Reports
Rule No. 1 - Never fish in a dirty northerly
Submitted by JohnF on Sun, 2017-06-04 08:02Well, I broke that rule yesterday and paid the price. 110 km and dropped on over 30 spots for naff all except a case of sea sickness and a big fuel bill
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Deep Drop Wednesday
Submitted by cray burglar on Fri, 2017-06-02 16:58Headed out of Two Rocks for our first try at Deep Drop Wednesday with the favourable weather forecast .
Stopped for a quick jig around the 50m mark with the boys boating a nice mixed bag, with a heap of baitfish showing on the sounder decided to troll some lures with a quick double hook up and both fish dropped we decided to try again boating some nice SBT over the next hour.
By now the wind was almost completely gone so hit the 250m mark for our first attempt at Deep Drop 5 drifts and nothing but Green Eye.
Made the decision to head out deeper Sounded up some fish, set up the drift and straight onto the Hapukas "you beauty" a first for all on board, subsequent drifts resulted In another smaller Hapuka then a solid hookup with the drag fish taking line before bricking us ... on reflection drag may have been a bit light. Headed home at 40 knots which made for a quick trip and great end to the day.
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Super Deep Yesterday!
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2017-06-02 14:18With yesterday’s forecast looking good’ish I thought I’d take staff member Ben out to search for some new super deep spots. The water was flat as on the way out which makes a huge difference when you venturing out so far!
Once out in the Super Deep depths I started looking around doing recon work and after a little while my Furuno sounder lite up and I said to Ben they look like Bass and you drop first!
Ben rigged up some Qualy squid that we’re now stocking and it’s a descent size and a durable bait. It didn’t take long for Ben to hook up to something solid which had me calling it for a good bass groper. After a long fight (all manual wind up) his fish surfaced and it was a solid bass groper which gave Ben a good work out haha!
I dropped next and hooked up also and landed a nice bass groper (awesome start). I said your turn next again Ben and whilst he was knackered after his first fish he dropped again and hook up and landed another bass ….. nice!
I dropped again for the last fish of the day and hook a bigger bass and what a fight. They don’t call them Bull Dozer of the sea for no reason and all fish were between 26 -32kg. We headed in at 40 knots which made for a great finish to the day (Happy Days).
Having the right gear and information makes this super deep fishing more productive and enjoyable, My shop specializes in Super Deep fishing so if you’re wanting more info on rods, reels, braid, gimbal belts, super deep jigs, custom super deep rigs, bait, what to look for etc pop in and see my staff Ben & Callum ….. They are always happy to help!
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4 of Metros Best
Submitted by JohnF on Thu, 2017-06-01 09:34Quick arvo fish yesterday, took my old man out for a run. Just tooled around in close, brilliant conditions and a few nice fish.
Thumper 52 and 55 cm KG's and 45 and 50 cm Baldies. I got the big baldie on my 8yr old sons sand whiting rod with 6lb leader and size 2 hook, was quite challenging.
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Rotto pub run with a few nice KGs on the way home
Submitted by JohnF on Sun, 2017-05-28 19:28Quick run over to Rotto for lunch at the pub with the family on a magic autumn day. Had a quick 45 minute fish on the way home and the kids nailed 6 fat KG's, best a tad over 50 cm.
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Bluewater Metro Fishing Report 26/05/2017
Submitted by Bluewater on Fri, 2017-05-26 17:14
Fishing Report Friday 26th May 2017

As May’s cool but calm weather continues here in Perth this weekend, things are going to get fishy! Are you going to be amongst the lucky ones to get amongst the action? If you are unsure of what ,where and how, here are some options.
If you are going to be on a boat, inshore reefs are alive with activity at the moment. Pink snapper have been relatively easy to find and are responding well to both baits and artificials. Be prepared for a very early morning bite though as it has been too ‘calm’ lately. Clear water can mean they are shy, but they are there! Dropping leader size, light jigheads and well-presented baits are key in a good berley trail. However be prepared for some seriola madness! Big samson fish and yellowtail kings are also around in force and have been gate crashing berley trails. Staff member Muzz found this out in the past week in a fantastic session in-shore. Salmon are also still showing up at their usual haunts, just not in the numbers of previous years.


Staff member Muzz getting amongst the fish this past week including this sambo and pinkie pictured respectively.
Further out there has been a good dhufish bite, with baldchin groper and breaksea cod also being regularly encountered. Be ready and rigged if you are on the water as there is a good deal of tuna around. Southern blues are being encountered from right inshore to the FADs. Often with big numbers of stripies and the odd shark mac swimming with them. There is also a good number of yellowfin around with customers reporting fish up to 15kg and staff member Brad had them come up in a berley trail in the 40s last week. Small skirts such as Richter Jelly Babes, deep divers such as Rapala X-rap 15s and casting lures like CID Iron Candies and Arma metals are worth having in easy reach.
Squid are firing for both boaties and land based fisho’s. Look for the broken weed beds that give squid cover to hide and ambush prey. Good numbers and sizes are around in the Cockburn Sound and off Fremantle. Hillarys’ inshore reefs are also holding large amounts of squid making it very easy to catch not only a feed, but fresh demersal baits too. The Hayabusa jigs have been popular in the 2.5-3.0 sizes which are currently on sale in the May Madness Sale. There is a huge range to suit different conditions and locations, and our staff will be more then capable in helping you make size and colour choices.
