G'Day all.

Recently back from our annual trip North up to Gnaraloo and thought i would put up a small post.

We were lucky and headed up directly after the recent lockdown after a week of thinking our trip would be cancelled this year. The weather was totally awesome and some of the best we have seen there over the years. Got a bit lucky dodging a few fronts on a few days but generally really nice conditions. The new regulations really changed things and we were quite picky with our demersal catches. We fished seven days straight ticking of all methods and target species.

Day One: Out wide in 110 to fish for Goldband, Reds and Pearl Perch. Both bottom bouncing and jigging. A pretty good day out wide with some good fish boated. 

Day Two: We headed South to some spots in 45 m we have not fished for a while. Found the Robbos and reds on the chew, however, the sharks were equally hungry and anything red was a real target. The sharks left the robbos alone which was interesting so we down sized hookes and baits and were very happy to take home a feed of the super white flesh. Can't believe how big the shark are. Crazy and got some epic footage og them underwater. 

Day Three: Time to hit up someMackies onthe troll then head out to oue SW spots in 50m. No problems boating two good Mackies in the first five minutes to put on ice then headed out to find good sized Rankin Cod holding out on these spots. We could not get away from them and found ourselves catching and releasing quite a few. Topped off with a couple of reds in the esky was once again looking good. Yes, the sharks found us again. They found us evey day in 10m,40m, 80m and 100. We literally could not get away. 

Day Four: Time for a day targeting the reds. Headed out to some spots NW in 45, these have produced quite well ver the years, however, can be a bit hit and miss. Sounded up some good fish and things were looking good. We landed six good reds in the first hour and a couple of good baldies. Then, that's right, the taxman found us again. lucky to get that hour in. Time to pack up and we spent the rest of the day playing with cobia, Northern Bluefin Tuna and sailfish on the stingers. All in 50 mtrs so it was good to see a few sailfish in close. 

Day Five: The Demesrals bag was already looking good between the four of us so we decided to troll some skirts around to temp the billies. No luck on this day raising with the billies so we headed out to 80mtrs to mark some new spots in areas we have not fished before. Found somenice ground and decided to have drop with a few jigs. Managed a red on the jig here which is not that common up at Gnaraloo. A nice easy day relaxing in good weather with a few nice spots waiting for us in 2022. There is so much ground out there and the fish life was pretty amazing this year. 

Day Six: Time for a jig only day. Headed to a lump North West of the bay again to play with the Amberjacks and Trevelly. The weather was almost too good with hardly any drift at all. We found some pretty good bait and the jigging was on for young old. Big fish hooked and lost, mackies smashing jigs, sharks amongst it as well, but an insane fun day on the jig. Cobia were also out in force as usual which always make for some fun on the jig. We also brought out the soft plastics and vibes which also went off. Amongst the catch on this day were a few unlucky Pink Snapper who also like the plastics an jigs amonst the pelagics. 

Day Seven: With the bag almost done and dusted, it was decided to head to one of our Mackie spots close to shore just South of the bay. We were looking to keep one or two to top off a great week bagging our quotta under the new regulations. What a pain it is to keep the skin on the Pelagis fish, especially the Cobia. This spot is in about 15 - 20mtrs and sounding good arches below we started to troll through. First hit was huge and took off North with speed. A good 100mtrs back from the boat and a huge shark smashed what ever we had hooked. We guess a Wahoo which were around and it definitely took off like one. Another sharking and we were not very hopeful. The next two hours were incredible. We caught around 20 plus Spanish Mackerel (lost count). We trolled deep and shallow divers, soft plastics, jigged them, threw poppers, stick baits and poppers which made for some special aerial acrobatics. We literally had travelled 4km to enjoy the best fun fishing can throw at you. It was insane, the Mackeral were all over this spot and willing to play with us for hours. We kept two decent mackies and the rest were released. There were a few that got sharked, especially on the lighter gear, however, the sharks on this day did dot seem to want to come close to the boat, so once the fish was near by, the sharks would hold off. We were simply laughing it was that good. 

There are so many options up here it is not funny. We only scratched the surface again this year and even had an extra day fishing than usual. We all got amongst the fish, however, some key catches were Sailfish, big Reds, big Goldband and a huge Green Job fish that was well over 20kg. Fisheries were on board on the beach this year which was good to see and in good spirits. Some unusual things for the week. No trout or Coronation again. Pearl Perch have made a resurgence back to Gnaraloo, catching Atlantic cat fish for the first time up there and the huge Green Job fish. Also jigged up another squid in 50m, very tasty.

There were plenty of whales playing close by most days with dolphins visiting us a couple of times throughout the week. The track is in really good shape heading from Quobba and even all the way up to the homestead, however, the track to the bay is in its usual poor condition. Once again, a great year for us at Gnaraloo. The families we have met up ther over the years are always good value making for a social aspect to our fishing trip as well. Enjoy some of the pics. Cheers. Dave, Sab, Davo and Andrew.

One little note about the taxman. He was everywhere and never has it been so bad. Not sure why it was so bad for us this year, but they found us each day no matter where we went. Easy to deal with, however, just annoying and they were huge. We have been lucky over the years with the sharks so we cant complain. Just wonder if the boat, sounder strength or motor sound has increased our visits this year. Maybe time to try out some shark repellant for 2022. 

 Booked for 2022 

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