Went out with with no intentions apart from give the lads new set-up a debut... (Abu Garcia 7000i)

Lost 2 jigs and lure, 100 bux, although I think the knots were to blame on two, and got smashed on a new spot from prospecting, my lighter tackle is becoming favourable and the big guns are being left behind for trolling only.

Pulled in 5 Trevally in all,  between 11kg to 15.5kg (ish, cheap scales)

Can somebody help me out with coordinates for Bunbury Offshore??

I was over in Canada having a bit of a look about and I just had to give salmon fishing a go. There are 4 types of Pacific Salmon and the Chinooks (aka, spring, king, tyee) where gathering up near the mouth of the Capilano river right near the Lions Gate bidge near down town Vancouver city. They were getting ready to head up river to spawn and then die.

My timing in Vancouver couldn't have been better as they only gather up like this for about 3 to 4 weeks of the year.

The style of fishing is to send trolling baits or hootchy lures down on a outrigger to depth of between 90 to 70ft. They tend to use very flexable rods with a very soft action and saltwater fly reels. They have a drag setting on the reel but if the fish wants to take line, you have to let go of the crank knobs or you'll bust up your knuckles or bust off. It's very exciting fishing.

It was a two person share and the guy I ended up with was an Aussie from Sydney. I won the toss so the first hook up was mine.

Before the down rigger weight had even hit the bottom we were on. It took a bit of getting used to, fighting the fish on the fly reels but I got the hang of it fairly quickly. A baptisum of fire I guess. It felt like a really nice fish and I'd been fighting it for about 5 minutes and I was getting the feeling I had him beat when all of a sudden, line just started peeling off the reel like a tractor was pulling it. Yep, a habor seal fancied my fish a little more than I did. Geordie, our guide was confident that he could get the fish back off the seal if I could just keep the pressure on the fish and he could keep the boat over the seal. Eventually the seal would need air and not wanting to surface near the boat, would have to let go of the fish. Seemed simple enough. Nope, the seal managed to give us the slip on several occasions to pop up for air away from the boat with the fish still firmly in its jaws.  After the cat and mouse game continued on for 20 minutes, we just had to cut our losses, bust off and re set the gear. Up popped the seal about 50 metres away chewing on his sizable prize. Bastard. He'd played this game before

20 minutes passed and my fishing pal managed to raise a nice 10lb fish. Now it was my turn again. Set the gear down again and very shortly after, some action. I spung to my feet, set the hook and it was on. It was clear early on that it was another nice fish. After 5 minutes, we got our first glimps of it and yes, it was a bloody nice fish. It swam along the side of the boat about 30ft away and I could be buggered if I could get it to turn. I'd get a bit of line and it would take it right back. All we could do was drive the boat along side. She dove a couple more times and each time she surfaced, same deal, just hung out about 30ft away with no intention of getting close to the boat. Bit by bit, closer and closer and finally after 20 minutes and some swift net work from our guide, we put her on board. 

A 27lb Chinook.

Interestingly enough, when we cut her open, the flesh was white. Turns out its a genetic thing and about 1 in 100 are like it. They tend to fetch a higher price at market but to my untrained pallet, it tasted similar to the pink fleshed one that I caught a week later (yep, I went out again. Couldn't help myself) Needless to say I was eating BBQed salmon 2 if not 3 times a day for a week and truth be told, I still didn't get sick of it.

I went out with Bonnie Lee Charters who operate out of Granville Island near downtown. They're one of the few that will help you find someone to share a charter with. If you're over there at the right time of year, check them out

 Not mine but i was on a pontoon yesterday watching the entire thing and thought i'd post it up!

