Having had a few days off the blue water, Adam and I decided to make the most of a good afternoon go to Tantabiddi to troll lures for marlin. The morning started off at about 15kts plus from the east and was doing much the same when we launched but we pushed on anyway and set the spread in about 50m of water. Conditions weren’t too bad with the breeze up our bum and when the short corner reel burst to life after just 10 minutes we knew we were going to be in for a good arvo. A small black took to the air as we cleared the gear and Adam jumped on the rod. I had a crack at taking my first marlin jump shots but didn’t have much success.

After a short fight we had the fish alongside and the trace in hand when the hook pulled next to the boat. No photos of that one but a good warm up at around 15kg. We reset the spread and tried to go back over our mark but the easterly made it pretty sloppy so we swung back around to the north west and headed deep. Not really knowing what to expect we were going through the motions when the smallest lure (on the lightest gear) in the spread got hit but no hook up. With both of us watching it the fish returned smacking the lure but again failing to hook up again. One last try and no mistakes made this time. The reel screamed (I mean screamed) and we both knew this was a big fish. Teasers ripped in and I jumped on the rod and pushed the drag up a notch. This didn’t do anything as the fish continued to power off. Were we out of our league? Yes was the answer as the line went slack shortly into the fight. Not knowing if the hook had pulled or the fish had doubled back I was cranking furiously when another free swimming black came right up to the back of the boat. We had a Stella and stick bait rigged up for this very occasion but both panicked when we saw it and unfortunately missed our window. It turned out that the 15kg main line broke for unknown reasons which was very disappointing as the fish was well over triple figures.

 Anyway onward trolling and fast forward 30nm, 4 hours, a few lure changes and a couple of small hits and we decided to head for home. Beers were capped and “what could have been” dominated the conversation. Crossing back over the 100m mark, the “big breakfast” (the lure I thought would never get a swim as it was too big) gave a squeal but no hook up again. Squeal- miss. Squeal- miss. What’s going on we thought? Squeal- run- Sailfish!!! It went crazy jumping all through the setting sun and after a 15 minute fight Adam billed my first. We pulled it aboard for a quick happy snap which turned out to be quite hard with over 2m of fish in my small boat. At an easy 30kg plus we dropped it back in and swam it for a good release.

Now we could go in satisfied. One more beer each and a few more good stories to tell.

Gotta love Exmouth.

Here is a few Pics from last months trip to West Moore Island. A few pb's for me including a whoppa 32 pound Cuda.

Gday all just letting you know that Gamex was a great Success Team CWirthy ended up raising 12 fish Hooked 9 and lost 4 I managed to secure a 40kg Marlin and a 60kg Sail and ended up winning the prize for first Billfish Angler, was rather choked and i dont normally win anything.
Thanks to all the boys on Team CWirthy and watch out GAMEX 2010 as we will be out to win. THE SAILY IS BEING HELD BY fRED AS I WAS TO STUFFED TO TRY AND HOLD HIM

Cheers Boozehag

This is my daughters first attempt at catching spanglies of the beach ,she is on holidays with me in exmouth ,her first came in at 68cm and her second came in at 55cm ,so she goes home soon to SA and already has asked when she is coming back as she only catches small bream and whiting from the peir back home .

Hell Yeah, 4.5kg Red, 5.5kg Chinaman and my first Cobia 5kg

Went for a fish yesterday arvo. 4pm till 8pm. Got a few herring, some were decent size. Small chromies doing the damage. Even caught a mullie on a bait jig + a few small sand whiting. Ran out about 2 mile and landed a 4kg cuttlefish and a small pinkie.(probably just undersize). As soon as the sun went down the fish shut down. Berleyed up for about 1 1/2 hours for squat except for an ocky on a whole herring. Some of the baits came back riddled with sea lice. Tried doing a few drifts in the same area for nothing. Ended up with a feed but nothing earth shattering. The end!!

