Just a quick compilation of fish catches from the recent FWC trip. The full video is much more polished...
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Far West Coast - November 2010 (Part 2)
See Part 1 first.
We stopped off at Nundroo for some ice and put half of the bag in the fridge to try and help it get down to a cooler temperature where it could start operating more efficiently. This worked quite well, and we set up in the caravan park before heading out to the ledge for a look.
As always, the ledge looked supremely 'fishy' - but we couldn't resist the allure of Scotts Beach and all its salmon schools.We headed back to Scotts and checked out the schools - they were all out of casting range. After a small amount of time, we went back to the caravan park to have a shower, clean up a bit, and cook some dinner. We had a plan to hit the jetty that night, which we did. It was very windy out on the jetty and not even a single squid was caught. A brief mention also goes out to a character at the Caravan Park we called the "Camel Back Hero" - look out for him if you're ever there. He's the guy who looks like he is ready to run a 44km marathon, at all times.
The following morning, after a quick trip to Scotts to restock the bait supply (yes it was that easy), we debated about whether to stay another day in the Caravan Park, and spent the day out at Cabbots Beach, or pack up immediately and head out to a Beach called Tuckamore. I spoke to one of the locals who told me that Cabbots rarely has mulloway come through, and Tuckamore, whilst quiet this year, has seen plenty in the past. Given that we were here to catch mulloway - we opted for Tuckamore, even though I didn't really know where to go.
We dropped into Penong for Will to top up on fuel, and grab some 'emergency' beers, and then headed off into Chadinga Conservation Park. I followed the only track on my GPS that lead somewhat close to the coast line and after 45 minutes of winding through what looked to be a fairly unused track, we met the ocean once more. This picture is of us letting the tyres down as the track became quite soft nearer the ocean.
The beach appeared soft and we didn't wish to drive down it to check for more gutters, but luckily there was one right out front of the beach access point. A real deep and long gutter - it looked prime. We parked the cars close together and again assembled a big shelter with my 6x6 metre tarp (which now has a severe lack of eyelets). This time we made one entire side go down to the ground to stop the northerly wind howling through our shelter - worked well until the wind changed direction.
After cooking up lunch, I ducked around the back of camp for a nature visit when I heard the others screaming out that I had a bite. I quickly ran back around to see my rod sitting in its holder, lifeless. I wound in and rebaited, and then not long after I had another bite - this time I was on to it and after a brief fight, wound in my first ever Snapper - and a good size too. Finally, I join Matt & Will in the Snapper Club! Unfortunately, the video camera and the brag mat were still packed away in the car, so we didn't have time to get a measure on it or any footage before returning it to the water (November being Snapper ban month)
This catch also brought me one fish away from 'The Trifecta'. The Trifecta is when you catch 3 prize species (in this case, Shark, Mulloway and Snapper) all in one trip. I just needed to land a legal Mulloway now. Just a few hours later, Will completed his very own Trifecta. He landed a legal Snapper of his own, continuing his dream run this trip.
Will had literally just released his Snapper when his other rod started shaking about and he was immediately on to something else. Not content with already having the Trifecta, he was now upgrading on sizes previously caught, landing this terrific Bronzy.
Despite it being a very hot day (the thermometer sitting around 38 in the shade most of the day), it was clear the there was a storm brewing as the day wore on. We could see showers in the distance and the clouds were ominous. We spent a lot of time looking out at this view:
As night fell, we were treated to some awesome lightning storm action off on the horizon, but as we slept at night, that storm got worse and worse. I awoke in the middle of the night to the wind howling through our shelter, which instead of blocking the northerly wind, was now catching the southerly entirely. I'm surprised it held up. Credit goes to Harry for putting more support beams and guy ropes onto that thing than you could poke a stick at (Although Matt wasn't as impressed when he went arse over tit, tripping over a seemingly pointless rope tied 10 cm above the ground. It made things worse (read: funnier) when he brought down a heavy cast iron pot onto the back of his foot, resulting in a blackened heel). The frequency of lightning strikes during the night was unreal.
On the Friday, we woke up to see masses of seaweed floating around in our once pristine gutter. It would make fishing near impossible, and we just sat and looked out at it mostly. We did notice that the majority of the weed was lumping together in what Matt dubbed Weed Island. It would slowly shift up and down the gutter all day long, but never actually move out of the gutter. We all had small attempts at fishing in 'clear' spots, but they were short lived as the weed soon came and made a mess of things. Will persisted for hours, trudging up the beach from one end of the gutter to the other in attempts to avoid Weed Island. His persistence paid off after lunch as he landed two gummies in quick succession. Both were dispatched for a post FWC BBQ.
Despite Wills success, we decided that if the following day (our last full day) was going to be full of seaweed, we may as well pull the pin a day early and head home. There wasn't much point staring out at sea weed all day long. Luckily, as we awoke for our final day, we noticed the weed was visibly less. Still there, but not bad enough to send us home (possibly to Kym's disappointment, who looked to be sick of watching Will catch all the fish - excuse me.. I caught two!).
The day fined up nicely and we sat down, enjoyed the last of the emergency beers, and watched Will make another upgrade on his Trifecta. This time an absolute horse of a snapper pulled from the gutter. People in boats would be envious of this one! It measured 92cm, which wasn't much longer than the others we caught, but just looked so much bigger overall.
We stopped off at Nundroo for some ice and put half of the bag in the fridge to try and help it get down to a cooler temperature where it could start operating more efficiently. This worked quite well, and we set up in the caravan park before heading out to the ledge for a look.
As always, the ledge looked supremely 'fishy' - but we couldn't resist the allure of Scotts Beach and all its salmon schools.We headed back to Scotts and checked out the schools - they were all out of casting range. After a small amount of time, we went back to the caravan park to have a shower, clean up a bit, and cook some dinner. We had a plan to hit the jetty that night, which we did. It was very windy out on the jetty and not even a single squid was caught. A brief mention also goes out to a character at the Caravan Park we called the "Camel Back Hero" - look out for him if you're ever there. He's the guy who looks like he is ready to run a 44km marathon, at all times.
The following morning, after a quick trip to Scotts to restock the bait supply (yes it was that easy), we debated about whether to stay another day in the Caravan Park, and spent the day out at Cabbots Beach, or pack up immediately and head out to a Beach called Tuckamore. I spoke to one of the locals who told me that Cabbots rarely has mulloway come through, and Tuckamore, whilst quiet this year, has seen plenty in the past. Given that we were here to catch mulloway - we opted for Tuckamore, even though I didn't really know where to go.
We dropped into Penong for Will to top up on fuel, and grab some 'emergency' beers, and then headed off into Chadinga Conservation Park. I followed the only track on my GPS that lead somewhat close to the coast line and after 45 minutes of winding through what looked to be a fairly unused track, we met the ocean once more. This picture is of us letting the tyres down as the track became quite soft nearer the ocean.
The beach appeared soft and we didn't wish to drive down it to check for more gutters, but luckily there was one right out front of the beach access point. A real deep and long gutter - it looked prime. We parked the cars close together and again assembled a big shelter with my 6x6 metre tarp (which now has a severe lack of eyelets). This time we made one entire side go down to the ground to stop the northerly wind howling through our shelter - worked well until the wind changed direction.
After cooking up lunch, I ducked around the back of camp for a nature visit when I heard the others screaming out that I had a bite. I quickly ran back around to see my rod sitting in its holder, lifeless. I wound in and rebaited, and then not long after I had another bite - this time I was on to it and after a brief fight, wound in my first ever Snapper - and a good size too. Finally, I join Matt & Will in the Snapper Club! Unfortunately, the video camera and the brag mat were still packed away in the car, so we didn't have time to get a measure on it or any footage before returning it to the water (November being Snapper ban month)
This catch also brought me one fish away from 'The Trifecta'. The Trifecta is when you catch 3 prize species (in this case, Shark, Mulloway and Snapper) all in one trip. I just needed to land a legal Mulloway now. Just a few hours later, Will completed his very own Trifecta. He landed a legal Snapper of his own, continuing his dream run this trip.
