Tag: Fishing (Page 4 of 5)

Fitzroy Fishing – A Great Weekend

June 18, 2007 /

Friday 15 June

We arrived in Fitzroy Crossing at Trevor and Emma’s place just after 4 o’clock. Trevor was already kitted out in his fishing gear and anxious to get going after cherrabin. Emma was still not home so, after a quick unpack, Trevor and I left Christine to do the rest and went fishing (sounds fair). We met his mate Troy and some visiting relatives down at Donkey Crossing and I had a wonderful time watching Trevor get very dirty and tired using his cast net to catch cherrabin. After a successful if not spectacular catch, we headed home for a much needed tea and bed.

Saturday 16 June

In the morning, Christine and I did a spot of shopping at the local store, leaving a little shocked at the outrageous prices ($6.15 for a tub of yoghurt, $6 for a handful of grapes etc). A bit of housework followed and we managed to catch up on some much needed clothes washing. With the afternoon free, we set off with Trev and Em for a swim at Red Air. Trevor also suggested packing a couple of light rods just in case we felt like fishing for sooty grunter.

Red Air proved to be a beautiful spot, with a fast flowing stream. Christine got her exercise in by swimming into the current for 10 minutes or so. She swam her little heart out but went absolutely nowhere. Meanwhile, Trevor and I tried our hand out on the sooty grunter (black bream to locals). We tromped up and down the bank and managed 2 nice ones and one beauty of 32cm!

We had barbecued sooty for entree that night, picked fresh from the bone, there is no finer fish!

Sunday 17 June

The plan was for Trevor and I to get up before dawn to fish the upper reaches of Geike Gorge. With the success of the previous day, the pressure was off so we decided to take it easy and fish the afternoon. Boats are only allowed in the main part of the gorge before 7am, between 12 and 1pm then after 4pm. This is to allow uninterupted eco cruises for tourists. We spent the morning at school finalising the timetable and our teaching duties for the coming week.

By noon we had had lunch, arrived at the gorge and had the port-a-bote rigged. We were using my boat and Trev’s 5hp outboard. The combination proved effective and we made good time down the gorge, even with a bit of unsuccessful trolling thrown in. We spent an entertaining 3 hours or so catching 5 excellent sooty grunter. Trev managed a pair at 31cm and 32cm so he was well pleased. To make it even better, Trevor’s mate Troy came past. They had struck out andwere looking very envious of our catch.

Just when we decided it couldn’t get much better, Trevor suggested a last minute troll on the way back. He suggested he had a “secret spot”. His rod was already rigged with a gold Reidy lure so I trolled while he steered. We didn’t have to wait long before a solid hookup suggested that there was more to life than sooty grunter. After a huge run and a heart stopping time when the line went slack for a bit, the fish settled down to a slow pull in the reeds, giving one half jump and some head shaking as the dinghy came along side. At 85cm, the landing net proved a little inadequate and it ended up a broken jumbled mess. As we hauled aboard for measuring and photgraphing, Troy’s boat came around the bend and we could hear a shout of “They’ve got a barra!” It made Trevor’s day.

We cut the destroyed landing net away from the lure, unhooked the fish and released it. Meanwhile, Troy and his uncle had their troll rigs out, going over the same area. As we left, there were shouts of glee as they landed a small barra, around 45cm. We unpacked the boat well satisfied.

Hedland to Fitzroy

June 18, 2007 /

Sunday 3 June

After shopping, clothes washing etc, we explored around Port Hedland a checked out a few possible sites for launching the boat and doing a spot of fishing. None proved inviting, with the 20 knot South-Easterly ruling out almost all options. In the end, we opted to try for mud crabs in the creek at Redbank. The final score was mud crabs 0, sandflies 100. In fact, we barely got out of the creek in time before the rapidly falling tide left us stranded in a mud heap.

Monday 4 June

Today we tried a spot of shore fishing at the “Spoil Bank”, a large expanse of flat land created from the dredging of the harbour entrance. It proved to be VERY frustrating, with a number of solid fish (almost certainly salmon) hooked but not landed. Despite this, the session was a lot of fun and certainly helped to relax us. The sight of huge ore carriers entering and leaving the harbour throughout the afternoon kept us entertained.

Tuesday 5 June to Friday 8 June

Another week of work, with Christine in her same 6/7 class at Cassia all week and me working at Baler and Cassia in a variety of roles. We both enjoyed terrific hospitality and a strong sense of staff unity at Cassia. Christine was thrilled to receive a small gift in appreciation of her efforts at the end of our stay.