Bream are fishing well in the mid and upper reaches of the Swan. Smaller fish are in good numbers and are taking baits with strips of mullet being very productive. The bigger models are responding better to soft plastics and small hard bodies. Being mobile is the key to finding the bigger fish and working several different snags and other structure along the way.
Bony herring seem to be plentiful in the Swan and the start of Canning which may be a good sign for those wanting to tick a mulloway off their bucket list, as plenty of bait usually means the fish aren’t far behind. Some good fish have already come from the Eshed.
Off the beaches yellowfin whiting are fishing well off Scarborough, Cottesloe and the surrounds. Herring are abundant at most local beaches and easily caught provided anglers are berleying up. Locations include Floreat, Scarborough and Cottesloe. Juvenile tailor seem to be caught up in the mix, but the larger fish seem to be coming from beaches further north, particularly around Yanchep Lagoon. The Lagoon has been fishing well for tailor with a good run of fish in the 60-70cm range. Fishing low light periods are key with dawn and dusk being ideal, with fish responding well to poppers and stickbaits but don’t rule out a surprisingly effective technique of slow rolling paddle-tailed soft plastics, which has been the undoing of some of the bigger fish taken recently.
Snapper have been firing from shore in recent weeks. Now is the time if you want to get out and catch your first land based snapper. With fish in the 70-80cm range not uncommon, they have been taken on beaches and rock walls from Preston Beach to Two Rocks.

A good land-based pinkie caught by a Mindarie customer
Bluewater Joondalup hosted an Introduction to Saltwater Fly Fishing this week. Keen anglers had the chance to hear what resident fly expert David Bell had to say and all who attended seemed enthusiastic to go out and give it a go. Some even walked away with a few prizes. If you have ever wanted to give it a go our Joondalup and Myaree stores both stock a good range of fly gear and have staff that can help you out.
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Sound Gummys
Submitted by tcarroll on Thu, 2017-05-25 07:28Decided to chuck the boat in at Point Peron yesterday afternoon for the first time in about 12 months to hit the sound and see if I could tempt a few snapper.
Could not manage anything of significant size with only a few small fish around the 30cm mark.
Fortunately, did not go home empty handed managing to land a couple of gummy sharks in the hour after sun down.
Will definitely start to hit the sound more now coming in to winter to chase snapper. It is an extremely relaxing place to fish on a nice night!
Anybody been doing well on the pinks in the sound yet?
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South West Recreational Crabbing Project
Submitted by Guardy on Wed, 2017-05-24 14:27The WA Fisheries have just published the above report if anyone is interested in downloading it.
www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/research_reports/frr281.pdf
Quite a lengthy report but well worth it if you are a crabber but you will need to navigate thru all the scientific jargon.
Cheers
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Ocean reef 17/5
Submitted by Troyboy on Thu, 2017-05-18 14:48We launched at Ocean reef around 8.30 with plans to get out to fads and beyond, but the wind was not playing the game. An hour of trolling saw two tuna landed and one dropped behind the three mile. We decided to head back in to fish the tide change in close and anchored on a nice lump that has produced the goods before. Rob put out his berley bag. The usual pickers come in thick (wrasse and blackass). After about 15 minutes Rob gets a solid hookup, after a hard fight on PE2 a nice Dhu pops up boat side, cracker fish especially on a plastic in 10m of water, just over 9.5kg.
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Boating-from South to North
Submitted by snuffs on Wed, 2017-05-17 12:59After having the boat racked in freo for the past 10 years, a few weeks ago I decided to move the boat closer to home and into a floating pen in Hillary's marina. Having accumulated my life's fishing spots all out of Freo, I was a little hesitant starting from scratch further North, but also excited by the fresh start in exploring new ground out from Hillary's. Two weeks in, both Hillary's trips have produced very fruitful results. The most notable difference has been the abundance of red throat's I have stumbled upon out from Hillary's in both isolated trips ... as I have never managed to catch one out from freo before.
Anyhow, attached pic (hope it uploads) of last Saturdays quick morning Hillary's run ... using my new Madfish Soft Esky that I was keen to baptise. Must say, it's a hell of a lot lighter to carry than my equivalent plastic esky!
Cheers - J
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Another early run
Submitted by brown364 on Sun, 2017-05-14 21:46G'day guys,
Once again we shot off at 415 am sat morn for a 15 min trek nth west of the marina. We parked up in 5 mt of water and stated feeding out the burley to see if we could russell up any action.
This run I planned on plakkies over the bait and Bully went the bait again.Half an hr from dropping the pick and I was on to a nice little dhuie to go inthe esky so it was a happy start . Bully was having no luck at all with the bait and just before light on the horizon I noticed some of the burley drifting back towards the front of the boat so thought I best to flick down the current and no sooner had the plakkie sunk there was an almighty thud and I was on again. As there was not to much excitement on the end of the line other than a lot of weight and the old pull for the bottom I called it a dhu and for the net. Keeping in mind it was only 5 mt, soon, with the light we had the was a big silver colour in our view! Then it happened, pulled the hook and the excitement died to the makings of the one that got away story. Arrrggg. It would have been a cracker ! Bully managed a couple of pj 's and we decided to pull the pick and drift west for a while.