Will had literally just released his Snapper when his other rod started shaking about and he was immediately on to something else. Not content with already having the Trifecta, he was now upgrading on sizes previously caught, landing this terrific Bronzy.
Despite it being a very hot day (the thermometer sitting around 38 in the shade most of the day), it was clear the there was a storm brewing as the day wore on. We could see showers in the distance and the clouds were ominous. We spent a lot of time looking out at this view:
As night fell, we were treated to some awesome lightning storm action off on the horizon, but as we slept at night, that storm got worse and worse. I awoke in the middle of the night to the wind howling through our shelter, which instead of blocking the northerly wind, was now catching the southerly entirely. I'm surprised it held up. Credit goes to Harry for putting more support beams and guy ropes onto that thing than you could poke a stick at (Although Matt wasn't as impressed when he went arse over tit, tripping over a seemingly pointless rope tied 10 cm above the ground. It made things worse (read: funnier) when he brought down a heavy cast iron pot onto the back of his foot, resulting in a blackened heel). The frequency of lightning strikes during the night was unreal.
On the Friday, we woke up to see masses of seaweed floating around in our once pristine gutter. It would make fishing near impossible, and we just sat and looked out at it mostly. We did notice that the majority of the weed was lumping together in what Matt dubbed Weed Island. It would slowly shift up and down the gutter all day long, but never actually move out of the gutter. We all had small attempts at fishing in 'clear' spots, but they were short lived as the weed soon came and made a mess of things. Will persisted for hours, trudging up the beach from one end of the gutter to the other in attempts to avoid Weed Island. His persistence paid off after lunch as he landed two gummies in quick succession. Both were dispatched for a post FWC BBQ.Despite Wills success, we decided that if the following day (our last full day) was going to be full of seaweed, we may as well pull the pin a day early and head home. There wasn't much point staring out at sea weed all day long. Luckily, as we awoke for our final day, we noticed the weed was visibly less. Still there, but not bad enough to send us home (possibly to Kym's disappointment, who looked to be sick of watching Will catch all the fish - excuse me.. I caught two!).
The day fined up nicely and we sat down, enjoyed the last of the emergency beers, and watched Will make another upgrade on his Trifecta. This time an absolute horse of a snapper pulled from the gutter. People in boats would be envious of this one! It measured 92cm, which wasn't much longer than the others we caught, but just looked so much bigger overall.
With a lot of bacon and eggs left over, our last days diet consisted completely of those ingredients, and I must say - it was awesome. We consumed 1.5kg of bacon that day, and probably over a dozen eggs. But, with the day getting later, we thought it would be best to pull down our magnificent shelter, and get everything besides the swags packed away in the car - to make for a quick and easy get away the next morning. Chadinga/Tuckamore had been quite successful, and I reckon we'll make another visit there some day. We were hoping to get a legal mully in the final days to take home and freeze up, but we can't complain with three awesome snapper off the beach - usually such a rare catch.
Despite Will's dominance, for me, this was our best trip ever by a long shot. Any day of the week I'd rather see my mates pull in fish than for no one to catch a thing. The sharks were everywhere this trip too! We could have fished wire trace all day long and probably had 6 more pictures of sharks in this story, but they do say the Mullys avoid wire. See you all next time, unless EVIL HARRY gets us!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Far West Coast - November 2010 (Part 1)
This trip will be remembered as one of a few things. Maybe "Will's Fishing 101". Or "Will's Fishing Masterclass". Or maybe just "The Trip Will Caught Basically Everything". Either way, one thing should be clear; Will dominated this trip.
With Andre's late pull out due to an injured back/hip/whatever else is wrong - it was down to 5 people on the biggest trip of 2010. Will, Matt (returning to the FWC after previously announcing himself never to return), Kym, Harry, and myself.
After the long 10 hour drive, we arrived in Fowlers Bay, and proceeded to let the tyres down before taking the 4wd's across the huge sand dunes over to the fabled Scotts Beach. Upon arrival on the beach, we immediately sighted a huge school of Salmon out the back of the breakers. We pulled up and quickly tied on lures, but with a strong wind in our face, were unable to to cast far enough to reach them. It wasn't long however, before the school moved in close and we were on in a big way. 4kg Salmon were being hauled up the beach. We needed to get quite a few for bait, and things were looking very very nice, instantly.
We made a fine adjustment to our location, moving 100 metres down the beach to where the gutter looked some what deeper, and decided to set up there for the night. The schools were hanging out of casting distance for the most part, but every now and then they'd come in close and we'd get a couple. We changed over to baits which proved effective in catching the Salmon that left the school. As we got out the chairs to settle in for a sunset fish, Will's rod bucked over in a massive way - and an amazing day one session just got even better.
Unfortunately, it didn't take too long to realise he didn't have a fish of any sort on his line, but instead a huge eagle ray taking a lot of line away from him. After a long battle, and Will with a now very sore back - I managed to get the gaff into the Eagle Ray's wing and slide it up the beach. 30 minutes later, and with a half broken back, Will's Rod buckles over again, and he is set for another huge battle against a monster Eagle Ray. We thought it may have been the same one just screwing with us - but it turned out to be a slightly larger one. This one was again landed and released - and with night fall not far away, we set up some wire traces and got the glow sticks ready!
There was plenty of action once it became dark. A lot of bust offs on those who didn't put a wire on, and even those that did - my line was bitten off above the wire trace. Note for next time: make wire longer. Of course there was one person who didn't get bitten off though - Will. He hooked on and brought in a massive Gummy Shark. Biggest Gummy I've ever seen caught by a long shot.
We all arose the next morning, and found a school of salmon right in close, directly in front of our campsite. It was one of probably 5 or 6 large schools all along Scotts Beach. We again got the lures out proceeded to catch fish after fish of monster Salmon. They went off like freight trains when hooked. We chased the school as it moved down the beach lobbing salmon high up the beach as we caught them and recasting immediately. The worst bit was walking back to camp holding 10kgs of salmon each. It was one of the finest Salmon fishing session's we've ever had, and after 4 Far West Coast trips, Scotts Beach finally lived up to its reputation as the best Salmon beach in South Australia.
With a large esky full of salmon fillets, we headed off towards the Dog Fence. The initial plan was to check out the beaches on the eastern side, as I'd heard some recent good reports there. There were a surprising amount of campers tucked away in the dunes as we traversed our way through the sand dunes. The main problem with the eastern side is you can't drive on the beach so you only get an opportunity now and then to check out the beach.
We pulled up to the beach at one of the access points and sighted a large gutter about 1.5 kilometres down the beach - and set off in search of a way to get to it. The track came to a stop about 500 metres later though - but close enough to the beach that we were able to duck across some sand dunes (tsk tsk, Will!). Will went down on to the beach and immediately got into trouble.. the sand was undriven on and very soft. He managed to do about a 300 point turn and get the car pointing back up onto the track but couldn't make it up the small hill. Surf to the rescue! We hooked up the snatch strap and after a number of attempts, we got the hilux up on to safe ground. We made it back to the main track and stopped to allow Will to get his tyres back up to a safe pressure. We also took the opportunity to have a cold beer and pose for the camera.
Since we couldn't find a decent gutter with a nearby area to camp at - we opted to go over to the western side of the fence instead. We found a decent gutter adjacent to some reefy structure, and set up camp there. Will immediately got his rod holder out and planted it right near the reef - a move that would later pay off in a big way.
On Day 3, most were up around 7am and a few extra Salmon were caught early. Given the amount we had for bait, all were released except one kept for lunch. Soon after, Will's rod looked to have a bit of interest - and soon he was battling a big fish. Fingers were crossed for a big Mulloway, but Will was still excited to get a nice bronze whaler shark up onto the beach. It had a weird cut in its gills - perhaps been gaffed in the past. A few photos were taken and it was released.
