February 29, 2008 Opal Mining Update - No 81 Spanish Mackerel and Some bad Weather

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To all NEW READERS I must apologize to you as I am on holidays during the month of February and March, fishing this year in Western Australia 3300 kilometers from home so the newsletters are about us fishing and what we get up to and have caught during this time, back to normal in April. Wednesday 30th of January, here we are at Kalbarri at last, [3300 Kilometers / 2051Milles] seemed to be a longer and much harder trip for us this time, took more out of us this trip than any other so we must be getting older and the body is letting us know and we had great weather with no or very little wind for the 3 days it took to get from Coober Pedy to Perth, well Midland anyway which is where we stay for the first 2 nights, then on the second day we go and visit with our son and his family late in the afternoon after they have finished work and have a Bar-B-Q with them in the evening as this is the only time we get to see them when we come over here fishing. Then its on the Geraldton [440 kilometers / 273 Miles] where I take the boat into the dealer and get the 100 hour service done on the new outboard engine, which is very expensive and will be doing myself from now on unless something needs doing that I can not do, they replace items that do not need to be replaced just to make money and that will not happen again, so after the outboard engine was finished being serviced which was one hour later than it should have been another thing that did not impress me about them as I was booked in with them for this well in advance for midday and was on time I was there for 11:30am and he knew that we had to get to Kalbarri, get keys and then unpack the vehicle, The service should have been done at the booked in time, but no I had to lose an hour, anyway we left for Kalbarri which is 160 Kilometers / 100 Miles away and as we was running late I made a call to the Estate Agent on the cell phone and explained what had happened and I was running late but all was good with them, they were going to be in the office until 6pm and if I did not make it by then they would leave the keys in the door of the house for us but I made in plenty of time. So now the hard work was to start for us, unpacking the vehicle which has to be done tonight and then the boat which will be done tomorrow, then Pat will have to clean the boat out [Coober Pedy dust] and get it ready for fishing, me I have to put all of the boxes that we have our fishing gear in [reels, spare line, hooks, lures etc] and then I have to get the rods ready, so should be ready for the first run trial on Saturday the 2nd.

Feb-2 and Day-1 of Fishing, on the high see at last, launched the boat 7:15 this morning, was running a tad late as I had to fill top up one fuel tank and fill the other also get a couple of bags of ice for the fish box and the first gas station did not open until 6:30am so I had to wait, then we went and launched the boat, we trawled for Spanish Mackerel all the way down to the Sand Patch some 5 miles up the coast but did no god at all, did not see any bird activity on top of the water which is a dead give away that there is a school of bait fish being attacked from below by Spanish Mackerel and or Yellow Fin Tuna. Here we are opposite the Sand Patch in 95 feet of water drifting into shore with the Sea Anchor out and bottom fishing, but again did no good, Pat caught 3 baby flathead and I one all had to be put back as they were way undersize, pity as they are very good eating, the wind came in early at 10am so we had to make a run for home, will have to try again tomorrow, but I noticed that the water surface temperature was down to 10.6 degrees, this time last year it was 21.5 degrees and went up to almost 23, the Spanish Mackerel like warm and clean water, also there was no Crayfish Pots in close like last year, so will ask about them tomorrow there has to be a reason why the Cray Boats are not working in close to shore and I am wondering if it has to do with the water temp. The photo I took below is of the new stainless steel rod holders I bought and made brackets for before I left Coober Pedy, the brackets I made are the one that the stainless steel brackets are bolted to, there are nice and easy to use and as this is the first time we have had chance to use them I am pleased with them, but they still have to be tested catching a decent size fish as I normally fish with 2 rods so the one at the rear of the boat [empty right now] is what is called the silent partner and works by itself with the action of the boat rocking side to side wit the waves, works well when there are fish around, so as this is the first day we have plenty more to go yet and we will not catch a fish every time we go out, but the odds are we will catch some over the next seven and a half weeks we have left. You can also see the bait bucket in the middle, this bit consists of Small Squid, Pilchards and King Prawns, I make up a brine solution with just salt lots of salt, defrost the bait and put in this brine, this stops me taking out frozen bait and this way there is no waste and when we come home, Pat wipes down the bucket and puts it in the fridge, this way the bait can saved for up to 6 months, not that it lasts that long for us, but have leaned that this is the best and cleanest way for us to bottom fish, the bucket is resting on a cutting board.

Feb-3 - Today turned out to be a good day with lots of events as it turned out in the end, first as I was logging in with the Local Volunteer Sea Rescue which we all do when we go out fishing for safety reasons and then log off with them when we come back in and a I was logging in I met this guy I knew from last year that hires out boats for fishing and he told me that there is little or no bottom fish around for some reason [could be they knew we was coming] and even the local fishing charter boat is complaining as he cannot find any for his customers, so I thought here we go again all this way for nothing again, but then he said that the Mackerel are around and if it was not for them it would be dead here. He told me that they were being caught on the other side of the Sand Patch some 5 miles up the coast from here, so we had not gone far enough the day before, so today I steamed straight up to the Sand Patch and about 2 miles more then started Bottom fishing as I had picked up some on the fish finder, Pat caught a Sweet Lips which is a shit fish and was returned to the water, photo is from last year.