Impressive catch!

another beautiful day at the river  and  gods was smiling on me today im finally getting used to my new 11 foot rod  nailed at least a dozen fish today and  best of all took these nice ones home this i compilation of last 3 days :P and yes those are different fish from  each day  they are all in very excellent shape  right now so gotta nail as many as i can before they go yucky

And by God they have come in Droves  when they got the itch to travel up the river they came in wave after wave hundreds of them :) and still going strong pit stop to make a report before heading back out for more fun  and freezer filling

just look at the Teeth man they will make mince meat outta your hand in a second  and these buggers dont stop fighting till you are clubbing them  :)

small fish fight like big fish  the bigger ones fight like huge fish

Another cracker day out yesterday. This one cau. ght in 35m off mandurah.

Inserted a bit better pick for the sceptics out there. Not that it really matters. I didn't catch it and I sure as hell wouldn't be talking up the deckies fish!!!

after misjudging the time of sunrise me and leemo got to spot x a bit later than we wished but was still a great day.

1st skip 38cm

mine was 32cm

didnt measure the salmon trout but it was a stoinka

few other fish caught aswell

October is the start of the 'Build-up' and here in Kununurra and one positive with the increase in the heat is that it turns the Barra on

I'd missed some of the prime run-off season earlier this year, but many agree the build-up is better fishing........ not one to argue, it was decided to test the theory....

I had heaps of overtime up my sleeve and as you know the saying.....if you don't use it you lose it.....so not wanting to waste it I decided to take some time off and fish hard. A week of hard fishing to dissolve the work stress!

The plan was to hit the Lower Ord for Barra but in the middle head wide offshore chasing some Black Jewfish. Part of the reason in upgrading the boat was to give me the ability to explore the Kimberley Coast and see what she offers.

To start the trip it was decided to hit Skull Rock as there is plenty of river to fish and after the big wet the river has been loaded with fish. So last sunday Nick and I grabbed the tinny and launched early, we had another boat with us so we were bound to surround the Barra   

Heading downstream a Sea Eagle greeted us for the start of the journey

Always a good sign fish are active

We pretty much trolled or threw lures around the wood. It didn't dissappoint us and Nick was straight into some Barra

I was not far behind

We had a day that can only be described as the best day -worst day Barra fishing.... Well more so for me.....

Best day as we scored mobs of Barra, well over 50 fish, from 25cm through to monsters....and all good solid, fat, silver, hard hitting and wood burying Barra.  It was a hot season.

Worst day for me as I got absolutely trained by 3 big girls. Two just smashed me in the wood within seconds, locked drag, thumb burn, all over in seconds, powerful girls.........but it didn't stop there; on the last troll for the day I was hit by what I called a small Barra....as I was trying to stand up in the 3.5 tinnie, I was looking down, not concentrating, only to have my arms ripped from my sockets.....and hearing a large splash......the not so small fish was a 110 plus girl as everyone else saw her exit the water and fly through the sky........needless to say she continued with my lure as the leader parted.......now all I get is the 'not so bigl fish' ribbing from the crew  probalby wont have a season like that again and oh the pain......

But the memories of the day will last a lifetime and I now run 80lb leader in the wood.......

As some of you may know POC was up for the week with a crew from work. We had been talking for ages as I was helping with organising the trip and providing some tips for the fishing. The crew where heading for the Lyne River, which is out in the Gulf. So come sunday night I shot over to Wyndham to finally meet the crew in person. Good bunch of blokes and we solved the fishing problems over a few beers and jerky  

I wont write much as POC will probably put a post up but here's a few shots. I had  previously planned a trip wide chasing Black Jewfish with another mate from work so we were to head out in two boats, live-aboard for three days as the weather looked good....well at least on the internet..... Luke and Thommo couldn't depart Wyndham until Wednesday arvo so given the trip was planned I meet up with POC Wednesday morning while I had a day waiting for Luke's boat. So I departed Wyndham 6am and headed for the Lyne.

Here's a familar boat

And that is boat kitted out for serious Barra fishing. The rest of the day we fished and had a few beers and fished and had a few beers

Rafting up was the order of the day.

It had been pretty quiet with a few Fingermark and Barra so in the arvo I decided to hit my favourite wood. 