We have decided to push on without having the car looked at because no one will look at it. This is certain to be the case until Darwin. Fingers crossed!

Saturday 9 June

We left Hedland (Hooray!) and drove to 80 Mile Beach. The car performed well and the automatic transmission gave no problems. I drove all the way with the overdrive turned off. It uses a bit more fuel but seems to be the way to go. The caravan park here is one of the best appointed anywhere. Given its very remote location, it puts many town based parks to shame, with numerous ablution facilities, local TV broadcast, lots of grass and shade and a well stocked little shop. It is also a pleasure to find such friendly staff.

We set up in time to catch the afternoon rising tide for beach fishing for salmon. The “brag board” of photos showed that late May had been the time for large threadfin salmon, with many 5-10kg fish being caught every day. Unfortunately, things have fallen off in June and we didn’t manage any.

Sunday 10 June and Monday 11 June

Two wonderful days of sleeping, fishing, bike riding and relaxing. We had one good fishing session, landing a couple of nice blue nosed threadfin for tea. We also met yet another satellite man who helped us get our dish tuned. I am ready to make a barbecue out of the thing. Still, he gave us some useful tips so next time we may do better.

Tuesday 12 June

It is tempting to laze away at 80 Mile Beach but we pushed on today. We had planned to put in a couple of days at Langi Crossing on the Fitzroy but changed our mind at the last minute and opted for Willie Creek, just North of Broome. Again the car performed well so I am hopeful the problem is solved. After a hurried shopping trip in Broome (overcrowded and chaotic as usual) we negotiated a corrugated track out to Willie Creek and set up in a terrific spot with shade and ocean views. It even proved sand fly free, although a few mozzies came in with the dusk.

Wednesday 13 June and Thursday 14 June

We launched the boat mid-morning on the falling tide and spent a terrific two hours catching all manner of small fish (and losing a couple of big ones). A nice little cod assured us of tea. The variety was amazing, bream, queen fish, flag, flathead, brown sweetlips, trevally, and 3 species of cod. We failed again with the mud crabs and were disappointed when another boat came in with 5 big ones. They had picked up 3 on handlines.

On Wednesday afternoon, a couple arrived in our camp on foot, requesting assistance with their bogged vehicle. It was a ute with a tray-back camper and was well and truly anchored to Mother Earth. Worse still, they had bogged while trying to turn around so they were broad side on to the track and there was no room at all to use a “snatch strap”. I used my exhaust bag to lift the vehicle up and we tried packing rocks underneath. This advanced us about a metre or so. After two of these manoeuvres and still well and truly bogged, we drove down to the Willie Creek Pearl farm in the hope they had a tractor. No tractor but they did have some planks so we managed to get them out just on night fall. Wishing them well, we went back to camp.

At 10am the next morning, the couple reappeared and sheepishly announced that they were bogged again. In fact, they were only 25 metres from the previous bogging. After we left them, they tried to turn on some hard looking ground, broke through the top layer into the powdery stuff underneath and spent an uncomfortable night perched on an awkward angle. This time, I could use a snatch strap and managed to get them out in about half an hour. The last I saw of them was driving away from the beach area.

Friday 15 June

We were up at the crack of dawn to give us enough time to break camp, drive into Broome, shop for Trevor’s extensive meat order and drive on to Fitzroy Crossing. All went well with our timing and we rolled into Fitzroy just after 4pm.

Another Barra

May 28, 2007 /

After a couple of weeks of frustrating fishing (three undersize barra in a row!!!), we took a longer trek upstream at the gorge, up to a spot that we were later told was “just past the first hole”, but “not quite the second hole”. We had a great session with the sooty grunter, pulling in five great size bream.

Two weeks without even a decent run on the barra lines, Troy and myself then decided to try a different tack – Donkey Crossing. Unfortunately, we arrived to find that the rain from a couple of weeks ago had made it impossible to get the car (and therefore the boat and trailer) anywhere near the water. Not to be outdone by nature, we took the boat off the trailer, pushed it down the bank, and carried it the 50 metres or so to the water. Absolutely knackered, and wondering if it was all worth it, we then waited for Andrew and his son Liam to arrive before trying a troll in an area that surely had not had a boat (and therefore a fishing line) in it for a long time. Sure enough, I managed to break the run of undersize barra and pulled in a very nice 75cm beauty. With only a few weeks left surely before the water gets too cold, it was good to get at least one more before we wait for October to roll around!

Shark Bay – April 07

April 16, 2007 /

Another annual Easter trip to Shark Bay is over. For the second year running, we were joined by Derek and Joy for a week. Last year, the four of us were a little cramped on “Cape Rose” (RL24 trailer sailer) but this year we enjoyed the relative luxury of “Sandpiper” (Court 750).

