Hit up carnarvon over the long weekend with some mates. Early mornings and nights were spent on the jetty fishing for Mulloway and the days were spent at quobba. Left Perth on Friday night and drove straight to the 1 mile so we could start fishing at 4am. Awesome trip had by all, we all caught some good fish and lost some crackers We finally hooked in to some good fish spinning metals at quobba were my mate visit lost a good spaniard at the rocks after 3 trips with not so much luck. Mcarthy soft plastics killed it with me losing a good size mulloway first cast at the jetty. Hope you enjoy the photo's. Thanks Kris

Went out early Sunday morning in the Traily from Hillarys, just me and Matt. Was going to hit the 3 mile. but the wind was quite light so we headed for the back of Rotto and fished a few lumps on the way.

Whilst the wind was good, the sea was very lumpy and confused, I guess from the winf the day before. It got better all day and was glassy but still lumpy  by the time we came home, flat out all the way.

Jigged and soft plasticed a small lump north of Rotto near the shipping channel arounf 7am, and got hit on te second drop on a Caprice kid 75 gram on my tierra 4000.....nice fight and a just undersized dhu which went back, followed by a couple of Bakers a few minutes later that we also send back alive and well....10 minutes in and we were already ahead of our whole day tally up at Jurien last week.....

Things quietened down soon after although we went through a couple of McArthys paddle tails which were munched off at the tail.

Moved on to a cave that previously held severla shu, and not a touch, followed by a couple more lumps that had done well in the past, again no hits. Weatehr was improving so we headed for the 70 m mark, and ended up on a nice little ledge in 75 m which showed some good fish on 50 Hz.....jigged with 130 gram Caprice, and got a quite large goat fish which was interesting, released, but the marks on the sounder looked better, so me and Matt relented and dropped a bait over the edge, and up came these couple of Queenies. Mine went 78 cm and fought very hard, Matts a tad smaller. This was quickly followd by another Queenie arounf 65 cm, which was released with a release weight, but given the depth and the fact we did not want to keep any more, we moved on.

Thought about heading to the North barge for an amberjack jig but was 1 pm so we headed home and jigged a few spots on the way back, with a small pinkie on jig and a nice 41 cm black bum on bait for dinner.

Nice day out, great fun demersal jigging, several fish released well and a few nice fish for the plate.

 John

Pete, Brad & I already had the car packed for a quick departure @ 4:30am on Sunday, and when I made it there on my scooter, the boat and car were already out the front. Must remember not to pre-pack my fishing overalls, its cold on the scooter that time of day ;)

Up at Two Rocks, there were a few boats on the water already, and the queue was quickly building up. We noticed the cops turn up and pull over too. Paul G, perhaps you can tell us about some ramp violence up that way lately? We launched, and had plans to head North, and to the Outer Bank. Remembering the GPS reset last week, we had to both find the spots AND the fish, so we knew we would be working hard today.

We headed North in some exceptionally sloppy seas and found ourselves alone in on the outer bank. The first drift looked pretty promising with Brad on early, he brought up a nice flathead. A few more drifts and then nothing. Next it was Pete's turn with something punishing him pretty damn hard on the baitcaster, lots of scrabbling around trying to lkeep the butt in the rod bucket. I honestly begin to suspect sambo, but it slows down and we're all left wondering a little longer ... silver then blue, its a huge Queen Snapper, and in no state to return, so its quickly despatched and put into the esky. Brad next is a Big Red Throat Emp, a pretty unusual catch this far South. By now, a couple of lumps later, I'm wondering if jigging works AT ALL! Bah, then Pete gets a ripping run and we think we're onto something good, apart from the 3-way tangle that eventuates, but it turns out to be a big bloody ray and to top it off, I cut Pete off, but get the rest of his rig back, a small win.

Next lump, and Pete brings up a nice legal dhu, then off to for some more prospecting. We pick up a vew good flare on the sounder, and then Pete picks up a small dhu on SP, Brad gets a BA, and I get both a small dhufish and BA on a 7" McArthy Jerk Minnow in Orca and a 1oz nitro head. Nice to get a dhufish on SP, must try and get one a little larger next time though! Actually nice to catch anything after such a slooooooooooow day.