Managed to pick up another nice dhu on the plakkie then another mighty lump on the line which turned out to be a monster cuttlefish. I got him right up to the boat while Bully had the net ready, well , ready after he was convinced there was no ink left in it. Then it was gone ! One thrust and the hook pulled from his tentacle ,no ink and nothing in the net. I can and will wash ink off the boat though I won't dive in after a fish when it could have been netted.
Anchored out the back of the three mile and set another trail . Managed to attract a couple of nice blackarse, skippy and leather jacket to finish the morning.
Autum weather rocks I say! And snapper is something I can only get from a fish shop
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Kalbarri
Submitted by Lance55 on Sat, 2017-05-13 18:57 few nice Spaniards around at the moment, very pleasant addition to yesterday's bag on Baldies. As usual the missus out fished me.
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Super Deep Yesterday!
Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2017-05-13 13:52With yesterday’s forecast looking good’ish I thought I’d take staff member Callum out to search for some new super deep spots. The easterly was stiffer than forecasted (surprise!) and I was told the FADS were coming in next week so a quick fish there to get a fresh feed would be nice!
We turned up to the FAD and straight away dolphinfish and not bad sizes also. I grabbed my fly rod and within seconds I had them climbing all over my fly and hooked up. I landed my dolly and then Callum spun a Big Johns chartreuse nylon banana jig and again straight away he hooked up and what a great fight also on 10lb spin gear!
Okay we had a fresh feed of dollys (I don’t like freezing them) and left them on the bite. I headed off and started my recon work and after a little while my Furuno sounder lite up and I said to Callum you drop first!
He rigged up some Qualy squid that we’re now stocking and it’s a descent size and durable. Within seconds Callum hooked up to something solid which had me calling it for a good bass groper. After a long wind up (all manual) his fished surfaced and it was a solid bass weighing 26.3kg on digital scales!
I dropped next and hooked up also and landed a nice bass groper. I said your turn next again and Callum dropped and hook up quickly but he said the fight was different and after another long wind up he landed a double headed of Hapuku …. nice!
We had bagged out and the wind had just started to back off so perfect timing to head in and what a great day on the water. All the gear I use including my custom made Super Deep rig we stock and if your needing help with any super deep info my staff are always happy to help, cheers Ryan







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Deep drop success
Submitted by kirky79 on Sat, 2017-05-13 10:20Hey FWreckers
This was our 4th deep drop trip. Have been learning a bit more each trip, especially the sounder. It was pretty joggly out there yesterday but persevered out to a spot in about 200/220 metres. The sounder showed fish straight away which was a positive. First drop and I was on, nothing huge but a nice deep water Pinky. The next fish felt a lot better with good weight and fight, I was hoping this was the one I've been trying for a Greyband. It wasn't to be, a bloody 4 foot Dusky Whaler. A bit of moving around found some more promising shows and I was on. Again really good weight and fight but I was thinking maybe another shark. But finally the line started to angle up towards the surface and I knew I had my target species. A 12 kg Greyband Cod popped up!! Woohoo!! Stoked! Bro in law Doug was onto a good fish next which we were obviously hoping was going to be another Cod. After a good fight we knew it wasn't a Cod because it didn't float. A good size Amberjack came up spent, so some nice Thai fish cakes coming up. We finished off our bag with another Pinky and a Nannygai.
It was great to tick the Greyband off the list. Hopefully next time we can get a couple more.
fish 

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Full moon again
Submitted by sunshine on Fri, 2017-05-12 17:48 Dhuies biting like no tomorrow this morning before dawn and another brilliant baldie to quickly fill the bag 
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Bluewater Metro Fishing Report 12/05/2017
Submitted by Bluewater on Thu, 2017-05-11 17:39Fishing Report
Fishing Report Friday 12th May 2017
With this weekend’s weather ramping up to the predicted ferocious storm, the beach fishing can only get better for those willing to brave the conditions! In the past week or two anglers have been reporting great catches from the beach… And not just salmon either! Mulloway have seemed to be in absolute abundance as of late, from both the river and beach. From Jurien to Mandurah, anglers have been getting stuck into good sized fish on both live and dead baits. We have seen a pattern in the last couple of months where anglers were catching a lot in the deeper water offshore where the fish would school together, now it seems they have come into the shallower water accessible to anglers from the beach, making it an always challenging but very rewarding option. We aren’t too sure how long they will stick around in these numbers however, so it is worth having a crack.
Additionally snapper catches from the local beaches and rock walls are continuing with no signs of slowing. Captures have been reported from the stretch of beach Floreat to Trigg and in the Yanchep / Two Rocks area. The key to hooking one of these prized fish is to use fresh bait. Tailor fillets or whole sand whiting caught from the area you intend to fish works best and with this weekend’s storm should do nothing but activate them even more! The increase in swell will stir the beaches and rock walls up, mixing a lot of favourable food for snapper into the water, so for those keen to knock a land based demersal off their bucket list, Sunday night through to Wednesday looks like a promising period to be targeting snapper.
Small schools of 3-4 salmon are scooting through the shore breaks between City Beach and Trigg. Being mobile to keep up with them is essential along with a pair of quality polarized sunglasses to spot them and time your cast. The usual haunts like Mew Stones and Wend End of Rotto are still producing with the odd report from within the sound.
