March 31, 2007 Opal Mining Update - No 71 Fishing in Kalbarri, Western Australia and some fish this Month

Site Map Home Page Archived Pages Contact Guest Book

Thursday 1st. Wind and swell too strong to go fishing today, wind was forecast at WSW 12-16 knots with a Swell rising to 3.5 meters in the afternoon, got up at 6am and the wind was up strong so went back to bed for an hour, got up again at 7:20 and the wind had died down a lot at the house anyway, so we got ready and went to the boat and launched the boat, but there was already boats coming back in that had gone out at first light, so we went out to the channel and had a look at the ocean. You could see on the horizon that it was lumpy, so the swell was up and as some of the boats that had come back was slightly bigger than us, a couple told us that the sell was already around 3.5 meters, it was pointless going out in this weather so put the boat back on the trailer and came back home, cooked a breakfast of bacon and eggs for a change and now this will be a DVD day, after Pat has done a bit of washing. Friday 2nd. A Fishing Competition started here today lots of boats were in it, was not a bad morning to put the boat in at the boat ramp, thought it was be very hectic and would have to wait a while but when we got there at daylight we put the boat straight into the water, was a few in the water waiting for it to turn light enough to go out through the channel and as son as we were in and I had parked the vehicle and walked back to the boat it was light enough to go out and try our luck. The forecast for today was, wind from the SSW at 8-12 knots building up to 16-20 knots with a swell of 3 meters which it was, the swell stayed the same all morning but the wind did drop for a while so the sea got a bit calmer for a while, but was shit day for fishing nothing on the bite at all, even did trawling twice and nothing, moved around and covered a few kilometers but to no avail. Not even many fish on the sounder today which made a change, the sea breeze came in early again real strong in so we came back with nothing at all, another waste of a day, we are having the day off tomorrow as Pat is going to the hairdressers and gives this Fishing Competition a miss for a another day, it finished on Sunday afternoon, then it will be back to normal again here, so the next time we go out will be on Sunday, the weather forecast is good but for the fish who knows. Saturday 3rd. Last day of this Kalbarri Classic Fishing Competition, as I said before we are not part of it, but went to the weigh in today which was at 4pm, although there was about 160 boats in the competition we saw no more than about 12 weigh in some fish, with only one boat doing very well with snapper, the biggest fish of the day was a Estuary Cod over 9 kilos, a very good eating fish, but the weather again was very windy and the sea was very rough, so overall it was very poor for fish, not that there are none around just the weather is not right and it is now a full moon also, which is supposed to be no good for fishing with. This is the weighing-in area set up at the local hotel, the boards in the background show you that there are a few in it, the scales are under that plastic tray on the table, not a bad set up and can sit in the shade sipping on a Coldie (Beer) while watching the proceedings, but as I said it was very disappointing in what was caught, so we were not on our own when not catching anything, there was a lot of lines and baits in the water over a very large area, so the fish were scarce for sure.

This was the biggest fish caught, the Estuary Cod, not a very good photo of it, as it was hard to try and take photos of the fish the way they handle them from the fishing boxes to the table, they have already weighed it and are putting it back in the box, but as 2 of them have to lift it shows you that it is a decent sized fish but does not show you what it looks like, but for you that follow us every year it is the same as we were getting in Cardwell, Queensland but a lot, lot bigger.

This is the boat that brought in the biggest catch between them, there was 5 fisherman on board this boat so it was bit boat and there was five bags with no less than 3 fish in each bag so a good day for them, where ever they were, the people who are weighing the fish are not part of the boat that caught them, they are volunteers for the 3 day competition, the guys from the boat are near the white ice box on the left, some nice Pink Snapper was caught, but nothing big.

