Just got back from the midwest with an unbelievable week of light winds, many highlights including first Dhu on jig and plastic, young blokes first Dhu at 11kg, took the old man out for his first big Dhu, also got first baldy on plastic and just had a magic time with family and friends. Freezer is looking healthy for the demersal ban. Not sure if the Mrs will let me out this upcoming weekend as the weather is looking the goods again.

Over the many years I've enjoyed targeting pink snapper with great results. Catching pinkys on fly is a big buzz for me and with the demersal ban looming I'm taking any opportunity!

Over the last few nights I've been out fishing the outer area's of Cockburn Sound and doing well on snapper on fly. I went back out again last night and got into another 2 fish on fly whilst my good mate Scott (FW soupster 51) got 2 on McArthy softplastics!

Cheers Ryan

 Spent a few days up with Tangles and to say the fishing was hot was an understatement monday night on a solo fish i landed about 20 mullaz with the biggest 15kg clean the other in the photos about 10kg bar those 2 all me other fish were released every bait resulted in fish or spat hooks left them on the chew

The following day Axey Tangles brother joined us and we pulled the all nighter releasing another 5 or 6 solid mullas between us and getting smoked by nohas after a quick nap axey and i tried a differnt spot to find some pink fellas chewing there heads off  this was a hell session with a big double hook up on pinks to bag out

Every session landing quality fish and having a good laugh with the boys some of the best fishing i've ever seen and thats only 2 sessions there was lots more didnt manage to get a real big one this trip but not a bad fish real long one and went hard 

Ten very long weeks after my double knee replacement and I could eventually get back on the water again. Gail and I launched just after six in the morning from Woodman Point and made our way towards Rottnest Island. We got up a half an hour later than we should have and were probably going to miss the moon set before we got to our destination. As we passed Seaward Reef we noticed a commotion in the water which turned out to be a pod of three whales slapping their tales on the water. We stopped to enjoy this wonderful spectacle and were now guaranteed to miss the moon set, but what the heck – one does not experience this type of show every day!

We eventually arrived at our “Snapper Spot” and one drift over the drop-off indicated some decent returns on the sounder. The anchor was quickly dropped and the burley trail introduced to the swim. I took the Shimano Nexave loaded with the Shimano Stradic 4000 and dropped a soft plastic over the side of the boat. Soon after this we hooked a bird that picked up one of our scalies before it had a chance to drop down into “the zone”. As we were trying to free it the Stradic started peeling off line and I caught a Snapper of 58cm.

A little later Gail hooked her first of three Snapper, this one going 65cm. Her subsequent two Snapper went 86cm and 85cm consecutively and we had reached our quota within 90 minutes of dropping the anchor. We tried for further fish, but got smoked no less than four times before we pulled anchor in an ever increasing South Westerly. Before we left for Woodman Point we experienced a further two whales, one of which breached fully out of the water – what a sight!

On the way back we decided to stop off at Rowboat Rock near Mewstone to see if we could entice one of the Aussie Salmon which had forgotten to go back down south. My first cast with a soft plastic and bang – I was into a 85cm specimen. After a good tug on the light tackle the fish was snapped and released.
This was a welcome return to our wonderful fishery – can’t wait for the next trip.

YouTube clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rBcLMDpit0c

has there been  an official announcement if the cockburn sound will be open this year for crabbing??????

Hi Guys

We just got back from a 5 day charter to the Montes on board Top Gun 2.

Had a absolute blast with a insane 5 days fishing with some good diving thrown in aswell.

This Video is my brother in laws 1st go pro edit and he did alright. The music works for some people but not others.

didnt take anywhere near enough still shots but this gives a pretty good summary.

Cheers Jayce

Thanks for the encouragment guys.

Here are the results both of us bagged out 7.5 KG 76 AND 8.5 KG and 86 one my best sessions in metro ever. Lost a few to gear failure as well. My mate got two 900 models

The call was made late last week that Monday was looking promising for a fish out wide off of Ocean Reef. Target species Greyband Cod.

