www.murchisonboathire.com.au/MURCHISON BOAT HIRE SEPTEMBER 2009 ELETTER
We are well into our quiet period now and even with the school holidays on right now
few hires are happening. Mainly the weather is a little off, the swell is usually up and not a lot of fish around at this time of year.
So the 2 month closure will not have much effect on my business and it will give me time to do maintenance on the trailers, boats and equipment etc.
The two new 6.5m boats are completed, surveyed and ready for hire. I took them out for a test drive last week
& with the new 150hp 4-strokes and Stainless steel props, they get up to 31 knots. That is around 59km/h, just short of the top speed
of my 7.8m with the twin 115hp motors! That will get you from Bundigi to the Murions in 20 minutes, Fremantle to Rottnest in 17 minutes,
Onslow to Thevenard in 22 minutes and Tandabidi to the marlin grounds in 14 minutes.
Equipped with the same Koden sounders as all my other boats, and with Garmin
Chart Plotters with maps from Esperance to Queensland. I will be uploading all my waypoints to them when I get the
special computer upload cable.
The boats with new 150hp 4-stroke Yamaha motors, new paintwork, new sounders, new radios,
new seating, new carpet, new safety gear, new anchor rope and totally rewired
One of them is currently in Shark Bay. Weather looking good, Steven should have a good trip!Well the government backed down from their draconian licensing costs and modified it to what shows below.
This has been copied from an AAAWA newsletter. It is still not set in concrete or legislated yet so there
may still be changes, but better than what was originally proposed. There is no doubt in my mind that
something has to be done and I feel that we have to accept some more restrictions.
Making boat anglers pay $150.00 a year was just a bit too steep. The proposed $30.00 is more in line but
why only for boat anglers when landbased anglers still fish for the same fish? Seems a bit unfair!
Here is a summary. Please note there are lots of other details not covered here.
• Abolishing the proposed annual $150, fortnightly $60 and daily $20 demersal scalefish licence
• Introducing a mixed daily bag limit of 2 demersal scalefish from the West Coast Demersal Scalefish sub
category, of which only 1 can be a dhufish
• Introducing a mixed daily bag limit of 2 pelagic scalefish from the West Coast Pelagic Scalefish sub
category.
Some pelagic species moved from High Risk to Medium Risk category
• A daily boat limit of 2 dhufish will apply, however, there will be a boat limit of 6 dhufish permitted for
charter boats in recognition of the business pressures on charter operators
• A requirement to carry a release weight will apply to all (boat) anglers fishing for demersal species, to assist
in mitigating barotrauma and improve survival rates of demersal scalefish returned to the water
• A two-month season closure from October 15 to December 15 inclusive remains for demersal species.
• The State wide $30 recreational boat fishing licence remains but will only apply to people fishing from
registered boats and will be used by researchers to build a database of boat fishers and their catch
• Any non-licensed boat fishers - not just those under the age of 16 - may fish for free with a licensed fisher
provided the provisions of the licensed fisher’s daily bag and size limits are honoured
• A simple $15 ‘ticket’ system is proposed for charter clients who don’t already hold a boat fishing licence
• Standardisation of other fishing licence fees to $40 for marron, lobster, abalone, net fishing and freshwater
angling. Licences taken out concurrently are entitled to a 10 per cent discount on the transaction
• All funds raised through the sale of recreational licences will be placed in the Recreational Fishing Trust
Fund to exclusively fund activities related to recreational fishing
• A 50 per cent discount for fishing from a registered boat licence will apply for pensioners and people under 16.
• Note:- No licence is required for line fishing from the shore for finfish.
Proposed West Coast Demersal Scalefish sub category. Proposed combined daily bag limit
of 2 in West Coast, with individual species daily bag and existing size limits. Applies from 15 October
when the 2 month closed season starts.
Cods. Coral trout and Coronation trout, Dhufish, 1 per person, 2 per boat, 6 per charter boat Emperors
Groper, baldchin and tuskfish, Groper, western blue, Hapuku/bass groper/trevella and grey banded rock cod,
Parrot fish, Pink snapper Queen snapper (blue morwong), Tropical snappers and sea perch (mangrove jack,
fingermark, job fish, stripey sea perch etc.), Red snapper - bight redfish, nannygai and swallowtail
Red emperor Foxfish and Pigfish
Proposed West Coast Pelagic Scalefish sub category. Proposed combined daily bag limit of 2 in West Coast,
with existing individual species daily bag and size limits. Will begin on 16 December.
Barracuda Billfish - sailfish, spearfish, swordfish,
marlins, Cobia, Mackerel – shark mackerel - broad-barred (grey) and Spanish, narrow-barred Samson fish/amberjack/yellowtail kingfish
Mahi mahi (dolphinfish) Mackerel – wahoo trevally, giant and golden Tuna - southern bluefin, yellowfin, bigeye
Remember this category is just for the WEST COAST region which has its northern boundary between Kalbarri
and Shark Bay. Does not affect Steep Point or the Gascoyne region.
