February 2011

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!

What comes around goes around

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

January 2011

Email: lasue@wn.com.au http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/

MURCHISON BOAT HIRE JANUARY 2011 ELETTER
The flooded Murchison River has now stopped flowing, but the remnant muddy water continues to disgorge
out into the ocean on low tide. This has kept plague proportions of small yellow-fin tuna around the edges of the dirty water.
Surprisingly though the mackerel have been sporadic with just the odd one now and again.
Bottom fish continue to hold their own but a good weather day is needed to get to the spots.
Murchison Boat Hire 60 second promo clip
David Belfield was up in Kalbarri recently shooting video for inclusion on a website showing
Virtual Kalbarri where you can click on a business, tour, attraction and a 30 or 60 second clip will screen.
You can watch mine on this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OCInsmMweM

Big day out for the kids
Scott Scriffignano was holidaying in Kalbarri for the Christmas break and had the 6.5m boat for 2 days.
Stunning glass-off conditions rewarded the anglers who made the most of it. Scott and his kids got into
some nice bottom fish as well as trolling up & casting to shark mackerel.



The kids show off some of the fish caught by the group.
Looks like they had a great time!

Port Gregory fires again
Brian Soer treated his sons, Wade and Brad and their friends, Dillon and brad’s girlfriend Stacey to a trip out during the school
holidays and found to his dismay that when he arrived in town, the river mouth was closed to all boating!
Not to worry we towed the 7.8m boat down to Port Gregory and went out from there. We fished a couple of
spots 10km south of town picking up fish every drift. We released a few dhuies until Wade got one big enough and

Brian got a double header of coral trout and nice sized dhuie.
Brian was the only one not to get seasick,

and Wade Soer stood up long enough to hold his dhuie for a photo!
He looks fine now but spent most of the time throwing up! The rest of the crew lay about the deck hoping to die.

After the flood
Gavin Kensitt and a group of friends managed to get out after the river was opened and spent the morning down
Natural Bridge area where Louise Williams had her arms pulled off by a shark.
Nicola Shea caught a nice size red-throat, a pink snapper

and this small tuna on the way back at the 3 mile.
Elena Podinic enjoyed driving the boat while
Brett came along for the ride!

Compounding Problems
David Zhang has hire my boats a few times and is still in a steep learning curve. He does well and his enthusiasm is infectious.
Hiring the 6.1m boat for a week and staying in my accommodation thus picking up the boat hire discounts put him on the right track.
He was set for a big week, cray fishing, trolling and bottom fishing and I took him and his girlfriend Tansy out the first day
to set his pots in the right spots, and had a short troll at the 3 mile but no luck. He dropped me ashore and went out to his usual
spots landing a couple of snapper and a skippy. Out early the next day he got one cray but failed in the fish department and was back early
with a very seasick tansy. She did not want to go out the following days which left David crewless.
With the cray pots still out there and me unable to go out due to work and a trip to Gero, he sat around very patiently!
On the fourth day he came out with me and my son Jared in the 7.8m boat.
This is his story and the pics.
I started my trolling experience from a charter boat in 2008 on an Exmouth trip, I got 3 mackerels from my “lucky lure”.
After that, I always want to try the trolling by myself, I keep trying to get a mackerel in Kalbarri using Laurie’s boat, but didn’t get anything until this year.
We went to the sand patch and start trolling, same rules, same lures, nothing tricky. It was a beautiful day, nice weather and almost no swell.
We put 4 lures out the back. I will say it was a really terrible day for the mackerel family. We got 4 mackerels.
After that we try the bottom fishing, only half hour, 5 pinkies and 1 baldchin groper, we already reach the limit and heading back, however, we also want some tuna on the way back.
Bingo, 2 times triple hook-up for tuna. Laurie lost 2 lure because of the shark and third plastic lure was bitten and only half left.

Bagged out, 2 demersals and 2 mackerel

A seasick recovered Tansy holding one of the mackerel
Happy ending fishing 2011, I really want to thank Laurie’s help.

Kalbarri Marlin
During the Kalbarri Ultralight over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd, Jeff Higgott was out for some fun with mate Paul Truman and son Jack his own boat.
They were not in the competition but thought they would go out and catch a couple of macs. After trolling for about 2 hours
& only getting a couple of tuna, they were just about to call it and head back in when Paul’s Rod went off.
Jack and Jeff started pulling their lines in when to their surprise this black marlin jumped out right in front of them! What a sight.
Paul Truman could not believe his luck, up on a little break from Perth, he had a smile from ear to ear.
He has only caught a couple of mackerel and tuna before so this was pretty special for Jeff and Jack as well. They spent the next hour playing it.
Paul was completely stuffed so Jeff a bit work to do as well, especially getting it on board for a few snaps. Paul was a bit worried about his knot tying but they held.
Caught it on a Halco Laser Pro with 25kg line. The marlin was released and swam away nicely.
Team effort
Jeff Higgott, Paul Truman Jack Higgott


Family Day Out
One of the rare occasions I get out for a fun fish. This week the whole family was up for a short stay, Rebecca with her new husband Julian,
From Melbourne, and Ben who lives in Perth. Youngest son Jared and Sue all joined me out in the 7.8m for a quick fish yesterday.
When I say quick, I mean, the weather was pretty ordinary so it had to be an early start and back in by 8.00am.

We left the ramp at 6am and hit small tuna by 6.30am. Julian has never caught a fish before so got plenty of instructions
from his wife Rebecca landing this small tuna.


We caught 8 tuna releasing them all and dropping about 6 more

They varied in size from very small to not too bad!
We were back at the ramp at 8.15am!


Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Monthly Comp.
Kalbarri Ultra Light Comp

The Ultra Light Comp held on the 22nd and 23rd is a warm-up comp for the Classic and the multitudes of small tuna set the style.
The marginal weather conditions did not help much but the tuna were on the chomp.
Maximum line class is 6kg and Sue used this to good effect landing an 8.5kg mackerel the first day to put
her in the lead in the 6kg line class. Jason Agrela did well landing fish on 4kg line and 2kg line while lee Ivey
got his 4.1kg tuna on 4kg line to win that section. Son Jared was the only one to land a fish on 3kg line to win that section, while
Sue went on to land a couple of tuna on 2kg line to win the 2kg section, 6kg section and the overall for the second year running!.

The river section fished well with big bream and cod.
Paul Parks landed this 25kg samson from the bottom section. It took a small hooked fish
as he was winding it up from the bottom!

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 six 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 onwards with photos @
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2010.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