Convention Beach - April 2011

The long awaited return to Gashes action occurred on the long awaited visit to Convention Beach on the lower Eyre Penninsula. Gashes rookie Josh was joined by Will, Dana, Sani, Dan M, and myself for a big easter trip.

After the 7.5 hour convoy we reached our destination and proceeded to wind our way through the rocky tracks in search of a campsite. Finding some flat terrain near the beach proved difficult, and after 30 minutes of searching, we picked out a good spot further up the hill. It required a bit longer walk to the beach, but it was relatively easy still. 

Camp was set up and lunch cooked, and before long, Will was already marching down to the beach first, whilst the rest of us tried to get some rigs tied up.. and drink some more beers.

With only a few hours before sunset, I made my way down to the beach and found Will already had a salmon tail poking out the sand. Good signs. I baited up half a pilchard and launched it into the gutter - getting ready to take a seat, my rod went off with a small bite, and shortly after I had a salmon on the beach myself. 

The others made their way down (following a quick knot tieing lesson from Sani) as I casted out the other half of the pilchard, and as they picked out their spots on the beach, I get a another bite, and land another small salmon. Two casts, two fish. This is how its done. I was tempted to retire for the weekend on a 100% cast efficiency, but that would have been rather boring. Will had also landed a couple more fish, and although our catch wasn't consisting of huge 4kg Salmon ala Scotts Beach last November, it was good signs for the weekend.

Josh casted out only to discover the 20 year old Jarvis Walker reel he brought along (one of two), was pretty much disentegrating in his hands. Dan, using the other Jarvis Walker reel, some how managed to pull in a salmon before that reel also packed it in. Normally I bring a spare surf reel, but this was one occasion where I didn't. Luckily Will had a spare, and I had a smaller reel which was capable of pulling in the smaller salmon - so Josh & Dan remained amongst the fishing action.

With a healthy supply of salmon for dinner, we packed it in, and headed back up to camp to get the fire going. A feast of Salmon, Spuds, and Burgers was cooked up, and many beers consumed.. before eventually everyone got to bed, quite late in the night.

I arose early, feeling the affects of a possible bad burger, and Will soon joined me. He was soon on his way down to the beach for the morning fish, whilst the rest continued to sleep. Eventually regaining my health, I went down after him - only to find him 100 metres down the beach, adjacent an admittedly much better gutter, but still, 100 metres down the beach. The others eventually got up and made their way down, and the fishing was once again solid - but not spectacular. We all headed back to camp around lunch time for a feed. Food was had, beers consumed, and Dan fell asleep in the sun. He is lucky Sani is there to cover him up, as the rest of us watched on in amusement at his skin getting redder by the minute.

Me with one of many Salmon landed

Dan having a midday snooze

Everyone besides Josh and I was having an afternoon nap, so we turned the radio on and listened to the first quarter of the Port vs Suns game - but with the Power heading out to an early lead it seemed like a predictable demolision of the Suns. Instead of sitting there, we decided to go sit down on the beach instead, with a rod in the water. We couldn't be bothered walking to the futher gutter so went to the beach directly in front of camp only to find a bunch of rods standing up against the sand dune. No owners in sight. "Do we still fish there?" asked Josh. "Why not? They arent." was my reply.

Will made his way down, slowly followed by the others, and then the owners of all the rods standing in the dunes. Rather than grabbing their gear and fishing to the side of us.. they simply sat with their gear and stared at us like we'd committed some enormous fishing sin. Leaving a few rods on the beach unattended does not translate to "this spot is reserved" in my book! I stand by my decision. If they bothered to throw a line in, they might have caught some fish like we did.

That night consisted of another great fire, more fish on the fire, steaks, spuds, and a generally great feast all round. The only downside was the Crows going down by 6 points!

Sunday (day 3 now) gave another quick morning fish for the usual mixed size salmon we'd been getting, before coming back to lunch for some "planking" as demostrated by Sani here...

We decided to go for a bit of an explore, and after a quick look over the cliffs at the southern end of Convention Beach, we instead went for a drive to Coffin Bay as most of the group had not been there before.

Certainly couldn't complain about the weather!

Coffin Bay was as packed as you could possibly imagine.. people everywhere! We stopped for an ice block and Josh grabbed a Sunday Mail to discover Port had self destructed and lost to the Suns! It was laughs all round, and on to some more Coffin Bay sight seeing before heading back to camp. Unfortunately we couldn't go into the national parks because of having the dogs on board.

Dan was keen to get some 4wding done in the nearby sand dunes, but after cooking lunch, we thought we'd best leave that until the day after, and get down to the beach to fish the final hours before sunset.