West Coast Medium Risk category list then becomes:- Proposed combined daily bag limit of 12 in West Coast
from 15 October, with existing individual species daily bag and size limits. Transfer between categories will be
from 16 December.
Bream – north-west, black and yellowfin Trevally – silver (skippy), diamond, etc.
Flathead and flounder Goatfish, mackerel, australian spotted, and mackerel, queensland
school, bonito – leaping and oriental, and other tunas, leatherjacket snook and pike
tailor, tarwhine, whiting – king george whiting – yellowfin
# cobbler # mulloway
# salmon, australian # sharks and rays
# trout, brown and rainbow
# = denotes moved from high to Medium Risk Category
This list is just for the West Coast and does not apply in South Coast. See West Coast Guide for all current
individual species daily bag and size limits.
West Coast Low Risk category and species is not changed, but the proposed combined daily bag limit is reduced
to 30 in West Coast from 15 October.
Demersal scalefish caught in other regions during the two-month closure (such as Shark Bay pink snapper) can
be taken into the West Coast Bioregion during the two-month demersal scalefish closure, but can only be
transported by land or air, not by boat. It will not be an offence to store or possess on land demersal scalefish
taken outside of the closed period (for example: frozen dhufish or pink snapper).
Did you get that?
5.3m boat magic
Brendon Shinnick and mate Brett called in looking for a boat for a spot of fishing.
Brendon is a crayfisherman from Lancelin, so with that kind of experience, I had no
worries letting him have a boat and pointed him towards Baldface, about 25km north.
He told me that the sounder in the boat was the same as his one and had no trouble
finding ground with it. And look what they ended up with.
Brendon takes it from here.
First stop was Bald Face and could only raise a nor’ westblowie but the occy was skinned, mullet and mulies cut up, and we were readyto start fishing, although conditions weren't perfect we were ready to giveit a crack for the first time in these waters.We travelled further north and were in 30m of water and came across a nicecoral lump, only small with very little fish showing but too good not to see who was living there.
First fish from it being a Breaksea Cod then a nice coral Trout, another Breaksea Cod a Black Damsel Fish and a small Estuarycod. The easterly was getting stronger so we came in shallower and picked upa nice bar tailed flathead and a red lipped morwong, then decided to anchor and berley and could only raise a small whaler shark and an eel.
We worked back towards Bald Face and came across some nice ground holding fish and picked up an amberjack on a floating mulie and dropped our remaining burleyon top of the fish which soon produced two nice pinkies the bigger one at 5.5kg.
The breeze had picked up at this stage so we decided to head home with only a couple of the better eating fish in the esky.
This photo is of Brett hooked up to his amberjack.Thanks for the day Laurie,Brendon Shinnick, Skipper/DirectorCatalyst Fishing Company (CFC)
There have been a few warning circulating about the dangers of using ethanol added fuel.
Being marketed as E10, it is 10% ethanol and causes problems with boats. E10 itself does not actually damage engines; damage to
engines results from the solvent effect of ethanol as it virtually dissolves fuel tanks and fuel lines and fragments are passing through
filters and being deposited in engines. Also when left in tanks for long periods it reacts with water creating an acid that
corrodes injector nozzles and needles.Basically, to use E10 without fuel tank problems fibreglass tanks must be replaced. Forget aluminium – they too run the risk of
corrosion from the solvent-like E10. Stainless steel can withstand the effects of E10, but would undoubtedly lead to a rather
hefty price increase in boats at the retail level.
So please do not refuel my boats with E10 ethanol. Not available in country towns yet but will
turn up some where some time.
Tiger sharks feed on a whale carcass
Here is a link to a video shot in Exmouth recently of tiger sharks feeding on a dead whale.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/6101647/whale-carcass-sends-tiger-sharks-into-feeding-frenzy/
Bite of the monthBrendon Shinnick gets bite of the month this month for his great
coral trout catch up at Bald Face. Nice fish Brendon
See all the previous Bite of the Month winners on my website.
Playful sea lion
Unusual sighting for Kalbarri this month was this playful sea lion that circled the boat while we were on anchor.
It did a few laps, leapt out the water and then left us alone.
Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Monthly Comp 19th September 2009.
Local comp winner was Ron Neumann, landing 2 dhuies from around Bald Face.
This may well be the last time you ever see a guy holding up 2 dhuies that he caught, as the
new bag limits will limit you to one dhuie only!
Craig and Jason release river caught bream back into the river after the comp. It was one of the
highest number of bream caught in one comp, with 20 being released. The club has tagged and released
over 475 bream over the last few years. Only 2 have been recaptured? Does this mean that they are not surviving?
Rubbing the tag off, do other bream nip it off, or are there so many bream in the river that the chances of recatching one limited?
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 if you would like to visit. 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.
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
Noel and Robyn are willing to accept bookings for my boats at Port Gregory
I will deliver the boat down there for 2 or more days hire for free.
& return it to Kalbarri for you.
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