It’s a fair way to travel so we don’t venture out there that often, but when the effort is made, rewards are generally received.

Call for additional crew was met with silence so it was just the two of us heading out.

Launched at ocean reef and headed West. Easterly was still puffing about 15kts so it made for an average trip out at about 22kts. Have definitely been out in worse tho!

Lined up the first bit of ground and some blips on the sounder gave us some glimmer of hope. Put the electric reel back on the rod, (this time the right way up!), rigged up, and bombs away.

First drop we were both on to some little fish with a red snapper first fish in the boat, slowly followed by another. Slowly because I realised that when I put the reel back on the rod, I hadn’t put the line through the level wind and could only get 2 of the 3 hundred metres of line back on with the last 100 metres pulled by hand!! 2nd error for the day out the way!.

The wind was dropping but we were still drifting a little quick which we thought may have been the problem – snapper are willing to chase the bait whereas the cod seem to be pretty lazy hunters.
Anyway, the next couple of hours were pretty much the same with hook-ups of red snapper and pink snapper on every drop and we probably boated 20+ fish. The snapper all seem to handle the rise from 200+ metres really well and go back fighting!

Going that way for four snapper isn’t really worth it and we were holding out for some Greyband. The backup plan was to pulls stumps out wide and hit Direction bank on the way back in for some Dhu’s etc.

About 11, the wind dropped right off so we decided to have a last drop on the ground we started on before trying in close – good decision.

Lined up the mark again and the sounder lit up. A couple of minutes in the drift and we loaded up with a better fish- Definitely a cod and the long wind to the top commenced.

As soon as it surfaced, there was a sigh of relief that we had one in the bucket and our reputation would be retained.

2nd drift and bang, one cod on and then followed by another Big hookup. The Second hookup was dropped pretty quickly, only to hookup again with a smaller model (for a cod) within about 10 seconds! and we were both on again. Both fish reached the surface about the same time and the models were just getting bigger!

Another drift just to complete the bag and I took a hook off (as they don’t release well at all and didn’t want to get a double header!) and stacked the bottom 10/0 hook with a mix of Occy and whiting – probably lasted about 10 seconds on the bottom before the rod loaded up big time again – this was a big boy for sure and it was pulling the boat back towards the fish!

Don’t think the other rod and rig even made it to the bottom before having to wind up again (as we couldn’t catch any more fish anyway) and about 15 minutes later, up pops the big boy about 40 metres out from the boat- they hit the surface like a submarine when they are that big.

This completed the bag of four greyband so we cruised on back to the marina at a leisurely 30+kts.

Not a bad Monday at all.

Hi All,

Just returned from our annual 2 weeks at Coral Bay with the family before the start of the school holidays. First few days were pretty quiet with strong southerlies. After that the weather really turned it on. Had some absolutely glassy conditions, some of the best I've seen.

Scored plenty of variety with some top quailty table fish coming on board along with some hard fighting sport fish (returned to fight another day) on the light jigging gear to make for great fun. A couple of firsts for us tomato cod, got a couple in one session one which I recon I dropped about 20m from the surface. It popped up a couple of minutes later next to the boat, out with the net! Plus an amberjack on the light demersal jigging out fit retrieving the jig off the bottom flat out as you would expect. Unfortunatley I couldn't find the demersals on the jig, bait did the damage this trip. The brother in law scored his PB mackie in a fairly unconventional way. We were inside the reef having a bit of a spangle bash in about 15m of water after trolling for about 3 hours on the out side skipping gars, laser pros, rapalas the kitchen sink all for one barracuda. He was using his light jigging combo he had bought off me, a sustain 5000fg loaded with PE2.5 on a eupro giant king PE1-3. A single 6/0 attached straight onto a rod lenght of 50lb fluro with a chunk of squid just lobbed off the back of the boat floating in the current. Initially called it for a big trev but after about 10min of screaming runs and not being bricked figured maybe a big cobe. Then a big flash from off the bottom with those awsome stripes appeared, a few tense moments boat side and had it on board. A good effort on the little gear.