Its getting late and we chat about what to do next and decide to head to near where our mythical lost lump of last weekend is, where point #1 is on the sounder, because at least we can get our arms stretched by the sambos for a little fun. I may yet manage to catch something on jig for the day too... On the way over, we see some better sized tuna, and pick a few off using the plastics we already had rigged. Dropping on the lump, I went back to jigging and expecting Sambos, but I get a really good strike, work hard to get it off the bottom, but its just plodding along, plenty of power though. I get it up, get a little more colour and its a 75cm Dhufish! He took quite a liking to Shout Shab Shab 130g, all silver.

We charge around a little looking for that damn missing lump from last week, but can't find it, on the way back to #1 again, the damn GPS resets AGAIN and we lose the day's points so F U Navman!

Well we're up nice and early as were plenty of other fishers and as we came down to the ramp at 6:00 we could see boats heading out. We were soon in the water and on our way.The water was lumpy which made travel slow but we got there in one piece.The first spot and bang Neil was on to a good fish then Jesse was on to a big fish all in the first minute. Things were looking good.

After a good fight Neil soon had a 15-20kg sambo along side, hook out and a quick release. Now for Jesse, well he still hadn't got his off the bottom ,this was to be a battle as he was using dads crappy $20 rod and his small spinning reel with 30lb braid. After a good 30 minutes we could see the white shimmer in the water mmmmmmm you guessed it - big RAY good 50-60kg. In the end we just busted it off as it would not let us get it to the surface. The next five hours were slow, six undersize dhuies and a baldchin. But no dhuies in the box. Jesse by this time was fast asleep in the cabin as we travelled to the next spot. Jody was saying to Neil watch Jesse come out the cabin, drop and nail a fish, little tin ass.

We soon arrived at the lump back inside the bank and the sounder was showing good fish, Jody was first on, another small dhuie. Well here comes Mr Tin Ass out scratching his head "what you get Jody". He then picks up his rod and throws his Mcarthy sp out, well bugger me it no sooner hits the bottom and he is on and on big time. Well the little reel was screaming and that rod was at breaking point. This one was fighting like a dhue so we were all telling him to go easy but never fear Jesse played the fish like a pro. Well after 15 minutes we could see colour and yes that silver shape slowly spinning as it made its way to the top. Then its head hit the surface.  Jesus a bloody donkey of a dhuie and on sp. The fish was pulled aboard and pics taken. what a good fish on what most off us would use for bream or whiting. TOP EFFORT. The scales were pulled out and the fish pulled 20KG. One more drop and another dhuie off 9KG was on board. A great end to a good day on the water.

THE REEL

THE ROD

THE SOFT PLASTIC

THE TINNY BUGGER

THE FISH

Been wayyy overdue for a fish. Finally headed off Two Rocks with a couple of mates today. Ended up having a good day with 16 Dhuies between 4 of us landed for the day. No absolute crackers but all legal fish ranging from 3-8kg. With hooks being pulled twice on suspected big Dhubags...

The usual bycatch aswell when jigging with Sambos up to 12kg(ish), Blackass, Sargy's (and plenty of) and one rat SBT on the troll.

Was good day weatherwise and fishwise. Hopefully can get into a few more up at Jurien on Wednesday!!

Heres a few pics to have a geez at

Enjoy

Cheers,

Sam

First drop Dhu on a 80gm Pirate.

The bro with a ~7kg fish

Brandon the bloody Baito!

Headed out to Rotto from Hillary's just on sunrise, greeted with light winds but a very sloppy ocean. Ended up anchoring and burleying at a spot we ave done well in the past in 32m but got nothing but undersized pinks. Drifted around few spots for nothing and as the ocean glassed off i wanted to head towards the back of rotto but onl putting 40l of fuel i was a little hesitant, pulled into rotto refuelled and off we went. Found some good ground and the baits went down, first drop 52cm dhuie, then my gf got one a little smaller so we just drifted that lump for the rest of the arvo.

As we were getting dhuies i thought id send down a placcy and sure enough got my first size dhuie at 55cm. Kept him for a feed, as my partner was taking my photo she put her rod in the rod holder...hers went off and resulted in quite a decent blackass. I lost another dhuie on placcy which felt big but didnt take it too well..bummer.