An hour and a half later, and again Will is onto a decent fish. As it came into the wash, I could see it was a Mulloway and called it - "its legal!". But Will couldn't see it as well as me and thought it was undersized. It didn't truly sink in for him until Harry ran down with the brag mat, and showed it to be 83cm. Will let out a massive cheer for his first ever legal mulloway. After years of catching undersizers - it's a great feeling! There was a round of high fives and plenty of photos taken - then the first was dispatched and fillets put into the fridge. Catching fish to eat was necessary this trip to avoid having to live solely on canned food. We had enough meat to only last us about half the trip. As a side note - I was still president of the "Mulloway Club" having a bigger PB at 91cm.
Around 6pm, I had my first taste of some Dog Fence action - my rod bending over onto a nice fish. As always when you get a big bite out west, you hope like hell that there is a big fat mulloway on the end of your line. No such luck on this occasion, but I was still absolutely stoked when this great looking Bronze Whaler was landed. My first ever Shark.
An hour later, and Will is onto another big fish. This one is going really hard though. When he pulled in a 112cm Mulloway, the cheers and high fives were even more jubilant than the first. I handed over the presidency. This fish looked really massive laying on the sand, we estimated it to be around 30-35lbs. I can only imagine what a 50 or 60 pounder would look like. With one Mulloway already in the fridge, and us still 6 days away from a freezer - Will decided to let it go. After a photo or 5 of course. What an amazing days fishing.
On Day 4, a northerly breeze started blowing, as the hot weather started to roll in. Matt seized the opportunity to set up a balloon in hope that the wind would drag it far out to sea. It worked to some extent, but couldn't get past the breakers on the first sand bar. It must have had the bait in a good spot though, as he was bitten off by a Shark soon after. Matt then set up a new balloon, but with a wire trace - unfortunately it didn't get any more bites and he soon changed back to his usual sinker rig.
Kym also "got sharked" shortly before Matt again had a big run on his line. He had a battle for about 2 minutes before the fish spat the hooks - a suspected Mulloway lost there! With no actual fish landed, it was a quiet mornings fishing, but after lunch Will landed a small Gummy Shark, and this one was kept to eat up later.
Sitting around camp eating lunch all our ears pricked up as we heard the sound of a drag going off. But before we could get too excited, we realised it was just a big blow fly stuck in the garbage bag! But that disappointment didn't last long as Matt was again hooked onto something large. We were convinced this must be a big Mully, as it took off sideways down the beach, following the gutter. It was going hard and after a long battle, Matt had it in close to reveal it was actually a big sting ray - disappointing, but a bit of fun anyway. His line snapped as the ray came into the wash, saving him the task of getting it back into the water. He re-rigged and caught a nice Salmon shortly after - so not all was lost!
With sunset approaching, Will hooked onto, and landed his third legal mulloway of the trip - which at this stage left the rest of us shaking our heads wondering what the hell we had to do to make them take our baits! With his first Mulloway mostly consumed, he kept this one. It went about 103-105cm in length and weighed 10.5kgs (23 pounds).
Will caught his fourth legal Mully shortly after that one, but at 'only' 76cm, it was thrown back. If anyone else landed it, there would have been a lot more excitement I suspect. As nightfall set in, Matt had his third big run of the day and again, he pulled a big sting ray into the surf. I made an attempt to gaff it, but in the dark proved too hard to see where it actually was. It snapped off and again saved the task of releasing it. I think Matt was actually pleased with that one snapping off. A swinging sting ray barb in the night probably isn't a good thing. Certainly not after 12 beers!
As I got up on Day 5, and peered over to the thermometer and noticed the fridge was at 13 degrees. I checked it out and sure enough, the fridge battery was flat. It seemed that we neglected to have a rotation system going when it came to getting beers out the fridge - which meant before going to bed we loaded it up around 60 warm cans - the fridge in an attempt to cool them all down chewed through the battery power quickly. I started the car so that the fridge could get going again, and then someone opened the bait esky. The worst smell you could possibly imagine came wafting out and the realisation that our bait supply had gone very bad also came to light. We dug a big hole down in the surf and poured all the remaining fillets in to it. Even covered up the smell was amazingly bad - I came extremely close to throwing up on the beach.
With no fresh salmon fillets for bait, and the food eskies ice getting low, and the fridge without cold beer, we decided we'd have to pack up and head back to Fowlers Bay for a night to get the fridge going again, and restock our ice supplies for both food and bait eskies. We didn't want to risk a fresh 11kg Mulloway going bad either.
Now, go onwards to Part 2
With Andre's late pull out due to an injured back/hip/whatever else is wrong - it was down to 5 people on the biggest trip of 2010. Will, Matt (returning to the FWC after previously announcing himself never to return), Kym, Harry, and myself.
After the long 10 hour drive, we arrived in Fowlers Bay, and proceeded to let the tyres down before taking the 4wd's across the huge sand dunes over to the fabled Scotts Beach. Upon arrival on the beach, we immediately sighted a huge school of Salmon out the back of the breakers. We pulled up and quickly tied on lures, but with a strong wind in our face, were unable to to cast far enough to reach them. It wasn't long however, before the school moved in close and we were on in a big way. 4kg Salmon were being hauled up the beach. We needed to get quite a few for bait, and things were looking very very nice, instantly.
 |
| Matt with one of many Salmon landed |
Unfortunately, it didn't take too long to realise he didn't have a fish of any sort on his line, but instead a huge eagle ray taking a lot of line away from him. After a long battle, and Will with a now very sore back - I managed to get the gaff into the Eagle Ray's wing and slide it up the beach. 30 minutes later, and with a half broken back, Will's Rod buckles over again, and he is set for another huge battle against a monster Eagle Ray. We thought it may have been the same one just screwing with us - but it turned out to be a slightly larger one. This one was again landed and released - and with night fall not far away, we set up some wire traces and got the glow sticks ready!
There was plenty of action once it became dark. A lot of bust offs on those who didn't put a wire on, and even those that did - my line was bitten off above the wire trace. Note for next time: make wire longer. Of course there was one person who didn't get bitten off though - Will. He hooked on and brought in a massive Gummy Shark. Biggest Gummy I've ever seen caught by a long shot.
We all arose the next morning, and found a school of salmon right in close, directly in front of our campsite. It was one of probably 5 or 6 large schools all along Scotts Beach. We again got the lures out proceeded to catch fish after fish of monster Salmon. They went off like freight trains when hooked. We chased the school as it moved down the beach lobbing salmon high up the beach as we caught them and recasting immediately. The worst bit was walking back to camp holding 10kgs of salmon each. It was one of the finest Salmon fishing session's we've ever had, and after 4 Far West Coast trips, Scotts Beach finally lived up to its reputation as the best Salmon beach in South Australia.With a large esky full of salmon fillets, we headed off towards the Dog Fence. The initial plan was to check out the beaches on the eastern side, as I'd heard some recent good reports there. There were a surprising amount of campers tucked away in the dunes as we traversed our way through the sand dunes. The main problem with the eastern side is you can't drive on the beach so you only get an opportunity now and then to check out the beach.
We pulled up to the beach at one of the access points and sighted a large gutter about 1.5 kilometres down the beach - and set off in search of a way to get to it. The track came to a stop about 500 metres later though - but close enough to the beach that we were able to duck across some sand dunes (tsk tsk, Will!). Will went down on to the beach and immediately got into trouble.. the sand was undriven on and very soft. He managed to do about a 300 point turn and get the car pointing back up onto the track but couldn't make it up the small hill. Surf to the rescue! We hooked up the snatch strap and after a number of attempts, we got the hilux up on to safe ground. We made it back to the main track and stopped to allow Will to get his tyres back up to a safe pressure. We also took the opportunity to have a cold beer and pose for the camera.