Hello Fellas

Finally I got to get out on the water, on what turned out to be an awesome Easter Sunday, unfortunately I missed church but sacrifices will always have to be made!!  A quick check on the weather report the night before showed sunshine and calm light southerly winds, was I in OZ?  The boys were duly phoned and sandwiches were made in eagerness.  Just me mate’s stag do to get through before some rod bending action!!  A few quiet pints later and I was tucked up ready to go.

After a 6 o’clock meet and an uneventful drive down we were on board and loaded to the nines with gear.  The skipper had kindly filled up the live well with what looked like a million sandeels, so we were hot to trot.  We spent the next two hours toolin’ up and generally abusing each other before putting our fivers in the pot for the biggest fish.  Rock On!!

Our target species was Pollack and we were using 12-20lb class rods with 30lb braid, 10oz of lead and flowing trace before gently hooking the sandeels onto a 5/0, and lowering them though 200ft of clear..well clearish..water, to their deaths!!

The sounder showed fish stacked up in great numbers so all we need to do was to start haulin’, and that my overseas friends is exactly what me mate Pete did!  5 drifts and five fish later I was starting to get a little arssed off with watching him catch fish precisely 2ft from me!

So I decided to concentrate, which as you can imagine didn’t help or last long, but I did start catching fish, hoo..bloody..ray!

In fact everyone started catching, and we were getting 5 or 6 pollack a drift and all were about 8 to 15lb, a good size of fish.  After a couple of hours of this the tide slackened off and we dropped down some mackeral baits, plus an unfortunate pouting that I had caught, for conger.  Straight away I was in, only for the jubilation to turn to disappointment when he ‘fell off’ only yards from the boat…I could see the money pot drifting into the distance!  Concentration time again, and this time it worked as I pulled a 30lb plus fish over the side and laughed at all the envious stares, as although 3 other congers were caught they were not of the superior size of my one!!!

However Pete did manage  a MASSIVE bullhuss, which was classed a specimen and was only 8lb off the british record…quality fish, shame he caught it!!

Once the tide started racing again..about 3.5knots..we went back on the Pollack, which duly started biting again, plus Popey fluked an out of season bass which pleased him and p***ed the rest of us off.  This continued until the final whistle blew..gutted!  As you can see we still had the entertainment of gutting and cleaning the fish, which is always a bit of fun, as you can see from the smile on popey’s face!!

And we were all pleased with the full esky’s!!!!!

And the weather!!!!!!!

Overall an awesome day with flat seas, sunshine and plenty of hard fighting fish, its just a shame about the company that’s all!!! Fish and chips on the promenade and a quick pint in the pub and Home James for a well deserved wash and rest…Bring on OZ!!  The best bit of all was that I won the 25 quid for the biggest fish…Happy days!! Plenty of fish for tea…I should start a shop.

Cheers fellas see you soon

Hi all... Been far too long between pics so thought id chuck up me first effort on a report from a trip outta Gero last wednesday...Hope you enjoy... With a glass off forecast thanks to the light easterly then swinging to a very soft sth wester last arvo and a non existant swell the count down to days off took ages! finally i had the chance to wet a line in search of a feed out wide. Heading out thru Hells Gates and crusing along at 25knots the day had the look of a cracker and i was excited and confident! The water was that magic dark blue and bait was marking at regular intervals..Along with me was my sisters partner over from england and this was his last chance to catch a dhuie before heading home after a few prior efforts.. Fingers were crossed, bait defrosted, knots checked and the 40 odd clicks passed away.. Reaching our destination it looked good, fish on the sounder and bait down deep too. Our first baits got molestered straight away with a small pinkie to jon and a 58cm dhu for myself both fish released using the release weight (good things them haha). Setting up our next drift allowing for the fairly strong nth current we passed over the little mark again... Jon straight into another small pinkie and another both let go... We wanted something bigger... Nearing the end of the drift and out onto some shaley bottom i finished cutting some baits and lifted my tyrnos outta the holder and got crunched straight away.. maybe the movement did it not sure? It felt decent.... After a short but spirited fight my eyes almost fell outta my head when a nice 69cm 5kg red emporer surfaced! CRIKEY i was stoked... Great start... Next drift i got smoked on the drop and layed into a big spaniard before it did my 100lb paternoster just outta gaffin range... spewing as it woulda given 20kg a nudge!