Still a happy camper for my dhuie on plastic, nothing special but a pb. A big thanks to all that have given me tips etc on demersal jigging, you know who you guys are:)

Sha

Headed out to the 5 today. Berlyed up the back of the 5 and landed 2 snapper 1 50cm on bait and 1 75cm on soft plastic.

Heading out again early tommorrow and have a spare spot if anyone is keen.

Some great weather meant we headed out to explore some of the deeper contours. Found some great fish on baits and even better on jigs. A mixed bag of fish coming to the boat, red & pink snappers, sambos, 7 bar cod, flathead, rat tuna, and those bloody green eyed sharks.

lovely morning on the water, chopped up in the afternoon.

Headed to Gemini wreck off Yanchep. Caught a cuttlefish on a lucianus jig  - interesting.

Some guys already there caught a port jackson and a SBT. they were stoked with the tuna, no birds or anything just thought he would flick out  a surface lure and came up trumps.

Saw no birds working bait schools whole day and caught some usual smaller stuff but not much.

Better than working but hey!

Just returned today from greenough ,cape burney, area today.

Some large tailor around for those who try and think outside the square.

Lots of people trying all the easy to fish spots at a time that suits them ,not the fish!

this is giving away trade secrets abit ,but not really to forum members i reckon

quadded to some areas ,but 4wd can get there too,quad more fun and quicker ,hence my user name.

fish your light conditions if the tides are not in your favour.like for me.Whitewater no matter how small.

normally i use gardies or big mulies ,but tried sauris from bluewater myree this time.

They are a bit softer than gars ,but the tailor love um,around half the price of gars too .

Always wear my rockboots and wetsuit ,never fish alone if possible , and watch those swells,people have

died along this stretch of coast.

photo was thursday nights 30/09/10 catch,had many more hits ,and big slashes from a turned on school,that has

scratched my itch from these great ,exciting fish.

Got the chance to duck out just before the weather went rotten. It was the second trip for my new custom rod combo and I was keen to give it another good going over. Once I found out the 50lb old rod had a broken guide it wasn't a hard decision between a handline and the 30lb outfit!! We chased Spanish most of the day so only fished 5 spots.

Being so light I got bricked many times across the course of the day in the country we fished but still landed some quality fish. I can't wait for the 50lb model still in the works!!

The Youtube vid is part of a number of fish we boated for the day and we got some good footage to add to the next DVD I'm making up. Among the catch were Spangled emperor, Trout, Spanish Macks, Gold Spot Trevally, big GTs, the big red, even 2 big Batfish and the list went on. We even got some good footage of a big Sailfish buzzing one of our Mackerel baits. A pity she didn't take it.


Enjoy the pics and video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQdcVxgvhkc


PS. excuse Erica's language, to her defence she did lose a good fish!!

hey anyone know where the tailor are biting atm? Went to Pinaroo Point sunday morning and nothing, might checkout woodman point?? any tips

Anyone catch his show last night? Some remarkable footage of our beloved Kimberly, and might I ad the fishing was insane!

We'll miss ya mate

Hi all,

Went down to the ammo jetty for a quick fish last night. Conditions were lovely but the fishing was pretty quiet all round. Plenty of small yellowtail hanging around the jetty but no other bread and butter species around. I put a livey out under a balloon but didn't register a hit. On retrieval it had been clean chomped in half so probably an errant tailor.

Quite a few squid around and I was able to break my squid duck. The first one went out under the balloon but again no interest. The pickers had munched the tentacles and eyes out when I retrieved it later on that night. I caught one other squid but in the space of a couple of seconds he managed to squeeze through the 1" square mesh holes in the jetty floor! Easy come, easy go.

Send another yellowtail out under a balloon until a bit after high tide at midnight but again no hits.

Quite a few friendly folks around last night and it was great to chat to some nice people. They all had the same luck with the only notable a small flathead landed by one crew. Will definately head back in summer for a shark bash though - it's quite a nice spot to fish from.

Cheers,

Buschy 

Went up to Steep Point for a quick trip early in September. I know it's not the greatest time of year and we usually head up end of April early May but a mate of mine had never been up there and with his wedding day fast approaching thought it would be just nice to head up. My mate has done a bit of fishing around metro but had never been anywhere further north. So with the prospect of maybe picking a Mac or two we took off!