Since we couldn't find a decent gutter with a nearby area to camp at - we opted to go over to the western side of the fence instead. We found a decent gutter adjacent to some reefy structure, and set up camp there. Will immediately got his rod holder out and planted it right near the reef - a move that would later pay off in a big way.
 |
| Dog Fence Beach Campsite |
On Day 3, most were up around 7am and a few extra Salmon were caught early. Given the amount we had for bait, all were released except one kept for lunch. Soon after, Will's rod looked to have a bit of interest - and soon he was battling a big fish. Fingers were crossed for a big Mulloway, but Will was still excited to get a nice bronze whaler shark up onto the beach. It had a weird cut in its gills - perhaps been gaffed in the past. A few photos were taken and it was released.
An hour and a half later, and again Will is onto a decent fish. As it came into the wash, I could see it was a Mulloway and called it - "its legal!". But Will couldn't see it as well as me and thought it was undersized. It didn't truly sink in for him until Harry ran down with the brag mat, and showed it to be 83cm. Will let out a massive cheer for his first ever legal mulloway. After years of catching undersizers - it's a great feeling! There was a round of high fives and plenty of photos taken - then the first was dispatched and fillets put into the fridge. Catching fish to eat was necessary this trip to avoid having to live solely on canned food. We had enough meat to only last us about half the trip. As a side note - I was still president of the "Mulloway Club" having a bigger PB at 91cm.
Around 6pm, I had my first taste of some Dog Fence action - my rod bending over onto a nice fish. As always when you get a big bite out west, you hope like hell that there is a big fat mulloway on the end of your line. No such luck on this occasion, but I was still absolutely stoked when this great looking Bronze Whaler was landed. My first ever Shark.
An hour later, and Will is onto another big fish. This one is going really hard though. When he pulled in a 112cm Mulloway, the cheers and high fives were even more jubilant than the first. I handed over the presidency. This fish looked really massive laying on the sand, we estimated it to be around 30-35lbs. I can only imagine what a 50 or 60 pounder would look like. With one Mulloway already in the fridge, and us still 6 days away from a freezer - Will decided to let it go. After a photo or 5 of course. What an amazing days fishing.
On Day 4, a northerly breeze started blowing, as the hot weather started to roll in. Matt seized the opportunity to set up a balloon in hope that the wind would drag it far out to sea. It worked to some extent, but couldn't get past the breakers on the first sand bar. It must have had the bait in a good spot though, as he was bitten off by a Shark soon after. Matt then set up a new balloon, but with a wire trace - unfortunately it didn't get any more bites and he soon changed back to his usual sinker rig.
Kym also "got sharked" shortly before Matt again had a big run on his line. He had a battle for about 2 minutes before the fish spat the hooks - a suspected Mulloway lost there! With no actual fish landed, it was a quiet mornings fishing, but after lunch Will landed a small Gummy Shark, and this one was kept to eat up later.
Sitting around camp eating lunch all our ears pricked up as we heard the sound of a drag going off. But before we could get too excited, we realised it was just a big blow fly stuck in the garbage bag! But that disappointment didn't last long as Matt was again hooked onto something large. We were convinced this must be a big Mully, as it took off sideways down the beach, following the gutter. It was going hard and after a long battle, Matt had it in close to reveal it was actually a big sting ray - disappointing, but a bit of fun anyway. His line snapped as the ray came into the wash, saving him the task of getting it back into the water. He re-rigged and caught a nice Salmon shortly after - so not all was lost!
With sunset approaching, Will hooked onto, and landed his third legal mulloway of the trip - which at this stage left the rest of us shaking our heads wondering what the hell we had to do to make them take our baits! With his first Mulloway mostly consumed, he kept this one. It went about 103-105cm in length and weighed 10.5kgs (23 pounds).
Will caught his fourth legal Mully shortly after that one, but at 'only' 76cm, it was thrown back. If anyone else landed it, there would have been a lot more excitement I suspect. As nightfall set in, Matt had his third big run of the day and again, he pulled a big sting ray into the surf. I made an attempt to gaff it, but in the dark proved too hard to see where it actually was. It snapped off and again saved the task of releasing it. I think Matt was actually pleased with that one snapping off. A swinging sting ray barb in the night probably isn't a good thing. Certainly not after 12 beers!
As I got up on Day 5, and peered over to the thermometer and noticed the fridge was at 13 degrees. I checked it out and sure enough, the fridge battery was flat. It seemed that we neglected to have a rotation system going when it came to getting beers out the fridge - which meant before going to bed we loaded it up around 60 warm cans - the fridge in an attempt to cool them all down chewed through the battery power quickly. I started the car so that the fridge could get going again, and then someone opened the bait esky. The worst smell you could possibly imagine came wafting out and the realisation that our bait supply had gone very bad also came to light. We dug a big hole down in the surf and poured all the remaining fillets in to it. Even covered up the smell was amazingly bad - I came extremely close to throwing up on the beach.
With no fresh salmon fillets for bait, and the food eskies ice getting low, and the fridge without cold beer, we decided we'd have to pack up and head back to Fowlers Bay for a night to get the fridge going again, and restock our ice supplies for both food and bait eskies. We didn't want to risk a fresh 11kg Mulloway going bad either.
Now, go onwards to Part 2
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Ryan & Andy - Coorong Quicky
Andy and I thought with a few days off work, we'd do a quick overnighter to Salt Creek in similar fashion to last October. Hoping to avoid the long weekend crowds, we turned left after hitting the beach, after coming across 42 mile crossing.
A long section of beach was very soft, and the Surf was struggling as I passed by a Patrol bogged down to the axles. He had another car there helping so I plowed on. I had to stop shortly afterwards though as my car was overheating from revving so hard whilst going no where fast. Whilst waiting for the car to cool down, I let the tyres down further to 15psi, and we were soon on our way again.
We stopped in front of a nice gutter and lucky enough there was a spot to park the car in the dunes. Another group must have camped there not long before us, as we found 3 discarded salmon laying on the sand. Not to be wasteful, we chopped them up for bait. It almost paid off when Andy's new rod and reel combo (a warm welcome to the Penn 950ssm club) bent over and line started peeling off - but the excitement was short lived as the line went limp again before Andy could get his hands on the rod.
He didn't have to wait much longer though, as he wound in this thumping sambo, after it did about 4 big leaps out of the water as it struggled to break free.
Soon after, and I had a bite on my line. It didn't put up much of a fight, but I was stoked when I pulled in this flat head.
We sat back, had some drinks, and soaked in the good weather, at the same time as me landing another 3 salmon - though still not as big as Andy's catch. It was a top little fishing session for what was supposed to be a dodge tide.
As the sun set, the mosquito's came out in plague proportions, so we set up the fire to attempt to move them along and set into a night fish. We went hard until 2 or 3 am, but without a bite.
The following morning we had a few more bites but only one more salmon was beached before we decided to call the trip and head home. There was no repeat of last years Mully, but the flat head tasted pretty good!
A long section of beach was very soft, and the Surf was struggling as I passed by a Patrol bogged down to the axles. He had another car there helping so I plowed on. I had to stop shortly afterwards though as my car was overheating from revving so hard whilst going no where fast. Whilst waiting for the car to cool down, I let the tyres down further to 15psi, and we were soon on our way again.
We stopped in front of a nice gutter and lucky enough there was a spot to park the car in the dunes. Another group must have camped there not long before us, as we found 3 discarded salmon laying on the sand. Not to be wasteful, we chopped them up for bait. It almost paid off when Andy's new rod and reel combo (a warm welcome to the Penn 950ssm club) bent over and line started peeling off - but the excitement was short lived as the line went limp again before Andy could get his hands on the rod.
He didn't have to wait much longer though, as he wound in this thumping sambo, after it did about 4 big leaps out of the water as it struggled to break free.
Soon after, and I had a bite on my line. It didn't put up much of a fight, but I was stoked when I pulled in this flat head.
We sat back, had some drinks, and soaked in the good weather, at the same time as me landing another 3 salmon - though still not as big as Andy's catch. It was a top little fishing session for what was supposed to be a dodge tide.
As the sun set, the mosquito's came out in plague proportions, so we set up the fire to attempt to move them along and set into a night fish. We went hard until 2 or 3 am, but without a bite.