I pulled two good Barra 

But then proceeded to get smoked by three good fish.....bugger, oh well lick the wounds and head back to catch up with POC before Luke arrived.

After talking to POC we returned to the wood and I just anchored up and was content in watching the master work his magic.....

Whats that mate I say over a cold beer

Oh you got smoked...yeah I saw that..... ha ha

So it's not just me.

So after a few more beers I said goodbye and left POC 'still trolling" looking for her sister

I hear they got some big fish on their last day......and who would have thought we were bumping heads back in Darwin the in 90's. Was good catching up mate  

So I ran down to the mouth and waited for Luke. We camped the night at the mouth and readied ourselves for the journey into the blue for the next few days and I got little sleep dreaming of those big Mulla's......those big Mulla's that pull like freight trains .....

Nothing like a Kimberley sunrise

And heading off into the wide open......

Past some amazing scenery

The mornings were glass but the arvo's were slopp....

We reached our destination and fished with high expectations......

We were fishing shallow rocks and using Octa-jigs and after some time we were justly rewarded

Drew with the first jew

I was not long after with my first Black Jew. First fish first attempt so I was very happy

Not the big metre plus fish but given the weather we were very happy and I was even happier to land her on my new light jigging outfit fresh from Oceanside; Zxoga Taki- Si 5814 PE 4 running a Sol 4000. She stopped the fish in 3 metres of water  

Thanks Ryan and Blake, very happy.

But the weather turned for the northery worst and we reluctantly had to leave......

Shelter was Cape Domet but not one for sitting around all day we trolled with the Leci and flicked a few lures for Barra around the mangroves on the outgoing tide.

We had success with plenty of Barra and this 50cm Fingermark which was quickly dressed for the frypan

Cheers for the lure POC, she works

The weather got worse so our last day we spent exploring some of the False Mouths.

Can't get enough of the Kimberley sunsets

 Needless to say all Barra spat the hooks fo buried me deep......

But given last sunday's success there was still one day of the week left to fish.....

So Nick and I again hit the Lower Ord as Nick had scored some good fish on the Wednesday I was at the Lyne; a 90cm fish weighed in at 24lb; that good a fish! 

Another beautiful morning on the River

And the fish were happy to play

Nick had a metre plus Barra flow his lure here

But everything then went dead and about 20m later I pulled a small Barra only to get sharked.

We had a few more trolls for a few more fish

We pulled plenty of Barra but it was not like last sunday as the big girls were away so we headed home

in the company of the Magpie Geese

There's still plenty of October left

friday was a blinder of a day weather wise so we headed out behind rotto for a soft plastics bash on 14lb braid on a 5-8kg 7ft with a symetre4000 reel.

the morning started a little slow on the sth end of rotto sow i headed out from 40m to about 60m and looked for some ground, didnt take long to find a few small patches with small flare ups so i increased from 1oz to 2oz jig head and gave it a few drifts. soon later i hooked a monsta and battled it for a good 5or so mins and landed a crakka dhuie 10.2kg. pumped as, i looked around for some more ground and produced a nice baldy about 47cm, yum.

bagged out i decided to head in a bit and find another dhuie for my mate on board so we went back into the 40m again where i had caught some recently, no luck but he landed a nice pink snapper and i hooked a good size sambo which made for a gd foto before release :) we had a crakka day out and i was amazed to get my pb softy dhuie in perth!!!!!!!

Couple little sambos from out deep, first ones on 15lb sunline, had enough fun and donated enough jigs with that outfit now.....

Went out on the Island Leader 2 for a 4 day trip with the same bunch of guys for the past 15 years and had a spectacular weekend with some great fish and some excellent dancing from the whales. Weather held out right up till Monday afternoon and then it blowed that night till Tuesday(good drinking time) but we managed to to 5 dives over the weekend and there were plenty of coral trout, baldies and dhufish around to spear. Thanks to all the guys for a magic weekend again.