Chloe Baker with a Solid Salmon!
Excellent squid fishing to be had at Parmelia Banks in the Cockburn Sound. It only takes a few drifts to easily pick up your bag number and the sizes are in the upper range with 30cm hoods quite common.
Great catch! Austin Spencer with a Swan River Sambo - it would have been tricky amongst those bridge pylons!
The river also seems to be fishing exceedingly well for the regular inhabitants such as bream and flathead, with a lot of fish coming from throughout the whole system. Bull sharks and samson fish have been reported in the river recently, with a small bull unfortunately washing up in the Belmont Ski Zone. Tailor are being caught in Mosman’s Bay to East Fremantle. This same stretch should soon be the scene for the annual king prawn run.
Exmouth on the Fly!

Bluewater Tackle World Manager Rohan Smith with a Queenfish on Fly
Rohan Smith just returned from the annual "Boneheads" fly fishing only trip to Exmouth, hosted by the Saltwater Flyrodders of WA in conjunction with fly fishing guru Peter Morse. The event is intended to promote fly fishing and explore the range of species, large and small that can be caught on fly, and to refine methods. Over the years the group has caught everything from bream, tuna, milkfish, bonefish, spaniards, cobia, permit, marlin, sailfish and many more. In fact, the species count is now sitting on 193 different species caught on fly over the years and we will be trying to crack the 200 next year. There is always a great mix of experienced anglers and those newer to the sport. There is a limited number of spots offered each year with past attendee's given first option, thereafter being opened to newcomers, first in, first served.
This year the dominant species was large queenfish, while fishing was not on fire by any means, perseverance found good fish but they were in a fussy mood most of the time so finding them didn't guarantee a hook-up. Chis Hedges who had travelled down from Karratha for the event, and I teamed up for the second half of the week and covered a lot of territory exploring the gulf with mixed results. The highlight fish for me was a 99cm queenfish sight cast crossing a shallow bank. Other crews fished for everything from Billfish to Blue Bastards with "team" Gavin Day and Terry Clarke having a consistent week with lots of queenfish close to the metre mark, chunky size golden trevally and some good size giant herring making up the bulk of their catch. Gavin Day won the fish of the week prize with an awesome 1.14 metre giant herring. Tony Ong and Steve Bradbury spent most of their week searching out more difficult species such as permit and blue bastards They had plenty of shots at both species and both ended the week with a couple of very nice blue bastards up to 85cm each.
For those interested in fly fishing or are wanting to learn Bluewater Tackle World Joondalup is hosting an Introduction to Saltwater Fly Fishing on the Thursday 25th of May at 6:30pm. The event is FREE and will have door prizes and discounted fly fishing tackle!
Check the event on our Facebook page
www.facebook.com/events/1904382339847597/

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Steep Point May 2017 - photos
Submitted by randall df223 on Wed, 2017-05-10 13:08Some photos from last week at shelter bay
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First dhu was visual
Submitted by Rugbynut on Tue, 2017-05-09 16:26I was fishing one of my usual spots in shallow water of scarbs a few weeks back doing well on good size
skippy and getting a few small snapper, when I could get past the skippy. Had one snapper to just under
40 so was hopeful there were bigger legal models around, even though it was late morning.
Was only in about 8m and drifting my baits down when I saw a good size fish come rocketing
in past my bait, turn and circle back and nail it. No hesitation, it clearly wasn’t a skippy
due to its bulk and I saw a bit of pink/purple flash in the sun light and thought “you beauty” might be a size pinky.
You can imagine my surprise when after a brief tug of war a just size dhu popped up. Stoked is an understatement.
I was amazed at how fast it was and also how aggressive it was. Was totally cool to watch it take right in front of me.
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Few Flatties
Submitted by Mick C on Mon, 2017-05-08 21:26Couldn’t believe that the youngest son, Luke (17), actually wanted to go fishing tonight. It has probably been 2 years since this happened so I had to say yes.
We did ok inshore. No sized pinkies, but some nice flatties. At least we got a few fish to keep his interest up, in a quick dash.

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Leeman Trip
Submitted by mallesh on Mon, 2017-05-08 14:10Took my in-laws and family to a quick weekend trip to Leeman.
Did not fish too hard. All fish caught in less than 18 meters.
No problem catching our 2 Dhuie with in the first hour. Snapper and Baldie was hard work.
Anyway made sure we where back in the boat ramp before 11 am so we can spend rest of the day site seeing.
BTW, fished only 2 days and Sunday turned average (15-20 Knots SE with 2 meter swells).
Enjoy.....
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Sunrise pic for me, Dhu for my mate.
Submitted by Swompa on Sun, 2017-05-07 19:58Headed out from Woodmans Point with most of the southern boating community at 0630 on Saturday morning. Plan of the day was quick bait run for squid then chasing the first intentional Pinky.
Rigged up a squid jig, lowered it down and started to wind up and noticed my line wasn't going around the spool. Closer inspection showed the steel (or 304g SS) screw holding the line feeder end of the bail arm had sheared....bail arm wasn't connected to the reel...shit.
African engineering didn't work, and this, being the first time I didn't bring a shed full of rods, left me with a 5 foot pink kids rod, loaded with 15lg 'shits and giggles' braid.