The following morning we had a few more bites but only one more salmon was beached before we decided to call the trip and head home. There was no repeat of last years Mully, but the flat head tasted pretty good!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Ryan & Kym Hit The Foot, Get Kicked in the Arse
By the weather, at least.
Kym and I had the day off Friday, and after planning to head down to Salt Creek, we ended up going to Yorkes instead. We rolled onto Dust Hole beach around 1pm, and only one other group was fishing the entire beach.
There were a few decent gutters on the beach, so we found the best looking one and tucked the car into the dunes. We cast out immediately, and tried to cook up some lunch in the howling wind. The wind was so strong we basically had to cook in the back of the car - and we sat in the front seats to keep an eye on the rods and keep away from the stinging sand. After an hour, my rod buckled over and I raced over to pull in a double header of probably 1kg salmon. Kym wound in his line and found he had been bitten clean off, perhaps a Shark was also patrolling the gutters. Over the next few hours before sunset, Kym pulled in three more Salmon, and we had a good little catch on ice.
We had planned to swag it on the beach, but the massive wind was in our face and every half hour it bucketed down for five minutes. We didn't have much chance of securing a tarp down to get out of the rain. Faced with sleeping in the car, We instead opted to drive up to Gleesons to get out the wind and set up a fire, around 6:30pm.
We set the alarm for 5:30am, and although we woke up feeling pretty good, laziness had us sleep for a few more hours. Saturday was spent mostly looking for a spot to fish out of the wind. Went into Innes, and checked out all the surf beaches, but there were no good gutters, and Browns isn't known for its middle of the day fishing, so we didn't particularly want to tackle the massive walk. We went back to Stenhouse Bay for a quick fish on the jetty before deciding Armchair Rock at Stansbury would be our best bet for getting out of the wind. The jetty provided zilch, although we saw a few squid landed.
The plan was good. Hardly any wind and great looking water.. sort of LEDGE like. I casted out a big slab of salmon, but squid kept attacking it, so we quickly tied on some jags, and we ended up landing ten squid before they went quiet. With some big thunderstorms rolling in, and us without a campsite again, we pulled the pin and got home about 10pm Sat night. Just in time I think - the rain on the way home was crazy. Driving down Port Wakefield Road, all I could see was water, and reflectors on the sides of the road.
Sani cooked up a few squid on Sunday for lunch! Not bad. The rest of course went into the freezer, where they shall be used as bait to catch a monster mulloway!
Kym and I had the day off Friday, and after planning to head down to Salt Creek, we ended up going to Yorkes instead. We rolled onto Dust Hole beach around 1pm, and only one other group was fishing the entire beach.
There were a few decent gutters on the beach, so we found the best looking one and tucked the car into the dunes. We cast out immediately, and tried to cook up some lunch in the howling wind. The wind was so strong we basically had to cook in the back of the car - and we sat in the front seats to keep an eye on the rods and keep away from the stinging sand. After an hour, my rod buckled over and I raced over to pull in a double header of probably 1kg salmon. Kym wound in his line and found he had been bitten clean off, perhaps a Shark was also patrolling the gutters. Over the next few hours before sunset, Kym pulled in three more Salmon, and we had a good little catch on ice.
We had planned to swag it on the beach, but the massive wind was in our face and every half hour it bucketed down for five minutes. We didn't have much chance of securing a tarp down to get out of the rain. Faced with sleeping in the car, We instead opted to drive up to Gleesons to get out the wind and set up a fire, around 6:30pm.
We set the alarm for 5:30am, and although we woke up feeling pretty good, laziness had us sleep for a few more hours. Saturday was spent mostly looking for a spot to fish out of the wind. Went into Innes, and checked out all the surf beaches, but there were no good gutters, and Browns isn't known for its middle of the day fishing, so we didn't particularly want to tackle the massive walk. We went back to Stenhouse Bay for a quick fish on the jetty before deciding Armchair Rock at Stansbury would be our best bet for getting out of the wind. The jetty provided zilch, although we saw a few squid landed.
The plan was good. Hardly any wind and great looking water.. sort of LEDGE like. I casted out a big slab of salmon, but squid kept attacking it, so we quickly tied on some jags, and we ended up landing ten squid before they went quiet. With some big thunderstorms rolling in, and us without a campsite again, we pulled the pin and got home about 10pm Sat night. Just in time I think - the rain on the way home was crazy. Driving down Port Wakefield Road, all I could see was water, and reflectors on the sides of the road.
Sani cooked up a few squid on Sunday for lunch! Not bad. The rest of course went into the freezer, where they shall be used as bait to catch a monster mulloway!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Hillocks Drive - June 2010
Throwing away 4 years of June long weekend tradition, the guys opted for a trip down to Hillocks Drive, instead of the usual winter Coorong trip. Amongst the last minute planning, we some how decided on heading off after work on the Friday night.
Harry, Matt and Will arrived about 30 minutes before Kym and I, and it wasn't long before the tents/swags were up and the camp fire cranking. Given that it was past 11pm before we settled into a few beers, Will hit the swag first with a grand plan of getting up early and into the Salmon. The rest of us drunk beer until we convinced each other it was wise to stop.
Everyone was up around 8am and we soon set off to the beach. Matt and Will raced down that cliff and set up in our favourite spot, though, a little left of the gutter due to another group of fisho's already there.
By time I made it down to the beach, I realised I had left my camera bag on the bull bar of my car. $3k worth of camera gear sitting there for the taking. Enough incentive to run my unfit arse back up that cliff! I was buggered when I got back down and the only response I got from the others was "why didn't you bring beer?" (it was about 10am.. but regardless...)
It wasn't a long wait before a Salmon was landed, and not long again before Will's new Daiwa Sensor Surf buckled over to what appeared to be something very large. It turned out to be a double header of estimated 2kg Salmon.
Matt landed one or two smaller salmon, but for the rest of us, it was very quiet. Kym landed a few small fish on his bait rod, but me and Harry came up with zilch. Harry opted for his preferred method of fishing - asleep.
Just as high tide was approaching, we decided we needed food and set off for camp, leaving behind what was soon to be some prime fishing time. Our priorities are always a little twisted when it comes to fishing, and some food and beers around camp sounded pretty good!
After lunch we debated on where to fish with an hour or two before sunset to go. Salmon beach had a fair bit of weed earlier, so we figured we'd go to Butlers Beach if our usual spot was taken. I drove up to check it out and radio'd back to the others that it was indeed taken, but the rocks looked calm enough for a fish. A quick vote and we set off on the long walk to the rocks.
I set up my surf rod with a big bait and cast out, and set about some drunken photography whilst the others toyed with some small fish that were schooling around the berley bag. Lots of beers, rock fishing, and expensive camera gear. A quality combination. I had been wanting to try some long exposure shots though, and managed to get one or two I liked.
Looks like Harry has caught a small fish here - leaving me the only person without a single fish.
With darkness setting in, we headed back to camp and Harry set up a huge campfire - well needed given how cold it was going to get that night! The guys fishing the beach said it'd been a bit of a bumper session over high tide..
After a big night around the fire, everyone was up pretty late on Sunday, and we headed down to Salmon beach to spend the whole day fishing. Again the fishing was slow...
As high tide approached, a few other people appeared and set up close by. There was an enormous amount of rods in a close vicinity for awhile there, thankfully no more than a minimal tangle
I did manage to get a fish on the board at some stage - a bit of a fluke as I reckon it jumped my popper as I wound in. Just a small salmon but at least I had something for the weekend. Will and Matt got a couple more Salmon, and Kym continued to catch the smallies, but with the fishing just not firing big time, we headed back up to camp at sunset to set up the fire again. It got down to 0.5 degrees that night, but not cold enough to stop Matt and Will heading off at 6am for a big morning fish session. They didn't get back to camp until around 10am, but had managed to get six more fish between them. Three each if my memory serves me correctly.
