Email: lasue@wn.com.au http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/
MURCHISON BOAT HIRE DECEMBER 2010 ELETTER
Another quiet month due to the demersal closure but it is open now.
Big news in Kalbarri is that the Murchison River is in flood, and as from yesterday, Monday 27th, the river mouth and boat ramps
are officially closed. The conditions will be assessed periodically and will open when it is safe again.
When this will happen I do not know, but all my boat hires are going out from Port Gregory now.
I was in Port Gregory yesterday and we used a tractor owned by one of the locals to launch and retrieve the boats.
Stephen very generously does this for me but it costs me or the hirer a carton when pre arranged!
Cray Season
The cray season opened on the 15th November, but there is not much point putting
the pots in until the “whites” appear usually after the full moon in December. However the full moon this year was
on the 22nd November so it all started early this time. Rumours abound that the white had started late
November so we put our pots in on the 29th.
I fish with Bruno DeLucia and son Jared comes out with us to help pull the pots.First day out we got 0 crays. We use wooden pots as they just catch a lot better than the plastic ones, but they do need to
soak or bubble out before they catch, hence the 0 score the first day. After that was a bit better with 5 the next day and improved to10.
Then we got 6,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12, 12,12, 12,12,12, and 12 again on the 20th when
we ran out of bait and felt that we had caught enough!
A pot coming up with crays in it.
Most days we only had to pull one pot to get our 12, rotating to the next pot the following day.It has been the best season that I can remember. We share the fuel costs and crays.
Fisheries regulations state that you may have a max of 2 licences aboard a boat and catch a max of 6 crays per license.
I give quite a few away to friends and the wife also hands out more than I would prefer, but we eat well!
Most of the crays were well over size 
and 2 buckets of 6 crays.The crays go a bit quiet after Christmas, but seem to come good March onwards.
Wednesday 22nd was a great weather day; too good to miss the opportunity, so I went out with wife Sue and son Jared
to some of my distant spots to pick up some good eating fish. The plan was to get 2 good fish each before returning home.
Paul Seamer and Christian DeRan had the 6.5m boat and followed us up north to my spots. His story is below.
We had a troll at the Sand Patch picking up a small tuna, a second troll at another spot further north, with no luck and then
hit my spots by 6.30am. It was a very hot windless day as you can see from the pics, and we bagged out by 10.30 with
snapper, red-throat emperor and pink snapper. Released 4 dhuies,
one probably the smallest I have ever seen caught.
Son, Jared holds some of the fish we landed, and the tiny dhuie
Being such a hot calm day, Jared decided to go for a swim, and took the underwater camera with him. Here are some of the
shots he took of fish coming up and of the boat from water level.
On the way back we were met by the Murchison River emptying out a swollen muddy discharge from
all the inland rain that flooded Carnarvon all the way down to the Overlander Roadhouse. There is
still more to come from Meekatharra way, so it will flow for a few more weeks yet.
Just great for the holiday period!!!!
However it really turns on the mulloway and mackerel so there is good fishing to be had.
Hi Laurie
Attached photo of Jak Taylor catching his first fish. His first fishing trip with the boys (his dad and uncles)
Thanks to Murchison Boat Hire for making our expedition to Coral Bay a memorable experience. We’ll be back again next year.
Justin had the 5.3m boat for a week this month, a perfect size for Coral Bay.
Regards
Justin
Last minute trip
Patrick Honeyborne and Richard Yates met while travelling around WA. Patrick is from Melbourne and rang late one
morning wanting to go fishing. I suggested we go straight away before the wind came in. So I quickly prepared the 7.8m and
welcomed Patrick, Richard and their two boys, Nathan and Drew aboard. We set the lures out and trolled down to Red Bluff with a couple of very
excited young kids. Richard and Nathan are from England and a mackerel to them is about a foot long at the best, so it was a big
surprise when the first lure went off and the reel screamed. Nathan was surprisingly quick to grab the rod and the 45 minute fight was on!
A tangle round a cray pot float was sorted out, and a pump and wind technique developed,
and this 16kg mackerel
eventually burst to the surface. A very good fish for Kalbarri waters.
Well done Nathan! You made “Bite of the Month” on my website. See the link below.
Nathan put on his Christmas hat for the occasion!
You can see the muddy water in the Murchison, a few days later the river rose higher and the river was closed.
Later a double hook up of small tuna resulted in Drew landing his biggest fish to date, while the second tuna was sharked.
Quick trip fast fish
Paul seamer and Christian DeRan have hired my boats before and were planning a flash trip to Exmouth, but the flooding
put an end to that so they changed their plans to Kalbarri.
Here is Paul’s story
I had planned a quick ''hit & run'' three day Exmouth fishing trip before Christmas; however the Carnarvon floods put paid to that.
My fishing mate, Christian, suggested we hit Kalbarri and try our luck even though there was a full moon in action.
