Email: lasue@wn.com.au http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/MURCHISON BOAT HIRE JUNE 2009 ELETTER
I was fortunate to be able to get on a trip out to Preston Island; it’s about 2km offshore from Cape Preston, 50 odd km west of Karratha. It is part of a mining lease and there will be a causeway built from the mainland of Cape Preston out around this island& a couple of km out to sea. Only a couple of metres deep between the island and mainland at high tide, you could walk out to it on dry land on a very low tide. At the back of the island it drops down to around 15 metres, hence the reason for the causeway.
Around Kalbarri the mackerel are still full on with most hirers and tourists getting their bag limit each day. Last year the mackerel hung around right into August, hopefully that will be the case again this year.
2 Week Annual Trip Late May
Hi Laurie & Sue.
Just a brief overview of our Kalbarri trip this year.
We had John & Robin Slattery, Richard Cottingham and Ian Freeman on “Bulawayo Buoy”. Geoff McEwan, Jim Laurenson,
Ray Graffin and Peter Jones on “Bandicoot” and Mike Stacey and Ritchie Kirk on “Ocean Reef”.
With 3 boats on the go we did well on the mackerel which was all we were really chasing.
However John Slattery cleverly caught a nice snapper while trolling with a Halco Crazy Deep Redhead.
In the 30 years of fishing at Kalbarri we have never picked up a bottom fish on the troll so it was a first.
On day one we went well north of Bald Face and picked several undersized mackerel which were released.
We then hit Wagoe and did very nicely near Bluff Point.
After that we stayed between Red Bluff and Sand Patch and usually did well. “Ocean Reef” had 3 double hook ups and managed
to successfully landed them all. No mean feat with only 2 people on board to manage the chaos.
Fishing closer to home was a bonus as we saved a fair bit of petrol money.
“Ocean Reef” had a lucky catch when the mackerel managed to wrap the wire trace around a cray line. We thought we had hooked
the cray line so reversed up to it and was pleased to see the fish still connected. As the fish was gaffed the wire trace
snapped however the fish was landed with the lure still attached.
As usual “Bulawayo Buoy” was the champion boat. Not sure what those guys do on that boat but it works.
Even the bananas and orange bucket we hid on board failed to slow them down.
The fish this year seemed to be of a larger size than in previous years, in view of that we had to cease fishing early
into the second week to stay within the possession limits. That wasn’t such a problem as the weather was fantastic for the
entire 2 weeks so we hit the beach and did some surfing plus checked out the cafes and restaurants.
Did some sight seeing including the Seahorse place which is worth a visit.
Mike Stacey with one of the 3 double hook up catches taken on "Ocean Reef".
Shot of "Bulawayo Buoy" trolling past Red Bluff
John Slattery with his memorable snapper on the troll catch, 
and one of RayGraffin with a nice fish in front of "Bandicoot"
See you next year.
Regards.
Ritchie Kirk.
3 Day Kalbarri Fish Fest
Scott Davies was the hirer for this trip bringing along much the same group as last year.
Merv Hopkins, Brian Duke, mate Matt and his dad, Norm Davies. They fished out of Kalbarri
for 3 days in the 7.8m boat, enjoying some of the best weather this year. The weather reflected the good fishing with them bagging mackerel and tuna each day before landing dhuies, baldchin, snapper etc from the bottom.
Merv with a rarely caught surf parrotfish, 
Matt’s first dhuie 
and Norm with a good mackerel
Merv had all the luck catching most of the good fish,
but Brian landed his first mackerel and dhufish during the trip.
Great snapper for Scott and dhufish for Norm, both hooked up at the same time. 
Scott spent about an hour on this big ray, which was actually bigger than the photo shows.I have only seen them this size in the WA Aquarium!
Hi Laurie
Just want to say thanks very much again for an absolutely fantastic fishing trip.
That one is going to be hard to top.
Last year I got my first maccy and it’s hard to believe that I got one on each of the 3 days we went out on this trip.
