Thursday, June 28, 2012

June 2012



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

It's been mackerel, mackerel and more mackerel this month. The water cleared up and they came on the chomp.
The temperature is still up around 22 degrees, and on their return migration for southern climes having feasted on the bait fish
schools and fattened up! Some are a lot bigger than usual as you can see in the pics below
They will be around for some time yet.
Picking a good day
Rhys Jones and Mark Graeber had a single day out in the 6.5m boat with a bunch of mates. They got stuck into
a few macs up at the Sand Patch and do they look happy!


Mackerel everywhere
 
  and a tuna to boot.
Fun Day Out

4 mackerel, a few big sharks taking lures, a dhuie, 2 snapper, big bald chin and other stuff made up the day for Lui Crugnale
and son Antony on a trip out during a wet rainy day early this month. Son, Jared and girlfriend Emily joined the group and
got stuck into the action. It was Emily's first trip out in a boat ever!. She survived, stayed dry and avoided the dreaded seasickness!
7.8m boat trip
Arthur, Julie, Marian, and Peter show off their catch caught out of the 7.8m boat this month
        
A mackerel just off the Sand Patch for Marian

 and a good snapper for Arthur
     
Julie got dragged all round the boat by this sambo which I am holding up for her

 and one hell of a baldchin groper
for Peter. It pulled the digital lie detector down to 6.7kgs, one of the biggest baldies I have ever seen!
          
Carnarfin Fun
Barry Shultz and Mark Demeza entered the Carnarfin Fishing Comp early this month.
taking the 6.5m boat out each day they fished well to land a variety of fish
            
The mackerel were quite big,

Coral trout colourful
 and more big mackerel.
   
Kalbarri Delights
Dan Fenton and Darryl Cuthbert had a great day out with the kids. No one  had caught a mackerel, let alone a large fish before
Even Hanna, far left,  fishing for the first time ever caught her first fish the evening before from the jetty, and then this mackerel the following day.
They followed up with snapper, baldchin and various bottom species to finish the day off.
Have a close look at Dan's fish, chomped in half by a shark!
A good day out.
  
Megan Swan booked a trip out with mates, Josh Fox, Helen Steuart, Kasey Massara and Steve Perham.
She had never caught a mackerel and was a major on her wish list especially so that she could brag about it to her brother.
Well take a look at this, brother!
A trolling session at the end of the cliffs resulted in a few macs for the group first up.
Then later while hanging in close on anchor during a very windy morning this 15.1kg mackerel hit a mulie set under
a balloon out the back of the boat. Megan was very quick to grab the 10kg outfit and fought it to the boat.

Kasey Massara, Megan Swan and Steve Perham with some of the macs that day..
  
  

 Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Local Comp.
23rd June
         My sister, Barbara,  is currently visiting from her home town Chicago, and went out with wife Sue and Frank Rystenberg game
fishing during this months comp. (I was out with Megan Swan and her group) With Sue skippering, she put them right
on the fish and Barbara had a hook-up within 30 seconds of lines in only to loose it after half an hour on 6kg line.
Next hook-up for her was within minutes, landing this line class fish.
 Frank then took an hour or so to land this 13.6kg mac on 4kg line winning
him the game section this month.
 Another big baldie for Graeme during the comp.

Bite of the month was hard to pick between this massive baldchin groper caught by Peter Dittrich and
and the 15kg mackerel landed by Megan Swan.
However, I do not recall ever seeing a bigger baldchin groper, and such a prize fish, this is
an outstanding catch. Well done Peter!
Popular Northern Destinations

Thevenard Island
Island Manager: 9184 6444, Drew Norrish & Traci Nathan
The main camp on Thevenard Island is closing down as from 1st July 2012 until further notice. However Direction Island will still
 be open and bookings can be made.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton Resort
Nikki and Scott Dagan are the new managers of the new Ashburton Resort. Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Gnaraloo Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
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.
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 @

And from January 2006 to December 2006 with photos @

And from January 2007 to December 2007 with photos @

And from January 2008 to December 2008 with photos @

And from January 2009 to December 2009 with photos @

And from January 2010 to December 2010 with photos @

And from January 2011 onwards with photos @

And from January 2012 onwards with photos @

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, www.buoyweather.com go to virtual buoys, pick the location you want.
 This is the one I go by!
 Big bait – big fish

Laurie

Monday, June 4, 2012

May 2012


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

Great weather this month set the trend for good catches. Those picking the right days landed lots of mackerel
and tuna. There has been big numbers of cobia being landed, they seem to be associated with whales and whale sharks, so
never miss the opportunity to cast a popper, stick bait or mulie to them. They will hold good cobia.
Adventure Bound TV Show
Lee Raynor and Ryan Thipthorp spent 3 days last month filming from my boats. The episodes are showing in Sydney and Melboune
with Perth and Brisbane following soon.
 Brisbane: Fri 9:30pm. Perth: Mon 9.30pm. Sydney: Fri 8:00pm. Melbourne: Sat 7.30pm. Adelaide: Thurs 7:30pm

