Tag: Fishing (Page 2 of 5)

La Grange, Fitzroy and Surrounds

July 18, 2008 / terry

Bidyadanga (La Grange) proved to be an absolute delight. The school Principal, Mark Williams, was an excellent host and soon had us settled into the “donga”, perfectly acceptable accomodation right on the school grounds. Mark gave us a whistle stop tour of the local beaches after school on Monday and had notified the community of our presence so all was clear to explore the environs. Unfortunatley, the tides were not at all favourable for after-school fishing and the one attempt we made was greeted by a hungry horde of sandflies.
Despite the fishing set-back, the school and community is wonderful to work in. Given that it was the last week of term and that 20 secondary students were away at Kimberley Cup, the school had an excellent tone and we thoroughly enjoyed working across the school, giving staff some much needed preparation and planning time. We left on Friday morning, feeling very much valued and appreciated. We both look forward to visiting again sometime.

We headed off to Fitzroy Crossing, stopping in Broome along the way to stock up on a few essentials. Once at at Fitzroy, we found Trevor and Emma in the early stages of packing. We spent some time sorting out a battery charging system on their camper before they set off on their trip to Darwin.

The Thorsby family also arrived in Fitzroy to take in the annual rodeo. None of us had ever been to a rodeo before and it proved to be really entertaining. The sight of huge bulls throwing cowboys around is a lot better than I thought it would be. The most entertaining part is actually the superb horsemanship displayed by the organisers who are left with the job of getting the bulls back into the enclosures. The Thorsbys camped overnight out at the rodeo and headed back to Derby on Monday morning.

Christine and I suffered a little as the colds we had nurtured in La Grange really cranked up to full force so we didn’t do much except laze in front of the TV. Ron and Dorothy rang to say they were on the road and headed our way. We calculated about a four day wait before they arrived.

With Ron and Dorothy at Fitzroy, we launched into a busy schedule of sight seeing and fishing. We made a trip up to Tunnel Creek and Winjana Gorge. It has been a while seen any of us had visited these beautiful spots and not much has changed except the crowds of tourists. The road from the Highway to the Gibb River Rd was badly in need of a grade and heavily corrugated on the Southern end. After a walk through the gorge and a lot of crocodile spotting, we cooked up a terrific BBQ of chops and snags.

We went off one evening to a very pretty spot on the Fitzroy to catch some cherrabin for barra bait. They proved scarce and we only managed a half a dozen or so. The next day, we set off into Gieke Gorge in Trevor’s boat, determined to catch a barra, or at least a few sooty grunter. The fishing was very slow and we tried many good looking snags along the river without success. Finally, Dorothy got a good barra on, only to have it seek cover amongst fallen timber and become firmly snagged up. This disappointment was followed by another hookup. This time she got the fish alongside and I was staggered by the size of it. I seriously doubted our ability to get it into the boat. It solved the problem by itself by tearing off down river, jumping a bit then breaking off. At least we got a good look at it. Definitely a metre plus fish.

With Ron and Dorothy preparing for the long drive home, we all headed off to Derby for a couple of days and a mud crabbing trip. Since we were still dog-sitting Tamala for Trevor and Emma, she had to come too. Tamala is not a good traveller and spends a lot of time sitting in the car shaking. However, she proved to be very well behaved in the caravan park and seemed to settle in to our nomadic lifestyle.

Crabbing was just as good as a few weeks before. We managed 12 good sized “muddies”. This was followed up by a huge meal at Thorsby’s where we did major damage to the stockpile of mud crabs. When I think about the hours we have put in further South to catch a few crabs, Derby makes everything else look like a waste of effort. The Derby tides are difficult to manage, however, and all boating and fishing is governed by access to the water and avoiding getting stranded on the extensive mud flats.

A highlight of the visit to Derby was Christine’s birthday present to Chris Thorsby, who shares the same birthday. She had knitted him a most attractive woollen G String, equipped with white lacey straps. With a Geelong Football Club emblem on the front, it looked just like one that Gary Ablett might wear. Chris refued to model it for the camera so we had to get Gary to fly over and put on a show for us.
We farewelled Ron and Dorothy, bade a fond goodbye to the Thorsby family once again and headed South once more on the now very familiar road to Fitzroy Crossing. Trevor and Emma had arrived home during our absence and Tamala was overjoyed to return to her safe environment.

