February 28, 2007 Opal Mining Update - No 70 Finally arrived in Kalbarri, Western Australia

Site Map Home Page Archived Pages Contact Guest Book

We are on our way at last to Kalbarri, Western Australia, long, long way 3,383 kilometers in fact (2102 miles) but we are going to stop off in Perth for a week to see one of our sons and the grandchildren who we have not seen for many years, then we will continue further north to Kalbarri to start the fishing holiday. There is not a lot to take photos of when traveling this way, so here we have arrive at an old gold mining town of Coolgardie which is 23 miles from Kalgoolie the Gold Mining town of Western Australia some 400 plus miles from Perth, this in an old town and was in my younger days a ghost town, now due to the rise in the cost of gold it has been revived in the past few years, with a lot more prospecting and a few more gold mines opening up in the region, I used to work around this area for a couple of different companies in the late 60's, PMG (now called Telstra) was one putting up new telephone lines.

As you can see this is an old town, but still not much action in it as we drove through, some of the old places I knew have gone, and one is still there but shut down, this town used to have 100 hotels in it during its hay day, now it is down to one and I should think that would be struggling to make a buck right now.

This called the Pink Lakes, on the other side of the sand hills in front is the Ocean, not far to the right is the turnoff to Kalbarri, straight on instead of turning right goes to a Cray Fishing Port of Port Gregory not much else there of any interest, from here it is around 62 kilometers to Kalbarri, so not far to go from here.

Here we are approaching Kalbarri, you can see it in the distance on right on photo, this as it turns out is a lot of new houses that have been built there in the last 16 years since we have been here, not all of that new, but they are many that were not here on my last visit, the main town is down in valley sort of behind that hill and we end up going down a small hill into it.

This some of the coast line around here, there is more to see when we gat  chance, but this is the main reason that Western Australia is not as populated as in the East, because of the rugged and in assessable coastline like what you see here, but it is beautiful country in its own right and I never get sick of looking at something like this, the only thing better would be a nice big fish on the end of my line, this is only a few kilometers just outside Kalbarri on the road as you come in, there are more to visit and see and worth the effort, but I have seen them all before but will make an effort next month to go and take some photo's of more of them. There are lot of place's down there to go rock fishing if you do not mind the walk and it is easy access to get down there from where I am standing taking the photo, but for an old geriatric like me it is out of the question or I would be there in flash for some evening fishing before the sun goes down which at this time of the year would be from 4pm to around 8:30pm so plenty of time to catch a big one.

Before I left Coober Pedy I had discussed with my wife Pat about the prospect of buying another outboard motor for the boat, but did not know what the cost was, so went and searched on the net for a place in Geraldton the next big town of 33 thousand people and 160 kilometers south from Kalbarri, I found a place and sent an email inquiring about the cost of a new 4 stroke outboard and what I could get for mine in exchange, a lot was the answer but as I had lost confidence in mine for being reliable at sea I did not have much choice really. The last fishing trip in Coffin Bay last year I had got a plastic bag caught around the leg of the motor and it had blocked off the water intake holes and the motor got overheated as it was a rough day at the time and we was wearing the wet gear with hoods over our head and the noise of the 2 stroke engine running I did not hear the emergency noise it makes straight away, so I have no idea how long it had been getting hot and when I finally did hear it the engine was smoking. And I mean it was hot, so switched off the motor  and all I could do is wait for it cool down and try it again, this took a while as every time I turned on the ignition it would emit this beeping noise until it had cooled down then it was ok to try and start it, it did start alright first time and give me no more trouble for the rest of the holiday, but I had also had a problem with the pull rope start in Queensland the year before when we were 20 mile out from Cardwell and it chewed up this pull rope, jammed the starter motor and as it turned out destroyed the spring loaded cover that this rope sat in and broke a bolt off in the flywheel, so this last trip was enough for me with this motor, could not trust it again out to sea, not where we go fishing. So even though we could not really afford it, this old motor had to go or no fishing out at sea, so I looked up a couple of places that sell boats (some) and some outboard engines with some in stock which is the main thing, but this is not the big smoke so choices are limited unless you have plenty of time to wait for one to be sent up from Perth and that is not going to happen while you are on holidays, right. So I did a deal with this second place went to called Jackson's Marine, even though I wanted a Mercury, he did not have one in stock but did have this Yamaha and as it is made by Mercury anyway along with Mariner which I did not know, so it was as good as, I wanted the same horse power which was 40HP, but I had to wait for a week to get it fitted so all I could do was relax in Kalbarri when we got there until the 15th when it was booked in for. So here is the new motor, ready for me to take it out and run it in, they have had it in the water for 1/2 hour making sure the prop was right for the boat, now it is up to me to run the motor in tomorrow, I have to run it at 1700to 2000 revs for the first hour, then at 3000 revs for the second hour, after that I can do what I like, I have to take it back for the first service at around 20 hours running time for the warranty, after that it has to serviced every 100 hours, so will be a while before the next one is due.