Sunday 4th. Today at fist light it was a beautiful morning the sea was calm although there was about a 2.5 meter swell, 2 meter is pretty much normal while we have been here, there was a lot of boats already out in the water when we got to the boat ramp just before first light and one guy that was in front of us and in the water at the ramp told Pat that this was the best day yet for being calm, if only he and us knew what was to come. We got to the Sand Flats which is about 5 miles up the coast and no sooner started fishing and the wind picked up and there was white caps forming on the water, I had caught a small Black Tipped Reef Shark and got the hook out of it and threw it back, I baited up and went back down to the bottom and bang I got hit again, another shark brought it up and got rid of that as well, but the wind was getting stronger from the SSE, so strong we was no longer able to drift fish, so I put the reef anchor down, but the anchor did not grab on the bottom and I was still drifting so after about 5minutes I pulled the anchor up and it had 2 bent prongs on it out of 5, that is how strong the wind and drift was. It was so strong we put the wet gear on to come home with as we getting wet and as I had to travel real slow so we did not get a pounding and get drowned, I put the lures out and started trawling, as we got close to Kalbarri the wind died down and the sea flattened out, so we started drift fishing again but in the area we were in and the depth of the ocean was 125 feet at that point, there was 2 other boats there, but after about an hour we caught nothing and the wind was starting to freshen again so we packed it in and came home, not long after we had got back into the boat ramp there was white caps back on the sea again and this was around11:30, so again another bad day for fishing. Monday 5th. Went fishing again today, we stayed in bed for an extra 1/2 hour as we did not know the forecast for today in advance, but should have stayed there longer as it turned out, saw what it was for Perth last night on the news but that is 600 kilometers away, turned out it was the same for here, when I got to the boat ramp and had the boat just about ready to launch I went and asked the person at the Kalbarri Sea Rescue that is on the radio that morning and he had the print out for the days forecast which was SSE at 15/20 knots with 1/2 meter swell, a bit much for us to drift fish, so I went south for a change as it was reasonably quiet on the sea at that point with very little chop or wind. It is all cliffs down south for many, many kilometers and could get some shelter from the wind if we fished in close to the cliffs, we ended up just over 14 clicks south and started to do a bit of bottom fishing when the wind picked up and changed direction, which was not supposed to happen according to the forecast, it went to NE and at least 20 plus knots, so then we could not even drift fish and hold bottom, could not find enough fish around on the bottom to throw out the anchor. So started to come back home and was getting very wet from the spray as we were heading straight back into the wind and swell so had to stop and we put the wet jackets on again to stay dry, would have been better if I had gone north as usual as it would have been behind me coming back, but went south for the same reason and all would have been well if the wind had not changed direction, lucky the swell was about 1/2 a meter so kept the spray down some. Have not caught a fish for a week, freezer looking very sick right now, not much in it at all, better off staying home and buying some fish at the shop, would be cheaper and this weather is no fun, next time the forecast is for anything over 15 knots in the morning we will be not going out, waste of fuel which is not cheap don't mind not catching fish so long as we have a chance to catch some, bad luck if you don't but to go out in bad weather is stupid and a waste of time etc. Will be in Geraldton tomorrow having the first service on the outboard motor. At this point we are roughly 14 kilometers South of Kalbarri, according to the GPS I have, thought we would fish in close to the cliffs due to the easterly wind again, where it will be calmer and the forecast is for the wind to change to SSE so we will have the wind at our backs coming back in and not get wet today with the spray off the swell.

And this is the Cliffs looking back at Kalbarri, not that you can see it from here, doing a bit of bottom drift fishing for Pink Snapper, but not having any luck so far, the sun is just about to come up over the top of the cliffs, the sea is very rough about 150 feet behind us right now and is supposed to get worse just after lunch time.

This boat is a regular as we have seen it almost every day we have been out this couple of weeks, do not know if it is a local or not, but it was trawling for Mackerel and has not had any luck as far as we have seen, so they have now also come in close to the cliffs to get out of the wind, they have dropped the anchor on a outcrop of rock and are fishing just off the edge of it, I wish them the best.

Not bad looking country, there has been a few Mackerel caught down this end so I believe although I have not seen a boat as yet catching one, but this is our first time in this direction so far, will try again when the wind is better suited for this direction.