Explaining to him on the way up that a trip can have a lot of factors such as wind which we can do nothing about I said lets just get up and have a good time know matter what! Arriving at Denham the weather wasn't to bad and within two hours we were at blackies east, love that camp and it is always protected! With everything set up by 3 I said "lets get out for a quick troll" and off we went. Explaining the ways of trolling to my mate and setting the spread and drags i told him just to wait and here the amazing sound of a lure being hit and listening to a screaming drag! After a few minutes there drag went off with my mate not really knowing what to do i told him to push the lever to strike and hold on!

After a few minutes a small mac tuna was up at the side and released quickly. After another 20 minutes and not to much going on the drag went again and my mate was straight onto it like a pro and even decided to call it for another tuna. I warned him that a mac will sometimes come towards the boat. I was right and all of a sudden there was his first mac near the boat. Knowing it would do another bolt near the boat i suggested tio lighten the drag and let it go. Panic was on his face but i told him to relax and enjoy the fight and a couple of minutes later his first ever mac was on board with a massive sigh of relief and a grin from ear to ear!

The wind was sort of up for the rest of the week and still getting out for a troll almost everyday with endless amount of longtails being caught! I suggested tryimg a little rock around near our camp and chucking a few plastics and baits around. I did mention I had seen some big yellow tail kings around here and when we came over the edge there was six of these bruisers just cruising by! Before we could get ready they were gone. We went on to catch trevs, small baldies, yellow fin bream, snapper whuch were all great fun on 6kg!

All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye the kings were there again but with no bait on the hooks ang just been busted of with my plastic i just chucked my 2 4/0 ganged together in front of them and twitched like mad! Three twitches and the hooks were only a few meters away. One of the kings peeled off and to my absolute shock it engulfed the hooks. I thought this would be a very short fight but it went the right way and a round the small bommie right in front of us. I clambered up the rocks and walked about 100m until i got down the beach in front of the camp!

The next problem was the boat! I managed to get it around the boat by going out and around. 30 minutes later this YTK was on the shore and is by far my best landbased capture! 2-4 Strudwick sofbodz and 6kg fins braid, 40lb jinkai and two 4/0 ganged! I was pretty happy!

The rest of the week was a great experience for my mate and he can't wait to get up there again! We managed snapper, squid, tailor, spanglies, black snapper and the odd pesty nor west blowie! The only downer of the week was busting the tip off the end of the strudi on a 60+ tailor which i was devastated about after its performance earlier in the week. April is booked though and we will be back again!

Headed out from Hillarys on Friday for a quick trip to some spots I haven't fished for a coupla years.

Unfortunately the sounder was playing up, so just drifted around for an hour.  Must've been feeding time as there seemed to be plenty on the bite. Bagged with a couple of Pinkies, nice Baldie and a Blackarse. Just as we were considering what to do, the Toona turned up. Not feeding, just zooting around.  Wouldn't take cubes, nor a slice or popper. Bugger. As we were leaving, I cast out a silver twistie and it must've hit the magic speed. Kept us busy for the rest of the arvo, so much fun on light gear...... lost heaps of lures tho :(

Ended up keeping a couple for sushi, went down a treat on GF day :)

A quick report of the weekend up here.  Had to spend most of Friday tidying up loose ends and was waiting for Jeffro to finish work, come 3 o'clock and I get the call.  Thinking it might be a little too late, he's still keen so we decide that it must be done.  We got out to the spot about 5.15 and first drop had 3 goldies and a scarlet sea perch (originally called it for a crimson), the next three drops filled the bag limit of 8 goldband and we were done and ready to troll by 5.45.  A quick zig zag on the way in without luck and a few cold beers finished off the day nicely.