Awesome weather and an ocean bubbling with a huge assortment of fish. Absolutely fantastic fun.
Thanks again mate
Scott and crew
In a hurry?
These pics were taken during the “Kalbarri Classic” out on the 9 mile reef. This 6.5m cat powered by twin
115hp Yamaha 4-strokes gets Darren Westlund on the plane in a hurry.
Blowing 20 knots and a rough sea, it would have been uncomfortable to say the least.Cape Preston
Surveying the water between the island and mainland in the background.To get here we used the public boat ramp at the mouth of the Fortescue River and powered
18km to the Cape. Launching is only possible 3 hours before and after high tide and is dodgy
to say the least. A second vehicle was needed to retrieve the boat up the very steep ramp. Exit and entry of the river mouth is crudely marked but I now have waypoints, so getting back in was easy. Most of the area varies from 2 metres to about 5 metres deep 10km offshore, muddy, and I did not see much action fish wise. Zero mullet in the river, no fish swirls even at high tide early morning, little bird activity. My fly rod remained in its bag, it was a bit disappointing.
I suspect most of the fishing takes place around the outer islands that we spotted way out in deeper water.
No really outstanding fish this month, but nothing really beatsa big baldchin groper, this one caught by Merv Hopkins. Overall his trip was a burster
landing most of the better fish during the 3 day trip with the 7.8m boat.
Well done Merv.
See all the previous Bite of the Month winners on my website.
Snapper Rubbers
With the awsome results I have been getting with the Octo lead jigs, I have been experimenting with some home made ones.
The bought jobs are quite expensive, and they are only lumps of lead with occy looking legs.
Ashley Van Veirsen has made up mould and we are researching some styles of dressings.
So far they are looking the part, but a few more improvements are still needed.Hooks used are Owner C’ultiva no 2 jig hooks. Very strong and sharp.
They are catching all sorts of stuff. Out fishing bait!Michael Mac Shane, booked the 6.1m boat and my accommodation getting the discounts offered during the 2nd week end this month. Storms were raging in Perth but it turned out to be a pearler 2 days for Michael’s group. Michael’s email says it all!
Hi Laurie/ Ben,
Thanks for the weekend and especially thanks for the advice and instructions would have wasted a lot of time without it!
Everyone had a great time and will return again. The 6.1m was a fantastic boat and did the job well.
Day 1 we did the boat limit with 7 mackerel and 3 Yellow-fin Tuna. The highlight being a triple hook-up on tuna and a quadruple hook-up on mackerel.
When the fish were biting everything got hit but it was an overcast day and a gold bodied redhead Laser Pro was the standout.
Day 2 started the same but was cloudless.The macs were biting early and we had 3 on board by about 9am.
We put the next one back because we wanted to save room for some bottom fish but the bite completely shut down.
We drifted and trolled and couldn't raise mackerel or bottom fish. Finally, we decided to troll back at about 2pm, from the 3rd fence, and started to play with the lures.Smaller blue lures and the skipping gardie did the trick and we ended up with 6 mackerel and a Yellow-fin for the day.
An amazing trip!
Some of the macs were a bit a cut above average. This one around 13kgsThankyou again!
Michael Mac Shane
NB: I would like to add, that on the first day that Michael was out, I nipped out with my wife and a couple of her friends visiting from the Eastern States in the 7.8m boat. I was going to show them how easy it is for them to catch mackerel!
Well, we missed the first strike, Michael caught a couple on the 6.1m, we got nothing, moved to a new spot, dropped another and landed a very small yellow-fin. Michael’s tally - 7 mackerel and 3 tuna, me – 1 small tuna!
I have to say Michael, well done; there are not many hirers that out fish me so comprehensively!
Popular Northern Destinations
There have been quite a few hires to Gnaraloo and the Mackerel islands this month, but getting photos and detail is proving difficult
especially towards the end of the month when I have a dead line.
Hopefully some photos and stories will come through for the next newsletter.