We are now on our way back  from Geraldton after having the first service done on the new outboard motor and as the road goes past another Cray Fishing Port called Port Gregory, we thought we would go the 3 kilometers out of the way to have a look at it, not sure where they go to get out to sea as there is a reef right in front, like a brick wall and goes as far as I could see in either direction, but there has to be a gap in it somewhere for them to get through.

This is the only Jetty as I could see, very small place with one shop that sells everything and 1 caravan park and a few houses with a couple for hire, but this is to far out of the way for us, probably better fishing here as it would not get fished a lot like Kalbarri as not many tourists would get in here as there is not that many places for them to stay or to launch the boat as we did not see a boat ramp.

And this is the Northern View of the reef and beach, I see here that one vehicle is towing a boat up the beach, so I assume that the opening in the reef is further up the beach and that they launch off the beach which as you know I have done and here as it is inside the reef would not be a problem in any weather, there is another 4x4 vehicle on the beach and there is a person on the boat you can see in the water and a couple are about to walk through the water from the beach to also get on to it, this place is 60 kilometers from Kalbarri, the sea looks great to me, may have to find out more about the place but it is a bit isolated.

Wednesday 7th Wind again is from the east, picked up again as soon as we got to the Sand Flats, which is what they call these sand hills in the back ground, again we have come in close to try and get out of the rough water to do some drift fishing but the wind is too strong as we find out, you can see the tops of the surf getting blown off, the sea itself in this close is good, but the wind is the killer.

This took me by surprise, seeing a Kangaroo on the beach, not sure what it is doing but was there for more than 1/2 hour and this was around 9:45am, eventually it went but missed watching how it got back up the sand hill as Pat had caught a fish, if you could call it that and by the time she had got it in and I had got if off and took a photo, it had gone.

This is the fish, not really a fish, it was we call a North West Blowie, it is a member of the Puffer Fish Family and its real name is Silver Toadfish, it is a real fighter when hooked, makes you think you have a real nice big fish on, this is more then the length of the box which is 22 inches so is around 2 foot long and would weigh in around 3 kilo, it has real nasty teeth on it, like sharp chisels and can and did cut the line like a knife, years gone past we would bring up the hooks to check for bait and find that the hooks we gone. These just take the hook and cut the line with there teeth and you don't feel a thing, Pa had the top hook gone and got this on the bottom hook which is 2 ganged hooks, we have also had this fish bend hook almost in half if the hook gets between its teeth, so you now know why I did not pick this up to take a photo of it, after I took the photo I emptied the box into the water and it went free, nasty piece of work, normally in schools so if you catch one you would move to somewhere else to get away from them, today we only got this one, thankfully.

Thursday 8th When I got up at 6am today there was no wind, so got dressed and started to get things ready for going out, when I heard a noise, went out side and it was blowing a gale again from the east, so got undressed and went back to bed, got up again at 7:20 and the wind was still from the west but had backed off a bit, so we got ready and was at the boat  ramp at 8:00am, launched the boat and logged in at the Kalbarri Sea Rescue and of we went, was not suitable for bottom fishing but took the bait anyway. Don't know why as I knew the wind was too strong for drifting, anyway we went straight out west where there was another 3 boats fishing out there, as I got close to one I could see from a distance that he was playing a fish so went near him and watched until he got it up so I could see what it was, as you can see he is on his own and well set up for catching mackerel, even had a big fish box for them, to big for that size boat really but as he fishes by himself works out well.

Yep its a Spaniard, that what we call the Spanish Mackerel, he thought he had a Yellow Fin Tuna on when I got there as it was down deep an he was struggling to get it to the surface, we were talking to him as you can see I w as close, but not close enough to be in his way playing the fish and the reason as we was soon to find out he thought he had a Tuna on it was that he had jagged the mackerel with the lure in the middle and was puling it in sideways, anyway here it is gaffed. For some reason he ties a rope around its tail and then hits it on the head with a stick to kill it, but this fish was finished and had no fight left in it, I do not do this I just bring it in and cut its throat to bleed it, I have never had a Mackerel thrash around in the boat after I have landed it, but everybody to there own thing, the hardest par of this is catching the fish as I am finding out as we have not caught one this trip so far, so I am jealous right now.