Saturday morning came and Jeffro and I knocked off a few fillets and with light winds blowing accross the gulf it was obvious that it was going to be a nice day.  Heading out with Gatsey and Richo we got lines in the water around 10 and headed south for some billie action and maybe a few deep water species if the surface wasn't happening.  Just before bounce down we had a fiesty little black around 20kg eat a whole queenie on the right rigger and with the tag in, we cut him off for an easy release.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pics as it all happened so fast and as it was caught on 24kg it came to the boat in only a few minutes.  After another hour of no surface action we brought out the deep gear and as soon as we hit the bottom I was on, a fair old heave and up comes 15+kg of greyband and a 3kg ruby.  Next drop Richo and Gatsey go the double hookup, Matt with a nice rubes and an unknown (sea bream?) type of pinky and Richo with the killer triple header of 5+kg rubies.  (He also dropped one over the side while posing for a photo so had to jump in the drink to save it.) The last drop ended up with another ruby to Richo and I, but of course 10m under the surface a solid 8ft furgle came and smashed mine giving us the nod that it was time to move.  We continued to troll for the rest of the afternoon and moved in close for the sails that have been on the back of the reef, with no luck we finished the last of our beers and headed in on sunset in near on perfect glassy conditions.

Sunday weather was absolute spot on again, unfortunately I had to work.  I did have to go for a snorkel to clean our sea cage and saw 1 nice trout, couple blues and an awesome bailer shell which unfortunately still had its host so was left for another day.  All in all, a pretty good weekend and with summer well and truly on the way (she's starting to get warm!) hopefully the water will heat up soon and bring on some serious pelagic action.  :)

Cheers,

Adam

Well its been a quiet 4 days off here for me at Groote. They shut the boat ramp for dredging, but they finally opened it on saturday. I had nighshift Sat nite, but this is no excuse, when there is fishing to be done.

Got down the ramp at dark. No wind at all, we slowly made our way across to a spot at the top of Bickerton Island. I have been doing quiet well fishing half hour before sunrise, and today was great as well. Sounded around for a while, to find where the fish where handing out..and then set for our first drift. Well the first drift missed by miles, but just as we where about to pull stumps....a fish came a knocking ! I let some more line out, to give the fish a chance ..as goldies like to play with your bait a bit, before they will suck it down. After a few more bites, i slowly lifted the rod tip..and i was on. After a quick tussle, a goldie was landed.

We did one more drift, for another goldie.. Wade had 2 runs on the board, Claire didnt even have the pads on yet!    The sun by now was on the rise, and also brought the bait fish back up to the surface.  We fished a few more spots, for bugger all. But a few times we did get smaller fish, we were getting hammered by something half way up. I was thinking Mackies where doing the damage, so i quickly thru the bottom bashing rig in the holder. I had a rod rigged up ready to go with a Raider silver slice. I lowered it half way down, and began to get jiggy with it. I more a less had two small hits straight away, then bang...rod was loaded...yee harrr!

After 3 good long runs, 4 loops under the boat...we had the fish on the surface. Claire with an almost precision like gaff shot, done what any deckie should do, and we hauled the big boy in.  This one went around the 120cm mark, perfect eating size. He was quickly bled, and put on ice..destined for my smoker!

It was only around 0730 by now, all was good. The tuna where starting to bust up all over the place, so it was time for Claire to catch her first one. After chasing a few schools around only for them to dissapear, i finally got the boat in the right position. Claire fired the raider slice out in to the bust up, and after some quick winding, was hooked up.

Well she had a ball, fighting the tuna all the way to the boat. After two passes just past the motor prop, he was on the surface, and Claire had her first tuna.

After a few blow by blow remarks of her fight, we headed in close to the island..to start cleaning the mackie.  We tried a few more spots on the way home, but by now the current was strong, so we called it a day, and where home by 10am...just in time to watch the first grand final!

Went fishing this morning in Birchgrove from 4am to 10am and not 1 bite!!! not even yellow tail!! all i see is jelly fish

Wanted to have a quick plastic session early this morning before the footy. Invited Timvb as he was keen to learn some new techniques.

Headed to some ground I fished in late August. First drop resulted in a Dhu... and the same Dhu I caught late August. Tag Number 55753. I loaded up the release weight & sent him back down... again.

I'll hit the same ground up after the ban.

We got Dhu's & pinkies this morning.

Oh, SBT's are everywhere at the moment. Double hook ups every 50 meters.

Daz.

Hi folks,

After seeing Wedge in perfect condition earlier this week decided to cruise up on Friday arvo for a bit of a fish hoping to catch a tailor for tea and get into some schoolies. I hit a spot about 7k north of the island that I had previously fished at and caught my one and only mulla almost 12 months ago to the day.

