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

Heatwave Approaching

So, what better time to head over to Fowler's Bay and surrounds?

The trip that almost never happened. Kym and I were all sorted with leave from work, but Andre assumed no chance of getting time off after a xmas break. Matt, true to his word, declined immediately. Will had a trip to Darwin booked already. At the last moment, Kym and I decided we'd throw the swags in the car and go for a road trip whilst on leave, and most likely end up driving all the way to Fowlers - we had a few weeks off, so why not? :D

Informing Andre of our plan (what little plan there was)... the realisation of missing out on a FWC trip set in and he put the wheels in motion at work. Week 1 was turned down, but his boss agreed to Week 2 off! So, with that, the three of us are heading off this coming Saturday to endure the heat!

The pictured thermometer didn't last long after the last FWC trip. It was 54 in the sun that day, but it got far hotter the following two days! I've now replaced it with a wireless version which is great as the cord isn't going to get demolished running from the back of the car to the front (exactly what killed this one). The hot weather is good, but hopefully it stays a little cooler on this occasion.

Coorong - November 2009

Less than a month after landing my first legal mully, I was all set to repeat the feat and this time get my name on the gashes as well (frankly, I should be on there in massive bold letters and retain the trophy until some one beats it in my opinion!)

Andre, Kym, and I headed off at the leisurely time of 9am on Friday, all having the day off work. Winding our way through chain of ponds, we realised we'd left the eggs and sauce at home, but there was no turning back now. A quick stop off at Meningie fixed that problem, and then on to Salt Creek. We went across Tea Tree Crossing at a snail pace as there was an inch or two of water in it, turned left at the beach (no choice due to closure) and headed south looking for a nice gutter. There was a nice gutter running close to Tea Tree, but no campsites within walking distance.. we plowed on until we found a likely looking spot about half way between 42 mile and Tea Tree. The gutter was not as evident, but still there.

There was a bit of rain threatening, so we set up the big tarp first thing, and it looked magnificent!

Lines were cast out and cookers fired up for the first camping burger of the trip. Before the bacon was crispy, my rod started ducking over with a sure fish on. I bolted down the beach and wound it in. A bit of Kym's line was tangled up with mine but a nice flathead was still pulled up the sand. Upon closer inspection, Andre points out "Aren't they Kym's hooks?"

"....." "...DAMNIT!"

Kym had hooked the flathead on his line and it had swam around mine. Fish 1 to Kym, even if I did wind it in.

After finishing Lunch, Kym landed another Flathead, slightly smaller than the first, and was feeling a bit better about actually getting to wind this one in.

Matt and Will were due to rock up around 9pm Friday night, but after 10pm weren't sighted. We had fished all day without success, and a bit of weed was floating around at night, so we gave it in. We were starting to think they may have given up finding us in the dark and settled for a camp further up the beach, but then we saw a huge light beam coming over the horizon. Will's spotlight collection lighting up the sky.

Those guys set up their swags, and soon after we all hit the sack for some sleep. Unknown to me at the time, Kym actually slipped away to have a vomit before bed. His first camping vomit.. nice work Kym!

The next morning Matt told us that he had woken up at about 3am to take a piss, and saw Will out on the beach fishing. This is why Will always wins The Gashes! He was seen to pull in a big pile of sea weed and Matt returned to sleep. Will didn't get a fish for his efforts.

That day saw plenty of fishing, and even more beer drinking. The first were cracked soon after breakfast. Andre firstly devastated that he wasn't first to crack one (those were my honours), then Matt and Kym both get one, so Andre grabs one too.. but still not opening it. Will returned from down the beach and immediately reached into his Esky, sending Andre in to a paniced rush to open his beer and not be last. His priorities when fishing may be considered different to others. Probably why he never wins The Gashes :)

There was a fair bit of seaweed around on the Saturday, so not a whole lot of fishing was done. Will stuck it out and along the way managed a small undersized mulloway, a dog shark, and a little elephant shark. Kym was still considered leading with his two flatties, but Will making more inroads than the rest of us. The elephant shark had sea lice all over it.. Will pulled them off (they hold on pretty hard though) and released him. The fish was probably happy it had been caught, it was better off for it.

Will donned his bogan wig to cook up a huge steak amongst a sea of draught cans.

When time came to hit the tent for sleep, I considered rain an unlikely scenario.. and didn't bother to peg out the front canopy to stop water running down through the zips (a bit of a problem on my tent). Waking up the next morning, there was a pool of probably 10 litres of water at the bottom of the tent.. luckily I was at the high ground side :)

Outside was worse though - our once magnificent tarp shelter had caught about 50 litres of water in the middle and pulled everything down around it. Tables were pushed over and cooking equipment now laid buried in the sand.

A struggling eyelet on the tarp gave way in front of me at the pole pushed up straight through it and water gushed out everywhere. The tarp was pulled out the way and all that remained was a few poles standing, and a lot of sandy equipment.

It was blowing a gale and looking decidedly unfishy, so Matt & Will packed up and headed back home early. The remaining fishers cleaned up a bit and by mid morning the wind had died a little bit and conditions were good for fishing again, except for the lack of fish.