And here is the prize, a nice fish for sure, even more jealous, this would go at least 30 pounds, been  few years since I have caught one, the biggest being 28 pound so far, hope I can beat it here on this trip and I have not fished for mackerel for more than 15 years, now we have watched this guy land his fish it is time for us to start trawling for a fish.

At last a fish, Pat has pulled in a Spotted Mackerel, what we are doing is that I get Pat to skipper the boat at set the speed between 5 and 6 knots and I set the lures out the back and then sit down and keep an eye on them, if we get a strike I grab the rod and try to make sure the hooks get set, then Pat will stop the boat and I will hand her the rod to play the fish in while I pull the other lure in out of the way, should we get a big one on then that will be mine as Pat would not have the strength to play it for a while or I could take over when she got tired. Works well so far and here is the first strike of the morning for us, may be a good day, the sea is choppy and not fit for bottom fishing as the wind is again from the east, there is a Cyclone coming in up north and the weather is all upset right now because of it, we have also been having some very hot weather, this last week as seen a heat wave in Western Australia and it has been well over the 100F every day, they even had a record of 46C (114.8F) here and the worst that day was a bit further north of 47.8C.

Friday 9th We have had a Cyclone come in and across the coast at Port headland which is roughly 1200 kilometers North from here, it came across the cost early in the morning during the early hours at more than 280 kilometers an hour (174 miles) and it has caused a lot of damage in and around the town, injuring more than 28 people and killing 3 in the area so it has been reported on the news. So it was a bad one and we are now experiencing high winds in Kalbarri from it as it comes inland and hopefully dies out, but there is another one also coming in behind it and looks like it may also come close to Port Headland, so will just have to wait and see what happens, but fishing is out of the question now for a couple of days or even longer until all of this wind dies down and things get back to normal. Sunday 11th Went out today as there was no wind up at 6:30am, was not sure of the forecast as the five day forecast I use could have changed through this Cyclone up north, the worst that could happen is the wind would get up early and we would ha to come in, so decided that we would fish within 2 miles of the coast of Kalbarri, doing only lure drift fishing for Mackerel so when the wind picked up, which is does real quick here, I would not have far to come in. Was not trawling more than 10 minutes when we got a strike, again I got Pat to bring it in and it was again a Spotted Mackerel, 5.75 pounds in weight, we did not get another hit on the lures for the next hour and a quarter and the wind did pick up, so with the 1.5 meter swell was quite choppy, but still alright to trawl as we only do 5 to 6 knots but I think the sea is too dirty from the strong winds we have had the last couple of days and we was lucky as there was 2 other boats fishing in the same area and 1 came in just before us and I spoke t the skipper at the boat ramp and he caught nothing with 5 on board and the other boat came in 15 minutes after us and he also caught nothing, so we was lucky in getting just he one, for which I am grateful and will get a bit more in the freezer, still waiting for our first Spaniard.

Monday 12th Up bright and early again, but the wind was blowing hard again, the forecast was for Easterly winds at 12-16 knots in the morning but was more than that at 6am so went back to bed until 6:30, then got up and checked again, seemed to be down a bit so we got up and ready to go fishing, which means that I have to put the rods in the boat (5) along with what we call the killing box which has the knifes in it and the cold water bottle, no bait today as I know it will not be good enough for bottom fishing just lures, Pat has all of the other stuff we take in a bag which she will put in the boat at the boat ramp, most days anyway, today because it is light when we leave the house she will put it in before we leave, as you can see the sun is just rising over the hills and there is good chop with white caps on the water.

Now the sun is well up and we have been trawling for more than a hour with no success, you can see here that is quite rough the wind has picked up a lot now and is more than 20 knots only because it a Easterly wind that we are staying out as it does flatten the sea a lot and keeps the swell down, other wise we would not be out in this wind, we did not do any good this day, not one strike on the lures, tried a 5 different ones with no success, we came in at the same time as that guy above that I took the photos of pulling in that Mackerel and he also caught nothing, we think the sea is too dirty, (stirred up) from the strong winds we have had from this Cyclone over the last couple of days, all we can do is keep trying every day we can get out until they come back on the bite.

