Far West Coast - January 2009 (part 2)

See part one here

On day 3, we arose early and packed up the camp. We decided to head up and down Scotts and Mexican Hat, on the off chance there was a school in close, as we badly needed more bait for what was sure to be a bumper mulloway session at Yalata.

No schools were had and we returned to camp to have a quick breakfast and then head off. I discovered my Penn 9500ssm was missing the little screw thing which goes on the opposite side of the reel to the handle. I assumed this screw made sure the handle didn't fall off, and it was panic stations. I had had my rod and reel sitting on top of the car as we searched for schools, so assumed it vibrated loose and fell off somewhere on the track to Mexican Hat. We drove back to the highway via Mexican Hat beach, hoping to see the gold screw glinting in the sun, but no such luck. As it turns out, the handle stayed on fine. The screw is more to stop dirt getting inside, which I remedied by way of some sticky tape over the large hole now in my reel.

We were on our way to Yalata, and of course, stopped at the sign for a photo first

It was HOT in Yalata, very hot. But it was nothing compared to what was coming at us later. Upon walking up the sand hill at Geues, we were treated to the sight of one of the fishiest looking bits of beach we've ever seen. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Yet still, we contained our excitement to put up the much needed shade, and cook up an Aussie day BBQ.

The chops were still a bit frozen, so required a bit of cooking to pry all the pieces loose :)

We finally got out to the water and casted in half expecting the baits to be taken instantly. But nothing happened. So we waited, and waited. Soon the chairs came out and we all sat down, rods now in holders.

The first day at Yalata ended without a single bite.

The next day was hotter than the previous. The highest I saw the thermometer was 56.6 in the sun, which I then relocated to a shadey spot, and it hovered around 48 all day. In the morning we were greeted by thousands of little flies.. they were everywhere. They must have smelt us or something because they hadn't been any where near as bad up until that point. They hung around for the rest of the trip. Andre and Kym came prepared though...

We took a drive down to Bob's Kitchen and when we got down to the camp, had to let our tyres down to get back up the hill. A guy camping there came over for a chat, and told us he'd been camping along the dog fence, and in Yalata for a total of 55 days, and so far he had one barely legal mulloway to show for it. Not sure how he kept up the keenness! He was bronzed up and with skin made of leather. The 55+ heat in the sun not seeming to faze him. My feet were burning on the sand through the soles of my wet suit boots, and after some time chatting, this guy said "gee, the sands a bit hot" and I looked down and he was bare foot! We named him Leatherman after that. Leatherman had an amazing set up with his troopy. He was sitting there watching the tennis via his foxtel satellite dish. He told us how he fishes for bait at Fowlers - sits on top of a cliff watching the cricket, waiting for a school. When he sees one he runs down and chucks out the lure until he has a dozen or so fresh fish. Thats how its done!

Hot weather is good for mulloway fishing they say.. it should have been on! But instead, all we (by we, I mean Matt and I) caught was two very small mulloway which were instantly returned before the camera's came out.

The next day, on Leathermans advice, we woke up early and hit the shallows at geues with some berley and small rods in order to catch some mullet for fresh bait. All we could muster was a few undersize salmon trout though. This day was heating up more than the last, it must have been 40 by 9am. We spent most of the entire day back at camp in the shade, where the temperature was over 50 in the shade for the most part. An attempt to cook saw the hose on the gas bottle somehow burst a small hole in itself, rendering the gas cooker unusable. Luckily Kym brought his butane cooker along, and slowly but surely, some snags were cooked.

Strong northerly winds which were hot as hell were blowing all day, and our once mighty shelter was now falling down all around us. We had to tie one side of the tarp down low, but that just caused the tent to take a pounding too.

Although we had plenty of water, it was all hot enough to be drunk as a cup of tea. The fridge after powering for a few days in the heat must have drained the battery a fair bit, and was now constantly on trying to get stuff inside cool. It struggled to get anywhere below 15 degrees, so our cold cans of drink were now not so cold at all. We took quick trips out to the beach to just lay in the shallows and try cool off, which worked well, but we couldn't stay out in the sun for too long or we'd be burnt to a crisp. Matt chose to stay out there longer, digging himself a little "kiddie pool" in the sand which filled out with water with each large wave. Quite the sight to behold, him sitting in a hole splashing himself in water. Pity we didn't take a camera over to the beach :P. Back at camp, we plowed through all of our hot water, either drinking it warm or spraying it on ourselves to try keep cool.

We decided it was best that we exit Yalata the following morning, as now our meat supply would need to be chucked as well. We sat up into the night as it was still 40+ and impossible to sleep in the sauna of the tent. We didn't realise until afterwards, but everything was extremely quiet, until we heard the roaring of the ocean start up like someone flicked a switch. Ten seconds later the wind shifted to the south and a cool breeze blew through, dropping the temperature 10 degrees instantly. It was the best thing ever at that point.

The final installment can be found here