Anyhow a number of drifts back over and then 2hrs on the pick didnt add to our talley pullin another legal dhu which was released and a handful of other odds n sods. With time ticking and the sun gettin closer to the west i needed some ideas... What to do??? Head in closer to some lumps i had marked or take a gamble and head towards the islands and hope for something! What the hell trottle up and west we went...

10 uneventful k's passed studying the sounder as the depth dropped to 60m before we spyed a pot then another... having a geez i spied maybe 15pots possibly more staggered around the place not just dropped in a line... Maybe some bottom here i hoped... The depth roze gradually and the first pot showed a small scattering of fish and a smudgen of flat coral... We dropped down anyhow and wow straight into fish! 2 5kg pinks joined us and the red in the boat and a nice baldie and a blackbum before the drift ended..

Marking the spot and dropping the pick got us straight into fish... Jon hooked up bigtime with a good fish taking line off a steady drag.. i prayed for a dhu... Not to be as a nice 6kg spangled emporer joined his cousin the box.. Nice consolation...

And then i got the bite we all know... And a heavy fish moved off with my whole herring bait...YEEHAA into a gooden... It felt dhuish and after a good fight up came 9.5kgs of beaut silver and black and Jon was rapped even if he didnt catch it he had seen a goodone....! With the weight off and some nice fish in the box i decided to move and find more ground... What a decision!

The next spot was looooooooaded up and i got hosed first drop from wat felt like a biiig pink... pulled the hooks after the first run.. Running back up and anchoring got me straight into a 11kg stonker pink (not the one in the pic unfort as jon not so great photographer sorry) and then a lovely 9kg model... Then the dhuies came on big time.... I got a double header of lovely 5-6kg fish the smaller of which went back whilst Jon was into a gooden again! Up came 7kg of Silver! You BLOODY RIPPER... Into the net and up she came only for the net to make a horrible creak and give way! Cant say what i said on here but you will get the pic but alas the hook stayed put just and i had enough time to put my rod which was still attached to a big Redthroat Emporer into the holder and assist the pom! He had done it!.... His next drop finished the day for us with another double of dhuies of aboout 4-6kg the smaller again released giving us our 4 dhuies 2 each!

What a cracker of a day it was with magic weather and great fishing! Bought home a great feed of dhuies kept the 2 big pinkies aswell as 1 nice baldie, a blackbum, some huge redthroat emporer, 1 spangled and the red....

Happy days hope you enjoyed the report =) 

With a pretty great forecast we headed to Tantabiddi today to give Hayley a introduction to Exmouth gamefishing. The plan was to have a troll for marlin and hopefully get a fish up for her to see. We arrived at the ramp to a reasonable crowd and an easterly stronger than expected. We headed out anyway with Adam and Deepwater not far behind us. Conditions weren't too bad, a little bit sloppy but we pushed on and set the spread in about 60m. After a couple of hours and no action apart from a few small tuna, the black and red Williamson on 24kg on the short corner (that caught me my first marlin) gave a scream and kept going. I was going to offer it to Hayley until it jumped- "sorry babe, I'm taking this one". Drag up to strike and a good hook up and run resulted. With a decent aerial display happening, Hayley did a good job of clearing the other lures and teaser and swinging the boat around so I could regain some line. Some more jumps and a bit of deep stuff, we finally had the fight under control. Hayley did a great job driving, clearing gear and taking photos etc. Up it came and after about 20 minutes we had it boatside. Rod to Hayley, me on the trace and it was ours. What a beautiful fish, a 70kg estimated black marlin pretty lit up but well behaved was in my hands. The usual photos followed, including some with Hayley who was pretty amazed at the whole event and left her with a better appreciation of why we fish. After a bit of a tow and a nibble on my hand it was off, hopefully no worse for wear. By now it had calmed right off and neither of us cared what happened for the rest of the day. Anyway we recommenced the troll to raise another fish about a hour later. I was facing astern at the time and saw it come up on the lumo on the long corner- it would have been around 20-30kg and a great start to Hayley's gamefishing. Unfortunatly it didn't hook up after a good hit. I've now decided to run SL12's on the 15kg outfits next trip and leave the Jobu's for the 24kg. Anyway that was it for the day, we chased a few whale shark sightings but arrived as soon as it went down.