Tuesday 13th Was a different day today, the wind was up some first thing and again from the east, but the sea had a very small chop and was good for trawling, not for fish though, the photo below is around 10:30am and the wind has dropped a lot and the sea flattened right out, turned out to be a beautiful day, here I am trawling with 3 rods and different lures and we had 4 hits but no hook-ups, the fish were not on the bite, we even saw some Tuna on the surface, but playing around and not feeding and did not take to the lures at all. Even saw some bait fish on the surface and the only thing that was interested in them was some birds that wanted a feed, we fishing until the wind changed direction and came from the WSW and a slight chop came on the water, but we had the sea behind us and started to come in 1:00pm and again no fish on board to clean so I had a light day when I got home and Pat again had the usual cleaning of the boat, which never changes.

Wednesday 14th No fish again for us, this time we went South as the wind was  from the South and was forecast to turn to the SW 18/24 knots so it was better for us to come home with a following sea and there was a few boats out this morning before us as I sleep in late for a change, there was another 3 boats out in our direction and I did not see one catch anything like us, then there was a couple that went straight out West, one that I knew and met up with when we got back and the other came in just after we had landed at the boat ramp. The guy I knew had to hook-ups with one Mackerel landed and the other boat that has been here a week and had caught nothing today they caught 3 Mackerel and 1 Yellow Fin Tuna, the best day so far and then I heard that another boat that went North to the Sand Flats, our favorite haunt here so far caught a couple of Mackerel, so looks like we went in the wrong direction again, tomorrow is another day and the forecast is for winds from the South again. Much the same forecast as today but with bit stronger winds when they come in, so I have bought a couple of new lures, different from what I have and supposed to be real Mackerel Killers, so we will be heading out West in the morning if the sea is not to rough and giving it a go with 4 rods out with 3 different lures on one will be diving down to 6 meters the others go down to 2 meters +, still waiting for our first Spaniard. Thursday 15th The long range forecast for today on Monday was for winds from the South at 25/30 knots and yesterday the forecast had changed to  12/16 knots, so we decided that we would go out as we were going to have the day off due to the high winds, so we got p at 6am and got ready, was the first at the boat ramp (that should have told me something) and had launched the boat before first light and Pat held it at the Floating Pontoon while I parked the vehicle and checked in at the Rescue Station, turns out that the weather forecast had changed again to what they had predicted on Monday. So as we were there and it was not what I thought to be that bad as yet, we went out and started trawling, but the sea had white caps on it already and a 2.5 meter swell, so we did a bit of trawling for about 2 kilometers and then turned around and came back with the lures out, but we were coming back into swell, was no good for trawling or bottom fishing as it was to rough and the wind had not even changed yet and got stronger so as we got close to the entrance I stopped the boat and pulled in the 3 lures and quit and came in, had an early day and a waste of time getting up early. Friday 16th Pat was not feeling well this morning so got back in bed and stayed there until 7:10, then looked out the window and it seemed a very nice morning with little or no wind, so got up and got ready, left Pat in bed and went out by myself for the first time, was a waste of time again, the water is still dirty, there was a 2.5 meter swell on first thing with white caps but the wind and swell slowed down around 9:30, but did me no good as again I got no hits on the lures and I had 4 rods out with 4 different lures on, all proven Mackerel Catchers, so again I will have to wait until tomorrow to try again, but running out of days now for fishing. Saturday 17th Forecast for today was real good, wind was from the ENE at 12/16 and quieting down to 4/8 knots around lunch time, so we was out at first light again, got a hit and a hook-up about 3/4 of an hour after we had started, gave it to Pat to play in while I got the other rods in out of the way turned out I had lost a lure on a outside rod, brand new just bought it yesterday after we came in, called a Red Headed Bomber. Was not sure at first what it was, but after it had dived down deep and Pat could not hold it anymore and I took over I knew it was a Yellow Fin Tuner again, not exactly what we wanted but the biggest we have landed so far weighing in at 13.5 kilos or 29.75 lbs, so we had gone through a small school of these and had the new lure cut off or I should say the line got cut about the 60lb wire trace which was 3 foot long, so not much I can do about that when they are in a feeding frenzy. Just glad we did not get multiple hook-ups or I do not know what I would have done, this took just on 3/4 of an hour to get to the boat, had to give the rod to Pat so I could get the gaff in it, the fish was almost dead when I got it in the boat, it had really spent itself in fighting, by the time I got the hooks out it was dead and I could not even bleed it, I am about 2.5 miles out from shore here, disappointed that I did not get a Spanish Mackerel again, but we try again tomorrow.