Disaster in Derby

June 30, 2008 / terry

Last week we worked at Derby District High School, teaching Year 1 to Year 7. With two of us sharing, the day goes smoothly and the experiencing new schools, teachers and kids is a load of fun. I’m sure people must think we’re mad for working “two for the price of one” but we find it really works for us.

Unfortunately, Christine got crook on Thursday and the relief teacher needed to take the day off. She tried hard to wake up the whole caravan park on Wednesday night with her sick noises but, like me, everyone slept on oblivious to her problems. She was back on deck by Friday but still not in tip-top shape.

On Thursday night we went down to the Boab to catch a VERY LOUD concert from Jon Stevens and Ian Moss. Things were so loud that it ruined Jon Steven’s performance but the sound guy eventually figured things out and Ian Moss really went off. However, it was a very late night by our standards and Friday was a struggle.

Saturday was mud crabbing day. The tides were all wrong and we parked over an hour at Derby’s half-mile long launching ramp waiting for the rising tide to touch the concrete. By the time we got the boat launched, it was getting on for 5 o’clock, giving us less than an hour to catch some crabs before the night started to fall.

Luckily, that’s all we needed.

Within half an hour or so, we had 7 plump mud crabs in the boat and were headed back to the ramp. Carol cooked up two of them in a delicious chilli mix while Chris boiled the other five. These went down well with Carol’s home baked bread and we all dined like Kings. The two bears came out to have a look at the mud crabs and this is where things started to go wrong.

It wasn’t until the next morning that we realised that Poppy was missing. Christine was devastated. Rumours abound.

We heard some disgraceful stories about the Geelong Football Club and unsavoury practices with small bears.

I noticed that the Thorsby animal menagerie looked suspiciously fat. We faced the prospect of travelling with only one bear.

The discovery of a note the next day confirmed our worst fears.

The Derby Dogs have struck again. We have had to leave Poppy behind nad head to Bidyadanga for another week of work and to formulate a rescue operation.

Derby & Looma

June 25, 2008 / terry

At Derby, the plan was to catch up with our good friends the Thorsby family, whip down to Looma for a weekend of fishing with them, then spend a week working at Derby District High School.

The Thorsbys were keen to try out their new Landcruiser so we wasted no time on Saturday before setting off for the 150 km trip South. Trevor and Emma had planned on joining us from Fitzroy but car problems at their end forced a change of plans. We fought fierce headwinds all the way South (and for most of the weekend too) b ut soon found a fantastic camp site alongside the Fitzroy River just past a crossing.

With camp set up, it was off to Snake Creek, a lovely billabong fronting old Livaringa Station homestead. With three of us working cast nets, we soon had enough cherabin for lunch and a few smaller ones for live barra bait.

Pippa and Frankie pitched in and helped peel the cherabin for fresh bread rolls and boiled cherabin. Unbeatable.

With lunch over, Chris, Dean and I set off in the porta-bote to chase barra with the live cherabin. Working a few snags near the camp site, Chris soon bagged a good fish of 60cm. Dean followed at the next snag with another of 57cm so we were set for a fish tea. I once again lucked out but I figured I had put them on the spot anyway.

We tackled the cherabin and barra again the next morning but suddenly they were both uncooperative. That’s fishing I suppose.

Before setting off back to Derby, Chris fired up an old 500cc Yamaha bike that he had found abandoned in the bush. The sign painted on the fuel tank suggested it was capable of harming its rider and Chris and Carol delighted in the thrill of a short ride along the camp tracks. It made enough noise to scare off all the wildlife. With no way of getting it home, Chris reluctantly left it for another happy camper to come across.

What a weekend, the highlight of the trip so far. Good location, good company and good food. Well content.

Now for a week of work.

Pardoo – 80 Mile Beach

June 25, 2008 / terry

The rain followed us across the Pilbara, not heavy and inconvenient in itself but creating other problems for us. We had planned on staying on at Cleaverville but with the rain came the sandflies in large numbers. We were driven out and decided to head Eastwards away from the rain.

Alas, it was not to be. We tried Pardoo station stay, beyond Port Hedland. It looked like a likely place to stay with the map showing a terrific coastline of mixed beach, rock and creeks. Unfortunately, the rain had been there before us and closed all the station tracks between the homestead and the coast so visitors were confined to the camping area. With more rain looking likely, we pushed on for 80 Mile Beach.