Unfortunately while the conditions were ideal, the weed was quite bad and made fishing hard work. The fish were on the bite however due to the weed I missed out. In fact, the only bite I felt all night was a solid tug on a scaly that took the fish and drag however failed to hook up. A shack owner stopped for a chat and he had caught a solitary tailor that night a few hundred metres away that he said went about 60cm. Whatever was chomping went through a whole bag of scalys without me getting a look in! In hindsight, I should have changed from circle hooks to gangs straight away but I guess that's another lesson in the book.

Wedge is one of those spots that you question whether the fish are there because the water is so shallow - but having a local tell me that I was in one of the best spots around certainly helps get my confidence up. It is certainly a beautiful spot.

For those heading up there for a beach fish - the beach south of the shacks has some nice gutters at the moment and looked this morning like they had a little less weed in them.

Also heard that a caravan park is being built there and that camping will eventually only be allowed within the caravan park grounds. Thats a real shame. Its sad to say only a matter of time before this special place is ruined by 'progress'.

Buschy

Went out from Mindarie tuesday and managed to pick up a nice Baldie in the 60m mark. Was a pretty nice day out on the water. Lamby managed a nice tuna on our way back in as well.

Hi everyone been looking at this site for sometime and thought it was time to join. I live in Brisbane and specialise in Red Emperor off the SE QLD reefs. I just came back from a two week fishing trip off Fraser Island and thought I would share some pics. Being that Fraser is a very large sand island it takes a lot of effort to drag a boat up there and launch from the beach gutters. After a 10 minute barge ride to the bottom of the island from the mainland it's another 3 plus hours of driving up the beach to where we can launch the boats. You can either camp or stay in a holiday house situated not far from the beach in among the bush and sand tracks. We opted for the house this year and took my mates 6.0 seafarer victory which had only been finished weeks prior to going. This was a better option then taking my 3.5 tonne 7.5m plate boat which is hard yakka getting up there as we found in the past. We fished some new areas this year and was rewarded with some qaulity fish. The best Red went 17.02kg and a cracking fish. I had a 10/0 big gun hook go through my calf muscle one morning which still had a cobia attached to the other ganged hook. Wasn't a good feeling and all attempts to get it out failed so we headed a couple hours back in. The ambos on the island wouldn't touch it so 7 hours later we made it back to medical help and had it removed. No pain no gain they say lol. We had a great trip with some real qaulity fish caught to make this trip one we won't forget in a hurry. Enjoy the pics.

Regards

Greg

HI guys, does anyone know if its now is a good time to catch spaniards of wagoe, is it too early? heading up on saturday, would appreciate some advice.

Hi guys,

Just spooled one of my reels with 50lb super braid. Will be using the reel for land based game fishing,  so need to connect a mono leader of around 50lb or so.

I use a bimini on the braid and albright on the mono.

Seems alright, but anyone got better options for this??

Hi all,

I've got a pretty beefy report to follow with lots of updates on the stretch of coast between Guilderton and Hill River. If you're not here for the read...I didn't catch much other than the normal bread and butter.

Indian Ocean Drive

Monday lunch time I took the new road up to Cervantes. It certainly does shave a fair bit off of the trek north however with roadworks still going on (particularly just before Lancelin and Cervantes) you can expect delays of up to 10-15 minutes overall. While the drive was a pleasure, I can't help but feel a little saddened by this stretch of bitumen. There is tarmac right into Wedge and Grey - which for me will take the mystique and adventure out of going to these special spots and open them up to commercialisation and tourism. Hopefully these fragile communities will not be ruined as a result of this road. As expected, there was also a high level of roadkill. I counted half a dozen dead roos and countless other 'things' on the side of the road. I can't help but wonder what the impact is on the nature reserves that the road cuts through. I guess it's up to to regulars at Wedge and Grey and the residents of Cervantes, Jurien, Green Head and Leeman to decide whether the road is a good or bad thing. Only time will tell.