As you can in the photo above it is a 4 stoke engine, which means it is just like a car engine, it is a 3 cylinder, so you can see 3 carburetors and the manifold in this photo, plus the air filter, the only problem I have with it is should I have a flat battery and want to start it with a hand puller rope, I would have to remove this top cover to get at the flywheel, so will eventually have to carry a small tool kit, but this would not be good to do in a rough sea when we are ready to come home.

And this is the complicated side, starter motor, spark plugs, magneto and who knows what else, something I don't want to get into or have any trouble with in the short or long term, it is a beautiful engine even though it looks very complicate to me and should see us out for our fishing careers and I will have to look after it so it gives us long service with no problems.

This is a view of the channel that all boats here have to negotiate to get out to sea and back in again, this a good day as the swell is small, we did not go fishing today as I am having a sick day off, we went fishing yesterday for the first time and I was a sick as a dog, maybe sicker, I have not been sick for more than 20 years, but this swell here has got to me for sure and it was big yesterday, 2.5 meters plus and this channel was real rough like a washing machine in full action. My bad day started right here in the washing machine as I was going out at 7:20am, was late as we had to go from some ice that I forgot about yesterday and as we was going through here it was rough, real rough, there was two different swells in there, one that comes from the left across the reef and another that comes in from the front entrance where this Cray Boat is now, well we got through the cross swell with no problems, but in front of me was this head on swell and all of a sudden about a 6 footer maybe a bit more rose up so I had to back the power off so I did not go up to fast and the boat rose up and went over the top and slid down the other side, great, but then I had forgot that I carry the anchor on the bow just resting there. This anchor never moves in this position no matter what the sea is like, (normally) but this time as the nose of the boat took a dive the anchor slid right off, right in the middle of the channel and by the time I got the front window open and grabbed the rope I was anchored, could not pull it off as I was getting tossed around too much, so had to wind the rope round the bollard a couple of times and after the 3rd attempt I got the anchor off the bottom and carried on out too sea, what a start to a days fishing, Pat was not very happy with me. So as I was saying this is main channel and the big Cray Boats take a line with the green markers on the left which are on the inside of the reef, so this boat is just coming in and about to line up the markers and there is another reef on the right hand side as well.

Now the Cray Boat has taken the line, again it is a very good day for the swell which there is not much off at the moment.

Now it is level with the first marker and soon will start to make the turn to go around the red inside marker, by the way the hills in the back ground to the far left that are very sandy, this area is called the sand banks and is 9 kilometers from here, from that point further north is good fishing ground so I have been told, so this is were we will start from and hope for the best, eventually we will work our way further north when we get good weather.

Now as you can see the boat has started his turn right on the second green marker, turns out there is 13 to 15 foot of water in the middle so it is plenty deep enough, I will be using the middle with my small boat, the red marker has just come into view on the right hand side of photo, we have to go round this and then we are in the river itself, but there is still reef in there so have more markers to go round to navigate the reef and shallow water to get to the boat ramp safely.

And here is the inside reef or you could say the end of the mainland on that side, now the boat is in a nice safe area where people come and swim with the kids, fish off the rocks, fish from small boats and do crabbing etc inside the protected bay and river, you can also see some of the town now in the background and very pretty it is.

They can also use these water craft here, further up the river past the Cray boats they can do water skiing, fishing, crabbing etc, in the back ground is a big complex of holiday units, that has its own restaurant, bit too up market for us poor opal miners.

First fish of the trip, its called a Tarwine, member of the Bream family very good eating but need more than one for a feed as they are small, this is 28 centimeters in length, so need at least 2, Pat caught this, so hopefully better to come, this was on the first day of fishing and I was sea sick, I held out till Pat caught a fish as I was not fishing at all then I packed it in and came home.

