Email: lasue@wn.com.au http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/
An awesome month it has been! An ultra warm current has been flowing out there, and some days it has been 27.3 degrees
according to my sounder. Usually it is 23.5 degrees, so 4 degree above normal is mind blowing. And with it came all
sorts of fish! The tuna have been in plague proportions and quite annoying, while the mackerel have been on the
bite throughout the day. Big mackerel to 18kg have been around the dirty water at the mouth of the river, while schools of
smaller macs around 4-5kgs have been in the clean water between the mouth and the Sand Patch.
On top of this the last 3 cyclones have produce extraordinary calm glassed off conditions with minimal swell.
It has been great!
The Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic starts in 2 days and all is prepared. We will be fishing in the
7.8m boat this year and there are already 26 boat registered with more to come.
www.fishingwa.com.au
Harry from Fishing WA has a holiday home up here in Kalbarri and is a sponsor of the Kids Whiting Comp that the
Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club holds on the foreshore during the October school holidays.
I have got to know him over the last few years and he does not have a lot of spots up here, so on one of the
good weather days early this month I invited him and mate, Dan Jenks out in the 7.8m boat.
We caught a few mackerel and then went for a bottom fish where Harry used soft plastics and gave me a few tips on
the action needed. Harry landed several nice pinkies before we all bagged out and were back by midday.
It is the action in the rod, you need quite a soft tip, to impart the lift and drop of the soft plastic to entice a bite.
I had quite a hard rod and did not get nearly as many hits as Harry, using his Fishing WA rod.
When Harry left he kindly left his rod with me!
One of the new Fishing WA rods that he imports and are for sale at most tackle shops.
This is a perfect soft plastics rod with plenty of grunt and soft tip. It will also cast well.
FWA Series 8-10kg 7 foot Lure weight 10-40g
Very nice feel, quality guides and light. Look for them when you next need the perfect rod.
Family day out
Brian Mosely (on the left) has a holiday home here in Kalbarri and is a member of the Kalbarri offshore & Angling
Club, but lives in Perth. He is mainly a beach fisherman, but wanted to treat the family, son in law, John
& grand kids. I took them out for a troll and a bottom fish where they all got mackerel, tuna and a dhuiefish for Brian.
Yes the conditions were pretty good!
Mick Payne runs the Seahorse aquaculture business in town, it was open to the public and well worth the visit, but he has
closed it down and sold off most of the gear and does consulting work now, allowing him to get some time off for a change.
I am in the process of setting up quite a large salt water fish tank and was round getting advice and trying to buy any leftover
pumps, filters etc that he had. I got some gear and offered him a trip out which he jumped at and brought mate John along.
We caught and released 12 mackerel and tuna, and were back at the ramp at 8.30 in time for John to go to work.
Western Angler Weekend
http://www.westernangler.com.au/
The weather was so good and the fish so plentiful last week that Jamie Waite from the Seafront Villas rang Scott Coghlan, editor of
Western Angler Magazine, and told him to get up here and experience the phenomenon! Scott dropped everything, packed his
kayak and brought Steve Hart with him. The first morning I took them out in the 7.8m boat and started a troll half way to the Sand Patch.
It was going off! Mackerel, tuna, schools of sharks, all crashing baitfish balls around the Sand Patch. Forget trolling, we just cast to the bait ball
& we were pulling tuna, cobia, and the occasional shark nearly every cast on lightish gear. It was a blast.
We then got tired of tuna, mackerel, cobia and sharks and went for a bottom fish. Just past Baldface we landed snapper, skippy, cods, dhuies
etc on soft plastics, Pirates jigs and Bay Rubbers.
Check out the videos and photos we took on this link on the Western Angler forum website.
This takes you to the video page but look through the other pages for photos and more stuff.
http://www.westernangler.com.au/forum/topic?id=1641&p=6
The following day I took their kayaks out and set them adrift a couple of kms out from the river mouth where the trolled
& cast randomly for mackerel. It was not long till Steve hooked up to a mackerel.
Scott, takes under water shots of the mackerel,
and Steve holds it up for a pic.
The following day they did it all again with Scott landing a bigger fish from his kayak, which is the one shown on the video link above.
While this was going on, Sue and I were trolling around catching and releasing more than
I can remember as well as this chunky little yellow-fin.
Great Weekend
Bill Lonsdale brought a crew up from Perth for a fish, getting right into the great mackerel run that is still persisting.
Ryan Mitchell, Craig Lonsdale and Derick Ko, were into the mackerel from the first day and also landed dhufish, pink snapper,
nor’west snapper, sweetlips etc, but improved their catch rate when they trolled more lures on the last day.
A bit short of pics but the day was cut a bit short when Bill took a few hooks in his hand when
trying to unhook a green mackerel with a pair of pliers. Best to wait until it stops kicking and then wait some more!
The last days catch
and the biggest held by Derick Ko .
We have finally done it
It has been long time coming, but we have finally done it. The weather was perfect
the mackerel were the right size, the water was crystal clear and very warm.
We got out our 2kg outfits, put small lures on and dragged them around the hot mackerel spots
between the river mouth and the Sand Patch. We got our bag limits of spanish mackerel
& Sue picked up a spotted mackerel as well to beat me on points during the local fishing comp!
Mackerel on 2kg mono, and it did not take as long as expected, probably 15 minutes per fish!
Bite of the month
Short of any big fish this month, I have to give it to Sue
who fished extremely well during the last Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club comp day.
With perfect conditions, Sue trolled small lures on 2kg mono line landing a narrow-barred
mackerel and then a bonus spotted mackerel, enabling her to land another narrow-barred,
which she did, to make up her bag limit of narrow-barred, and went on to win the game section.
See all the previous Bite of the Month winners on my website.
Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Monthly Comp.
19th February
Even the juniors were getting into the game fish. James with a mackerel on 6kg line
The bottom guys got some good fish as well.
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,
This year the 6.5m 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
Archived Newsletters
After a lot of effort on my part, you can now view all my past newsletters in my Blogs.
I have made seven blogs; you can view all of my 2005 newsletters with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2005.blogspot.com/
And from January 2006 to December 2006 with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2006.blogspot.com/
And from January 2007 to December 2007 with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2007.blogspot.com/
And from January 2008 to December 2008 with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2008.blogspot.com/
And from January 2009 to December 2009 with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2009.blogspot.com/
And from January 2010 to December 2010 with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2010.blogspot.com/
And from January 2011 onwards with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2011.blogspot.com/
They are quite long URL’s so add them to your favourites.
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