We left at 2pm on the Tuesday, overnighted at Laurie’s holiday accommodation, picking up the boat hire discount, hired a 6.5m for two days,
and hit the ground running at 4.30am Wednesday morning. We followed Laurie and headed north for 40kms near some of
Laurie’s favoured waypoints, and the trip was perfect with flat seas.
First we landed a 6kg Dhufish and returned a couple of undersized
pinkies, then we trolled up three tuna around the 4-5kg mark,
and then managed a surprise Mahi Mahi!
With the wind starting to pick up slightly, we called it a day at 3pm and headed home.
The next day, Thursday, produced slightly stronger winds, however we were still determined to head north once again at 5am. By 7am we had landed another
6kg Dhufish and an average sized Pinkie. With the wind picking up we decided to go to trolling and immediately picked up two
double strikes,
with three tuna around 4-5kgs and Christian boating the biggest tuna for the trip at 15kgs.
With the swell and wind rising quickly, we headed back at midday taking 2 1/2 hours to return.
We left Kalbarri with the Engel full of fillets at 4pm that afternoon and were back in Perth with the car unloaded before midnight.
Paul Seamer & Christian DeRan.
6.1m boat renovated
The 6.1m boat is finished now.
It has been completely stripped, cracks welded and corrosion cut out,
resprayed, rewired, new windscreen glass, new seats and new signs.
The trailer has been renovated, new tyres, mudguards, hubs.
All ready for the season!
Before
After
Biggest fish ever
Paul Sheedy hails from Cork, Ireland, and is touring WA with girlfriend Sabrina from London. The were going through to Monkey Mia but with
the flooded road had to stop in Kalbarri. They are glad they did as they had a great day out in the 7.8m.
Trolling along the cliffs, they first picked up 2 shark mackerel, then this mackerel, followed by a small tuna for Paul 
and then a double hook up of
more small yellow-fin tuna. Before this Paul’s best fish was a respectable blue trevally caught on a popper in the Maldives.
Sabrina & Paul hold up the biggest fish they have ever caught.
Land Backed Wharf
Construction continues on the land backed wharf that is being built between the old wooden service jetty
& the cray boat pens. It is being built to stop the congestion of the cray boats unloading crays
& refuelling at the old wooden service jetty.
Almost completed
Disaster!!!!
The big low that caused all the rain in Carnarvon settled over Kalbarri and caused
an extraordinary high tide that breached the earth bund around the works, completely flooding the area in minutes.
How they are going to fix it I do not know, but then the river started to flood and it is eroding the earth walls
away as I type this. The water level is up to the top of the wooden jetty!
If the river rises any higher, the whole lot will go, 2 million dollars of work!
While the dredge was in town, the Shire commissioned them to dredge around the boat ramp.
It is nice and deep now, but the gradient could be a lot better.
Upcoming Events
The next major comp for Kalbarri is the Kalbarri Ultralight comp. A gamefishing comp for lines up to 6kg.
Will be held over the Australia day long weekend Sat 22nd and Sunday 23rd January.
There will also be an Australia Day fireworks on the foreshore in the evening. Just walk down from your
accommodation, have a beer and watch the 30 minute display. No traffic jams or fighting the crowds.
The big Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic is on over the Labour Day long week end 4th 5th and 6th March.
It is a bottom, river and gamefishing competition. Entry forms are now available, just ask me and I will send one to you.
Bite of the month
11 year old Nathan Yates had the bite of his life when his dad Richard & friends went for a quick fish
in the 7.8m boat. Trolling a Elton john Laser Pro 190 DD, he was at the rod before anyone and fought this
16kg mackerel for about 45 minutes. It got tangled in a cray pot rope and was sided
hooked making it even more difficult to land. He wore his Christmas hat for the picture!
See all the previous Bite of the Month winners on my website.
Popular Northern Destinations
Thevenard Island
There are new managers at the Onslow Mackerel Motel, Colin and Rosa will now look after you on the mainland.
Rosa will take your accommodation booking for the Onslow Mackerel Motel if you would like to stay. Phone her on 9184 6586
Colin will sort you out with a lock up storage area for trailers and your vehicle when you are at the island.
Drew is still the Island manager: 9184 6444, or assistant managers Jamie & Jessy
This year the 6.1m and 7.8m boats are already booked for Thevenard Island but there are still spaces available for adventures in this great place.
bookings@mackerelislands.com.au
Check out the website: http://www.mackerelislands.com.au/
Gnaraloo Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Email: bookings@gnaraloo.com.au
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
Game, Bottom and Beach Fishing Action
These links will take you to Youtube showing some great action video clips taken from
my boats and also a very good mulloway from the beach.
Triple tuna hook-up
Dhuie and snapper
Beach mulloway
Remember if you rent our accommodation in Kalbarri you get big discounts on our boats.
Have a look on my website for the details, and check out the savings.
5-day weather forecasts, http://www.buoyweather.com/ go to virtual buoys, pick the location you want.
This is the one I go by!
Big bait – big fish
Laurie
Email: 
Ian Biggs with his 8kg yellow-fin tuna 
and Nick Biggs with his 10kg fish.
One of the bait schools that we trolled