Cervantes

On the back of a recent post by user shaw_catch, I planned on fishing Thirsty Point or the back beach at Cervantes, so on arrival got the car on the sand. The water was in reasonably good nick but a bit shallow - which was expected on that stretch. I decided to flick a few baits off the service jetty while I decided where to spend the night. A couple of locals were fishing on the jetty and one bloke had a few minutes earlier caught a squid. There was plenty of ink from others on the jetty too so there have obviously been a few around in recent weeks. The water was much clearer than my last visit with user Simmo Ryan, however on burleying up I could see no sign of any baitfish. A few casts confirmed that the jetty was quiet.

One of the resident giant flappers was cruising around - and unbelievably a sambo was literally sat on it's back mirroring it's every move! The sambos are a regular feature at Cervantes around this time of year. I was flicking a brand new Yozuri squid jig around when the sambo decided to have a taste and I was lucky enough to pull it out of it's mouth before losing the jig forever. Very next cast, I lost it on the reef.  

Time to move on. I opted to head up to Hill River and decided I would spend the night there too.

Hill River

I arrived to a moderate but fishable SSW breeze and slightly cloudy conditions. It looked good for a fish so I setup and got the burley cooking. First few casts I had some nibbles on the small rod and pulled in a sand whiting. Then something a bit better - a herring. With a receding tide I didn't expect much but on sundown I landed a small flathead about 34cm. While at that size it's good to let them go, the boss had asked my to bring flathead and squid home so in the bucket it went.

Around 10:15pm the herring suddenly came on the bite and I had a frenzied half an hour or so where I landed half a dozen and dropped plenty more. They are great fun to catch in the surf on light tackle.

The evening session I sat on big baits until around 2am including ballooning a live herring when the wind swung around to the east. At one stage there was a big tug on the line which took a small amount of drag - but as the birds was moving around I put it down to a gull flying into my line. A hour or so later I retrieved the balloon to see that something had indeed chomped half the herring but left the rest behind.

Up at 5:45am hoping to get into the choppers that deceived me a couple of weeks ago. Only problem was they weren't on the bite. I had fished this same spot four times previously and on every occasion had bought home a tailor and sure enough around 6:30am I had a good hit and starting bringing in what felt like a good fish. Halfway in he shook the hooks and sure enough that was the only tailor of the morning. The morning session did result in a juvenile flathead and a few more herring.

After two hours sitting under a balloon I dragged in my live herring, still kicking. Not a touch. Packed up and took a few photos then had a nice surprise when a seal cruised by about 15m from shore.

Of note, Hill River is usually good for some gardies and mullet - but not this time. It will be the last time I fish Hill River for a while. The place has been hammered in the last few months and seems to have shut right down. No signs of the trademark bigger runs that I have looked forward to in the past.

Cervantes (again)

Decided to stop for a quick cast at Cervantes. The winds were howling forcing me to fish the south end of the jetty but they quickly swung around and I was able to flick a few on the NW corner. Same result, however, with no sign of any bread and butter fish, despite clouding the water with plenty of burley.

Of real interest, an eel (or possibly a large sea snake?) came cruising by the jetty on the bottom. Was absolutely stoked to see this....a first for me!

I flicked a couple of lures for fun, but mainly because I did not want to go home when the weather was so perfect! Was slow retrieving a Halco frenzy when out from under the jetty Mr Sambo popped out to have a look. Time for some fun. I rigged up the big rod and dropped a dead herring out about 5m from the jetty, keeping an eye on it to make sure the big flapper didn't engulf it.

After about ten minutes, the sambo popped back out for a bit of a look. A gently lifted the bait to get the attention of the sambo, but succeeded only in spooking it. To my amazement, the sudden erratic movement must of excited another sambo that was hiding under the jetty - this thing shot out and literally engulfed the herring.

There was probably a 10 second lull when I could feel the weight of the fish but it was just lazing under my feet. Then all of a sudden it realised it was hooked a BANG! Took off for the open sea. The big Oz Flex rod instantly bent at right angles and the ratchet was screaming on my reel. It's pretty heavy duting eggbeater - a Fin Nor OF95 which puts out about 26kg of drag locked down! Despite being locked down, the sambo was taking line at will and I can completely understand why these fish are so highly rated as a sports fish. The sambo probably took about 50m of line, then turned and did a big circle around the jetty, with me being towed from one side to the other completely at the will of this fish. Something had to give and that something was the 80lb braid. The fish ducked under jetty and on contact the braid ended what was probably the second most exciting couple of minutes of my life.