Well here's the photos. Hope they inspire the crew coming up in a few weeks.

After waiting nearly 8 weeks to test my new gear (actually second hand - care of Brenz) I finally got out on Good Friday. Pretty rough with a 20 knot easterly in the morning, but beautifully calm in the afternoon - the Rotto windmill even stopped spinning. Went out the back of Rotto to bottom bounce chasing snapper and dhuies. While I did not catch much worth eating I did manage to hook onto this 40 pound Sambo - my dad picked up a couple of nice pink snapper though. Only half my rig survived the fight, but fortunately it was the half connected to the fish. After a weigh in and a few quick snaps we managed to revive the beast and sent him on his way. Nice to be back fishing again. Bring on the next alignment of weather, family commitments (or lack of them) and my dad free to get his boat out.

Has anyone heard there was a Baldy caught in the swan river??? 

As ive had a bit of time off I took a few mates out on there first fishing trip as they are from sydney and are not experianced ,First was geoff on the tuesday (the dates on the camera are wrong)we decided to troll and find some ground not long had the lines been in the water and he was onto his first mackie about 10 -12 kgs ,needless to say when we landed this mackie ,there was a smile from ear to ear, not bad for his first fish in exmouth.

then it was my turn and we landed the next, challenging as i had to fight and give instructions to geoff so he could clear the boat but he did a great job.

Next it was chris day out on friday ,This was the best day it took a little longer to raise a mackie but chris was on his first but unfotunatly it was under size at 850 cm and he realsed fine ,chris was disapointed in this as tihs is the biggest fish he had ever caught.We had the lines out again and just as i finished setting them one started to spool of at an alarming rate i got onto the rod and 20min later i had a fish  next to the boat a good mackie approx 30kg+ , but unfortunatly with on final burst of energy he dove under the boat before chris could gaff him and hit the motor which cut the line and he with my lure was gone .totaly destroyed i reset the lines and of we went again my disapointment changed when the rods started to spool off again and soon we had chris second mackie aboard about 12-15kgs and the photo shoot started so he could send to his brothers over east .once again the smile was from ear to ear for his first trip out .

The day produced another two mackies which we released as i had some good ones on board .

Now the problems start as the to boys are living together and are fighting it out now to see who can get the biggest fish so both a pestering me to go out again .not bad problem to have if this is  the only problem ive got as to who to take out fishing in exmouth.

Went out to Hillaries this morning out to the Three Mile with my brother and nephew. He was after a bog Geordie and "Just Quietly he got one.
His PB on the light gear in 6 metres to boot!
We had a ball on Skippy, Huge Snook, Squid and millions of gardies.
One snook went 64cm on the light stuff great fun!
Rosco

With awesome weather over the last week i wanted to capatalised. My mission was to do more reconnaissance over the 4 days in the deepwater and rack up more new spots with most of the 4 days being solo so the pressure was off.

With that done and some nice fish coming aboard i thought i'd have a look at Ruby snapper on the last day as i havnt targetted them for a while. I revisted a new spot that i marked previously during recon. With my head in the sounder so to speak over the last 4 days i thought a quick trip out yesterday and dropping at the new spot would be the go and return a bit earlier to unwind.

I found something yesterday that looked very much like Rubys and dropped. The rod got a few touches and i'm on, after a long wind up a big plump Ruby snapper surfaced and was a welcomed sight. I did another drift and got another one of silimar size. I was happy with my 2 fish and planned to head in straight away but a water pic would be nice.