We spent a great deal of the day sitting in the car, out of the wind and odd shower that went past. At some point we got hungry enough to cook up the Flathead. Andre had all but given up hope on catching a fish, and tied on some big minnow lure and left it floating around in the water. It got hopelessly tangled.

We were listening to tunes for hours when we decided to perhaps drive the car forward a bit to be closer to the rods. But the car battery was flat. I hooked the two batteries together to give it more juice, but still no go. Then Kym tries and the car turns over, just. His lucky weekend I guess. We left the car idling for a good 1.5 hours or so, and had a reasonably early night.

We had a fishing session in the morning, but with still no bites since Friday between us, confidence was low. We packed it up and headed home mid morning - Kym taking his second Gashes win in just 4 trips.

Got him.

Since 2005, I have made 12 trips to the coorong in chase of the elusive Silver Ghost. On my 13th trip, a quick overnighter on 31st October 2009, I landed it.

The Facts: Caught around 8pm, Brined Pilchard for bait, 2 x 8/0 Gamakatsu's on a running sinker rig. It was between tides - low was a few hours before and high wasnt until 1am. The moon was almost full (there goes that theory).

It measured 91cm long and around 6kg gutted. About 13-14 pounds. I didn't have any good scales so I just stood on the bathroom scales holding it.. not the most accurate but it gives a bit of an indication.

Woohoo!

Sheringa - October 2009

8 months between Gashes trips. This is unheard of. We've all been going off on fishing trips here and there, but never lined up our leave. Finally we're back on.

Harry, Sani and myself headed over to Sheringa on Friday morning, cutting our way through the dirt roads along the way. The scenic route. Arriving at the roadhouse, I asked the owner how the fishing was, and he replied "crap". Not a good sign, but he also told Harry his bottle of port was $100 before charging $9, so we weren't sure if he was serious or not.

We set up our camp at the "GUN SPOT" Matt had directed us to claim if possible. That was no problem, because no one else was camping down the Salmon beach end. After cooking up lunch, we set up our rigs and headed over the dune to the Salmon Beach. The only problem was when we got there, there was no beach left. From my last visit about 3 years ago, there seemed to be about 2 metres less sand on the beach.. where small rocky bits barely made it to the surface before, they were now sticking up above my head. This wasn't a good sign, but we trekked further west to a small patch of beach which still had some sand on it.

Before long I had hooked on and got a small salmon in the esky. The fishing was slow however, with a lot of weed in the water, and Harry endured a bust off or two.

With the sun getting low, and lacking any lights, we made our way back to camp to get the fire going.

The following morning, I was up before the others, so decided to go for a quick drive to see if I could see the cap of my fishing tube anywhere on the track. It had rattled off somewhere along the way on our trip. No luck in that department, but I did spot a better looking beach. After breakfast we headed back to this beach and on my first cast I had a nice 1kg Salmon on.

We continued fishing here until lunch time when Matt & Saza, and Will & Dana both rocked up within 10mins of each other, and headed back to camp. I had caught about half a dozen salmon, although all of them quite small. My day head start hadn't given me the biggest lead in fish caught.

The fishing that afternoon again was at the beach I had spotted with a decent gutter. It was the only real fishable spot along the coast, not counting the first beach when you head in. We noticed a Rav4 further down the beach getting itself very bogged, and after awhile they called us over to help. Me and Harry drove around planning to snatch em straight out but my bolts wouldn't fit onto their cars tie down point. So plan B, which should have been plan A, was to push them out. With 4 guys pushing, it easily reversed out of the bog and was on its way again. Good deed done! Now for the good karma...

Back at the beach where the other guys were, Matt had somehow stolen my good karma and landed a massive salmon in my absence. All I got to see was a huge tail fin sticking out the sand.

No matter, as Will landed one pretty much the same size not long after, but with already one huge fish ready for dinner, he popped it back in the water. After the photo of course.

I thought this was a good sign for some big fishing session about to commence, but unfortunately not. The next morning, divided on where to fish, Harry, Sani and I travelled up to Lock's Well. Matt and Will persisted with the spot we'd been fishing previously.

There were no good gutters at Locks, but we decided to walk down and have a go anyway. Harry managed to catch one small salmon but it wasn't looking very fishy, so we soon headed back up the stairs and made our way back to Sheringa. Once there, I decided to give the first beach a go, having heard it produces some big King George Whiting. The only problem was, it was very very long and I had no idea where to fish from. After a quick go at the very beginning, and losing a rig amongst all the weed floating around, we drove down the beach and I casted the big rod out into some nice clear water.

Once I finally got my whiting rig back out, I managed a small Mullet and Salmon trout, but no KGW :( Think I'll need to get some more information on where they reside next time.

Back at camp, the others were sitting around drinking beers and cooking lunch - obviously a quiet morning session for them too.