With Will consistently pulling in Salmon after Salmon and with the odd double header for good measure, he had a healthy lead on the imaginary gashes leader board. Seeing him wind his line one time with no fish on on the end, Dan commented to Josh "You don't see that often".. only for Will to walk into the water and pick up slack line with a Trevally attached. They begun to see what the rest of us regulars cry about all the time.

Sani & Dan pleased with the catch

Since Sani can't cast far enough, I was allowing her to wind in my line each time I got a bite. Shortly before sunset, I noticed a bite on my rod and alerted Sani to it, who ran over to grab the rod. As she grabbed it the rod bent forward in a big way and I was quickly on the scene to claim my rod back. The drag peeled out at a hundred miles an hour and it was clear to me that I had some form of big ray on the end, due to the lack of head shakes.

After a massive battle, very sore arms, and knots that surprisingly held up, I had a huge eagle ray in the shallows. It was about 30 minutes from hook up to getting it nearby, and after patiently waiting for a good wave to wash him up further I had him in close enough to get a photo. I pulled tight on the line and snapped off the hooks as there was no way I was going to attempt to get them out on this monster.

With a few larger waves for help the stingray slid back out into the sea and swam off. With that excitement over, we packed up our gear and head back to camp. I wouldn't normally give a stingray catch much credit in the Gashes ratings, but this thing was seriously huge - and everyone was mighty impressed - so yes, me now leading the Gashes!

Dan celebrated in big fashion, especially when he found Will & Dana had brought along a 1.25 litre bottle of bourbon. Helping himself to a couple, he was well on his way, declaring "Don't cook me dinner, I'm getting drunk!". The trips only camping vomit came a few hours later.

Surprisingly, Dan was up early the next morning and feeling pretty chipper - only to crash out after a few breakfast beers, and remain sleeping for the greater part of the day (4wding plans flying out the window). Down on the beach, we were getting in to a few more salmon, when Josh pulled in a nice sized Tommy Ruff - he was especially pleased given how he had talked up the eating qualities of the humble Tommy all weekend. Not so pleased when we called it bait. Getting a dozen would have made good eating though, so we both tied on smaller rigs to have a go. A just legal mullet was landed and Will grabbed it and put it on his big 10/0's and casted it out.

Josh with a small salmon

As lunch approached, we were getting ready to head back in when Will gets a massive bite on the mullet, and his drag is screaming out to sea. He hooks the fish, and feeling the headshakes calls it for a shark or mulloway. A minute later and we're pretty sure it was definitely a shark, as his hooks are bitten clean off... disappointing! As we gathered our gear together to head back, we spotted a massive black ray cruising along the shallows. It was tempting to launch a fish out in front of it, but it was bigger than the one I had landed and probably would have just resulted in a snap off.

After listening to the Anzac Day footy game, we headed down for a final fishing session. It was the standard affair of average sized salmon coming in until at about the same time as I had hooked a stingray the night before, Will hooked in to one and off it went.. straight out. Will just had to get it in, and clinch yet another Gashes title. He fought the ray for about 5 minutes when his line snapped again - leaving him with 3 big hook ups for the weekend, all snapped off!

With darkness setting in, we made our way back to camp, where Sani already had the fire raging. The remaining beers were polished off and I was declared Gashes winner - finally! Great spot and I think we'll definitely be back again in the future.

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.

Matt with one of many Salmon landed

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.

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

Coorong - November 2008

Five guys, 150+ beers, separate sleeping quarters for all, and one hilux surf. This was always going to be a tight squeeze.

We (that’s Matt, Kym, Dan M, and I) arrived at Harrys house around 9am, with the car already crammed full, and we still need to fit Harry in as well as his gear, BBQ and gas bottle included. Fit it in we did, with Harry making a last second dash inside to grab 12 cold beers. At 9:30am. "Who wants one?". Arrrgh.

The car struggled up the hill but slowly made it and we were on our way. A few hours later, and we're at the beginning of 42 mile crossing and airing down the tyres. We went on the beach for a few kms, up to about camp site 13 or there abouts, maybe a bit further. It didn't have a number on the post. The beach track was fairly easy going up until that point and no drama's were had. The track veered up behind the dunes at this point, but with a good gutter in front of us, we decided here was the spot to set up camp.

I finally got access to the fridge and cracked a beer open, sat in my chair, and laughed at Kym and Dan struggle with setting up their tents.

After cooking up some BBQ for lunch, the fishing begun!

I managed to pull a Mulloway, probably around 50 cm's before everyone had even managed to get their rods out to the beach. Not legal size, but good signs for the rest of the weekend. He dropped off the hook by himself, so I let it swim away on the next wave that came in and missed the photo here. Kym soon after hooked one for himself, damn small, but his first mulloway of any size. Now he joins the hunt for a keeper.