I made contact with a friends boat and went over to him. I got his decky to jump aboard and take a few pics. The weather, the reconnaissance and the fish made for a productive 4 days !

 Went out to the Islands thursday to near perfect conditions, thought I would share a few pics of some of the fish we caught including a nice 76cm trout

Allright fellas

Went out lake fishing on the promise of some carp and big roach.  Unfortunately the weather was not great and hence neither was the fishing.  Caught some small roach and this gert big slimy eel!!

Boat trip on sunday, lets hope for better results.

Tight lines

Well Adam and I hit the Tantabiddi bluewater today to pop my marlin cherry. Weather was forecast to be pretty good- not exactly accurate but alright none the less. Ended up trolling for 52nm (first time I've measured to get a gauge on fuel usage). Got a strike within the first hour only for the reel to give a squeal and see a baby black hop away unhooked. Oh well, good sign seeing it was this early. Trolled for the next 2 hours for a few tiny longtails and a striped tuna. Iced down a small longtail and knocked it off sashimi style once back on terra firma- good way to finish the day. Anyway back to the fishing- kept trolling north, south, east and west only to have another strike and dropped fish again. Not going to pop it today we were thinking. Plenty of bait around a still ok weather so we pushed on. Finally get another strike but it's only a small tuna. As we were reeling it in there was plenty of blue flashing going on- dollie we thought but strange it didn't jump. Then Adam's commentary started: "it's a mahi mahi.......no it's a wahoo..........no it's a marlin!" It was a marlin chasing the tuna we had hooked and lit up so much we thought it was a flouro dollie or wahoo. We didn't know what to to- take off again and get the lures working or free spool the tuna and hope for a hook up. Anyway it took off once near the boat and left us wondering what could have been. With renewed enthusiasim we recommenced trolling and eventually stuck the hooks into my first baby black at probably 20kg. Only a pup but a first is still a first. After a few pics and a nice swim it took of to make someone else happy. The rest of the arvo was uneventful but it didn't matter, we'd done what we set out to do. Cheers Adam, hopefully they get bigger from here on. Anyway gotta go, the missus is complaining about the amount of time I spend on here.
Tim

With a weather forecast that wasn't real hot, I decided to hit Tantabiddi anyway and chase Spanglies inside the reef. Launched and with better than expected weather I headed for the south passage and decided to run outside chasing a mackeral while is was still nice. No luck on them and with a 15kt Northerly blowing now I decided to head back into the shallows for a coral trout or 2. No luck on the corals but got 3 coronations off the one bommie, one was 70cm and the others about 50ish, all released. Happy with that so came inside and chased spanglies on lures. Landed 6 over the next few hours with 5 between 58 and 68cm released and a smaller 50cm fish kept for tea. Pretty happy with the day considering the weather and the fish burgers for tea weren't too bad either.

ps. Apologies for the self portraits. I was hoping the coronation trout one would look a bit better.

The girls caught some nice Skippy and Gardies today. There were also some nice Geordies and a squid in the mix. Rosco

Went out today with my daughter and her cousin Chelsea. It was the girls tuen and they showed the boys how it was done. The girls had a ball with some nice geordies, skippy, Tarwhine and Huge Gardies!

Here is some more photo's of the Stones down south, will post more as i scan them in, these a a few years old,

This was caught from the Stones off albany a few years ago.. i've finally got my fishing photo's from the old man.. More Pics to come

Well with the last few trips being succesful on Metro Harpuka i thought i'd have another go. Good mate Shaun (Shabba) had just come back from being overseas and was very eager to get his first. The weather early this week wasnt the best but bugger it we're going.

Off we took on my boat and caught up again which makes shorter work of the trip as it takes a while to get out. We arived into the deepwater again and i said to Shaun you go first. He said no i wanna see how you do it then i'll go next. Down went my cut up baits down to the deep depths. The bait hit the bottom and within a short time i was on. The manual wind all the way to the top gets the elbows working but i called it for a puka straight up so i dont mind the workout. Once at the top it was a nice 10kg harpuka and Shaun was wrapped just to be apart of it but more to the point it was his turn!