The rest of us didn't bother doing any more fishing, and Will was awarded The Gashes, for his big double header and another big salmon to go with it. We packed it all up and headed home around 11:30am.
Far West Coast is locked in for November - looking like 5-6 people, our largest yet. Hopefully we'll get away a few times before then as well.
Harry, Matt and Will arrived about 30 minutes before Kym and I, and it wasn't long before the tents/swags were up and the camp fire cranking. Given that it was past 11pm before we settled into a few beers, Will hit the swag first with a grand plan of getting up early and into the Salmon. The rest of us drunk beer until we convinced each other it was wise to stop.
Everyone was up around 8am and we soon set off to the beach. Matt and Will raced down that cliff and set up in our favourite spot, though, a little left of the gutter due to another group of fisho's already there.
By time I made it down to the beach, I realised I had left my camera bag on the bull bar of my car. $3k worth of camera gear sitting there for the taking. Enough incentive to run my unfit arse back up that cliff! I was buggered when I got back down and the only response I got from the others was "why didn't you bring beer?" (it was about 10am.. but regardless...)
It wasn't a long wait before a Salmon was landed, and not long again before Will's new Daiwa Sensor Surf buckled over to what appeared to be something very large. It turned out to be a double header of estimated 2kg Salmon.
Matt landed one or two smaller salmon, but for the rest of us, it was very quiet. Kym landed a few small fish on his bait rod, but me and Harry came up with zilch. Harry opted for his preferred method of fishing - asleep.
Just as high tide was approaching, we decided we needed food and set off for camp, leaving behind what was soon to be some prime fishing time. Our priorities are always a little twisted when it comes to fishing, and some food and beers around camp sounded pretty good!
After lunch we debated on where to fish with an hour or two before sunset to go. Salmon beach had a fair bit of weed earlier, so we figured we'd go to Butlers Beach if our usual spot was taken. I drove up to check it out and radio'd back to the others that it was indeed taken, but the rocks looked calm enough for a fish. A quick vote and we set off on the long walk to the rocks.
I set up my surf rod with a big bait and cast out, and set about some drunken photography whilst the others toyed with some small fish that were schooling around the berley bag. Lots of beers, rock fishing, and expensive camera gear. A quality combination. I had been wanting to try some long exposure shots though, and managed to get one or two I liked.
Looks like Harry has caught a small fish here - leaving me the only person without a single fish.With darkness setting in, we headed back to camp and Harry set up a huge campfire - well needed given how cold it was going to get that night! The guys fishing the beach said it'd been a bit of a bumper session over high tide..
After a big night around the fire, everyone was up pretty late on Sunday, and we headed down to Salmon beach to spend the whole day fishing. Again the fishing was slow...
As high tide approached, a few other people appeared and set up close by. There was an enormous amount of rods in a close vicinity for awhile there, thankfully no more than a minimal tangle
I did manage to get a fish on the board at some stage - a bit of a fluke as I reckon it jumped my popper as I wound in. Just a small salmon but at least I had something for the weekend. Will and Matt got a couple more Salmon, and Kym continued to catch the smallies, but with the fishing just not firing big time, we headed back up to camp at sunset to set up the fire again. It got down to 0.5 degrees that night, but not cold enough to stop Matt and Will heading off at 6am for a big morning fish session. They didn't get back to camp until around 10am, but had managed to get six more fish between them. Three each if my memory serves me correctly.
The rest of us didn't bother doing any more fishing, and Will was awarded The Gashes, for his big double header and another big salmon to go with it. We packed it all up and headed home around 11:30am.
Far West Coast is locked in for November - looking like 5-6 people, our largest yet. Hopefully we'll get away a few times before then as well.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Far West Coast - February 2010
3:30am on Saturday morning and we were on the road. Some 10 hours later the big sand dunes that tower over Fowler's Bay came into view, and the excitement built up massively.
We rolled into the township for no real reason really, we never planned to stay there. We had a quick look at the water and then made our way around the back of the dunes to the western end of Scotts Beach. We deflated the tyres, engaged 4wd and set off down the beach, keeping a hopeful eye out for a school of salmon. The plan was to spend a few nights around Scotts and surrounds, and try and get a few Salmon for bait. We'd then head out to the dog fence beach to set up for awhile in hope of a big mulloway coming by.
Scotts Beach had no schools of salmon and the usual deep gutters half way along seemed rather shallow. We continued along to Fowlers Point and made our way to the ledge instead. Hopeful that we could entice a school in, we berleyed up the water a lot and waited patiently. A lot of small fish came around, but mostly rock cods and other shittys. I managed to hook a tommy ruff though, so put it straight back out as live bait.
Without any salmon action, we headed back along Scotts Beach and still unimpressed by the gutters, we made our way across to Mexican Hat Beach. Half way along Mexican Hat, there was a nice gutter so we pulled up and decided to make it a night there as the sun was getting low. The wind was fairly savage at this point and the super fine sand around our camp blew over everything. Day 1 and already our gear was coated in sand - every meal from then on would have added grain.
As night set in, Andre had some luck, and kick started our bait supply with 2 nice size salmon.
The next morning was a great sunrise, the wind had died down and Andre had kindly placed a rod holder in the sand and then wandered off to take a nature visit. Not one to waste such an opportunity, I casted out my rod and set it in his holder. 15 minutes later, and I have a nice salmon sliding up the beach! Andre not impressed. muahaha. Not long after that and I have another Salmon in the esky too.
Kym got out the small rod (seeing his lack of skill in catching Salmon like the rest of us) and got onto a patch of Mullet. I joined him and between us we had around 18 mullet joining our bait supply.
Happy with our supply of fresh bait (along with the many tommies, pilchards and squid we'd purchased) we made the decision to head off to the dog fence a day earlier than expected. The dog fence beach was easily drivable for the first 4kms or so, but I had heard the gutters get deeper the further you go down. We passed by a nice gutter with a broken rod stuck in the sand nearby. We made a note of the spot and continued on to check out the rest of the beach. The further we went along, the softer the beach got.. it was some seriously soft sand! I got some major sideways action sliding towards the water on occasion, but lucky enough kept the momentum up enough to get back up high. We got as far along the beach as we could before a headland blocked our progress. Perhaps there was a track around the back of it but we decided to head back to the spot with the broken rod. We passed by a large fresh mulloway head in the sand too - though next to no gutter what so ever. They do say you don't need a gutter for mullies though.. hmmm.
I must say that the beaches in Yalata look so much fishier than the dog fence beach, but both have good reputations, and you're allowed a few beers at the dog fence! (not to mention avoiding the exorbitant cost of Yalata at $12 per person per night).
Whilst we were fishing a decent gutter at the Dog Fence, it was fairly hard to cast right out in to it, especially at high tide.
I believe it was on our second day at the dog fence beach when Andre had a massive bite on his rod, causing a rare scene of Andre running frantically. He got to his rod and unfortunately what ever it was, had let go. With no further action, Andre appealed to the mulloway gods to bring a change of fortunes.
After two days and two nights at the dog fence, we got impatient and decided to try our luck in finding Cabbots beach - somewhere between the dog fence and Fowlers Bay. We stopped at Nundroo to top up the ice supply in the bait esky. We did have a solid bait plan to have one big esky stocked with bait, and then only access it to grab enough bait for a few hours of fishing, which we'd then put into a smaller esky. The idea was that less frequent access would keep the ice going for a much longer time. The problem with the plan is that my esky sucks, and even the four 3 litre milk cartons I'd froze with water had totally defrosted by day 3-4, so, regular ice top ups were necessary.
Anyway, at Nundroo I enquired about Cabbots, and the lady there told me to head for the coast and search for a windmill. The same windmill an old man on the Fowlers Bay jetty had told us to search for last year I suspect. She also mentioned a general lack of mulloway around and only 'small' 40 pounders being caught, as the snapper were chasing off the mulloway. I've never heard of this before, but I would have happily taken a few beach snapper!