They sent me a copy of the three episodes, a big tailor session, demersal and a pelagic episode. They are quite specy.
This week on CH31 is the final episode in Season 12 of Adventure Bound and it's a ripper! Lee completed his trip at Kalbarri and along with Perth local Ryan Thipthorp,
 the guys fish some offshore areas using a mixture of surface lures, jigs and trolling to catch everything from big
cobia on the surface, spanish mackerel trolling to yellow fin tuna jigging.

Brisbane and Perth will follow soon. Check out their facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/adventureboundtv.

TVS 44 Sydney times:
Friday, 8 June 8:00pm  Saturday, 9 June 9:00am  Sunday, 10 June 4:00pm  Friday, 15 June 8:00pm  Saturday, 16 June 9:00am

Don't forget Adventure Bound starts on Foxtel Aurora channel Wednesday night at 7.30pm.
The first six shows we will be running some of their hand picked favourites.
For all of you who haven't been able to see Adventure Bound we hope you enjoy it!
They are still also airing Season 12 on Channel 31 and TVS!
 
Mackerel Islands Trip
Jeff Hitchins reports on his trip up to the Mackerel Islands early this month.

My 6.1m and 6.5m boats swing on anchor first thing in the morning at Thevenard island.
Just to let you know, we had a great trip at the Mackerel Islands.   The boat went fantastic (but as I indicated, one or two minor issues with the echo sounder,
didn’t stop us catching fish though). 

 On the trip we caught coral trout, spanish mackerel, blue bone, crimson perch,
 red emperor, red throat emperor, NW snapper, rankin cod, spotted cod, chinaman fish, cobia and lots of sharks.
     

Nat and Jeff Hitchins with a pair of good gold-spot trevally, and some pelagic action.  
      
Nat encounters a shark or two during some very fine weather. 

Jeff with a great chinaman cod.
    
The crew on Thevenard are very helpful, friendly and on a Sunday night they put on a free BBQ. 
Facilities for filleting and cleaning fish were excellent, there was even a small inflatable boat to take us out to our mooring when you wanted.

The weather was great, with a bit of wind in the morning and flattening out in the afternoon.

There was a lot of coral spawn in the water and water temperature was 26 – 27 degrees so there were not a lot of spanish mackerel around,
 however we did catch 5 or 6 while we were there.

With lots of sharks around, it was recommended by a couple of guys who have fished there many times, to only use one
baited line (sharks strike second bait rather than your catch!)

Can highly recommend Thevenard as a fishing destination and we are planning to rebook for next year.

Tight Lines
Jeff, Steve & Nat

Bit of sad news: The Mackerel Islands fishing camp on Thevenard Island is closing from end June until further notice.
Seems that the big Wheatstone Gas development up there has more or less taken over the camp accommodation.
Accommodation is near impossible to get in Onslow now, due to the influx of workers on the project.
However the lone shack on Direction Island will still be open so you can still go there.
  
Kalbarri Delights
Michael Mac Shane was up last month hiring 3 boats, the two 6.5ms and the 7.8m for 2 days our from Kalbarri.
The group got onto quite a few fish and Michael sent the following YouTube clips.
The weather was kind except for one of the days when a severe squall came through which was not on the forecast.
They managed to get back safely, but were asked to standby at the Sand Patch while the Kalbarri Sea Search and Rescue tried to
determine where a mayday call was coming from. Eventually it was located about 100km north west and that the boat had
sunk and the crew were in their sea kayaks! They were very lucky to be rescued by another boat.
See the video of the 7.8m boat coming through the river mouth in very ugly conditions!
Watch out, some bad language can be heard!


A good day out.
    
Peter Robinson and Ian Hook were out in the 7.8m boat in a much anticipated trip. Neither had done much fishing, but it
did not take long for Ian to hook up to a nice mulloway just past the Sand Patch. Not a bad fish for someone who rarely fishes, but
on the second drift over the well lit up patch resulted in a second fish! Peter just shook his head in disgust.
On the way back lures were set and Peter redeemed himself with a small mackerel. However 5 other mackerel were dropped over a half hour session.
Your two mulloway make Bite of the Month on my website Ian!
    