Had a couple of memorable snorkling sessions with the kids 4 and 7 years old out on the reef it was the first time my boy 4 has seen what is actually under water. His face was priceless when he saw everything that actually goes on down there!

Anyway been back 2 days and already fanging to get back there, I'll let the pics do the talking now.

Cheers Chris.

 Had a good day out on the water off Geraldton today with some mates.

Hooked up big time on a good fish on the soft placcie I was drifting along the bottom and was quite surprised when after a torrid stuggle down deep the fish came up to the surface and turned out to be a nice Cobia around 15 or so kilos by my estimate. Went 1.2 metres approx on the brag mat later.

We fell one short of our demersal bag limit with 2 Dhuis, 4 Coral Trout and one Pink Snapper 

Whales everywhere too!

Cheers

Gadsy.

Took the old man and young bloke out for a fish. Top day out, back just after lunch after we caught more than enough.

Sounder looked good when we stopped.

Young bloke with a nice queenie (released) and then 73 cm dhu (not released....yummo).

The old man then got in the action with a size dhu released and pinkie that got snaffled by a toothie right on the surface.

Smokey Joe Submarine cruised by, we could hear and see it from miles away with smoke (steam) pissing out of it......classic Collins class I presume.....even the Yanks could find and sink this heap of crap! haha.

Ended with a KG fish where the action was hot, and landed several up to 52 cm, and got a nice 76cm dhu on the KG gear that went quite well!

 As it was such a nice day today we decided to go out of Two Rocks and head to new ground in the 50-70m range.

The plan was to load the boat at 5:30 and launch by 6am. As a few of the fishwrecked members i spoke to today will confirm the line to launch at Two Rocks went from the ramp out to the main road leading into the town. 1 1/2 hour wait to launch and we were on our way by 7:30.. Doh Bloody public holiday.

We never made it to the 70m mark as we found some pretty good ground in the mid 50's dropping to the mid 60's. Great mixed bag caught and a few tanks not stopped. The weather played ball and it was an all round great day.  Apart from the launch..Lol

Thinking about having a go this weekend arroung Cockburne Sound, Five  Fathom or Rotto. Just wondering if any you guys have had any sucsess on the full moon day or night? Any advice positive or negative much appreciated. 

Nothing short of spectacular conditions on the water yesterday arvo, too good to miss so me and Langa bailed from work and headed out.

Cracker 79 cm buck due to Langa PE2 jig, it buried him in the reef after several determined runs. After free spooling and getting him out of the reef, only to have it go straight back in, Langa finally won the battle.

Then I hooked up on my old venerable Tierra 3000 reel with 20 lb leader and KG hooks.....felt like a strong fish, but crapping my dacks with piddly 1/0 hooks and light leader, and once it bricked me in its hidey hole I thought it was all over.....after a lot of swear words, free spooling and some patience I got it out of its hole, a nice 81 cm female. Both fish were identical weight 8.2 kg.

Brilliant arvo on the water yesterday, ended the day anchoring on 3 mile, setting a few rods and having a relaxing few beers giggling over what was a sensational afternoons fishing.

Got immediately blitzed by a few big sambos then this salmon took a live whiting. In September, north of the river......Bloody Norah!

 Hey crew, headed out for a couple hours solo this afternoon following a morning exam. 

Trolled around for a bit until I saw some birds and a bust-up on the 3 mile. As soon as the lures went past the action both rods started screaming, double hookup on salmon!

Bullied the first one in on 50lb standup for a quick release before tending to the other which was on 20lb spin and had peeled a bit of line. They go bloody hard on the heavier gear. Kept the second one for bait.

Also managed a couple 49cm Dhus on plastics  good fight on 6lb but still chasing that sized one on our boat.

All in all a couple nice hours, came back in just after sunset at 30kts in glass conditions

Took a week off recently to travel to the Montebello Islands via Exmouth with a crew of 8 others for what turned out to be some of the most amazing jigging action I have ever encountered.