After much driving and checking out little 4wd tracks along the coast, we begun to think the windmill was some what of a myth. Andre's prediction that I would never find it seemed to have some merit, until I spotted a water pipe running towards the coast - I followed it along and as we popped over a sand hill, the windmill came into sight, a glorious site! The place of legends, and more specifically, sharks and salmon schools.
The beach had some reef running parallel to the beach and nice deep water forming in front of it. It certainly looked fishy. Kym had all but given up and gone to escape the wind in the sand dunes, when his rod buckled over and he had to come sprinting out. He hooked into a solid fish and soon landed his first decent fish of the trip!
Due to the very annoying, grinding sound of the windmill at Cabbots (or whatever that beach is actually called) we decided to camp elsewhere and make another trip back here to try again. Despite only one salmon being caught, we were confident there would be fish to be caught there. Travelling along the coast, we ended all the way back at Scotts Beach, where for some reason, only a few days later the gutters seemed more likeable. We rolled out the swags and set up for the night.
Andre managed a smaller sized salmon at Scotts, but overall the fishing was very slow. We decided to make a base for the next 3 nights so we wouldn't have to repack the car every time we made a move. The caravan park seemed the easiest option, and so we set off back to Fowlers Bay.
We went out to the Jetty that night and it was extremely windy. We were the only fools to be out there, and huddled down at the end of the jetty. We had some big baits out in the water under floats, hoping for some mulloway or shark. After no action, and the beers run dry, we decided to wind in, to find that my tommy ruff bait had a big clean bite right out of its rear end. If only I had more than one hook in that bait. Damnit.
The next morning we headed back out to the Windmill.
I was taking my time collecting all my gear and getting the cameras in my pockets, and by time I got over to the beach, Andre was going crazy about something and hooked onto a large salmon. He'd seen a couple of dolphins round up a big school of salmon in behind the reef and they were just about jumping out of the water on to the beach. Quick as a flash, he had a lure on and landed a Salmon before I'd barely set my bag down.
The school seemingly went as quick as it came and we sat down and waited. An hour or two passed and I must've been the only one paying attention, because no one else saw the school of salmon come riding a wave in over the reef. Unfortunately for us all, I didn't have my lure tied on yet, and Andre couldn't get sight of where the school headed and casted the wrong direction. Kym's rod with bait and surf popper on hooked on and he got a big salmon into the wash before it dropped off and swam away. Andre and I frantically casted lures out into the water but to no avail. We all rebaited and sat down again. Maybe in a few hours they would come back.
We didn't have to wait long before fishing master, yours truly, got a bit of a nibble and wound in this fine specimen!
Now, the others called it a retard fish because of its deformed head, and massive lower jaw. We weren't exactly sure it was even a salmon at first. I suspect it was actually an evolutionary step forward for salmon - evolving so that they aren't as susceptible to being caught on hooks. However, I was still able to out smart it with my fishing prowess, and into the bait bucket he went.
Back at the caravan park, we had a visitor come perch right next to us. It didn't even move even when I put my finger right next to it.
Back at the jetty for the second night in a row, and this time we got some action. Kym's float took off and after a very short battle, he wound in a mulloway, estimated to be a bit over the 50cm mark.
Nothing else was caught, so we headed back in for the night. I think I might have had my first shower of the trip then - most refreshing!
On our last day, which coincided with Andre's birthday, we had a quick visit to Cabbots for no result, and then fished Scotts Beach. Firstly the shallows in hope of KGW (Kym landed a nice one the day before) and then the gutters in hope of some Salmon which we thought we'd take home in the absence of any better eating fish. Funny that when we actually wanted to eat them, they didn't show up.
Andre had a 2 salmon lead in the gashes and looked reasonably safe, but there was one night jetty fish to go and the jetty was showing lots of promise so far. Kym had already landed the biggest 'target fish' although being undersized it didn't hold much value. We considered the prize species to be mulloway, snapper and shark - any one of those of legal size would still take out the gashes.
My master plan was to catch a squid and then use the entire thing for bait. Said plan started excellently, when just bobbing my squid jag up and down over the rail, a squid latched on. I did want to keep it alive but with just one hook attached to my wire trace, I had to also make sure it stayed on the hook. I think it died. Kym once again had the good luck, and his float took off at a rate of knots. The rest of us wound in and made room for Kym to get his catch in. As he got it to the jetty we could see that it was a small shark. With no drop gaff, or crab net (back in the car) we walked it along to the stairs, and Andre grabbed it by the tail and brought it up. First prize species caught! Kym leading The Gashes.
Faced with a quick decision on whether to release or eat the shark, Kym opted to let it grow a bit bigger. Then regretted it thinking we could have BBQ'd that up at a post FWC BBQ. We decided to keep the next one (confidence was high)
My line with the squid on seemed to have been attacked by small fish. The squid no longer had a head (seems unlikely small fish would remove its head, so maybe a shark bit that off) and was a bit tattered up. None the less, I casted it back out, just a squid body now. Not too much of a wait later, Kym again had his drag start going, and we raced to our rods. His drag stopped almost straight away though, and mine started going instead! It took off wildly, and I tightened it up and brought a similar sized bronzy to the side of the jetty. This was the Gashes winning fish.
I walked it down the jetty, thanking fellow fisherman for moving their lines out the way, and getting it close to the stairs. Andre, after his last shark grabbing was confident for the landing. He declined the offer of a drop gaff from a nearby fisherman and got down to the bottom of the stairs. Just as it was in close enough, it bashed into the pylon and then took off downwards... we lost sight of it and then my wire trace came apart. I didn't get bitten through, but rather the loop that holds the swivel just fell apart. Unbelieveable. Still, I have landed no shark.
With a big drive the following day, I soon headed back to the park to get some sleep. Kym soon followed, but Andre who had led the Gashes for the most part of the trip, decided to fish as long as he could. The next morning he reported getting back to camp around 4am, for nothing other than a large squid, which grabbed on to his squid bait, and didn't let go - didn't even get hooked!
So with all fishing concluded, Kym takes his second Gashes victory in a row. Not bad for a rookie.
FWC - 3, Team Gashes 0
We rolled into the township for no real reason really, we never planned to stay there. We had a quick look at the water and then made our way around the back of the dunes to the western end of Scotts Beach. We deflated the tyres, engaged 4wd and set off down the beach, keeping a hopeful eye out for a school of salmon. The plan was to spend a few nights around Scotts and surrounds, and try and get a few Salmon for bait. We'd then head out to the dog fence beach to set up for awhile in hope of a big mulloway coming by.
Scotts Beach had no schools of salmon and the usual deep gutters half way along seemed rather shallow. We continued along to Fowlers Point and made our way to the ledge instead. Hopeful that we could entice a school in, we berleyed up the water a lot and waited patiently. A lot of small fish came around, but mostly rock cods and other shittys. I managed to hook a tommy ruff though, so put it straight back out as live bait.
As night set in, Andre had some luck, and kick started our bait supply with 2 nice size salmon.
The next morning was a great sunrise, the wind had died down and Andre had kindly placed a rod holder in the sand and then wandered off to take a nature visit. Not one to waste such an opportunity, I casted out my rod and set it in his holder. 15 minutes later, and I have a nice salmon sliding up the beach! Andre not impressed. muahaha. Not long after that and I have another Salmon in the esky too.
Kym got out the small rod (seeing his lack of skill in catching Salmon like the rest of us) and got onto a patch of Mullet. I joined him and between us we had around 18 mullet joining our bait supply.
Happy with our supply of fresh bait (along with the many tommies, pilchards and squid we'd purchased) we made the decision to head off to the dog fence a day earlier than expected. The dog fence beach was easily drivable for the first 4kms or so, but I had heard the gutters get deeper the further you go down. We passed by a nice gutter with a broken rod stuck in the sand nearby. We made a note of the spot and continued on to check out the rest of the beach. The further we went along, the softer the beach got.. it was some seriously soft sand! I got some major sideways action sliding towards the water on occasion, but lucky enough kept the momentum up enough to get back up high. We got as far along the beach as we could before a headland blocked our progress. Perhaps there was a track around the back of it but we decided to head back to the spot with the broken rod. We passed by a large fresh mulloway head in the sand too - though next to no gutter what so ever. They do say you don't need a gutter for mullies though.. hmmm.