Headed out to FFB with one squid and start looking for a cray boat to stalk but only found the Jazz boat, hung around them for a tic before seeing a cray boat further out. Went out to chase them but realised they were not going to stop, we were on the back of the bank with all the gear but no idea.
Motoring onto the inshore side of a mound, we threw the drogue in, burley pots and started having a crack, me with useless plastics on a kids rod and my mate with some filleted herring frames.
10 minutes in, I had my first throw up off the side ever...when I look up, my mate is pulling something in. No head shakes but it looked substantial. We both wait patiently until a bloody Dhu pops up on the surface. Rapidly netted, measured (couple of cm over), put on ice and then the high 5's began.
We tried offshore for a few hours for nothing more before heading in via Mewstone but after counting 50 boats, we kept going. Towards the shipping channel for a go at whiting. Two from two drops then nothing, keep going south and the herring start.
Day ended with 1 Dhu, 12 herring, 1 Squid and one whiting, which ended up as bait for a salmon which took the fish and not the hook....oh and one spew.
Harassed by sharks
Submitted by Fisheagle on Sun, 2017-05-07 11:44My Dad and I took off from Woodman Point at first light and made our way towards Rotto. We did a couple of drifts over one of my favourite grounds and managed to catch a snapper and dhufish on soft plastics before the wind and swell settled enough to anchor. After anchoring we introduced burley to the swim and started catching a few undersized fish.
After a while the bites stopped and I mentioned to the oldman that there were possibly sharks in the area. This was confirmed after at least five decent runs with short fights were rewarded with frayed mono minus the hardware. I decided to bring out the heavy artillary to see if I could land one of these toothy critters and in the process hooked a decent snapper on a chunk of salmon that I was using for bait. As the snapper popped up to surface a tiger shark tried to make an easy meal out of it. With my Dad manning the landing net I rapidly brought the snapper to "safety" before having to share my dinner with the "taxman". The tiger was not happy as it circled the boat for a while before giving up on the snapper.
I did manage to get my Dad into a decent bronzie for his trophy cabinet before we made our way home. A quick stop on Five Fathom Bank and my Dad managed a salmon which was not part of the plan. All said, another enjoyable on the waters of Perth Metro.
See short YouTube clip here
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Boys trip Exmouth 2017 - Epic
Submitted by Bodie on Tue, 2017-05-02 22:26Late last year we put together a plan to re-ignite the tradition of our annual boys trip northward to Exmouth. Over the last couple of years I've been fishing with John (JohnF) regularly so threw the invite his way to see if he and the whaler wanted to make the trip up north. It didn't take much convincing.
As with every trip that far north, there were months and months and stupid amounts of money spent preparing trailers (johns was rebuilt) boats (outriggers, electrics etc) and cars in preparation of the 1200+km trip north.
We decided leaving just after the Easter long weekend should make a pretty quiet trip northward on the roads and give everyone a bit of time with the families before 10 days of literally fishing, drinking and eating, in no particular order.
25 cartons of beer loaded, a freezer full of top shelf meat (anyone wants a brilliant butcher who will prep your meat, vac seal and snap freeze if required let me know) and 7 eager blokes at 4am on Tuesday morning on route to Exmouth.
A fairly uneventful trip north with a couple of welds on the guards on my trailer being the only small hiccup, but nothing a couple of truck straps cannot solve!
The 200 series land cruisers towing the Fury and the whaler made light work of it really, only needing fueling in Geraldton and Carnarvon on the way up. We arrived at 7pm, 15 hours after leaving.
A quick unpack and a few beers on ice saw us having a BBQ and downing some coldies about an hour later. The plan was to get up early, get some fuel for the boats and drop the boat into the marina.
The dig
The next day we had the boats in the drink and decided to have a light day on the water and head over to the islands, see if we can find a Mackie for dinner, maybe a tuna or 2 and see what's about around the Murians.
Lets just say it didn't take long, there were birds everywhere and a few lures in the water saw the first decent hookup. a nice 7-8k Mackie! perfect for dinner!
Both boats continued to troll, picking up some shark mackies, school macks, a few small tuna literally every couple of minutes.
With a bit of fresh bait onboard, we decided to see if we could find a bottom fish or two to compliment the Mackie for dinner. Well, that didn't take long either!. I'm a bit short on pictures for this short session, but basically rankins, Robsin sea bream, spangos were the talk of the session, and not to go unmentioned Scano nailing a nice 7kg Yellow fin tuna on the retrieve!
It was then back to the marina, a quick fillet up and in for dinner. Fresh YFT sashimi, Fresh Mackie and chips, a couple beers a few wines.. no better way to finish the first day!
The next day the weather was looking real good, so we planned to venture further north, heading up past peak towards flat. Leaving a bit earlier to get a full days fishing in
Getting going in the mornings seemed to take a while, which was something old mate John was struggling with!!! this would lead to later in the trip John being honoured with a new nick name... ol cap-i-tan bentneck!
The accommodation from the water and the mornings exercise carrying everything up and down the stairs
Fury on the way out of the marina
We started off fishing shallower around flat chasing anything that would eat surface lures or plastics...Fishing was slow for all of about 5 minutes when old mate Capitan bentneck gets on the radio and belts out Trout City!!!! from memory, it was 2 drops for 2 trout, one on jig one on plastic, and both hooters!!! the larger of the two went to matt on a plastic which went about 70cm!
