off to get some live ones.  We headed to the northern beaches and trolled the tried and tested tailor lures.  I note that an easterly came in and it got really cold and unpleasant for a while which was an unwanted experience.  Trolling for tailor just behind the beach break is however an awesome experience.  It is all about finding the schools, and when you do it is bedlam.  We hit 2 schools and each one resulted in a triple hookup – and there is nothing better than seeing a surface lure getting completely beaten up by schools of hungry tailor.  Within an hour we had our half dozen live ones, after throwing back some “damaged” ones that wouldn’t have made the trip.  Time to head to the wreck and see how it went.

Downrigging live baits is something that I haven’t done before so I was a very interested observer.  Even better, the downrigger ball was fitted with a Go Pro so after the trip we could download the footage and see what actually went on.  We probably trolled for a couple of hours for only one hit that didn’t hook up and normally you would think that the fish were not around.  Think again, the footage showed hordes of big sambos that followed the bait around but just didn’t take it.  They harassed them to death though and it is no wonder the tailor were coming back “stiff”.  There were plenty of large baitfish schools and perhaps they had just pigged out too much – or the tide, wind, moon, etc, etc was wrong.  Anyway, have a look at the images.

We had seen some others catching a few what looked like small tuna on the troll.  After getting nothing with the live baits on a 1-2kn troll we decided to throw out the deep divers and go at a higher speed.  This didn’t take long to work and we boated a couple of nice 500mm bonito – my favorite pinkie bait of all time so they have been carefully preserved until after 15 December.  The young fella, who had been sleeping at the front of the boat, awoke and told us it was his turn.  “I want to fish the light gear as it is no fun pulling in bonito on the heavy stuff”.  OK, so out came the gear and out went the diver.  True to form, it was hit soon after but not by a 500mm bonito, nor a big sambo.  This thing was huge and after half an hour he was certainly rethinking the “light gear” call.  At the end, it took a screaming run that we had to follow or it would have spooled him and then it was off – two of the trebles had straightened.  This was one of those “fish that got away” stories and it is a shame we never saw colour to identify it.  Much better than sitting watching the rods though.

The wind was getting stronger so it was time to come in.  We trolled the way back and got another, but different bonito, in the “desert” off the back of the 3 Mile – who would have guessed?  In by lunch and it was another great day where we got what we targeted.

Fark me, how hard is it to splice ex-pro cray pot rope, very slow going with the Fid. I even tried submersing it in boiling water to 'soften' it but this did buggar all.

Anyone got any tips to make it easier?

 Hi was just wondering if anyone knew where to get some big baits from north of the river... or has anyone got any big heads or tuna/ stingrays they would like to get rid of. Cheers

 I would take a small soft shell cray over a 2kg+ jumbo any day - I caught a a real soft one today, 3rd and 4th picture. Removed the carapace and gutted her - I plan to section off into smaller pieces and fry tonight with "shell" on and eat with some of yesterdays jumbo legs. 

Crays still arent terribly thick in the shallows atmo, but the whites are starting to trickle in slowly. 

A few pics of my catch and my dive buddies Freediving yesterday at south side rotto and today at Garden Island. 

Also - thanks to the bloke on here (dont know username) that inspired me to now remove the legs and antenae from my crays, great idea especially if BBQ'ing or freezing

I have just replace the old 27meg radio that was on my boat when i got it with new gme vhf radio and matching aerial. Tested it front of my house at jindalee whitfords sea rescue could hear me and i could hear them loud and clear. Took the boat to padbury for extra work tried radio again perfect reception. Went out of mindarie tried to log on , whitfords sea rescue can hear me i cant hear anything , did the same off two rocks they can hear me i cant hear anybody not even other boat signals WTF! Can anybody help with advice please cheers 

Question. I have an Airmar P66 transducer with a Furuno plug.

Can I get an adaptor plug from furuno plug to Lowrance plug?