Sunday 18th Forecast for today again was good, wind from the NE at 16/20 knots turning to NW at 4/8 knots, was not bad first thing for trawling and as we went out again at first light and straight out West, we had just cleared the first line of Cray Pots about 1/2 a mile out and had not yet put any lures in the water when about 400 meters in front of us a Spanish Mackerel jumped right out of the water chasing baitfish. So Pat took over as skipper while I got 2 lures in the water, while I was doing that another or the same one jumped out again, so I took over as skipper and trawled around that area for a while, but to no avail, we did not get a hit, so we trawled out West for about 2.5 miles and then turned North and went that way for another 3 miles and came in on the Sand Hills, never got a hit on the lures. Did a it of bottom fishing drifting in 103 foot water with 3/4lb sinkers on but again nothing, no matter where we went there was nothing on the sounder near or on the bottom, no fish feeding on the bottom like there was in February, then there was fish everywhere even if they did not bite, now there is nothing around, we did find some fish near the surface later in the morning, within 30 feet and closer but none would take a lure. This month has been very bad so far, not just for us, but most fisherman even the locals, don't know why the fish have disappeared as this Month is supposed to be the one of the best for fishing, especially Mackerel, lots come here to fish for them, but not many around, some are getting caught but so far not by us and we are running out of time. Monday 19th Day off, we leave here on the 27th so only 5 more days for fishing to go, will start packing up 2 days before we have to leave here. Tuesday 20th Today was going to be a reasonable day for fishing, forecast was for ESE winds at 12/16 knots in the morning getting rougher towards lunch time, so out we went again and as you can see the sun is just coming up and this is the time that I would expect to get a hit on the lures, just as the sun is rising, if anything is around that is, so another day on the water and if its anything like past few days we can expect nothing again, but we have to try, there are a other 4 boats out in front of us and another 2 were getting ready to launch as we were leaving.

Finally got a hit and a hook-up, but it is a Tuna known as Striped or Skipjack Tuna depending on where you are, not very big but this species does not grow big, you can just see the stripes starting in the water.

Here you can see some of the stripes a bit better, as I said this is not what we want, now any that we catch is released as soon as I et the lure out of it, do not like this Tuna as a eating fish, terrible, I even took out of the freezer what I had in from the first one and threw it out, from now on its catch and release, until we get some Mackerel or a eating fish, no more Tuna for us.

Strike number 2 and another hook-up and another Tuna, but this time its a Yellow Fin Tuna about the same size as the one I caught before above, again I have to get the lure out of it and then I will let it go.

Here is the Yellow Fin, could not get the hook out of the mouth, it had both Jags in it, ( a jag hook is a hook that has 3 hooks on it in a triangle) I got the one out of the side of its mouth but could not get the one from inside its mouth so had to use the gaff to bring it in the boat, made sure that I got the gaff hook though the bottom jaw where it would do no damage and as I lifted it into the boat the lure fell out, so took this photo and tipped the box so it slipped back into the water and it went happily on its way.