The 80 Mile Beach Caravan Park is a true delight. It is clean, well organised with very friendly staff. The fish are usually friendly too with threadfin slamon being the main target. Unfortunately, the smaller more common blue salmon were missing this time and 100 or so anglers competed for the 4 or 5 giant threadfin that were caught each high tide. These fish are trophy fish, running between 5 and 15 kilos each. We lucked out this time and I was so jealous when the guy right along side hooked up.

Coming out of 80 Mile Beach, a large black headed python tried to make a meal of Benjy but found the taste of bear too much for his refined reptilian ways.

From 80 Mile, we dropped in to Bidydanga (La Grange) to discuss some work further down the track before pushing on for a couple of days in Broome. Along the way we discovered that our MP3 player had been “borrowed” from the car (along with 3 fishing rods) while parked at Cleaverville. Armed with this excuse, we hit the shops in Broome to buy an iPod. Mary Dawson was visiting with her mother so we managed to catch up for a meal out, rounding off Broome as the usually expensive stop on the trip. We were horrified when we took a near empty vehicle down to the fuel station and filled LPG and Petrol tanks with $218 worth of fuel. And it’s only going to get worse.

We head for Derby.

On the Road Again

June 11, 2008 / terry

After a terrific family birthday and “official retirement” party, we headed back to Dowerin,
by way of Parkwood to say farewell to Mum and Dad until November. Once in Dowerin, we packed the car and trailer (with only a few harsh words). We were determined to get away on Monday, even if it meant camping a few kms down the road. In the end, we got going around 2:30 and got as far as Jibberding Rest Area, 25 kms North of Wubin.

At one time, it must have been either a town or a sporting facility because the remains of 3 tennis courts could be seen in the bush. At this point, I discovered that we had two stowaways with us in the form of two bears called Benjy and Poppy. This was not my doing but I let them stay on the basis that they are less trouble than a dog.We moved slowly through the Pilbara, with one night camp on the banks of the Gascoyne River, one night in Newman and two in Tom Price. We worked in both towns, providing PD to the IT teachers. Everyone was complaining about the cold and all the staff were dusting off the track suits and woollens. We are used to the night time temperatures up here but the chilly days take some getting used to.

On Saturday, we obtained a permit to travel along the Hammersly Iron rail access road to cut the distance to Karratha. I never tire of driving in the Pilbara and this drive is exceptionally good.

The drive through the Chichester Range is really incredible. I thought I had a chance to dispose of the bears down one particularly steep ravine but they somehow clung on desperately and found their way back to the car.

Along the way, we were forced to play “Good Samaritan”twice, once to supply a Shark Bay couple with a jerry of petrol after they had got lost the night before and run dry. Our other rescue was of a Port Hedland couple who had run out of spare tyres on the Millstream to Roebourne Road. We gave the wife a lift into Roebourne where the police kindly took over and promised to look after them.

We set up camp at Cleaverville for 4 nights. The first morning, I discovered to my horror that I’d lost a key part of our brand new folding boat trailer. I wanted to blame one of the bears for losing the part but I have to admit that I had placed it on the front of the trailer while moving gear and forgotten it, driving off and losing it somewhere South of Newman. Luckily, it was the only steel part on the trailer, all the rest being aluminium so we were confident that we could get another part made in Karratha on Monday morning.

Our prediction was right. I found an engineering works where a very helpful guy found some scrap steel and made me a new part just as good as new, all for $20 beer money. Armed with our new part, we put the trailer together and towed the porta-boat down to the creek for fishing and crabbing. The trailer has proved a real hit and makes life a lot easier than setting up the boat on the roof rack. The fishing was unspectacular but we caught enough to keep us going.

We only managed one mud crab but it was big enough to feed us both. Each claw was a meal. The two bears amused themselves with the wildflowers. The forecast heavy rains also treated us well, with steady but light rain throughout one night. We missed the heavy rains experienced further inland.

The down-side of the rain was that it brought the sandflies out in force. We both got badly bitten and after a night of panic we decided to pull up stakes and move further East. The bears are still with us.

Barra on a Kayak

May 4, 2008 / trevor

Tim and I tackled Donkey Crossing yesterday on the quest of catching a barra on a kayak. And we were successful! Three altogether, with Tim finally breaking his duck and landing two, along with my one. Mine was pretty small, around 40cm, with Tim’s first around the same size. It was probably good that they were this small – we were fishing different sides of the river, and landed them within five minutes of each other. I had my landing net and Tim had his Fish Grapple. Because mine was small, it wasn’t too difficult to play the fish close enough to the kayak and net it. Tim’s second one was more interesting.