Any help would be appreciated

With the demersal ban in place and the pinkies off limits, it was time to target other things.  Sampson fish for cray bait and King George for the table was the order of the day.  We also wanted to see what the new ground we were fishing that had produced so much actually looked like.  The number of crays we got off the ground last week was unbelievable but at this time of year it was all female and we gave up even though we were averaging a dozen (but with 1 or 2 keepers per trip).  Looks like it will be a good season though – these were from 1 pot.  Bring on the end of November.

So, a strong easterly first up forecast to drop off mid-morning and it was a late start.  We went in the “expert repairers” boat to further test the 36V Minn Kota, and attached the downrigger and Go Pro bracket to have a look at the ground.  We also wanted to see how the 80kg of burley we made last week performed – it is really good which is a relief as you never know when you make it.

We headed out at 9.30am and the wind was still up.  The fact that the Minn can hold an 8M+ boat in moderate wind conditions was the highlight.  The burley was awesome and we bagged a few wrasse to use as “upgrades”.  Unfortunately, the only real sambo hookup was lost by gear failure (those previous things with teeth that were hooked damage the mono and the lesson is to replace it before you go again).  It was a bit slow at the first spot and after a while we moved on – nice looking ground though and no wonder we have smashed the pinkies and KG there before.

The second spot was more “reefy” and once the burley worked we had fish in abundance.  We got 3 excellent KGs (biggest 520mm) and found the sambos – got quite a few but kept 3 for bait.  Review of the Go Pro footage showed how diverse the fish were and the highlight was the big baldie that wanted the skippy carcass we threw out – he even chased off some sambos  but ultimately lost it to a big ray.  The footage and images are quality.  Nice to see the dhu swimming around as well – I really want to see big schools of pinkies at dawn and dusk though.

What a top day.  We set out with a plan and it came together.  Tomorrow is tailor off the Alkimos and trolling live ones for pelagics.  Can’t wait.

hey guys thinking of heading down to the ammo jetty in the morning are they getting and scalies or yellowtail down there at the moment or is there anywhere else you can catch them. any help would be great.

thanks guys from Boyd

Going for a dive off Hillarys now, anyone want to come?

call me

back home now....

 Hi all, just learning the ropes with the Demersal ban - does this mean you can fish them but just can't bring any home? 

I have read if caught fishing in say the 3 mile reef then they can fine you anyway do not want to do the wrong thing but this has confused me 

 ready for deck ,thanks to ian what a help, the guy knows his stuff,pulled me out the poo, swiftcraft are awsume internal,but side decks always cracks,solved prob .side braces to floor and top deck.35 kilo of resin and glass.bullet proof now,cant wait to give it a run once deck on,day off tomoz dive time

Hi All,
Heading to Jurien in a few weeks. with the closure on dimersals, I was wondering what the whiting and squidding is like there, are kg whiting an achievable target, many squid around, any help appreciated.

Hi Guys,

I have major cracking on the Transom of my boat, it is a 5.8 running an Etec 150. 

Originally I thought it was the paint cracking and peeling but have noticed a lot of water getting in lately.

Close inspection revealed cracks on both corners of the Transon and a split also.

The boat was delivered new in Feb 2011.

Has anyone had these issues and where is a good place to have it repaired? I am in Ballajura.

Thanks guys, look forward to you feedback

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone has used scalies for bait in exy and if they produce? I have a trip planned early next year and was going to start stocking up the freezer. Will also be stocking up on gardies if i can find them.

Cheers

Just wondering if anyone uses one?

If so, appreciate some info on your thoughts of them, any issues, doubts, down sides etc..

Or anyone who has moved to a Suba7 from the Freedom shields?

Thanks

or are they out already?

Another little project ive been working on, been messing about making some jigs. Apart from sambo jigging with shakari charters for sambos i havent really fished jigs before so looking forward to dropping these down. Guys at work just laugh at my homemade gear so hopefully will get something to shut them up, its kind of a quest for me.