Borewors Fishing Club – Kalbarri trip 2012
At 10.30pm on Thursday 24 May the BFC members assembled at their usual meeting point on Wanneroo Road – 8 members plus "Pops". 1 Cruiser,
 2 Pajeros and 2 boats (with a third to be collected from Murchison Boat Hire in the morning). The Plan – be on the water in Kalbarri at sunrise.
 Into the night went the convoy. All went smoothly until about an hour out of town the chatter on the radio turned into a discussion between the
2 Pajero drivers as to why each of their cars was flashing some warning light that nobody knew existed and had no idea what it was.
 Alas following some deductive reasoning it was determined it was an icy road warning as the outside temperature had hit 0 degrees Celsius
 on what turned out to be the coldest May night in WA for 98 years!. Too cold? No!!! We kept going. Following a couple of driver rotations and a toasted sanger in
 Gero the BFC arrived in Kalbarri over an hour before sunrise. The wind was Easterly so everyone deduced the Arctic had moved to Central Australia as it was freezing.
After a hop over to Murchison Boat Hire to pick up Tokoloshe (aka the fish magnet) the crew blasted out in choppy conditions covered from head to toe in whatever
 waterproof clothing one could muster. When finally the throttles were eased back to tie on the wooden fishies, everyone agreed on one thing –
 the water was damn salty.........we were living the dream (as Andrew L kept reminding us).
        

     
Friday was just a warm up – some Macky hook ups and some successful bottom bouncing. First bag of Biltong gone!
Friday dinner was Dhufish and Boerewors – job done!

       
Saturday brought far more pleasing temperatures and flatter seas as the boats left the River just after daybreak. After reaching the Boerewors secret location
the fun began  – an 80lb trace was turned to fray as some great sea monster attacked – 1 wooden fishy gone!!!!  After that each boat
enjoyed some good fishing using a variety of lures. The rigs were changed and the sinkers attached as the boats roared
 off to the secret bottom bouncing location. Second bag of Biltong gone!  A quick visit to the IGA on the way back to Camp Anchorage caused
Les significant emotional distress when the smartly dressed cashier announced "My God you stink!!!". The rest of us smiled and thought....Yes, living the dream.

That night after the fish clean up and some long hot showers it was Baldy, Snapper and Cod ......with Boerewors entree and a few beer chasers.....job done!

The final day delivered decent weather again and another early start was had. Laurie's trailer was already at the ramp having heard of the
good fortunes of the BFC on the previous day. Leave the fun to Laurie...not a chance...so throttle forward....thank god Tokoloshe is a 4 stroke!!!
 The final morning brought some good fun and some great photos (including a double hook up), again on a variety of lures. Alas the fishing was over and time
to head back in before heading home – some mackerel in the freezer for some good BBQ action in the coming weeks and some let go to catch next time.

Until next year...tight lines!
Exploring WA
Lee Kirkman from the Gold Coast was over in WA with a couple of mates, exploring fishing spots, when he called into Kalbarri.
He was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the fishing! All caught on jigs and soft plastics!
Here is his story and pics.     
Chris with a yellow-fin
 and Lee with his 90cm snapper 
and Stu's snapper.
On one of my stops on my exploring trip to the WA coast to plan future fishing trips was Kalbarri. I must say the little town of
 Kalbarri was definitely a small piece of paradise. After seeing so many fish and so many fishing stories from clients coming and going, so it's
 good to see you keep up that friendly smile and welcome feeling. I was so happy to see the quality of your boats and the maintenance upkeep is excellent.
With the rods going missing on the flight over from Gold Coast, thanks again for lending me one of your fishing rods. 
The rod received a very good work out with 6 kg braid.
 Normally it takes a couple of days in a new fishing spot sort out where and what works in that region, before any quality of fish or any type can be caught.
So to have one day out and catch as many jelly bean yellow fin as you want, long tail tuna to 20 kg and snapper to 4 - 8 kg on plastics and
 jigs and a couple of critters that wanted to keep my jigs for there personal collection was fantastic.
The potential in that area must be great. All my fish where released and so happy that W.A has in
place rules & legislation to maintain the quality of your fishing for years to come.
Here is a couple of pics.
Thanks Again
Lee Kirkman
Gold coast
N.S.W

 Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Local Comp.
                    20th May
Some of the fish caught during the last monthly local comp.
   

    
From the boats
     
And caught from the beaches.    

Ian Hook, landed these two mulloway from a spot not far from the Sand Patch.
Fishing out of the 7.8m boat he landed the first one by 8.30am and the second came
up on the second drift. great fish Ian!
Popular Northern Destinations

Thevenard Island
Island Manager: 9184 6444, Drew Norrish & Traci Nathan
The main camp on Thevenard Island is closing down as from 1st July until further notice. However Direction Island will still
 be open and bookings can be made.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton Resort
Nikki and Scott Dagan are the new managers of the new Ashburton Resort. Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Gnaraloo Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
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.