Went out today with my dad

headed out from mangles bay at 7am

by 10:30 dad landed this nice 7kg dhufish

a little while later i got onto these nice kg's both 50cm

Over the whole day we ended up catching 1x dhufish, 4x foxfish, 1x sargent baker, 1x sweep, 1x blackass, 2x kg's, 5x sand whiting, 2x flathead, 1x skippy and heaps of wrass, this is what we kept.

It was very nice out there and we had a good time.

My best mate Jay isn’t really keen on fishing. He comes out every now and then. It doesn’t help that everytime he comes out with me we catch nothing. In fact i always say he is bad luck.

I had been hanging to go out to the 5 for ages but every free chance i had the Swell was pumping with light winds and swell I decided to go out and Test the New 5inch and 7inch Madeye Flick Sticks.

The 3 inch flick sticks had worked awesome on Shark Bay Pinkys and bream over 40cm. So i was chomping at the bit to go out.

We reached our spot and got a berly trail going. Even though i dont use bait when Pinky fishing it is still important to have berly on board. Not only does it bring other fish to you but we have found it gets the smaller crap fish into a feeding frenzy that will often get bigger fish to feed when its quiet.

It wasnt long before i had a fish on.A 50cm Sargent baker.

 I had tied on a pink 5' Madeye Flick Stick on a 1/4 jig head and had given Jay a 7" Flick Stick on a 1/2.

I droped back down. And within no time was on again. "You have given me the Crap lure havnt you" Jay Proclaimed.

"No...Yours will work but only on the bigger fish"...................I was right

This time i had a undersize pinky in the boat. Straight back it went.

After another 5 min i had a Massive hit. I wound up to find my plastic destroyed. "that was something much bigger"

I droped back down as my lure sank i watched Jay jig his plastic. Jig...Jig.......drop it back down....WHACK.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Strike strike it hard". After loosing a goof Mulla last weekend I wasnt going to have Jay make the same mistake. He set the hook and was on.

Smack i had a hit as well. Damn lost it again. Jays fish was now screaming off and i decided to puull in my line to make sure it wouldn’t get tangled.

Jay asked me what i thought it was. I called it for a Pinky as it went straight down with 2 big head shakes. However after a short while screamed off and stayed around mid water making long fast runs. I was begining to worry that the snapper had become a big sambo.

Jay was using a 30lb jig/spin out fit but this fish was still giving him curry even on the heavy gear.

Although he was struggling you could see the smile on his face as this was by far the biggest fish he had ever caught.

After what seemed like ages he was beginning to win the battle and i caught a glimpses of the beast..................BIG SNAPPER.

The adrenline level jumped up a notch as i walked Jay through how we were going to net it. I remember my first Snapper and i nearly lost it due to some "panicked" gaff shots. Jay did great though and perfectly guided the snapper into the net. It just fit.

High fives all round.

I got out my new camera. What a way to Christian it. Jays first snapper, First fish on a lure and the first person to crack a big snapper on the 7" Madeye Flick Stick.

The weird thing was after this fish everything went dead. Like someone had ficked a switch. I have had session go quiet before but nothing like this. And even though we tried another 4 differnent spots we couldnt even get another hit all day.

Not that it mattered. Im pretty sure Jay didnt mind  ;D

[IMG]http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz355/madeyelures/DSC_0021.jpg[/IMG]

. 

i guess i am lucky working on a ship for a living and get to go fishing reasonably regularyly, but its not everyday you get to have a go at these guys. the guys at work didnt really believe me that you ould get a line to the bottom and fish 300m. but when we saw a pro boat stop on a lump and fish all night i thought we beter have a go of it to. we gathered together 4 handlines that were on the boat and joined them alltogether had some barracuda for bait that we caught earlier on and down it went with a 50mm peice of steel pipe as a sinker got 2 fish in 2 drops and that was enough work for me. one just under 6kg and one just over 6kg shame we didnt get a real big one though. tasted prety good with a bit of flour and some lemon squeezed on top. dan

G'day all, first post for me. Caught this 95cm 11.8kg pinkie on Thursday night. Self and 2 mates caught 5 all together - 2 this size and 3 smaller ones in Cockburn Sound just before the ban. Cant wait for next year! 