Here we are fishing out in front of what they call the Sand Flats, 2 hills that show a lot of sand on them, the main one is to the left of photo and just behind this Cray Boat that decided to come and lay a couple of Cray Pots just near us, we had to over a bit after he had left so we would not drift on the trailing rope from the floats, you can see we are not far from shore, the most we would go out from the shore here is about a mile, which is about 100 feet of water and drift in to around the 50 feet mark, them move back out again, the Cray Boats lay there pots on the flat reef or broken ground right now to try and catch what is called White Cray's, there are just changing there shells and so are soft, the bigger fish come in looking for them, later on the Cray's move out into a bit deeper water, so I believe.

This is a photo of the channel as we come in from the sea, here a Cray Boat is just going through and you can see there is a bit of a swell running today, which is why I took to the photo to show you what we have to get though some days, depending on the swell and the wind when we come back in anywhere from 10:30 to 12:00 am.

Here you can see how high the swell is, a little boat like us has to watch for this swell to go across and than gun the engine so we shoot through at about 15 knots, before the next one comes along, the time between the swells is around 12 seconds and we have about 100 feet to get through, so if I gun the engine as soon as the swell is just passing me as I am waiting just on the outside of it, I have plenty of time to get through, this is not real dangerous but can and will tip the boat over enough to throw a lot of the fishing gear all over the place could lose some overboard and Pat would kill me if I gave her a hard trip like that, so have go softly and use the head and play it safe.

Tuesday the 20th. At last some fish caught, Pat got a double header of Pink Snapper, me I caught nothing again not even a cold, not my day, so at last the freezer can be fired up and made ready for action, now we may start to catch some fish, slowly starting to learn the area but will take a while to get to know it all and a lot depends on the weather which also controls the fish movements and when they come on the bite or not.

A close up of the fish, they are pink and have blue dots on them when they are juveniles, these dots disappear when they get bigger and the fish develops a large lump on its forehead, the one on the right weighs in at 1.75 kilos and the other is 1.25 kilos Wednesday 21 Only one Pink Snapper about 1 kilo in weight was caught today but not by me, (again) so far I have not caught any so far on this trip, but this fish was for dinner as fish and chips and very nice it was as well, the flesh on there Pink Snappers when cooked is pure white.

Another Cray Boat, this one is nearly full of pots, so must have pulled them from another area and is now going to work around this area of the Sand Flats again I will have to be on the look out for the float ropes when we are drifting, he will also drop some close in to shore as well where the ground is a bit rougher than where we are right now, called broken ground, we have already lost 5 rigs on this type of ground and the 1/2 lb sinkers that we are using cost $1.50 each and we are using 2 single hooks per rig which are worth around the $1.20, but we do also use a double and treble hook system for a type of bait we use called a Pilchard, which I will show you later on.

I have caught a fish at last, what it is I have no idea what it is, some sort of what is called a Triple Tail by the look of it, my book dos not have it in, but then the book is not about this region, but a bit higher up the coast, so we may catch some small ones that I cannot identify, anyway took the photo and put it back where it belongs.

Thursday the 22nd. Finally had a good day fishing, not has good as I would have liked but have to be grateful for what we get right now, again Pat caught the biggest, this Pink Snapper weighed in at 2.75 kilo or just a fraction over 6 lbs, I caught 2 Pinkies as they are commonly know here about the same size as Pat got the other day, so at last the freezer is getting something put in it. Was starting to get worried, but still have plenty of time left and only takes a couple of real good days here to get a few kilo in the freezer, we are allowed to catch 8 of these Snapper a day, 4 each, so if you get a day when they are really on the bite and catch a few this size or bigger as this is still small for this species the freezer will get full real quick. Not good filling the freezer to quick at the start of the trip, as then we would have to stop going out fishing, but also not good to leave it to the last few days either, so at the moment although we have not caught a lot so far all is going well.

Here is another species, again Oat caught this one and is still bigger than any I have caught, it is called a Painted Sweetlips, I was told at the local tackle Shop when we came back in and had to buy some more 1/2 lb sinkers (yes we lost another 5 rigs today) that they are not a very good able fish and when I went to fillet it he was right the flesh was not the best looking so I did not fillet it but put it in a bag and in the freezer for bait, if we catch another we will let it go as we do not take fish if there are not good to eat, we catch and release, so I felt sorry for this poor fish, if only we had known in advance.