Strike number 4 and a hook-up, again it is a Yellow Fin Tuna and Pat is bringing this one in, got it to the surface and it dived again, Pat was bringing it back in a and I took this photo and no sooner had I took it and the lure came free and the fish was gone, thankfully, saved me the problem of doing it, this morning we had 6 hits with 3 hooks ups. We were trawling around out from the sand flats and was near another 2 boats that were also trawling, in fact 98% of all boats do trawling here for the Spanish or spotted Mackerel, very popular fish and highly sort after, anyway we would go up and down in front of this area and we saw lots of bait fish on the surface even though there was a slight chop on the water and only saw one feeding school, which is where we got the second strike and the 3rd was a hook up. The second strike caused the back lures to tangle up and I had to bring them in, the lines were a mess and I had to take the lures and wire trace off and cut the lines to get to sort it all out, while I was doing this I still had a lure in the water, but I was d rifting at the time and the lure is a floater, will not sink so I left it there. When I was ready to put the lures out again I asked Pat to put 2000 revs on the motor and as soon as the boat moved forward I got this 3rd hit and a hook-up with that Yellow Fin Tuna in the box above, so never got chance to put the other lures out. So was a good day as far as fishing and having some fun went but again a bad day for eating fish, when we came in and had put the boat on the trailer, I parked it at the top of the ramp and waited for the other boats as there were not far behind us and as I parked the vehicle at the top of the ramp and out of the way, 3 were in at the Pontoon, so I waited until the skippers came up to get there vehicles and asked how they went, as 2 of them were the boats that I was near for about an hour and a half. The first one was not near me, but had no hits at all, the second whose boat was a lot bigger than mine and we was trawling side by side for a while but about 100 feet apart also had no hits at all, the 3rd got 1 hit and a hook-up and caught a Spanish Mackerel just 2 inches over legal size so was considered small, but I would have settled for it myself. The first 2 complained about there being no Mackerel around or fish on the bottom for drift fishing and the 3rd also complained about the lack of fish this year, as I said earlier this month has been bad, the water is dirty and this is supposed to be the hot month for Spanish Mackerel, people come up here for a weekend or a week expecting to catch some of these Spanish Mackerel, me too, but not this year by the looks of it, still we will keep trying, tomorrow the weather looks also good in the morning, so out we will go and hope we can latch onto something, still we caught something today and had some fun and that is better than nothing, right!

Wednesday 21st Again no Spanish Mackerel, nor anything else today on the lures, never got a hit and again a beautiful sea out there, how different 2 days can be with almost the same weather, except the wind was from a different direction today it was 8/12 knots from the ENE, went exactly the same direction first thing and then turned north again going up to and past the Sand Flats about a mile then turned into shore as we were about 2 mile out at that point, not a hit, as we got about 500 meters of shore there was bait fish school on the surface, 2 big ones and nothing after them, so as the wind was down and the swell was SW we decided to try and bottom fish for a while. There was another boat again near us at this point, they tried a couple of places and did no good, then left the area going back towards Kalbarri, we continued to drift and did no good, nothing around on the sounder then we tried another spot closer to shore, the first time we were in 107 feet, so now we tried 60 feet and there was fish swimming around but not on the bottom, then around 5 minutes to midday as we were talking about packing up and heading for home, I said to pat that as the sea was pretty calm I would steam straight home, no more luring and then BANG, the rod bent over, oh no I said to Pat not a North West Blowie, as she had caught one about 1/2hour before, but no it was a Pink Snapper, first one we have seen this month, so at last a eating fish on board. So having got that on board we decided to give it another 1/2hour and 20 minutes later I got another big rod bender, bigger this time and I thought at first that it may have been a shark as our luck has not been that good lately, but again it was a Pink Snapper a 3 kilo one, so we kept on fishing on the drift in that area for a while until we had to move because we was approaching a Cray Pot Float, so we went back towards the sand flats as by this time we were about a mile past it, but we did not gat anymore bites and I said that we would pack up at 1:30pm and head for home. Which we did, had not gone a kilometer when the wind came in from the West as forecast but it was supposed to be at 8/12 knots and this was more like 20+, white caps every where and we had to come back straight through the chop, rough and wet, took us 47 minutes to get back, should have packed it in at midday but then I would have missed these 2 beauties, at last some fish for the freezer to take home, looking pretty lean the old freezer, may have to buy some fresh fish on the way home this year.