After reading about how well the kalgan was fishing for Mulloway myself and Ira decided to head down on Fri and try our luck.
I hooked up to what must have been a big fish on the Madeye Whippy Worm as line just peeled of the reel before the fish had even realised it was hooked. Once it woke up there was one big head shake and then the line went slack.
We tried for another 3 hours but couldn’t find the fish.

Sat morning Alex and Charlie teamed up in their boat while myself and Ira with Dan as our guide jumped in mine.
With a carton and a winners being able to take 1 lure out of the losers tackle box all of us were keen for a win.

Dan did his best to put us on fish but Charlie and Alex took us to school. It must have only taken a few minutes for Alex to push Charlie to the back of the boat. But Charlie was still out fishing him. 
When we left this was the biggest they had caught. Charlie got this on a Whippy Worm as well 

At 11 we decided we wernt going to find any big in the Kalgan so we headed off in search of my first 40.

After fishing a few different rivers for nothing but rats and the sun lowering in the sky we set up camp. Both of us had Whippy Worms tied on with 1/12th jig heads.
 As we crusied down a fish section of river i was beginning to notice how much my casting had improved since getting back into breaming. I was quite chuffed as i put a perfect cast right in front of a nice looking snag. I counted the lure down to the bottom click over the bail arm gave one twitch and came up solid. This fish had some weight but lucky ran right into the middle of the river. After i managed to get its head up i finally caught sight of the beast as it rose from the coffee coloured water. I knew straight away this fish was over 40.
After a couple of tense seconds i had the fish in the net.
Some quick photos then onto the lie detector................43cm  and 1.35kgs

After a few more minutes it was Ira’s turn to catch a fish on the whippy worm. Once again this fish bolted straight for the middle of the river which made for an easy fight.
At 37cm it was another nice fish.

Things went quite and Ira suggested we try another drift but this time with Hards. I tied on a  Pontoon 21 Greedy Guts 55 MDR
And cast it parallel to the bank. Once again my rod bent over. Not as much weight as the first fish but it certainly wasn’t something to sneeze about. We forgot to mesure it but in the well i looked slightly bigger than Iras so proably around 38.

With it nearing lunch and a big drive ahead we decided to pull the pin. I was extactic with the results.

Big thanks to Ira for putting me on my first 40 and Dan for being our guide for the day. Also Charlie for his hopsitalty as usual. We had a great time with the Albany guys talking crap and trading stories. Alex also tied on the “Secret Rig” that caught me my 43. Ill certainly be back 
 

Have been giving the threadybusters a bit of a go of late and i must say- they do not disappoint. Such an aggressive action in the water, you can pretty much feel the darn thing vibrate through the floor of the boat. Just wanted to attach a few pics of what I have caught on them lately plus a few others from a landbased reef trip the other day. I got 1 little trout but my mate landed a real nice trout on a 5 inch jerk shad plus a GT as well. I got a small cuda on the thredy as well

Headed out for a Night Fish in the Sound on Thursday ...Landed these..6 and 8 kilo pink's in 8mtr's on my Abu Garcia Bait Caster on 20 pound line...Happy Day's

G'day Just got back from Esperance working and hanging out for a snapper fish. Went out early Saturday and today with the tides being in our favour so my self and Joe made the most out of it. With grano hour launch we hit the water at 5am on Saturday and caught our 2 snapper each all being in the 10kg range. Fishing snapper in shallow water is awesome, they go hard.

Today we tried to duplicate what we did Saturday. Joe's mate came out for a fish as well and he caught a 7kg snapper and I caught a 9kg snapper. We had 3 bust off today.

It was awesome to get back on the water.

Headed out yesterday morning to try and find new ground South side of Rotto and some how managed to deliver.