This little fish is called a Sergeant Baker, good eating but has a double row of bones along the Lateral Line, that is the line that runs along the middle of the fish from the Gills to the Tail Base as shown here, this is just big enough for me to get a couple of good sized fillets off as they are a chunky rounded fish with plenty of meat on them for there size.

And this was the days catch, including another Tarwine, as you can see here I do not gut or scale them at sea, but just bleed them, then I cut the fillet off the fish and then skin it, easier to skin the fillet with the scales on and then when the flesh is drained I vacuum pack them and into the freezer they go, no freezer burn and they last for months and when defrosted its just like you caught them.

Here is a shot of the boat ramp or the Floating Pontoon anyway, beautiful set up here and only reasonably new I believe, here we have just got back and I am on my way for the 4x4, you can see there is some reef just behind the boat with a green marker to the far right that we have to go round and another 2 green markers around to the left that we have to stay to the right off and then it is round a red marker and out through the channel which is just behind the reef that you can see to the far top left.

Here is a photo of a small jetty, have not seen anyone use that as yet, they may just I have not seen any, in the background where you can see the surf, that is the channel we have to go through and that surf is the swell breaking over the reef, today is another great day on and off the water, the weather is really good here, always a sea breeze just a matter of what time, but normally always by lunch time most days if not earlier and normally always calm inside the river for people to enjoy themselves with swimming or hiring a small dingy with the sun shade to go fishing or sight seeing, for a weeks holiday I would recommend it to anybody who wants to just relax or has kids.

Saturday the 24th. Pretty light day on the fish again, plenty around but not on the bite, I had what I call a Silent Partner out at the back of the boat, that is a 3rd rod that is set up with a set of 3 ganged hooks and whole Pilchard on them with a small sinker that is just heavy enough to take it under and have it about 30 foot off the bottom and it stays away from the boat as we drift along fishing with our other bottom rods, used to catch a few Spanish Mackerel this way years ago, anyway today I got 3 hits on this Silent Partner with 2 hook-ups but both got busted of so another 2 rigs gone, this real only has 20lb line on it so decided to put it away. Will have to use a rod with a reel that has 30lb line on it as all the rest we use have 30 and 40lb line on them, I think I got hit by big Snapper and as they hit hard to hard for 20lb line they busted the line where it was tied on to the swivel, cannot afford to loose any when they got hooked, Pat also got a bit hit but again no hookup, why is it always the big ones that get away. So another hard luck story again today, but that is fishing I'm afraid so will have to live with it as we will have a few more yet before we go home, Pat again caught the biggest fish today, catching this nice sized Flathead which are real good eating, we just love them, was told again at the Tackle Shop that they don't catch a lot of big flathead like this around here so we was lucky to get this one, but they do grow a lot bigger than this in places and I was lucky or unlucky enough to catch this small shark, again my book does not have this species in it and there are no marking on it so do not know what it is called, but as it is a baby I filleted it up and had some for dinner and the rest in the freezer along with the flathead for a dinner date later in the year.

Tuesday the 27th. Pat again lost a big snapper at 7:40 this morning did not take the hook inside, bent the rod real good and she pulled it up a few feet but it let go she was unlucky not to hook up again, so fished on the bottom until 8:15 then got the 2 lure rods out and went trawling for the first time, we saw couple out again this morning trying so figured it was our time to have go. Had a Mackerel hit within 10 minutes but again no hook up brought in the lure to have a look as it was brand new and had teeth marks top and bottom, then I got another hit on both rods but again no hook ups, so kept going and saw a school of tuna feeding on the surface, as you know the birds give them away so headed for them and again got a hit on both rods but again no hook up, so kept going again and then I saw some birds had started to settle down on the water again but there was no action with the bait fish. So headed for them anyway, and got 2 hits and 2 hook-ups straight away, stopped the boat to get one rod started in so I could give it to Pat to bring in, but the line went dead as soon as she got it, by that time I had the other one in the hand and had a hook up, so Pat had to wind in the slack line and I was on fighting the fish, I had to have Pat maneuver the boat while I was playing the fish so I could have it in front of me and not go behind or under the boat as it tried to do, was hard as Pat has no experience until today doing this, all worked out in the end and I landed the fish after 22 minutes of hard work. It was a Yellow Fin Tuna, not sure of the weight as my scales only go to 10 kilos (22 lbs) and was well over that, I figured it was around the 30 lb mark at least, lots of meat on it, I have it filleted it and its now in the freezer, would have taken me the best part of an hour to get it in if I did not have Pat to skipper the boat to move it around so I could keep the fish on my side and stop it from going under and behind the boat where the line could get cut on the boat itself, these Tuna go deep when hooked and you have a job in getting them up to the surface, they have some staying power and take a long time to wear them out, a true test of strength on all 3 parties, fish, man and line. Then we was on out way back in and saw a boat that I know the guy, it was the man we first hired this house from until he sold it before we got here and the new owner honored the rental, anyway he had 3 people on board fishing he runs a fishing boat hire business here in Kalbarri and he had just thrown back a Tuna as I was pulling up and another little guy at the back was fighting one, so I stayed around and took some photos that you will see in the newsletter. Here the boat is playing a fish and there is a school of Tuna on both sides of the boat, the birds are a dead give away as they are coming in for the baitfish that are driven up to the surface by the tuna so all you have to do is go through them with lures out the back at around 5 knots and hope for the best.