Johnny boy with a solid trout!
Matt with a honker!
Plenty of fish were caught over the next couple of hours, Spango's, about 10 different trevally species, tuna, red throats and even an occy on a twisty... yep that's right!
Johns nice Trev
Carl another nice trev
We actually had at one stage a school of all different types of trevs right under the boat in about 30m but they were using the boat for cover... drop a jig in and hold on!
Fury on the water
after this, John decided it was time to push out a bit wider and look for some gold band if they could. so off they went and we stayed in shallower looking for some bottom fish.
John went quiet for a while, then all of a sudden a message comes over the radio..... we found the goldies, and did they ever!! Double headers was the name of the game!!
We ended up finding a couple of reds in shallower too which made the day
Franks nice red
Frank again with a nice Chinaman that gave him a run
John made his way over to us later in the day and had a couple drifts around us. I had found a new bit of ground int he 70's and dropped down, only to be smashed pretty much straight away. I had this rubbing feeling on the line which has me calling it for a shark thinking it was the tail of the shark hitting the line, only to be busted off half way up....
At this stage I wasn't too dis-heartened as I thought it was a shark, but instantly after I busted carl who was next to me said...im on.. thinking that was a bit strange we soon realized he and I had tangled. He would up and we found my braid wrapped around his rig, so I grabbed the bait (bare hands) and started to handline in what I thought was a shark... being careful as I didn't want to end up with braid peeling out of my hands it came up pretty easy.
As soon as we saw colour....we knew it was no shark, and next thing the biggest trout popped up any of us had seen, it went 78cm and fat!!! not sure how this trout managed to be stuck mid water for a good 5-10 min whilst we were untangling and didn't get eaten by a shark!!
Unlucky trout, Lucky me!
The end result for the day for John...great day!
Time to head in and with pretty good weather it was a nice ride in from about 34 odd mile out!
Whaler motoring in
The next day we decided with such good weather it was worth another run north before heading west from tanta's in chase of some bills, so north we went again.
This time even further chasing reds, goldies and other deep water delights. the goldies were hard to find that day, but we did manage a few more reds.
Johnny boy with his first red, first of many to come!
Scanos nice goldband
Hooked up
A good day!!
The 4th day was billish day, so we fuelled up, and there was a lot of this!!!! $1k every trip to the fuel station!!
We started off out from tantas in the 200's looking for billfish but the water was quiet, no birds no bait so not a lot of action. We got 1 solid run on my boat, which was a good bill, staying connected and getting to the leader only to have the lure pop out when leadering to the boat. Solid 30 minute fish and looked 120-140kg
After that things went quiet, we trolled down passed south passage and back, John came in closer which proved to be a good move, picking up this nice saily in 20m or so of water!! first for the trip!!
After this we headed in, bill fishing not a failure bot not a raging success.
Back to the accommodation for a good feed and more beer and wine. Needless to say, we didn't do it tough food wise. Home made Cold meats cut up and on this particular night, roasts on the spit!
The following day was more trolling and deep dropping. We all wanted to catch a ruby and motored out of tantas in chase of some. John had sounded some ground the day before and I had a mark on my GPS from previous years, which was not too far away from what john had seen so we headed in that direct into the 200-400m of water.
It didn't take long, I think it may have been our first or second drift for the first rubies to come up. to say we were pumped was understatement! to go with it we had a bill free swimming under the back of the boat which was pretty cool
John putted his way over for a drift. We both setup the drift only 20-30m apart and down went the baits... it didn't take longer and there was a 4 way bookup!!! both boats, all electrics loaded!!!
John loaded
the result! solid GB's!!!
John was keen to get a ruby so he moved out deeper again to where he started and got sharked on a couple good fish. Then it happened, the whaler finally got its first ruby!!
Scano with a nice ruby.
We started to put out way back to tantas in a bit shallower looking for some ground and stopping for a drop or 2 here and there. We managed a few more goldband and Matt with a solid long nose emperor on jig I think it was
John trolled a bit on the way back and managed to hook a nice black for scano to land his first marlin!
Matt directing john during the fight
Scanos Marlin
Days end
The last couple of days saw us head north once more for a good day chasing a few more reds, John getting a couple of nice yellow fin on the troll and another day off tanta's chasing a bill for Matt... This day I jumped on Johns boat and we headed straight out of tantas and dropped the skirts in the water in a bout 70m... it took all of about 15-20 minutes for the first hookup and turned out to be Matt's first bill to the boat!!
We started to set the spread again, only to have the 1st outrigger hit before any other lures were in the water only to have it drop it a few seconds later. This day had the makings of being a brilliant day with 6 or 7 strikes, but only managing to hook and land 1 bill for the day
Heading north had John and Matt on a duo getting into some fish!!
Some solid cobia!!
John looks happy doesn't he!!
Matts cobia
A few more pics from the trip
Matt's Wahoo
the 4000 rods
More YFT Sashimi
Sounder porn!
Nice sunset
One thing we had mentioned we wanted to give a crack whilst up there was the prawns in the gulf. So on the last day Scano and den took the tinny for a run into the gulf. With a little bit of local knowledge the lads had a ball and got a wicked feed of prawns to boot!!