The afternoon / night time fish was back at now 'ol faithful. The only place producing decent fish. Another quiet night despite a few fresh salmon fillets going out as bait. Will pulled another decent salmon and put himself out in to a clear lead for the gashes. Surprise!

Back around the campfire, will declared the Gashes will be over on his departure, thus declaring him the winner - how ever we argued its not our fault he's leaving a day early, and it was still on. He went to bed early to get up and have a fish before he left.

Will's morning fish proved productive and he had another half dozen landed. He was well out in front now.. but soon to depart and Matt not all that far behind. I was lagging further back, and Harry was probably asleep some where.

I wish the gashes was about who saw the most sleepy lizards, because I saw millions of them. Including one that walked right through the middle of our camp.

Here is a picture of our final day fishing efforts. As you can see it was action packed

So, with that, Will takes home another Gashes win. It was unfortunate the beaches were so eroded as it would have given us a few more options to fish from. The fishing was slow, but Matt and Will were both happy to pull in some 3kg+ salmon. I sure would've been!

More pictures here

Ryan & Kym Hit Salt Creek

Kymbo and I decided to brave the rain and head down to Salt Creek over the long weekend. On the way we were trying to spot patches of blue sky amongst all the rain clouds. Any tiny speck of blue was considered a sign of incoming great weather.

Arriving on the beach we travelled down about 3kms to find that the beach was completely washed out and some beach closed signs were set up. We turned around and settled on a free spot about 2kms from the crossing entrance.

Although the weather was surpringly nice.. we decided on setting up some shelter first thing.



This was cool.. we could see our rods from the comfort of camp. The only problem was the first cast saw some seaweed brought in and it was there to stay. We were able to sit under the tarp and keep an eye on our rods which was good.. apart from the fact the only action happening was sea weed tuggin on the line. At least we stayed dry when these storms rolled past



I kept persisting with the fishing into the night, but a massive tangle bought that to a halt. The next morning I woke up and spent a good hour untangling the mess - determined not to lose much (or any if possible) of my new Shimano Technium line

I finally managed to untangle the whole thing, and loaded up a pillie and casted in. I hooked onto a mammoth pile of seaweed and the line snapped.. fantastic!

Kym arose and wandered off deep into the dunes for a nature visit, and then proceeded to get rained on. I sat under the tarp - laughing as he made the big run back to camp with shovel and toilet roll in hand.

Sunday was pretty much a non event for fishing as the seaweed was a worse problem than the day before. We barely casted a line all day, until it cleared up a little around sun set. We put on some glow sticks, baited up and cast out, then sat around the bonfire sinking a few beers.

I never saw my glow stick move, but on a routine bait check, I wound in my line to find I had landed a nice little elephant fish!



Kym, in a great show of foresight, had printed out some "how to prepare elephant fish" instructions, so we set about gutting, bleeding and finning it before popping it in the fridge. A late birthday present for Mum.

Kym then keened up to get his line back in the water, and was rewarded with some spikey looking puffer fish.. a fine effort!

After the last remaining beer was drunk, we headed off to sleep. I was awoken in the night by the sound of our shelter flapping around madly, and when a recently dropped fart seeped up through my sleeping bag I had no choice but to open up my swag for some air. My fears were confirmed when I saw the tarp flailing around in the wind, but I figured it'd be fine and closed up the swag again. Then I felt water dripping on my head and some large puddles forming.. doh! Given that I setup the swag under the safety of our shelter, I didn't bother to peg it in or put the poles up that may (I'm not convinced after my second in-swag soaking) have prevented the water pooling up and dripping through the canvas.

I decided to go sleep in the car, which first required closing up the rear window and securing the tarp by closing it in the car door as I got in. All this running around in the freezing rain in my jocks! And then the tarp whipped around in the wind and slapped me right in the face.. it hurt! Once inside, all was well again, and I went back to sleep ready for the morning fishing session.

We woke up to extremely strong winds and decided to call it a trip and head back to Adelaide. The guy at the Salt Creek servo told us fishing crews further north (passed the closed section of beach) had no problem with weed and a few sharks and mulloway were landed. Doh!

Will & Matt hit Salt Creek

Will & Matt picked the worst possible weekend ever to do an overnighter at Salt Creek / Coorong. The weather forecast was so bad I bailed on the trip - not a normal occurrence for me!

Heres the report from Will:

I think we all knew the weather was crappy :) When we got there it wasnt too bad. Found a wicked gutter that produced a 4.6kg snapper (78cm) on my first cast. Fished for about half an hour longer and the wind changed direction gaining about 100 knots. The grapple sinkers were getting washed up on the beach about 2 mins after casting. We slept the whole afternoon till about 6:30pm hoping the storm will calm down for a night fish, but it got even worse. We bailed at about 7 and headed to my house. The track on the way back was completely washed out and the waves were pushing up to the dunes. Hilux cruised over it all though and we made it out sweetly. Was heaps good fun still. Loving the snapper. Half of it fed 4 adults and a kid tonight for tea. Definitely very tasty, i take back what i said about salmon tasting better.

So, Will confirms himself as the luckiest, and most visible, fisherman alive...