Departed from Exmouth Saturday and steamed and trolled for quite a few hours north (nothing raised). Ended up staying behind Thevenard Island. Had the lights attracting baitfish to the back of the boat and watched dolphins just metres away teaching a calf (about 60cm long ) to hunt.

Set off the next morning to the 85m -100m mark and dropped some jigs down near Barrow. Huge assortment of fish started hitting the deck. Amongst them goldband, rankin, longnose and Red emperor. Happy to say I landed my first Red on a jig....certainly not as huge as some I’ve caught on bait but still a nice tick on the jigging outfit and went 62cm.
Had a few drifts with outstanding catches at every drop.

Picked up the trolling gear again and within an hour or so the Tiagra 30w screamed with a sail being called. As this fish was being fought, it had two others following but these wouldn’t take anything else offered. The Sail was landed and few pics taken then released and swam off. (pretty happy crew).

Anchored in the Monties group for the night in a calm beautiful protected area.
Next day the crew were chomping to get out and fish. Hit the 60ish m mark and the games began. Never in my life could I imagine jigging to be so easy but expensive with the standard call of “grab us another $30 bucks (....ie jig !) Time after time the jigs “hit bottom” bail arm flicked over only to come up tight. With times of feathering the line thinking “should have hit bottom by now” only to realise the jig’s already been smashed.

About half the guys on board were using bait with some fantastic fish coming up on their lines as well.
Didn’t matter what was being offered jig wise (or bait it seemed) ....something smashed it. Coral Trout galore. fat Rankins coming up thick. Reds, Robbos, longnose, spangled.

Next day we hit a shallow area in 10m -15m. Put the plastics to work and in the first session don’t remember retrieving a single one without it being hit. Absolute chaos with some more good trout and a few others here. Unfortunately the sharks moved in and so we moved.

We hit up some reefy area for GT’s. The poppers came out and away we went. Two smaller model GT’s were boated (not by me ....but I was able to boat a nice size Mackie later which smashed the popper and was aerial just out the back or the boat ...great to see !)
While we were popping off the front of the boat the guys produced a nice coronation off the back....what more could you ask for ???

We also spent a relaxing day cruising through the Islands, trying for mudcrabs with not much luck unfortunately, but it was fun walking the beaches and exploring.
Steam back was easygoing with fantastic weather and a memorable jig and pop on a huge baitball. Trolled for while with a Wahoo and decent bull Mahi mahi. boated. (both released)

Apologies if the crew read this and it’s jumbled or out of order....was a hell of a week and some of this amazing fishing experience just blends ....maybe the amount of beer helped that aswell !

Cheers to all the guys, a top lot with so many laughs and great times and cheers to the crew on Top gun. Ash, Ohhh Devan and Terra for making this a week to remember.

 1100 start . Good fish

This week I've been out twice on my boat targetting pink snapper on fly with good results!

I've caught a fair few on fly locally (over the years) and haven't done it for a while so it certainly was a buzz to get back into them!
 

Here's a few pics from those 2 trips ....... each time getting my 2 fish ..... Happy Days =>
 

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 Took #1 son with me last night for a quick session. Ended up with herring. Yellow fin whiting, a tarwhine and a 500mm flatty.  All on blue sardines.

any one anything cool to report from coral bay of recent,I will be lb mostly,any hints and tips would be great!

iv been through the search function but a lot of the topics are boat related few good reports there but there a bit older.

Heading to Kalbarri this coming weekend and the fishing itch has been hitting hard. tried to make myself wait till i got up there but hey a quick bream bash in the river cant hurt.

been checking google maps for an area that may produce with the rains lately further downriver. settled for the shelley jetty in the end, close to home and parking nearby. grabbed some prawns and a lazy start after a wander near the smaller jetty and little sandbar by 9am a bit before hightide. a few drops under the jetty feeling around, before the first bump then hit, nice, a bit of pressure and then he realised he was hooked, bolted for the pilons. watched him pull 3meters of 4lb braid against the drag, well under the jetty by now before i tightened it a bit and put the pressure on. after probably my best fight with a bream, partially due to the lack of heavy braid to back me up, i had him around the jetty and saw hed swallowed the hook and all i had was 5lb fluro against his teeth.  no net so quickly leader him up. went 340mm not a PB but a great first bream for the season! was stoked. stayed for another few but the bite died off around the slack tide then the smaller ones seemed to come out after the change. all in all a good way to get pumped the Kalbarri.

