Brucesta
12-06-2010, 18:08
Some of you have probably been waiting for this or you're all too old and have forgotten :D But in may Webby, Tobi and myself loaded up the polycraft and headed south to the rich waters of Exmouth and the Ningaloo Reef.
Loaded up on wednesday morning and began the 6 hour drive south, chewing a fair bit of fuel, more than when i towed it back from Perth. We arrived bang on 3pm and it was a sight to be seen, for the last 30kms you are right on the coast and it was a glass off. Most of the teams had driven up from Perth and made it a 9-14 days holiday and so most of the teams were out on the water.
We madly rushed to our accomodation, chucked everything in and unhooked the boat, we grabbed a flick rod each and some tackle then went to collect our christmas presents on order from the local tackle store that Tobi's dad works at. I picked up my $700 worth of gear and we went straight to the marina to flick some SP's around. It wasn't a good start with a few snags and lost jig heads and no fish, not to worry mind you we had a week to fish this place and we are SURE to get into some action.
Met our neighbours at our accomodation who also where in the comp and they kindly showed us the forcast for the week coming. Thursday was looking OK, friday CRAP, Saturday (first comp day) CRAP, Sunday bad in the morning but coming good after lunch, Monday a glass off! a few beers and we put all the rods and reels together and got excited.
Day 1 we launched at Tantabiddi on the west side of the NW cape, this was a ramp that can be quite bad with the sand and is only good on certian tides but they had cleaned it out for the GAMEX fishing comp so as long as we didn't leave it late to come home it was no worries. We really wanted to have a crack at the billfish as there was around 1000 billfish caught 3 weeks prior at GAMEX. Out went out new pushers and off we went, it was a bit rough past the reef but we pushed on to the 100m line and set off north following the swell.
15 minutes in to the session webby gets all excited as he sees this blue flash dart across from out wide to the spread and his calls it for a salifish striaght up, i grab the right corner rod and we are on!!! problem was it wasn't a Sailfish or a Malin but a 700mm Dolphinfish, man he came in hard and had a bow wave off his head as he came in to hit the lure, a quick fight and dinner was caught. We kept going for another 3.5 hours with no hits so we headed back to the ramp but damm it was rough heading back in. The poor old 5.3 is NOT a offshore boat, i have never had so much water over the side before, no matter how i trimmed the motor and moved the weight around we got drenched.
Hit the bottom up for a fish and to find some spots but due to the rough weather we stayed close to the passage and it's right where everyone fishes so it's hit and miss. Day 1 no worries we'll work on that. Man Mahi Mahi fresh tastes FANTASTIC in a burger, i could have had 3 of them.
The next day it was blowing it guts out so we stuck to shore based and tried a few of the bays around the cape, it took a long time to find any fish but in the arvo we found a few. Webby and i had the popping gear out looking for a landbased GT but we found none but the new reel held up this time. Tobi stuck to baits and was getting a few bites so we changed to SP's. a few small spango's and other emperors came up. Not to worry the comp started the next day so off to the briefing and meet our competitors.
Even with the crap weather we headed out and made the call to run south against the wind and swell inside the reef. again the wind was so strong that every wave came over the boat that hit the port side, most of it went straight back into the ocean. it took us an hour to get to the south passage absolutly drenched so we found some reef and chucked some bait and SP's at the reef, only little ones biting so we decided to slowly edge into the passage and find some deeper water, it wasn't much better in the passage and i didn't feel comfortable around the breakers and bombies so i said we are heading out for a fish. found a nice ridge in 22m of water and set the anchor.
It took a while but the fish came on the bite and i landed a nice 55cm Saddletail Seaperch which was to become dinner and Webby got a nice 60cm Malabar Cod, the day was getting late so i said we'll troll the pushers again and have a crack at a billfish. 90 mins and no luck so it was back to the ramp and just in time as any later and the trailer was in the sand. a nice dinner of fish again and more drinks as we said we'd save ourselves for the arvo when it's supposed to come good.
We did some landbased fishing at a spot just down the raod waiting for the weather to come good but it didn't. The call was made to extend the comp untill 8am Monday as it was slowly getting calmer but all too late for us, we found 3 squid and had them for a early dinner and we made the call to go for a night fish in the boat. Now this was scary, not being able to see where i was going in a place i hadn't been before as we launched in the marina and headed north, the swell was still out but not a breath of wind so we just slowly motored to a spot i'd fished before but my memory was rusty and we had said we'd be back by 9pm so we drifted for 1 hour with nothing over the tide changed and hooned back, the first time the boat had been on the plane for more than 10 mins, i had to ask if everyone was dry and amazingly they where.
So comp over and not one fish to trouble the scorers, this palce was a dud. Seemed the new moon and big tides shut the bottom fishing down, there was only 1 billfish caught for the whole comp so even they where ellusive.