I was about 50 metres away when he hooked up, and it was dragging his kayak straight into the snag. I began powering over, and by the time I got there, Tim had played it around most of the snags (or the fish had played his kayak through the snags anyway!).

It came out of the water, and looked a good size. I tried to get as close as I could to the fish in my kayak, and after three attempts, managed to net it. Great size! At 68cm it was an absolute rush for both of us. After a quick photo, Tim released it back to the snag to fight another day. One thing we realised though – it will be pretty hard to land one of these things alone! We may have to hunt in packs from now on.

By the way, it’s now 5 barra from 7 fishing trips this year, and the competition is starting to heat up, with Tim on 2. It’s a shame we will probably only get a couple more weeks of fishing before it gets too cold.

Barra Galore!

April 26, 2008 / trevor

Tim and I decided we needed to get a fish in before the school holidays finished – and it was worth it (for me anyway)! Casting a beady eye on the no less than 11 boat trailers at the gorge carpark, we launched around midday and were off. We decided to go for a troll through the Graveyard before heading further up river for a bit of a flick.

We quickly realised why there were so many boats in, as we passed camp after camp of tourists up the river – it resembled Moore River (and that is not a good thing). Some campsites had four or five tents, full barbecue and two to three families. We grumbled along, hoping they weren’t taking all our fish.

Sure enough, though, within 10 minutes of trolling through the Graveyard, I was on, and after a good fight, pulled in a respectable 58cm beauty. We quickly bled it, and into the esky for dinner tonight.

After another 10 minutes of trolling, we took off further up river, catching nothing for the next 3 hours. Time for home (and a return troll through the Graveyard ). Bang! Another 10 minutes into trolling, and I was on again! Another good fight, and another barra at 60cm. We didn’t want to be greedy, so this one was returned to the water.

I was beginning to feel (slightly) bad for Tim – I’ve been out six times fishing this year for 4 barra. He’s been out eight times for no barra. We kept trolling, when suddenly…bang! Tim was on. He played it well for a few minutes, just as a “pleasurecraft” came past loaded with kiddies and a set of parents. They stopped nearby, screaming in delight as they watched Tim play the fish. It then did a wonderful tailskip, much to their delight, at which point it snapped through Tim’s line, much to his disgust. With this, we left, most of us happy in the boat, with some still a little upset. Better luck next time, Timmy!

Shark Bay Fishing

April 17, 2008 / terry

While the kids are in Melbourne Shopping and playing up, us oldies have returned to our beloved Shark Bay for a week of fishing. We are staying in a house in Brockman St with the Dawsons. The weather Gods have smiled on us and we have been blessed with wonderful windless days and very high tides. We haven’t had too much trouble finding fish, with large black snapper being common at this time of year. Bill and I had a bit of a competition going, which he was winning for some time with a magnificant 54cm “Blackie” but yesterday I nosed in front with one at 56cm. Emperor of this size pull hard and are glorious on the dinner table so we are well pleased. We did a spot of netting the other night and bagged 6 nice tailor and 5 big mullet. We had to be very quick though because the sharks were so prolific we caught five just trying to get the net out of the water. Life is hard sometimes.

See Sawfish

April 3, 2008 / trevor

I’ve managed to get my hands on the sawfish photo from Anna Branch… and thanks to Bryan for a great shot! There seem to be plenty of sawfish in the river, especially this year, with quite a few people catching them. I caught mine on a big bony bream (about 20cm long). The freshwater sawfish is listed as critically endangered world-wide, with the Fitzroy River recognised as one of the last domains for these prehistoric creatures. After a quick photo opportunity, we used one of the kayak paddles to guide it back into the water (would you go near those saws?)

Another cherabin, another Barra

March 31, 2008 / trevor

Although I’m still hunting for my sawfish piccie, I thought I’d better post another barra pic from the Easter weekend. Emma, Emily and I camped out in a spot roughly between town and the gorge overnight, and although the girls laughed at me for choosing to stand next to my handline for six hours instead of being sociable with them at the campfire, they were still very excited with the 62cm catch – a perfect size to keep whole in the freezer ready for our next big barbeque! Emma made her debut with the landing net, and didn’t disappoint, scooping it up first time. It was worth trading in a jumbo 10cm+ cherabin for a size barra!

P.S. If you’re wondering… no, it wasn’t much of a contest with a 60-pound handline!