Got out today,

For a fish with the usual deckie (bro in law). Left the marina at 6:15. Looked like a nice day, but the further we got out the rougher it got (surprise, surprise ;). We pushed on and pulled up on some non discript ground we hadn't tried for about a year. First drop of the day and Doug is onto a beauty, taking line with ease, he had it on for about a minute and from the head shakes and runs we were calling it for a real nice Pinky. Unfortunately the hooks pulled. I got the next good bite and up popped a very plump Pinky that went 54cm. We got a few more undersize Pinkies and a few undesirables.

Decided to check out some ground that seems to always hold a few fish, but the sounder was pretty quiet, on what usually holds a few fish. After a bit of moving around the fish seemed to be holding off the main structure. We managed a nice mixed bag (we.... being Doug, because after my Pinky, I got sfa). Ended up up with 3 u/size Dhu's and 1 that was right on 50cm...released. A Big Black Arse, my one and only size Pinky, A Queen Snapper, a lovely KG Whiting and 2 Harlequins, biggest one kept

Was another awesome day on the water. No trophy fish. But good times with good friends.

Cheers

Chris.

 Went out for a quick session this arvo.

Only ten minutes in caught a 64cm pink, then caught a nice one.

I've been having a great time on the pinkys over the last 3 weeks and thought I'd put up a report!

Mondays forecast (just gone) was looking sweet so I said to my good mate Scott (FW-Soupster51) come out on my boat and lets go chase some kg's. The swell was up which slowed things down a bit but we got a fair few plump kg's and the usual bycatch like plump skippy, blackarse and queen snapper etc.

I said to Scott we'll keep the kg's and release the rest as I'm gonna hit up pinks on sundown!

On the way in I hit up one of my spots and straight away pinks on my sounder. Baits went out and we hooked up straight away to nice pinks!

The sun was setting and another mate of mine Frank (FW- Frank F) was fishing at another location (not too far away) with no pink snapper to be seen so I said anchor up next to me!

That he did and Franky ended up getting 2 fish very quickly (he was solo) and we all headed in getting our bag limits!

The Extreme inshore snapper rig and scaly's doing the damage and you gotta love pinky season!!

If your needing any info on targeting pink snapper my staff are happy to help!
 

Headed out for a late afternoon dash out of Hillarys.  Conditions were good, as forecast but the wind was a little stronger than predicted.

Arrived at a spot I haven’t fished for about a year to see what it would produce.  Spent a bit of time sounding the ground as it is quite “patchy” but did find a small area of hard bottom away from my mark.  One of the real benefits of the Minn Kota is that I could “spot lock” right on top of the target area and it held us there all night.  It would have been almost impossible to anchor on it!

The burley “experiment” went out and the bite was hot from the start.  We boated a just undersized Dhu and a 400mm+ Pinkie within the first 15 minutes (returned of course, but that excellent pan sized Pinkie would have been “treasured” in most parts of the world other than WA – I completely support the 500mm size limit though).  A big Sargent Baker followed (returned as fresh bait) and then a couple of really nice Breaksea Cod (the biggest was 450mm).  I then dropped a bait on top of a 440mm KG and followed that up with a 370mm Tarwine shortly after.  A few other undesirables and it all looked good for the Pinkie schools to move through when the sun went down.

Absolutely nothing.  The bite actually shut down and there was nothing after that except for a 5-6kg Port Jackson and a mongrel eel.  Once the burley ran out we headed in at a rapid pace in the excellent conditions.

I think there was more “celebrating” from the better half when she looked at this bag, than for most I get.  A couple of kilos of fillets of some of the best eating fish in the sea.

 Mackerel mackerel mackerel