Needless to say the trip was nothing short of epic, 7-8 out of 10 weather wise, Fishing off the chart, plenty of beer, great food and piss taking and the best crew we've had to date on our boys trips.
John aka ol cap-i-tan bentneck, and Matt aka the deckie of the year, couple of absolute cracking blokes along with all the lads and bring on the next trip!!!
Thanks for reading.
- 54 comments
- 7445 reads
Kalbarri Recently
Submitted by Anchorman on Tue, 2017-05-02 15:53After a 2 week trip to Kalbarri for our 16th year heading up there through the school holidays.
Not alot to report
It was the first time we did not come accross any mackeral. We found the water quite green and weedy in sections. I know of other boats that were up there to that were in the same boat.
Lucky enough we took our pots and were able to bring something in to please the family with plenty of crays on offer so I cant complain to much.
Good thing about Kalbarri it offers so much more with trips up river in the 4wd and out to the Gorges etc.
Family all home safe and had a great time.
If anyone else caught any Mackeral up there through this period let me know.
- 16 comments
- 4615 reads
Inshore Blacks
Submitted by Glen.vit on Sun, 2017-04-30 22:18Water Cooled off over the last few weeks which has resulted with the inshore black marlin off Exmouth really start to fire. managed to go 12,12,9 for the 5 days with most being bigger than average and is always fun getting others onto the first billy. Heaps of Mahi Mahi around which was annoying at times, seen a few whale sharks to which is always cool, but I manage to hit 1 at 17-20 knots when it popped up with only enough time to chuck it in neutral and luckily no damage to the hull or motor and Shark (still cruising around with not a care in the world). All that happened was kick the outboard up, what a relief that was.
- 16 comments
- 4544 reads
Noice dhuey off two rocks friday
Submitted by beeroclock on Sun, 2017-04-30 17:32 Took a day off on friday, left two rocks marina at 11am. Hit a spot I havent been to for a while in the 43m line WNW of the marina and picked up this boy - went a little under 16kg on the scales biggest ive got lately as most have been around 8 - 11 kg son started chucking so we came home before I could get me two demersals limit didnt matter was happy with this fella, cheers dave. 
- 7 comments
- 3689 reads
Abrolhos Charter
Submitted by Terry1961 on Sun, 2017-04-30 09:22Hi Fishwreckers
First fishing post so please be gentle.
Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"
It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.
2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.
The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.
Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).
Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.
Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.
One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.
I for one will definately be booking with them again.
Cheers Hi Fishwreckers
First fishing post so please be gentle.
Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"
It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.
2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.
The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.
Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).
Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.
Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.
One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.
I for one will definately be booking with them again.
Cheers Hi Fishwreckers
First fishing post so please be gentle.
Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"
It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.
2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.
The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.
Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).
Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.
Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.
One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.
I for one will definately be booking with them again.
Cheers Hi Fishwreckers
First fishing post so please be gentle.
Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"
It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.
2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.
The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.
Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).
Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.
Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.
One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.
I for one will definately be booking with them again.
Cheers Hi Fishwreckers
First fishing post so please be gentle.
Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"
It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.
2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.
The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.
Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).
Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.
Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.
One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.
I for one will definately be booking with them again.
Cheers Hi Fishwreckers
First fishing post so please be gentle.
Just returned from a four day Abrolhos trip with Apache Carters and in a word " Awesome"
It was a tad windy but Skipper Matt put us onto quality fish every day.
2nd Skipper/Deckie Phil worked like a Trojan pulling pots, cleaning , stowing gear etc and not once did anyone have to search for bait or tackle.
The whole crew were ready to assist landing your fish, tieing rigs or untangling the odd line.
Chef Mark kept a constant and plentiful stream of very good food comming from the galley. (Never thought I would see cray tails as left overs).
Another first for me was having to move spots to get away from dhufish. Nice problem to have though.
Everyone on board landed quality fish with Dhufish, Pink Snapper, Baldchin, Spangled emperor, Red throat, Spanish Mackeral, Tuna and the odd Shark or thirteen. When they moved in, Matt moved on. We all came home with some very nice fillets and bonus cray.
One thing that impressed me was two of our party being given the opportunity to defer their charter due to family / health issues on the eleventh hour. We had all read and agreed to the Charter conditions prior so thanks again Matt and Michelle.
I for one will definately be booking with them again.
Cheers
- 3 comments
- 3203 reads
Bluewater Metro Fishing Report 28/04/2017
Submitted by Bluewater on Fri, 2017-04-28 16:13
Fishing Report
Fishing Report Friday 28th April 2017

With the weather proving to be mint most days as of late, we have had smiling faces and fishing success stories filtering into our stores all week. For the lucky ones who manage to dodge the weekend chores and commitments, the next couple of days could prove very fruitful. Plenty of options and plenty of potential.
If you can’t make the early morning or late evening bite and need some banker’s hours fishing options, dhufish have been around in good numbers. 5-Fathom has been producing plenty of dhuies, but make sure you have your release weight at hand, because you will need to work through plenty of undersized fish to find the trophy-sized specimens.
Schools of salmon are thick and are an exciting prospect for many, and so they should be. As staff member Mike says, “they are a sports fish that will take a popper, what more do you want?”. They provide a hard, usually clean fight whether they are jumping and pulling drag when hooked from the shore or heading deep under the boat to test even the avid angler offshore.