I did a re-drift and Shabba dropped my outfit down. It wasnt long before he hooked up and this time something bigger jumped on and before i said give it shit before it shows you its home it was burried and the rig came back minus the big fish. Re-bait and back down again, it wasnt long till another strike but a bit smaller fish. The long wind up again and at the surface was a 7kg Harpuka and Shauns first so he was chuffed.

My turn again and i get another Harpuka of similar size. I said to Shaun well one more fish and thats it so your up again. Shaun dropped to the bottom and was spewing about the one he lost when all of the sudden he got a good hit. This time i said give it some shit and that he did and what a load up on the rod. After only a short time Shaun was stuffed but he knew the pain is worth it as this one one descent fish. After a very long manual wind to the top oohhhhhh my god that is HUGE came out!

What Shaun caught was his second metro harpuka but a good-en at 25.5kg (56lb-weighed) WOW, i was so happy for his capture and very envious. That topped off a great day and Shaun well done again mate....awesome stuff!

A few pics;

First drop, my harpuka

Shauns first Harpuka Hook-up

Shauns first Harpuka  

Shauns 25.5kg Harpuka (Photo Contender?)

Went out on the south coast last weekend.  Fishing for cod and pollack plus whiting at slack tide.  Best fish was my 14lb pollack plus popey had one at 12lb, Tom had an 11lb cod and the skipper had a 9lb cod.  Good weather and not a bad trip all caught a couple of whiting all about 1.5lb.  Happy days.

just a few pictures from coral bay in 2006.

Came home from work yesterday and there was this big orange thing in the sky, I remember seeing it somewhere before but not sure where.  Seems to make things warmer...any ideas LOL!

* 15.3.09 * 

With my search to tick of all species in WA i hadnt yet ticked off the deepwater Harpuka. In saying that i havnt spent anytime in search of this elusive species either.  With yesterday forecast being very suitable to go well offshore i took the steps and went solo as this takes the pressure off me through reconaisance . Having spent many trips out in the deepwater for Ruby Snapper & Greybanded cod i thought the deeper step would just perhaps produce my first Harpuka!

With plenty of driving around and sounder searching i found a new spot that looked fishy and thought i'd give it a drop. My baits hit the bottom and and no touches, with every second ticking by i was waiting for the green-eye sharks to lock onto my baits. Within seconds i got a descent deepwater hit and just maybe it was a puka. A few seconds had passed and no load mmhhhhh small fish or just picky fish.....withing seconds i get the rod load up and i'm on. The long way back to the surface had me very eager to see just what it was. As it neared, i was thinking a small greybanded cod perhaps? but nope....My First Metro Harpuka.......woooohoooooooo 

I kept the fish and did another drift with another Harpuka coming up also...wow. With my limit and a big smile I headed home and what a buzz that was.

* Got my neighbour to take a quick pic, both Harpuka were the same size!

* 16.3.09 *

With such a great reconaisance day yesterday i just had to get out there one more time and give it another crack. Another solo mission just incase i jinxed it. Today was a carbon copy day with myself getting another two Metro Harpuka and similar size fish also.Got a few bycatch and plenty of sharks.....part of the day really!

* My 130lt ice box and some Harpuka colour!

Well there getting bigger was stocked to get this one today 13 kg 9kg line 4kg rod and I think I could get a 20 kg so bring it on.. Things were slow had to work hard for the fish. First fish at 11:oo finished five dhuies ,released 5 one breaksea eaten by shark,and dropped 3 good fish.

6lb 10 oz Tench.  Fought well and went back strong, caught on sweetcorn on light float gear, in an old peat works pond.

Here you are Uncut a better roach, still small compared to the GT's and spanyids but at just over 2lb not a bad fish!!

Couple of tench and a small carp as well.