Woke on monday looking for the glass condtions sowe could hit up some Reds and Snapper but it was probably the worst day of the lot, stormy and windy so we land based it in the swell and Tobi got our biggest Spango for the trip at 39cm, just undersize. We just couldn't do it so back for lunch and a quick clean up and we got Tobi to collect us at 4pm to take us to the pub and let us get drunk (Tobi had the kids down with her in her car so she stayed with the folks in town) The presentations was at 6.30 so we had 2.5 hours to do what we also do well, GET SMASHED!!! 9 pints each and 12 beers ready to go for the presentation night we where well on our way. Tobi also managed to knock a bottle of red off before picking us up (she wasn't driving her mum was) We all got drunk and swapped bad luck stories with everyone but we ran out of beer and we blamed Tobi and she brought none so we sent her in a taxi to get more, i gave her $100 and she came back with HALF A CARTON and 10 bucks change, she reckons i gave her $50 which she later said you where right it was 100 so the taxi guy ripped her off and she ripped me off by grabbing the beers in 6 packs at 25 bucks each instead of a carton for $45 total, It just wasn't our trip.
Tuesday Mornign and Tobi was off back to K-Town and left Me and Webby to have one last crack, guess waht, crap weather again so we stayed inside the reef and drifed the bombies and weed looking for a big Spango on SP, just about every cast was met with a fish, mostly little cod so we drifted for 5 hours and tried a number of spots looking for that big fish, i'd even changed my line from 6kg mono to 30lb braid just in case, i was really losing interest and we moved out to the very back of the reef to some likely area and i put on a 7 inch Gulp BBQ chicken and third cast BANG!!!! i thought this was it i had finally hooked that 75cm Spango i was looking for, This fish was absolutly making me look foolish on my barra combo and he was taking line fast i got Webby to start the boat and chase the fish as the line was pinched in the corner of my calcutta spool from the tension under drag and we slowly got the upper hand, 15 mins later the fish gets close to the boat, it wasn't a massive spango but a massive golden trevally measuring 97cm long that would have won me the Trevally/Queenfish catagory in the comp, i was stoked and we let him go and headed home to pack the gear up and call an end to our trip.
As luck would have it as we pulled out of Exmouth the weather had indeed come good and that perfect day we looked for was one day late and as the rest of the guys hooked up their boats to hit the ramps we hit the road for the long drive home. Next year it will be better we hope.
Seems the GT trip, The Barra trip and the Sailfish trip used all our luck up and we where due for a shocker. It has come full circle as i went out to relieve my stress for got bringing home anything from Exmouth with a squid session that yielded me 21 squid in 90 mins,the heaviest at 1.2kg and 32cm tube length, 4 at 900gms and 3 at 750gms. I have my mojo back, time to chase some Coral Trout and Sailfish!!!
Loaded up on wednesday morning and began the 6 hour drive south, chewing a fair bit of fuel, more than when i towed it back from Perth. We arrived bang on 3pm and it was a sight to be seen, for the last 30kms you are right on the coast and it was a glass off. Most of the teams had driven up from Perth and made it a 9-14 days holiday and so most of the teams were out on the water.
We madly rushed to our accomodation, chucked everything in and unhooked the boat, we grabbed a flick rod each and some tackle then went to collect our christmas presents on order from the local tackle store that Tobi's dad works at. I picked up my $700 worth of gear and we went straight to the marina to flick some SP's around. It wasn't a good start with a few snags and lost jig heads and no fish, not to worry mind you we had a week to fish this place and we are SURE to get into some action.
Met our neighbours at our accomodation who also where in the comp and they kindly showed us the forcast for the week coming. Thursday was looking OK, friday CRAP, Saturday (first comp day) CRAP, Sunday bad in the morning but coming good after lunch, Monday a glass off! a few beers and we put all the rods and reels together and got excited.
Day 1 we launched at Tantabiddi on the west side of the NW cape, this was a ramp that can be quite bad with the sand and is only good on certian tides but they had cleaned it out for the GAMEX fishing comp so as long as we didn't leave it late to come home it was no worries. We really wanted to have a crack at the billfish as there was around 1000 billfish caught 3 weeks prior at GAMEX. Out went out new pushers and off we went, it was a bit rough past the reef but we pushed on to the 100m line and set off north following the swell.
15 minutes in to the session webby gets all excited as he sees this blue flash dart across from out wide to the spread and his calls it for a salifish striaght up, i grab the right corner rod and we are on!!! problem was it wasn't a Sailfish or a Malin but a 700mm Dolphinfish, man he came in hard and had a bow wave off his head as he came in to hit the lure, a quick fight and dinner was caught. We kept going for another 3.5 hours with no hits so we headed back to the ramp but damm it was rough heading back in. The poor old 5.3 is NOT a offshore boat, i have never had so much water over the side before, no matter how i trimmed the motor and moved the weight around we got drenched.
Hit the bottom up for a fish and to find some spots but due to the rough weather we stayed close to the passage and it's right where everyone fishes so it's hit and miss. Day 1 no worries we'll work on that. Man Mahi Mahi fresh tastes FANTASTIC in a burger, i could have had 3 of them.
