Nanga Bay. Shark Bay for 2 weeks.
Just got back from Nanga Bay after 2 weeks of awsum fishing.
I was lucky enough to get an invite from Darren to go to his parents place in Nanga for a couple weeks of fishing. They owned the Nanga station, before CALM bought most of it, along with the Nanga Bay resort and caravan park. Ted and Maureen sold off the resort and caravan park (that now looks like it has gone down hill with the new owners) a few years ago but kept the homestead and a few shacks above the caravan park. Also a small, 1400 arces, of land surrounding the place. As there were already guests in the homestead we stayed in one of the shacks and it was a fine place to be. Right next to the BBQ and spa.
Now i'm pretty keen on getting a stack of photo's to show all the unlucky ones back home how good a place you are at but with this trip the fishing action was pretty hot when they were on so a lot was missed out. Real hard to get the camera in your hands when your rod is buckled over.
Having Darren there with 30 years of local knowledge was invaluable. First up was his secret pinkie hole that produced at any time of the day or night. During the daylight hours we would be releasing 30+ fish, mostly undersize, and at night we would be releasing 15+ fish, mostly oversize. I have to say that when you get a monster pinkie hooked up, in 15m, with 30Lb line you really have a fight on your hands.
Just an inch too big..Lol
Another hump head.
And of course all the biggest ones were released. That Tony our chef for the trip.
I was told the Bluebone up there can get pretty big so we tried for a few days to target them but only ended up getting a few of the smaller ones around the islands and when we were on a coral patch. The little crab plastics had been given to us by a mate who lives in Alaska and heard us talking about targeting Bluebone with plastic crabs instead of trying to catch the fresh ones. Turns out they work fine but the fish just have to be there.
Trolling is not something that Darren or Tony were into but when i'm up north i think it is a must. After seeing some guys at the cleaning station on the beach with some monster Spanish Mackerel they were finally talked into it, if we saw a surface bustup only. Well on our way out to the coral patch in pretty windy and rough conditions we saw that bust up and i finally got a lure in. We hooked this fine longtail and i was keen to keep after them as they are, in my opinion, the finest eating tuna up north.
Well the guys couldnt see them within 20m of the boat anymore so were not keen to continue chasing them. Much to my disgust. Anyway after eating some tuna that night they had their eyes peeled for the rest of the trip. Unfortunatly we never got into them again.
There were plenty of surface bustups that we did chase around after but it always turned out to be little bonito.
Another one of those secret spots Darren had us going to was quite a large area to drift over for Black Snapper. (Bluelined Emperor/Grass Emperor). We hooked a few just over 4Kg but our keepers were in the 34-40cm range. The biggest problem with this area was the sharks. There are 28 species of sharks in the Shark Bay area and i'm sure we caught them all. We had stocked up on gear for the trip but found we had to make a run into Denham for more hooks. Bloody sharks. Anyway here is some Black Snapper for you.
Other than the fishing it was just have a brew and watch the sun set.
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
Ol Tom
Posts: 331
Date Joined: 17/12/13
Good report. Love that
Good report. Love that area....
naylor_1
Posts: 161
Date Joined: 15/02/10
Awesome part of the world,
Awesome part of the world, just had a week around there myself over Easter .
thanks for the write up
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Great spot up there. Was my
Great spot up there. Was my family's go to spot for Christmas holidays when I was growing up. Good to see you found the pinkys.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
kirky79
Posts: 1351
Date Joined: 13/01/12
Great write up and photos
Great write up and photos Merv. Another couple of months and I'll be up at Francois Peron Nat. Park. Can't wait. Love that part of the world.
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Probably a long shot but it
Probably a long shot but it wasn't Darren that was breeding aquarium fish up there for a while was it?
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Aquarium fish
I will ask Dodgy next time i see him. He never mentioned having a sideline up there just that he was doing work on the accomodation for Ted in a period of unemployment.
I know Ted did some work with CSIRO on Barra farming using some of the dams on the property. When the research was finished the Barra, that were pretty big, got sent to the sea world place that is just before Denham. It might have been the bloke that now ownes that place.
Merv
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Was a fair while ago now.
Was a fair while ago now. Probably early to mid 90's. About the same time the little Zoo was going up there.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Not him
Found out it was his step brother Christian and he is now in Perth somewhere dealing with fish and fish tanks.
Darren also said the Barra up there got big because they were fed on those aquirium fish that he was breeding..lol
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
mrwinta
Posts: 457
Date Joined: 14/01/10
Simply awesome! Roll on
Simply awesome! Roll on June!
NEVER PUSH YOUR GRANNY WHEN SHE'S SHAVING
Devo1965
Posts: 120
Date Joined: 29/09/13
Nice Photos & report.
Cant beat a trip away camping and fishing, even better when it all comes to gether.
Devo1965
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
thanks for the
thanks for the report,
looked like a bloody good trip
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Positive Replies
Thanks for the positive replies to the report guys.
I wrote it on the morning after the return so was knackered and missed out on a lot of the other activities that didnt have photo's to go with it.
Because some of the days involved late nights on the boat we had a few lay days just relaxing. Usually these involved sleeping in, cleaning up and then going land based fishing. I had a shocking time trying to catch the famous SB whiting. Spent early mornings on the beach, hours walking the shallow sand bars and even a few hours drifting in the boat over likley looking ground. On one lay day i was walking the shallows, about 100m from shore, in knee deep water flicking a small red plackie about with only 2 small flatties (12cm) to show for it. I spotted a small gully that must have been just 2 inches deeper and sent the worm in. Hooked up straight away and was almost spooled in seconds. After a monster fight i pulled up this 20cm pinkie and he had another 8-10 following. Released him and watched the school swim away from the gully so thought i would try again. Bang on again and another monster fight. Bloody pinkies. Gave up then as 2cm bigger and my 6Lb would not have got them in.
Also found three, 20's ish, german girls stranded on a dirt track with a busted, cheap ass rental camper. But that is a story for telling with a few beers and not on the forums.. Farking funny.
Merv
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15610
Date Joined: 29/11/05
blackies
The one thing I've never understood is why the Shark Bay black snapper (Grassies) are so much bigger than the rest of the state. It's a bit of a mystery to me and I studied them a bit when at fisheries research.
Good report Merv
Site Admin - Just ask if you need assistance
growie_1
Posts: 2
Date Joined: 27/05/12
Great report
Awesome work