MURCHISON BOAT HIRE JUNE 2010 ELETTER
Another month flying past but plenty of action to go with it. Most anglers reporting successful trips out
from Kalbarri, catching mainly yellow-fin tuna, occasional mackerel and bottom fish. The Gnaraloo guys
all had good trips but in most cases the weather was less than perfect which resulted in lower catches for them.
2 days 9 guys & a girl
Jeremy Tan booked the 6.5m boat for a trip out with a big group. Too many to accommodate in my two units, they booked
into the horse ranch that has dormitory style accommodation. Luckily striking two great weather days, the lures were
out first thing in the morning.
It was not long before a few small yellow-fin were landed and released,
and a 9kg northern long-tail
tuna for Wai Lun.
Nathan Sztermula got this chunky 11kg northern long-tail
and Esther landed her first snapper.
Esther later took a big hook-up that required us to follow in the boat. I called it for a big shark but they
elected to fight it to the end, which took 2 hours! All taking turns we eventually got it up on one of my hire
rods and reels with15kg line. A bit of a sluggish shark which did not look like a whaler, and I thought it might
be a tiger shark, but it had no stripes. Not having a very good look at it before it bust off, I am still not sure what it was!
But at around 2.5 meters long, it was quite big!
Nice weather? Go fishing
And so it was, the weather looked good for Thursday 10th June, so I invited Ashley Van Viersen,
Charlie Messina and his friend Janet Schwarz for a fish. We went a long way to some of my top spots and
uncharacteristically put the anchor down in 50m of water. I normally drift these spots but that morning
the easterly was blowing us all over the place, so decided to sit it out till the wind dropped.
There were a fair few fish around and a steady stream of just size snapper, baldchin, big red-throats & sambos,
etc were released while we waited for the “big ones”.
When it did come it was on Ashley’s line. A thumping 13.2kg dhuie!
They don’t get much bigger than this around here.
I expectantly awaited the second dhuie but it did not turn up.
We went on to drift another spot completing our bag of 2 demersal fish each for a very rewarding day out.
Mackerel Islands Gamefishing Tournament
With only a little persuasion, I took up an offer to sponsor a trophy for the Mackerel Islands Tournament in September.
It is the end of the season for me so I might as well fish it.
I have a team now, John Hoye, Paul Youngman and wife Sue.
All we need now is good weather.
I am giving away a Shimano TLD15 matched with a Turbo Jerk PE 1.5-3 (One of Alan Koh’s imports see below)
Valued at around $425.00
Highest Point Scoring Game Fish wins it!
New rod imports
I have recently received the Turbo Jerk PE 1.5-3, the one I am giving away as a sponsor of the Mackerel Islands Tournament.
I am impressed; the quality is way up there, very light and very nicely finished with quality guides.
It is a two piece, but jointed at the butt, you would never know it was a two piece.
Very handy for travelling and it also comes with a handy rod bag.
The Turbo Jerk PE 1.5-3 retails at a very reasonable $199.00
There is a huge range of rods in the Hearty Rise and Eupro series.
Email me for a 2010 catalogue if you are interested.
A long weekend in May
Michael Mac Shane got a group of 9 together and booked both of my accommodation units and 2 boats.
Michael took advantage of the package and saving on the deal. They got into a few good fish, making
it a great fishing long weekend with the boys.
Michael sent me the pic and his story.Kalbarri May 2010This year we had a bigger crew (9), hired two boats plus the accommodation. As before, the guys were amazed at how cheap the whole weekend is, 2 days boat hire plus 3 nights accommodation. Those 2 days on the boat are big days and when the fish are on it is enough fishing to keep most people happy! The mackerel were missing this year, the current was weaker and water temps were up to 21.1C. We fished Wagoe the first morning, heaps of tuna, small yellow-fin busting up and we got numerous hook-ups on smaller blue lures. We bagged 3 mackerel, all taken on skipping garfish that had sunk too deep when the boat had stopped to play a fish or untangle a lure, none on lures.
Kevin with a mac on the lie detector – 15kgs.
Dylan holds his Poppa’s 12kg mac.
The 15kg mac coming aboard, the squid skirt covers the garfish to limit the gar from
breaking up when trolled. For stubborn mackerel that won’t come up for baits or lures
try stopping and letting the garfish sink down at selected spots, or use weighted baits to get down
deeper to where the macs are hanging around. This seems to happen during neep tides.
The other boat fared much the same though they had one mackerel strike on a gar while it was skipping. There were the usual moments of chaos when double and triple tuna hook-ups, enough to keep the boys happy. The mackerel were a bit bigger, up to 13.5kg, a 15kg bagged on the second day. A bit of bottom bouncing by one of the boats at the base of the cliffs turned up skippy and some nice eating bottom fish. The second day we headed north to find some warmer water. Sand Patch was a bit cool so we kept on going, tried some bottom bouncing, one boat did OK on breaksea, snapper and other assorted, the other boat found a patch on the shore that had decent mackerel and tuna, successfully landing one mackerel.In all, the trip was a success, everyone enjoyed themselves and though the fish numbers were down, most people got to play a few good fish and experience the excitement.I forgot to mention that we thought there were a reasonable number of mackerel around, but they weren't taking lures or surface baits, changing the fishing method may have had different results!! We did try berleying and drifting out baits but no luck....next year!!Thanks for your help Laurie, expect another booking for next year.RegardsMichael Mac Shane
Another nice day out
Jason Agrela fishes quite regularly with me and last Sunday panned out to be quite nice.
My 7.8m boat had just got back from an extended hire at Coral Bay so it was nice to get it back and get out for a fish.
(Good excuse to check the boat over and make sure everything is working)
Jason’s wife Rochelle doesn’t get out much but took the opportunity this time to shed the kids and come out with us.
A double hook-up at the Sand Patch and she was on. Getting lessens on pump and wind techniques from Jason,
the fish came in easily on the 10kg gear she was using.
I was on the second fish about the same size using my Stella 8000 and Eupro Exploder II PE 2-4 Jig rod
given to me to test out by Alan Koh.
Nice rod, handled the fish and conditions with ease, very light and casts well for a short rod.
Ashley Van Viersen gets it this month with his 13.2kg dhuie caught when
fishing with me this month. Catching fish like this seriously jeopardises his chances of a repeat
trip and his place on next years marlin trip is also in doubt!!!
See all the previous Bite of the Month winners on my website.
Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Monthly Comp.
Saturday 19th June
Some very nice fish again this month. Thomasina Bowman and partner
Paul parks were out deep
landing 2 mulloway each.
Thomasina’s was the biggest at 14.5kgs.
Even the juniors were getting into the fish.
James Dooley landed his first dhuie.
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: 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