 Great White in Esperance...amazing Photo's.

 http://www.surfinglife.com.au/news/sl-news/12439-great-white-in-esperance

 Might be a long shot but i have just been bumped of my chopper ride out to the rig and looking for someone to take me fishing or point me in the right direction more than willing to pay for fuel, beers and if anyone has some gear i could borrow i would give them some cash for that also. 

Cheers

Enjoy

What an eye opener, I was gob smacked to learn 70% of the sea food we consume here is imported. I had been told that some years back we consumed 100 odd tons of "Australian caught" Barramundi than was caught in the whole of Australia. Whether that was true or not I can't say but I do remember3 years back buying a feed of barramundi and chips on stokes wharf in Darwin and being a bit surprised at how cheap it was, asked where the barra came from and the answer was Indonesia. Did it taste all right yes it did however after tasting the genuine article (salt water barra) I wouldn't buy it again. It didn't taste bad but, it wasn't in the same ball park as the salt water stuff, which did cost a fair bit more but you pay for quality and that's the thing in all walks of life.

Who's going to have pizza from the major chains after seeing there non engagement in conversation or even bothering to reply to the phone calls, how bloody rude

After seeing Tracy, I wouldn't urinate on her if she was on fire. bloody rude bitch IMO

Been messing around making sum teaser / witch doctors to hopefully attract the fish and increase my chances. Have had success on the metro mackrel and tuna before trawling bibbed minnows but after reading peoples reports on increased strikes with the aid of teasers im going to give it a go. If these dont work i will just go buy the real deal but i just love making my own gear and experimenting so fingers crossed. These are made of pvc pipe and my theory is that they will fill up with water making them sink and water should come out the back creating a bubble trail. Have attatched a stainless steel eye ring at back so can also add squid skirts etc. Total cost about $10.

Hi everyone. If me and a mate were dropped off at kent street wier and kayaked up the freshwater part of the canning River with polarised sunglasses on. Or maybe even walked which would probably be more ideal. What would you rate our chances of catching a carp or a cross bread random carp (I know that they have a name but that's what I call them :P) that grows to like 1-2m and is bright orange? I was thinking going armed with a 2-4kg spinning rod armed with some little bobbed minnows or some small 1 1/2 inch soft plastics with a 1/24 ounce jig head.

so do you think I would have a chance of catching a carp? Or are there any much better places to catch them either than the canning, but within the metro area?

lachie

Hey all.

Taking my 5y old for our first camping trip and thinking about going to Lake Navarino to chase some reddies and trout in our 3m spindrift. I've just realised that there are no boat launching facilities there and have a 2WD Ford Ranger. 

Is the ground around the lake good enough so that I can at least reverse the trailer to the water's edge and manually get the dingy (75kg and has wheels) in the water? Would I also be safe leaving the dinghy in the water overnight?

Anyone also got advice on where to camp as well i.e. is the area closest to the resort a bit quieter as the night goes on?

Any advice of areas to hit up for a fish would be great too.

Cheers

JF

Please see the Link Below to fisheries website.

The Demersal Ban covers ALL Demersals in the West Coast Bioregion

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Fishing-and-Aquaculture/Recreational-Fishing/Recreational-Fishing-Rules/Bag_And_Size_Limits/Pages/Demersal-Finfish.aspx

The rules are constantly changing so it pays (literally) to keep up

 gave birth,,l.o.l cracker boat for my eldest boy ,putting new 60 four troke on it ,if any knows of good deals would be great,it will help my andy out,,cheers tomo

 Hi I'm after some where that sells bonito in Perth? Like good sized bonito

thanks

Just wondering if anybody has had any luck trolling west end recently ?any Mackies ?any tuna we are thinking of going saturday looks like the weather gonna be awesome. Also how about sambo's out at the wrecks are sharks still a pain in the arse