They already had two Tuna on board he told me and that was enough, and you are allowed 2 each, so it was catch and release for them now as they were fishing for the fun of it, there was a lot of tuna around as you will see, but we was not interested in fishing for them anymore that day as the last hook up had cost me a new lure, which is $20.00 worth, easy to do when there are a lot of tuna feeding in a frenzy hook one and another goes past and accidentally cut the line going for a baitfish, I was hoping that there was some mackerel around that would have taken the lure, quicker to get them in and better eating, still have plenty of time yet to get a couple.

He has had this on now for some time and at this point does not look like getting it up, still got some fight to it, game of patience this fishing.

The skipper Laurie (guy with the glasses) is waiting for it to surface then he will pull the fish in, already been up once but he missed grabbing the tail and would seem it still has plenty of strength left yet and has dived again, now to wait again for it to come up.

Up again, now to get it to the boat so he can get hold of it and pull it in, if possible, I don't know which is more tired the fish or the fisherman.

Nope, missed again, feisty fish this one, did not like the sunshine for sure, oh well more work for the little guy with the rod.

Got it as last, still although it does not know it right now its a lucky fish and may be tired but gets to go back and fight another day and the fisherman from overseas has had some fun for more than an hour.

And here is the Tuna for all to see, as you can see the little guy is very happy, after this Laurie threw the Tuna back in and we started to come home followed by Laurie, I got to talk to them at the boat ramp after we got back and they said they had a good day, caught 5 in all.

Tuesday the 27th. And here is my Yellow Fin Tuna, very solid fish and heavy for there size, I will have to buy dome new weighing scales that go to 50lb, a fish bigger than that I would not be able to lift to weigh anyway, probably not even that heavy but would like to find out.

And a side view which I think is the better photo, the other was to show you the length which is hard to see this way, I have not got it in the freezer, lots of good meat on it, nice and pink and soft which surprised me for such a solid and strong fish, but filled quite a few bags, will be  trying again with the lures, but may not keep anymore of these until near the end of the trip and if I see Tuna feeding on the surface I will not be going for them, so if I hook one I will also let it go after landing it and taking a photo.

One more Month to go, so far the weather has been brilliant, the temp also, great during the day and nice and cool at night for sleeping, we have been on fish nearly ever time we have been out, some half way down and some near the bottom but not on the bite which we can not help, so its not as there is no fish around, we have to wait for them to get hungry, so hopefully we will have a lot more to show you at the end of next month. Again I Hope you have enjoyed this issue and look forward to the next one, hopefully I will have some more good photos to show you in the next issue and maybe some of Good Looking Opal and lots of it, I am still hoping that this will be a good year for us, but only time will tell, so stay with us over the next few months and find out what goes on in our part of the world as far as Opal Mining goes. Stay Tuned for the next Issue, who knows what I will have to report. Until the next issue......... and wish me lots of LUCK. Cya Later, Stuart Bird. To return back to the Archived Page for more Updates click, Here!

Top

Index Page | Site Map | Opals | Black Opals | Gold Pendants | Inlay Rings | About Our Opals | Earrings Opal Rough | Triplets | Doublets | Inlaid Opal Pieces | Wire Wrapped Opals | Valuing Opals | Opal Glossary