The next day it was blowing it guts out so we stuck to shore based and tried a few of the bays around the cape, it took a long time to find any fish but in the arvo we found a few. Webby and i had the popping gear out looking for a landbased GT but we found none but the new reel held up this time. Tobi stuck to baits and was getting a few bites so we changed to SP's. a few small spango's and other emperors came up. Not to worry the comp started the next day so off to the briefing and meet our competitors.
Even with the crap weather we headed out and made the call to run south against the wind and swell inside the reef. again the wind was so strong that every wave came over the boat that hit the port side, most of it went straight back into the ocean. it took us an hour to get to the south passage absolutly drenched so we found some reef and chucked some bait and SP's at the reef, only little ones biting so we decided to slowly edge into the passage and find some deeper water, it wasn't much better in the passage and i didn't feel comfortable around the breakers and bombies so i said we are heading out for a fish. found a nice ridge in 22m of water and set the anchor.
It took a while but the fish came on the bite and i landed a nice 55cm Saddletail Seaperch which was to become dinner and Webby got a nice 60cm Malabar Cod, the day was getting late so i said we'll troll the pushers again and have a crack at a billfish. 90 mins and no luck so it was back to the ramp and just in time as any later and the trailer was in the sand. a nice dinner of fish again and more drinks as we said we'd save ourselves for the arvo when it's supposed to come good.
We did some landbased fishing at a spot just down the raod waiting for the weather to come good but it didn't. The call was made to extend the comp untill 8am Monday as it was slowly getting calmer but all too late for us, we found 3 squid and had them for a early dinner and we made the call to go for a night fish in the boat. Now this was scary, not being able to see where i was going in a place i hadn't been before as we launched in the marina and headed north, the swell was still out but not a breath of wind so we just slowly motored to a spot i'd fished before but my memory was rusty and we had said we'd be back by 9pm so we drifted for 1 hour with nothing over the tide changed and hooned back, the first time the boat had been on the plane for more than 10 mins, i had to ask if everyone was dry and amazingly they where.
So comp over and not one fish to trouble the scorers, this palce was a dud. Seemed the new moon and big tides shut the bottom fishing down, there was only 1 billfish caught for the whole comp so even they where ellusive.
Woke on monday looking for the glass condtions sowe could hit up some Reds and Snapper but it was probably the worst day of the lot, stormy and windy so we land based it in the swell and Tobi got our biggest Spango for the trip at 39cm, just undersize. We just couldn't do it so back for lunch and a quick clean up and we got Tobi to collect us at 4pm to take us to the pub and let us get drunk (Tobi had the kids down with her in her car so she stayed with the folks in town) The presentations was at 6.30 so we had 2.5 hours to do what we also do well, GET SMASHED!!! 9 pints each and 12 beers ready to go for the presentation night we where well on our way. Tobi also managed to knock a bottle of red off before picking us up (she wasn't driving her mum was) We all got drunk and swapped bad luck stories with everyone but we ran out of beer and we blamed Tobi and she brought none so we sent her in a taxi to get more, i gave her $100 and she came back with HALF A CARTON and 10 bucks change, she reckons i gave her $50 which she later said you where right it was 100 so the taxi guy ripped her off and she ripped me off by grabbing the beers in 6 packs at 25 bucks each instead of a carton for $45 total, It just wasn't our trip.
Tuesday Mornign and Tobi was off back to K-Town and left Me and Webby to have one last crack, guess waht, crap weather again so we stayed inside the reef and drifed the bombies and weed looking for a big Spango on SP, just about every cast was met with a fish, mostly little cod so we drifted for 5 hours and tried a number of spots looking for that big fish, i'd even changed my line from 6kg mono to 30lb braid just in case, i was really losing interest and we moved out to the very back of the reef to some likely area and i put on a 7 inch Gulp BBQ chicken and third cast BANG!!!! i thought this was it i had finally hooked that 75cm Spango i was looking for, This fish was absolutly making me look foolish on my barra combo and he was taking line fast i got Webby to start the boat and chase the fish as the line was pinched in the corner of my calcutta spool from the tension under drag and we slowly got the upper hand, 15 mins later the fish gets close to the boat, it wasn't a massive spango but a massive golden trevally measuring 97cm long that would have won me the Trevally/Queenfish catagory in the comp, i was stoked and we let him go and headed home to pack the gear up and call an end to our trip.
As luck would have it as we pulled out of Exmouth the weather had indeed come good and that perfect day we looked for was one day late and as the rest of the guys hooked up their boats to hit the ramps we hit the road for the long drive home. Next year it will be better we hope.
Seems the GT trip, The Barra trip and the Sailfish trip used all our luck up and we where due for a shocker. It has come full circle as i went out to relieve my stress for got bringing home anything from Exmouth with a squid session that yielded me 21 squid in 90 mins,the heaviest at 1.2kg and 32cm tube length, 4 at 900gms and 3 at 750gms. I have my mojo back, time to chase some Coral Trout and Sailfish!!!