The boats tally for the day was:

3 x sized Dhuis (and a bunch that weren't)

1 x Snapper (51cm)

1 x horse of a Baldie (62cm, 12lb on the Bogas)

1 x Black Ass

1 x Sambo

3 x Skippy

1000 x Buff Bream (well I think that's what they were)

1 x red snapper

One more drift and used my squid heads to good use and got a double header. I couldn't hold em both up together. 1 @ about 25kg and the other about 30kg. This was a real battle of tug a war and had to manual wind as the elec reel just couldn't hack it!

PS Thanks heaps to Tim and co, as you guys left it happened, Hope to repay the favour out there one day

 What a strange day fishing today..

Can anyone ID the following fish i caught in the metro area today? One is some kind of trevally and the other a dart but Im guessing theyre quite rare captures this far south? Caught 4 of the trevally and just the one dart, all at the same spot. The first trevally was caught on plastic then when I realised what it was i changed to a little stickbait I bought the other day, first cast it got smashed after a couple twitches and the 2nd cast i caught the dart. Biggest trevally i caught was about 35cms, and at one stage I spooked them with the ski and there were hundreds scooting under us swimming away. My brother also lost a flattie boatside that was around 60cms, biggest ive seen in a while..

Been up in the wild mid-west this week.  Managed this little fella on the way home.  Went 73cms, 3.2kg.

Blues Code Stickbait,  Cheers Llyod!

Giving it another shake next week.

Until then. 

Wazza

Went out Fishing today woke up at 3:15 for the 2 hrs drive to the river  waded through  the almost chest deep water  to the  fishing spot   at 5 am pitch black out  cant see a dam thing  so  walked by flashlight  flicked it over to the other bank and  saw a BEAR  me and buddy went oh crap so he fished for a while as i kept watch for the bear

then within 30 mins some other guys showed up and we got to Fishing with in 20  minutes of me starting i hooked a very sweet arse 20lb Chinook Salmon of witch i had to chase it down stream was also the very first fish of the day

and then 5 minutes later bagged a nice 10lb Coho let my buddy use my rod and he slammed a Chinook and a Coho just as fast so we are up 4 fish now and the day is just starting  so we played around for a while the fishing got very slow  so i let my buddy fish and  after a bit  he snapped the line off so we retied it  and out i went this time i said to him watch this  and within 5 tosses i had another  10lb beauty Coho on the end of the line  brought it  in and gave my buddy the rod back  and he grabbed his  last Coho 5 minutes before we left as you can only have 4 fish in total and only 2 can be Coho   we WAS STOKED having got the Extra Chinooks for the day as well

This was how my day Today went  the last pic is of the first 4 fish caught in less than 30 mins

 hi guys just wondering what you will be up to when the ban hits to keep the juices flowing ,im thinking of getting out the scuba gear ,and chasin a few crays ,and also chasin a few sharks out in the deeper water???? last year during the ban i hooked a thresher shark off two rocks ,so i guess anything is possible!whats everyone else up too???????????

welp i been  fishing way to much  not that im complaining  but since June ive been out almost daily

fishing for any type of Salmon that i could  go catch and  then my Buddy got a Boat and oh my GOD have we been fishing we are now hitting both rivers and  The Saltwater

catching Coho Chinooks and Sockeye Salmon from 8 to  the biggest 35lbs so far  and no our home rivers are about to open for fishing on Oct 1

Crappy pic  but those ones took us 45 mins to catch :)

welp i been  fishing way to much  not that im complaining  but since June ive been out almost daily

fishing for any type of Salmon that i could  go catch and  then my Buddy got a Boat and oh my GOD have we been fishing we are now hitting both rivers and  The Saltwater

catching Coho Chinooks and Sockeye Salmon from 8 to  the biggest 35lbs so far  and no our home rivers are about to open for fishing on Oct 1

id love to show the pics but for some reason i cant get them uploaded

 come on guys  its yours ,and were gonna take the flag go you good thing!!!!time to stir the pot.