I am heading up to Gnaraloo early July with some mates and taking the 7.8m boat, handing it over to Gnaraloo regular Dave Allen and his group. Dave did well last year, even scoring “Bite of the Month”, for his wahoo. It will be our second trip and hopefully do better now that we have some knowledge of the area and a few waypoints.
Thevenard IslandThere 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 is 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
We stayed at Yardie Homestead Caravan Park, in one of the units that are fairly basic but adequate for our needs. The park has a swimming pool and a shop with limited stock, but handy for bread and milk etc. Located on the West side close to Tandabidi Boat Ramp. This is our trip and my assumptions. I am no expert and I am only telling it as we experienced it. More experienced anglers may have other and better ideas.
The gear we used were Penn 50TW Internationals, Tiagra 30s and similar loaded with 24kg mono. We also used a Stella 20000 and a Riobi Safari spinning reel. The spinning reels were invaluable for dropping back baits, and accounted for most of the fish caught.
The Riobi Safari and Stella 20000 in action
Skipping gardies and waiting waiting waiting. I made up a couple of mini outriggers from old broken rods with an outrigger clip fixed to the end. It is important to be able to immediately drop back the baits once a fish strikes. We found that the big overheads gave too much resistance even in free spool and the fish often dropped the bait. The spinning reels, with the bail arm open let line out without any resistance allowing the fish to swallow the bait.
The baited rig we used was a standard garfish attached to the biggest chemically sharpened circle hook we could find by a no. 32 rubber band through the eyes. 300lb leader attached to a clip on a 300lb wind on leader, loop to looped to a Bimini Twist double.
Trust me: these fish go off the scale when they feel the weight come on!
A lot of the time is spent down deep but with explosive jumps when they come to the top.
Any where between 70 and 120 metres deep is the norm. We also found ground that went up and down very steeply from 100m down to 160m and out of the range of the sounder. Most of our strikes came from this area but on the top side around 100m to 120m. Numerous spots we tried were: West of the light house, The Steps, North West of the light house and South West of Tandabidi ramp. My GPS on the 7.8m boat now has all the spots that we got strikes so you can just go to them and put the lures or baits out.
I also got a really big sailfish! A strong easterly kept us in close and we trolled gardies for sails between 35m and 50m. This one hammered my gardie on my Stella 20000 giving me an hour’s work out. When the easterly died down we moved out to the marlin grounds and I got the bigger of the three marlin landed for the trip!
The new ramp at Tandabidi was a pleasure! We managed to launch and retrieve even at close to low tide, though a launch at a very low tide is asking a lot.
Paul Youngman celebrates his first marlin release right on dusk, with his Riobi Safari, circle hook and 50lb braid with crew Daniel Jenks and Ashley Van Viersen.
The second day we had about a 1000 dolphins around the boat, they all took turns surfing the bow wave in front of the boat. The water colour shown here is what it should be, but for the rest of the week it was a bit greenish. All in all, marlin fishing is quite achievable and economical from a small boat without the great expenses of a fully equipped game fishing charter.
The Warroora Station Lagoon from a high spot, where the 7.8m boat is moored.
They got into some good fish. Kevin and his group are Gnaraloo regulars and decided to try somewhere new. They did not have to go too far out, but they said the ground was not as good out from the station as they have seen out from Gnaraloo. Accommodation is a bit cheaper but the logistics of travelling down from Coral Bay, mooring the boat and then getting to it with a smaller boat each day was a bit of a pain. The lagoon is not that well protected so receives a fair bit of swell on the beach, so bringing a big boat to the beach is not an option. 
One km of long, boring, flat, treeless, straight, uneventful, goat ravaged country not far from Overlander Roadhouse. 1 thirteen hundredth of the trip!
Cheers. 
"Photos courtesy of CSIRO"
This is it above. I can’t say much for the colour!
Bite of the Month must surly go to Paul Youngman with his marlin taken during our Exmouth trip this month.
Michael hales from Kalgoorlie so he doesn’t get much fishing done, and he did well fighting sea sickness as well as the fish.
First mackerel and above average size for Pete and Chris holds his first mackerel.