Thursday 22nd Forecast was for strong winds this morning at 25/30 knots, but not knowing what time the wind would pick up we went out among other boats, it was a Chinese Sea (Very Choppy) we trawled all the way down to the Sand Flats (4.5 to 5 miles) with no luck, so went in close like yesterday to nearly the same spot and tried some bottom drift fishing, but the wind started getting stronger with white caps forming on the swell so decided to pack it in and come home, as I had to came back into and across the swell I could only do about 5 or 6 knots, so put the lures back out and trawled until we got back near the entrance of the reef, nothing again. Nor did another 5 boats, 2 was already in and on the trailers waiting for some of us to come in to see what we had caught and the word was nothing from 5 of us, then I heard from the tackle shop that a small dingy had got a hook up on Spanish Mackerel just out the front of the channel but lost it as the line got cut by it, so there was one around, not sure about tomorrow, the weather may be the same as today, word is that the weather may be good for the weekend, we are supposed to be starting to pack up on Sunday to leave here on Tuesday, but may fish on Sunday and start packing up that night. Friday 23rd Weather same as yesterday, so stayed at home and the wind did come up early so just as well, maybe be better tomorrow. Saturday 24th Weather forecast is not good, high winds again today and for the next 3 or 4 days, so we have decided to pack it in and head for Perth see our sons and grandchildren, spend an extra day in this Midland and look around the shops and relax before heading back home and across the Nullarbor, this tree is about 30 kilometers outside Geraldton, saw it on the way up and decided to take a photo of it on the way back, worth a photo I recon as it is very unusual.

This is the write up about it, as you can see they have made it into a tourist stop so we can take photos of it, there are a lot more of these trees in the area up and down the highway, but this is the best that we have seen probably why they have set it up like this and it is the only one that is close to the highway and yes they do have high winds as I have already said and why we are leaving early. The fishing was not good this year at Kalbarri, so we are disappointed along with a lot of other people that came up there for a few days or a week and caught nothing at all or very little, but that is fishing and why we go away for 7 or 8 weeks, 9 weeks allowing for traveling time, but normally not this bad, we expect a bad week here and there, but the whole month of March was a wipe out, there was a couple of Spanish Mackerel caught, well a couple more than a couple that we know off, but more Tuna around than anything else, even the bottom fish like the Pink Snapper was not there in any great numbers, so something was wrong with the conditions, the 3 years before this was great, as I    said earlier it all stated with the Fishing Competition at the beginning of the month, that also was good the previous 3 years and this year was no good with very few fish being caught. But we had a good time there and it is a very pretty place and made for relaxing, when you are not fishing that is, fishing from a boat is hard work, especially for my wife Patricia who has to clean the boat every day we go out along with all of the other stuff that gets used, right now are thinking about going back next year to give it another go, the Mackerel will be bigger, I have a friend that lives in the US and says that the Mackerel over in the West are very strong in taste and not worth eating, but these are different, the Spanish Mackerel over here are very sort after and are excellent easting, same for the Spotted Mackerel which thankfully we got a couple of them, anyway its all over for another year, now just to get home and back to work to try and save another few dollars for next year.

Here we are somewhere crossing the Nullarbor, when we came up on 2 small but old vehicles, I took this as I was stuck behind him going up this incline and he was only doing 50 kilometers an hour, never know what you will see on the road, I found out later that there was a Motor Show on in Adelaide so this is where they were heading and we also saw lots of old Mini Minors going the other way across the Perth so there must have been something on there as well for them.

Well that's the end of that trip for another year, now its back to work as I said, Pat still has to  work to save for the next trip and I hope that I can find some opal to help pay for the trip if I am lucky, just to pay for my expensive's will be a good start, so that is the end of this trip, pity I did not have more fish to take photos of and show you, but tried to make the newsletter a good read. 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