I must say that the beaches in Yalata look so much fishier than the dog fence beach, but both have good reputations, and you're allowed a few beers at the dog fence! (not to mention avoiding the exorbitant cost of Yalata at $12 per person per night).
Whilst we were fishing a decent gutter at the Dog Fence, it was fairly hard to cast right out in to it, especially at high tide.
I believe it was on our second day at the dog fence beach when Andre had a massive bite on his rod, causing a rare scene of Andre running frantically. He got to his rod and unfortunately what ever it was, had let go. With no further action, Andre appealed to the mulloway gods to bring a change of fortunes.
After two days and two nights at the dog fence, we got impatient and decided to try our luck in finding Cabbots beach - somewhere between the dog fence and Fowlers Bay. We stopped at Nundroo to top up the ice supply in the bait esky. We did have a solid bait plan to have one big esky stocked with bait, and then only access it to grab enough bait for a few hours of fishing, which we'd then put into a smaller esky. The idea was that less frequent access would keep the ice going for a much longer time. The problem with the plan is that my esky sucks, and even the four 3 litre milk cartons I'd froze with water had totally defrosted by day 3-4, so, regular ice top ups were necessary.
Anyway, at Nundroo I enquired about Cabbots, and the lady there told me to head for the coast and search for a windmill. The same windmill an old man on the Fowlers Bay jetty had told us to search for last year I suspect. She also mentioned a general lack of mulloway around and only 'small' 40 pounders being caught, as the snapper were chasing off the mulloway. I've never heard of this before, but I would have happily taken a few beach snapper!
After much driving and checking out little 4wd tracks along the coast, we begun to think the windmill was some what of a myth. Andre's prediction that I would never find it seemed to have some merit, until I spotted a water pipe running towards the coast - I followed it along and as we popped over a sand hill, the windmill came into sight, a glorious site! The place of legends, and more specifically, sharks and salmon schools.
The beach had some reef running parallel to the beach and nice deep water forming in front of it. It certainly looked fishy. Kym had all but given up and gone to escape the wind in the sand dunes, when his rod buckled over and he had to come sprinting out. He hooked into a solid fish and soon landed his first decent fish of the trip!
Due to the very annoying, grinding sound of the windmill at Cabbots (or whatever that beach is actually called) we decided to camp elsewhere and make another trip back here to try again. Despite only one salmon being caught, we were confident there would be fish to be caught there. Travelling along the coast, we ended all the way back at Scotts Beach, where for some reason, only a few days later the gutters seemed more likeable. We rolled out the swags and set up for the night.
Andre managed a smaller sized salmon at Scotts, but overall the fishing was very slow. We decided to make a base for the next 3 nights so we wouldn't have to repack the car every time we made a move. The caravan park seemed the easiest option, and so we set off back to Fowlers Bay.
We went out to the Jetty that night and it was extremely windy. We were the only fools to be out there, and huddled down at the end of the jetty. We had some big baits out in the water under floats, hoping for some mulloway or shark. After no action, and the beers run dry, we decided to wind in, to find that my tommy ruff bait had a big clean bite right out of its rear end. If only I had more than one hook in that bait. Damnit.
The next morning we headed back out to the Windmill.
I was taking my time collecting all my gear and getting the cameras in my pockets, and by time I got over to the beach, Andre was going crazy about something and hooked onto a large salmon. He'd seen a couple of dolphins round up a big school of salmon in behind the reef and they were just about jumping out of the water on to the beach. Quick as a flash, he had a lure on and landed a Salmon before I'd barely set my bag down.
The school seemingly went as quick as it came and we sat down and waited. An hour or two passed and I must've been the only one paying attention, because no one else saw the school of salmon come riding a wave in over the reef. Unfortunately for us all, I didn't have my lure tied on yet, and Andre couldn't get sight of where the school headed and casted the wrong direction. Kym's rod with bait and surf popper on hooked on and he got a big salmon into the wash before it dropped off and swam away. Andre and I frantically casted lures out into the water but to no avail. We all rebaited and sat down again. Maybe in a few hours they would come back.
We didn't have to wait long before fishing master, yours truly, got a bit of a nibble and wound in this fine specimen!
Now, the others called it a retard fish because of its deformed head, and massive lower jaw. We weren't exactly sure it was even a salmon at first. I suspect it was actually an evolutionary step forward for salmon - evolving so that they aren't as susceptible to being caught on hooks. However, I was still able to out smart it with my fishing prowess, and into the bait bucket he went.
Back at the caravan park, we had a visitor come perch right next to us. It didn't even move even when I put my finger right next to it.
Back at the jetty for the second night in a row, and this time we got some action. Kym's float took off and after a very short battle, he wound in a mulloway, estimated to be a bit over the 50cm mark.
Nothing else was caught, so we headed back in for the night. I think I might have had my first shower of the trip then - most refreshing!
On our last day, which coincided with Andre's birthday, we had a quick visit to Cabbots for no result, and then fished Scotts Beach. Firstly the shallows in hope of KGW (Kym landed a nice one the day before) and then the gutters in hope of some Salmon which we thought we'd take home in the absence of any better eating fish. Funny that when we actually wanted to eat them, they didn't show up.
Andre had a 2 salmon lead in the gashes and looked reasonably safe, but there was one night jetty fish to go and the jetty was showing lots of promise so far. Kym had already landed the biggest 'target fish' although being undersized it didn't hold much value. We considered the prize species to be mulloway, snapper and shark - any one of those of legal size would still take out the gashes.
My master plan was to catch a squid and then use the entire thing for bait. Said plan started excellently, when just bobbing my squid jag up and down over the rail, a squid latched on. I did want to keep it alive but with just one hook attached to my wire trace, I had to also make sure it stayed on the hook. I think it died. Kym once again had the good luck, and his float took off at a rate of knots. The rest of us wound in and made room for Kym to get his catch in. As he got it to the jetty we could see that it was a small shark. With no drop gaff, or crab net (back in the car) we walked it along to the stairs, and Andre grabbed it by the tail and brought it up. First prize species caught! Kym leading The Gashes.
Faced with a quick decision on whether to release or eat the shark, Kym opted to let it grow a bit bigger. Then regretted it thinking we could have BBQ'd that up at a post FWC BBQ. We decided to keep the next one (confidence was high)
My line with the squid on seemed to have been attacked by small fish. The squid no longer had a head (seems unlikely small fish would remove its head, so maybe a shark bit that off) and was a bit tattered up. None the less, I casted it back out, just a squid body now. Not too much of a wait later, Kym again had his drag start going, and we raced to our rods. His drag stopped almost straight away though, and mine started going instead! It took off wildly, and I tightened it up and brought a similar sized bronzy to the side of the jetty. This was the Gashes winning fish.
I walked it down the jetty, thanking fellow fisherman for moving their lines out the way, and getting it close to the stairs. Andre, after his last shark grabbing was confident for the landing. He declined the offer of a drop gaff from a nearby fisherman and got down to the bottom of the stairs. Just as it was in close enough, it bashed into the pylon and then took off downwards... we lost sight of it and then my wire trace came apart. I didn't get bitten through, but rather the loop that holds the swivel just fell apart. Unbelieveable. Still, I have landed no shark.
With a big drive the following day, I soon headed back to the park to get some sleep. Kym soon followed, but Andre who had led the Gashes for the most part of the trip, decided to fish as long as he could. The next morning he reported getting back to camp around 4am, for nothing other than a large squid, which grabbed on to his squid bait, and didn't let go - didn't even get hooked!
So with all fishing concluded, Kym takes his second Gashes victory in a row. Not bad for a rookie.
FWC - 3, Team Gashes 0
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