Having spent most of the fishing charter with a fishing rod in my hand, rather than a camera, I was struggling to post any pictures of our adventures. Luckily for us, Claire (another teacher from Fitzroy), was less dedicated to the fishing, and did manage to snap some shots. She has very nicely offered them up for viewing here!
After a few weeks of busy school-work (I can see why Term 4 is called the “silly season” up here), a group of us booked into the Broome Beach Resort for a weekend of fishing and relaxation. All up, there were 16 of us there – 10 for a deep-sea fishing charter, 6 for a day spa with massages. We were all there for the drinking and swimming.
Piling into the bus straight after school on Friday, we rocked up a four hours later a little hungry, but with our thirsts well quenched. Saturday saw the girls off to their day spa – they insisted on being driven to the place via bus, which turned out to be a good 500 metres from where we were staying. The remainder of the crew hit the shops, stocking up on all the things Fitzroy shops don’t offer (read: everything).
A quiet Saturday night for most with dinner out at the Zoo Cafe, then it was up bright and early for the fishing on Rare Breed II with a 6am pickup. The swell was quite large, which accounted for quite a bit of extra burley from those used to the calmer waters of the Fitzroy, so we only ended up travelling about 25 miles off shore, instead of the promised 40 for the big red emperor. Regardless, there were plenty of fish on offer, with catches including Spanish Macs, Mackeral Tuna, Coral Trout, Blue-Line Emperor, Silver Snapper, NW Snapper, Rankin Cod, Sea Perch, Spanish Flag, Green Snapper… need I go on?
There were also the undesirables, such as the hard fight, only to pull up the head of a large Spanish Flag, one NW Blowie and even a very ugly Monkey Fish (also known as a Stargazer… do a Google Search and you will see why!)
Although I was far too busy to take photos of my fish, or anyone else’s for that matter, we did catch enough to feed everyone – as the fish-cleaning table shot shows.
The moment we got off the boat, it was all stations go as we quickly packed up the bus, and made the trek back to Fitzroy. We hit home just after 8pm, and having promised to fillet the fish for everyone on returning home, it left me a very busy boy as I worked feverishly until 11pm, filleting and skinning the fish, while Emma bagged and labelled them for everyone. A big weekend, but a fantastic one! I look forward to making it an annual event!
Click the thumbnails to see larger versions.
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| Fishing-free day today… after yesterday’s success, who can blame us! Mind you, we’re off again to the river tomorrow for another round, and with any luck we can pot just one more to top a great weekend.
I’ve been meaning to take a few shots of Geikie Gorge to put up on the website, but to be honest, I spend too much time with a fishing rod in my hand to have a camera as well. Unfortunately, there is not quite enough time in the day for both. I have managed to snap a few shots, and I will try to add to these over the next few weeks. |
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| I wasn’t sure if you could see the barra well enough in the last post, so I thought it better to show it again. If you need to see a bigger picture, feel very free to ask me, and will oblige… an 8 megapixel camera should give you as big a picture as you could ask for.
Have I mentioned how excited I was about the barra?
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| Now I don’t want to gloat, but… OH YEAH! With conflicting reports about the barra fishing after a good rain, Troy and myself went out to the gorge for a little troll after school. The results speak for themselves.
The first one we were happy with – 67cm, and a good fight. The second one was a rip-snorter. It was only 79.99999cm (luckily just under the legal throw-back limit), but it really, really LOOKED LIKE it was 17 pounds and 92cm. For comparison purposes, just to prove it was under 80cm, I am really only 4 foot tall. Trust me, you will hear more about this, and there will be more photos. OH YEAH! |
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| During the second week of the October school holidays, Emma and I travelled up the One Arm Point road to Djoodood, just south of Lombadina. Our deputy principal, Dave Leslie, invited us along with two other couples, to his property situated on a small cliff above beautiful white beaches and very fishy reef.
The week was spent almost in a blissful routine of an early morning walk along the beach with a camera, followed by a fishing expedition in the boat (catching feeds of mackeral, bluebone, cod and north-west snapper), stomping through mangroves collecting enormous mudcrabs, and finishing with an evening wander through the low-tide pools picking up lovely blue-manna crabs. |
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Admittedly, the trip out along the One Arm Point road was memorable for the wrong reasons – although were were lucky to only come away with one flat tyre, a somewhat suspect exhast system and a speedometer that doesn’t seem to work much any more.
Check out some of the pics we took at the Photo Gallery! |
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| I hold a fair bit of Fitzroy Crossing affinity with Anna Branch. It was here that i caught my very first barra (a 67cm beauty), much to the chargrin of the other fishermen who had been there all day without at bite (I was in and out in half-an-hour… if only that happened all the time!).
Anna Branch is one of the points where the Margaret River joins the Fitzroy River. I’m told that during full flood, it is a true sight to watch the Margaret as it tries to force its way into the Fitzroy – with any luck, I can get out and snap some shots in January! |
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