For those wandering about THE most exciting couple of minutes of my life, my son will be three months this friday.

There was a fella fishing with me who was travelling from Darwin. It sounded like he was just fishing his way down the coast but he also got into one of the sambos on a soft plastic. On 30lb braid that lasted all of 2 seconds however the most impressive thing was the sheer size of the splash and surface affect the fish made.

These things were big. It's hard to estimate but I'd say 15kg easy, pushing 20kg. I'm sure I'm not the first to lose my tackle to them either....the funny thing is the last time I saw a sambo at Cervantes jetty was my very first trip there almost 12 months ago!

Anyhow...it was 12:30pm and as I had to be back in Perth by lunchtime I needed to get moving...but not without making a few stops along the way!

Kangaroo Point

I popped in for a quick look. Heaps of weed on the beach, but the water was pretty clear other than the usual weedbeds everywhere. A nice spot and probably not a bad place to put a squid out under a balloon.

Hangover Bay / 11 Mile Beach

Really interesting reef just offshore and withing casting distance however lots of weed around both on the beach and in the water. There were some fairly clear areas of water though so you could fish here however it's all pretty shallow. Would love to cast poppers / richters over the reef as I reckon this would produce some tailor. There is also a channel between the reef that would be a nice spot to soak a bait.

Grey

Bitumen to the community, then 4x4 access only. Didn't really go far but checked out the water at the main launching spot. A fair bit of weed in the water still at the moment.

Wedge Island

Bitumen to the community, then 4x4 access only. I went and checked out a few of my favourite spots and am actually heading back on Friday night for a fish. The water looks fantastic - not much weed around at all except for in the usual places..."Stinky Point" I call it (not sure what the real name is) about 6k north of Wedge Island the weed was piled up as always but other than that it was pretty clean. Not much there in the way of gutters or beach formation.

Seabird

Again just a quick stop to look at the water. Probably comparable to Lancelin - some nice deep water around which I'm sure would consistently fish quite well.

Guilderton

Wow. How awesome is Moore River? Flicked lures for about 15 minutes with no luck but without a doubt there will be heaps of fish there. It looks like magnificent bream country. River is currently closed but on a big swell the waves would wash over the bank.

Off home after that, with one last stop at Drovers to pick up some squid tubes. Was a great little trip and nice to check out some different spots along the way.

The one thing that jumps out is the lack of bread and butter fish. Hill River is usually good for a mullet or gardie. No sign of them. Cervantes ALWAYS produces something. So where are they? Is it seasonal? Water temps? Are they holed up in deeper water?

Cheers,

Buschy

Pictures are:

Hill River gutter formation

Juvenile flathead

Angry blue tongue

Shack / tinnies at Grey

Wedge Island

Moore River mouth

Dinner salt n pepper squid, flathead fillets & chips (first time I had cooked squid and I got it SPOT ON in terms of taste and texture...but probably a hotter pan to sear it more next time)

Just recently come back from a trip up to Carnarvon.

Long story short we didnt get to troll for spaniards and bottom fish the deep due to the insanely windy conditions.

Were lucky to save face with an extremely fun time fighting an abundance of Mulloway in the 10 - 15kg range at the 1 mile jetty.

Sorry about the phone camera quality.

Didnt catch any from the jetty itself... (we definetely tried) just the usual tailor, shark mackeral, bream etc from the planks.

All were caught anchored up around the end of the jetty.

Thanks to the guys at the tackle shack for getting us onto our first mulloway.

Ended up landing 4 or so each. lol good times.

Hi guys just a few pics from a quick arvo session we did yesterday-

The first 2 pics are of MRSTWITCHEMUP's Stripped Toona we trolled up on 120mm Shallow Diving Yo Zuri Crystal Minnows only 500 meters from our local harbour. We nailed 4 Stripped Tuna within an hour all just out side the harbour rockwall and at one point we had a double hook up which was geat fun on light gear.

The Third pic is off another plastic jigged Dhu my mate caught later in the session, which was one of 3 for the day all the Dhu's and Tuna were released to catch again another day.

Cheers Lloyd

Hi guys heading up to wagoe and kalbarri anyone know whats biting up there at the moment?