Sandpiper anchored at Monkey Mia

The plan was for Derek to tow our off-road camper with his Mitsubishi Magna while we would tow “Sandpiper” with the 4WD. Having launched “Sandpiper” at Monkey Mia, Derek would swap the trailer to the 4WD, park the Magna at Monkey Mia and proceed North through Peron National Park to a camp site at Herald Bight. Meanwhile, we would sail the 20 nautical miles to Herald Bight. Alas, the grand plan started to unravel early on when, after a night at a caravan park in Denham, I couldn’t find the car keys. They never have turned up so I suppose you can call them “lost” rather than “misplaced”. Fortunately, we had a spare set so we set off for Monkey Mia. Once there, we found that the spare keys did not include a key for the tow hitch pin so Derek had to drive the 4WD back to Denham, find someone to cut the pin off with an oxy torch, return to Monkey Mia, swap hitches and trailers (the camper has a Tregg Hitch) and go on to Herald Bight.

We sailed North under a very light Easterly. For a while, we pretended to gain some advantage from the wind by running a jib but eventually the lack of air would not even hold a sail shape so we just motored. We arrived at the camp site about 1:30pm and were horrified to find that the beautiful spreading Tamarisk trees that had provided shade since early in the 20th Century had been cut down by the authorities to avoid issues with public liability. Insanity! With no sign of Derek by 3pm, I enlisted the aid of a chap camped a kilometre down the beach and set off to search. We found him about half a km inland and well and truly bogged (both car and trailer). A troopie with two German tourists had stopped to help so we hooked on a snatch strap and soon had the car moving.
However, it refused to budge with the trailer attached so we formed a train with a Defender snatching our Ford Explorer which snatched the camper. With this arrangement, we made it through to the beach and set up camp on the saw dust remains of the Tamarisks.

Our campsite at Herald Bight

Derek and Joy

Over the next few days, we enjoyed some magic weather and some terrific fishing. The nearly-best fish of the week was a large spanish mackerel that took a trolled Halco Laser Pro off Cape Peron. He managed to get it up to the boat before losing it. Just as well, as it was too much fish for us to handle.

Derek leaves Sandpiper

Derek enters Shark Bay

Derek and Joy departed at the end of the week and we took some R&R in Denham. A highlight of the Easter weekend for us was a reunion of the “Class of ’79” for the students who attended Shark Bay Primary School. I had much pleasure in catching up with some of my former pupils and their families.

A 56cm black snapper

The second week we based ourselves at Monkey Mia, sailing North to Cape Rose and down to the Southern end of Faure Island. The fishing was excellent, with some very large black snapper and a couple of super sized tailer. This trip represented a return to the Eastern Gulf of Shark Bay after many years of exploring the Western Gulf. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have promised to return to Monkey Mia on our next trip.

Two XOS tailor from Cape Rose. The bigger one is 65cm.

Aboard the Rare Breed II

November 17, 2006 /

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!

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Oh for the Deep Blue Sea…

November 13, 2006 /

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.

Derek Can Catch Fish

November 10, 2006 /

Here is proof that Derek can actually catch a decent fish. This “little”
mulloway was caught in Useless Inlet, Shark Bay. He looks like he has been
riding a horse but that’s because the fish is heavier than him.

 

Derek with a mulloway

Sandpiper’s First Cruise

November 9, 2006 /

There seemed to be some non-fishy bits being posted so I thought I’d better redress the imbalance with news of our last trip to Shark Bay. The trip was planned as a shake-down cruise for the new trailer sailer Sandpiper (a Court 750). We spent 9 days cruising the wonderful waters of Shark Bay and several days soaking up the sunshine on land parked at the Denham Seaside Caravan Park.

Actually, the first 4 days of cruising was spent holed up in Big Lagoon, seeking shelter from persistent gale force Southerly winds. Some excellent yellow-fin whiting provided both a distraction and frequent feeds but four days is a long time to spend at anchor in the confines of Big Lagoon.

We sailed South past Useless Loop, spending a night in Boat Haven Loop and several great days exploring the many islands Freycinet Estuary. A narrow strip of shallow reef off Cararrang Station was home to a school of 60 to 70 cm pink snapper. They provided an exciting hour of catch and release fishing on light gear.

Sandpiper performed beyond expectations and was a pleasure to sail. Even so, we came back with healthy list of things to modify, which after all, is half the fun of boat ownership.

Click the thumbnails to see larger versions.

Did someone mention barra?

October 28, 2006 /
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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