We didn’t have any room to bring firewood with us, but some nice campers had left two great big gum tree logs at our campsite. With darkness approaching, we quickly rounded up some small bits of driftwood to get a fire going and harry found more wood left over at a nearby unused campsite. As darkness set, we had a nice little fire raging right on the beach. A big wall of sand in front of it to keep the wind off it, and more importantly, not scare off the mulloway.

Then, Harry made a move he probably now regrets - bringing out the Stones. Before long he was performing some kind of fire dance ritual and making a huge stamp on the "drunkest of trip" award (which I just made up right then, and Harry did win).

Although our lines were out in the water well into the night, I don't think there was much attention being paid to them. They were probably just rolling around getting tangled up. We didn't catch anything at night anyway.

I woke up early followed shortly after by Matt. Harry was up but looking very green, and after a quick dash to the bushes for a technicolour yawn, he was back in the tent and off to sleep. Dan joined me and Matt on the beach shortly after, his hooks still holding an old squid bait from the previous night. He casted it straight in. We laughed and joked about how the only thing he's going to catch with that bait was a stingray. At this point, an important conversation took place. Matt asked me if a stingray would be leading the gashes (ahead of my own 3 undersize mulloways). I thought that if it was big enough then it would be. Matt said for sure it would. Five minutes later, and Dan's rod bends over and line starts peeling off. No shakes of the rod though.. A stingray for sure. I ran back to the car to grab the gaff, and by time I got back, a large ray was in the shallows. Matt landed the gaff into its wing and dragged him up the beach. New gashes leader.

We were working out how to drag it back in to the water when Dan suggests we cook it up. I'm guessing these things usually get thrown back because they aren't much good for eating, but I have heard of them being eaten before. I go to Kyms tent to ask if he knows anything about cooking sting ray… some kind of mumbled no was returned. He sounded worse than Harry (who was also still sleeping).

Dan set about carving up this sting ray into portions suitable for frying up on the BBQ. Hours later, one knife lost to sea, and another broken, he had some big chunks of meat ready for BBQ'ing. I wouldn't say they looked the most appetising.

Lunch time rolls around and the BBQ is fired up for some delicous sting ray cooking. Everyone (besides Harry - sleeping) has a sample and the decision to cook burgers is made. Stingray discarded to the dunes for some feral cats to no doubt enjoy.

Later in the afternoon, we noticed a guy 100 metres up the beach seemingly hooked on to something massive. He was fighting it for a good 10-15 minutes, man with a gaff by his side. He must've got tired arms, because they swapped roles at one point. Then 50 metres further, another guy was onto something massive.

We had the binoculars out having a squizz at what was going down, then the first guy just stopped, and walked back to his car - his line must have snapped. The other guy was still going hard though, and had his gaff man nearby, as well as a camera filming proceedings. I could see through the binoculars a large fish get into the shallows and splash around - the gaff man made his move but appeared to miss the fish.. Then seconds later, the rod has returned to its straight position and another fish has been lost! The fisherman must have been spewing at the gaff guy! Well that was entertaining for 30 minutes.

Harry did finally rise from the land of the dead and stumbled out to the beach around 4pm, looking suprisingly fresh, but I guess 16 hours sleep will do that. Credit to him, he cracked a new beer instantly. I doubt he would have been so fast on the stones though.

Another beach fire was on the cards, but with only minimal amounts of dead wood on the beach, it was never going to last long. That drift wood burns suprisingly long for how small it is though. Another night fishing session failure, and we headed back to camp to cook some late night snags.. And then at 10:41pm, Saturday November 15th, tragedy struck.. The fridge had one beer left in it. We decided Harry deserved it, and after that.. We had nothing to do, so hit our respective beds.

I rose around 6:45am and after relieving myself in the dunes, started fishing for the final morning, hoping to land something worthy of getting the gashes lead back. At 7:20am, I got some bites and hooked onto a fish.. Pulled in a mulloway approx 47cm, bringing my weekend tally to 4 mulloway.. Not deemed enough to beat the 12.5kg sting ray. I photo'd it just in case no one believed me :)

Everyone else eventually got up, but no more fish were caught. We packed everything in to the car, seemingly taking up even more room than on the way. Check out rear of the car hanging so low, and this is before 3 guys got into the back.

So, the final tally was:

Dan: 12.5kg Sting Ray

Ryan: 4 undersize mullies

Kym: 3 undersize mullies

People who go by the name Matt: Didily Squat.

The Gashes has a new name on it. The hunt for the silver ghost continues.