Lots of pink snapper being caught not only offshore but from the rock walls, groins and beaches from Fremantle to Two Rocks. Surely the thought of catching snapper from the rocks without having to cast into the gale force conditions as we usually do gets you excited? From the boat pinkies will respond to bait, jigs, plastics or lures. A simple snelled mulie is a good and effective bait rig but the fun of flicking plastics or jigging up some big head thumpers is hard to beat (or you could just do it all). Shallow water reefs are a good place to start with Cockburn, Fremantle, Scarborough and Mindarie all fishing extremely well in as little as 6-8 metres of water.

Morley Customer Sean and a good pinky

Morley customer Zack and a pink slab off the stones
The Cockburn Sound is full of squid and great catches have been taken from the shore and off the boat. South Mole and the boat harbours are producing from shore. From the boat, any weed beds in said Sound are worth a prospect. Notably, the reports of sizeable squid from Parmelia Bank on the edges in around 6m of water. Further north, just off Hillarys has also been productive. If you start a small berley trail as you’re drifting, a school of herring usually finds its way to the back of the boat in no time.
Good numbers of garfish and herring have been caught off Rottnest recently and Milana (Staff member Dave’s granddaughter) had a great time doing so. There is still a lot of bait fish to be caught at local haunts, so if you are going on a trip now is a good time to start collecting. Don’t delay however as salmon are wreaking havoc on bait schools. If, however you are just after some of these bread and butter species for an undeniably delicious meal the same applies.


Milana representing Bluewater at Rotto
The west end of Rottnest has been holding excellent numbers of mid-size yellowtail kings. A great way to target these powerful predators is to anchor and cube. Make sure you anchor up-drift of the a substantial piece of structure and keep a steady stream of mulies drifting out the back of the boat. Within 20minutes or so, you should start to see flashes of fluoro yellow zipping through your berley trail. Once you’ve attracted the fish to the boat, there are several techniques you can use to catch them. Try casting large, bright soft plastic grubs, sinking stickbaits, livebaits, mulie cubes and even surface poppers.
Last week, there were still plenty of dolphinfish at the FADS, as well as tuna and with a great weather window tomorrow, they should be an ideal target for those anglers looking to spread their wings beyond the marauding salmon schools. There are some decent yellowfin around the big bluefin schools, and there is still the chance of a metro marlin too.
In the river, chopper tailor have been snipping off the delicate offerings intended for bream, so it might be handy to carry a 5g metal with you to take advantage of these ferocious predators, before the salmon schools turn the tables on them and send them fleeing for their lives.
Big sharks are up and about with bronzies and tigers following the salmon schools. Land based shark fishing is very exciting but those chasing them need to make sure you are well equipped with the right gear for the job and are aware of all rules and regulations.

Mindarie customer Simon with a good landbased pinkie
Joondalup Staff member Dave shared this recipe with us this week.
"Here's an idea for an entree recipe that some might like to try. Boil some potato and mash it while mixing in some finely chopped raw king prawns and finely chopped chives. The prawns will cook easily if they are finely chopped purely because of the heat from the potato. Take some scallops, (I can't stand the roe so I get rid of that) and cook in a hot pan in just butter for no more than 2 minutes. Some people will like to add garlic to the butter but I'm not a fan of garlic. Take your scallops and line the shells with the mash. Add the scallops and drizzle with just a small dab of any sauce of your choice. The sauce can be as simple as melted butter. Simple but simply lovely.”
Stunning conditions this morning
Submitted by sunshine on Fri, 2017-04-28 15:04
very light easterly, so light it had no effect on the drift which was solely due to a strong current running from the north. It didn't bother the fish that fed hard good dhuie and baldie completed the bag and home at 26 knots on mirror like seas. Sorry but the photo won't upload?
- 10 comments
- 3407 reads
Action packed day out from Mindarie
Submitted by Hutch on Fri, 2017-04-28 12:03Headed out from Mindarie yesterday with Mark (keg) and Kevin (Ashen) and once again had a great time on the water with the action being pretty much non stop.
A few highilghts from the day:
- Being in the middle of a huge school of YTKs smashing up bait all around the boat. Some very big models in the mix but couldn't tempt any to take a lure or mulie
- Nailing a little spinner shark on a 1/8 oz bucktail from BJ Jigs, had a few screaming runs on the light gear (ended up with 3 sharks for me, 1 for Mark)
- Pulling a little SBT from a bust up only to have it mauled by a pack of salmon boat-side, one of which stole the lure. Fought that salmon for a couple minutes but pulled the hooks on it only to have another tuna take it again right away which I got in the boat safely.
- Kev nailing his first salmon (also on one of BJs Bucktails)
- Bagging out on good sized skippy and releasing many more, biggest we kept went 46cm. They hung around for hours even after the burley was finished and were smashing big baits as well as lures.
-Getting a bonito on a metal which somehow found the only little hole in the net, managed to slip through and screamed off for another run. It was interesting fighting a fish through a net haha
Hutch
- 12 comments
- 4216 reads






























































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