Then Pat hooked into another that got off the hook on the way up, so have no idea what it was but was a good sized fish and we were in 90 feet of water, after an hour an a half of this bottom fishing we packed it in and decided to start trawling as I saw bird activity about 1/2 a mile from us out to sea, finally after about 20 minutes got a hit on a lure but no hook up then got another about 10 minutes later and got a hook up, turned out to be a nice Spanish Mackerel. In all we had 7 strikes with 3 hook ups, the last 2 hook ups were Yellow Fin Tuna, brought one in and gave it away to a guy that helped me out when I got back on shore as I had a problem that I need help with, but more on that later.

Here is my first Spanish Mackerel, not big fighters and do not take long to get in, puts up the most fight when it is near the boat, Yellow Fin Tuna are the big fighters here among other of course, but the Tuna do give you a good fight if they get the chance to go deep, this is the first on many I hope, would also like to catch some bottom fish as well, but we have lots of time yet on our side before its time to go home. In my excitement today I forgot to weight this fish but I would guess it would go around the 24 lbs mark, the biggest I have caught is 28 lbs in 1991 at a place called Steep Point the most Westerly Point of Western Australia further north of here, so hope to beat it on this trip as these grow a lot bigger than this one.

Wind was up all morning from the S/E about 10/15 knots which was not that bad going out and for fishing but again the wind picked up early and up a few knots as well, was a bit rough again coming back home as we head almost straight back into the 1.5 meter swell so it is slow going and wet all the way back in, still was a good day with 1 Mackerel on board and some fish filets for the freezer. On the way home I was still running a couple of lures out the back when I picked up the second tuna, after I had got this one in I packed it in for the day and headed for home, the Sand Patch is on the left of photo and Kalbarri 5 miles from that, here you can see a lot of birds following tuna feeding could see then on top of the water and jumping out in places, but not interested, was not long after this photo that the wind and swell got up, white caps everywhere and we again took a beating on the way in, could only do between 7 and 8 knots without jarring us to much. On the way back and in the rough weather one of the poles on the sun shade came apart and to stop it from moving and possibly breaking the opposite end where it was connected I had to tie it off with some rope I had on board, did not work the first time so had to stop and do it again, this time it was successful, but while I was a doing this the second time the outboard cut out, out of fuel on that tank I thought so I checked and sure enough the tank needed changing over, not a problem or so I thought, could not get the outboard to fire up again, tried this and that, but no good, I had another boat that had been behind me and when they caught up with me came over and stayed with me until I get it going again. I had to operate the hand throttle to get it going in the end, so if this happens again I will do that first, normally when a tank is running out when I am traveling it starts to cough and I switch the engine of straight away and change over tanks then there is still some fuel in the carburetors to suck up fuel from the new tank, this time they were sucked dry, another learning experience I did not need. Then when I got back to the boat ramp and went to get the vehicle I found that I had flat batteries, I had forgot to put the battery charger on them yesterday, takes a while to get back into a routine and as I had the fridge and freezer I the back on the vehicle like last year I have to put the charger on every afternoon when I get home to keep up the full charge on them, so I had to ask someone to help me out, lucky for me I carry my own jumper leads so starting the vehicle was no problem, but with out them I would have been in the shit surprising how many 4x4 vehicles do not carry any emergency equipment seeing as we are still in the bush so to speak where we are. Turns out the guy I ask to help me had been out crabbing with his 3 little children and had caught nothing so I asked him if he would like the tuna we had caught and he said yes and also as Pat had told him about our sun cover coming apart he offered to put a rivet in it for me and told me to follow home and it turned out he lived just around the corner from where we are staying, some good luck at last apart from the fish. Feb-4 - Day off today, rest day we are tired out from yesterdays effort, Pat did not want to play the big fish as that Mackerel was caught on her rod, so really should have been hers, but as I brought it in its now mine, so will have to get her involved slowly, hard work this fishing, take a pounding coming in and then Pat has to clean the boat etc ready for the next time, I have to clean the rods, lures and fillet any fish, drain the fillets and then vacuum pack them ready for the freezer, who said fishing was FUN :) just love it, just the old body complains now and again and again.

Feb-5 - Out a bit late this morning, did not set the alarm properly, still only missed 1/2 hour, the wind was from the North West and as you can see the sea is very calm and very overcast and we are in the same area as where we caught the last mackerel, there are other boats in the area and right now to the left and in front of the boat in the center is bird activity which we also headed for to see if there is any action over there, we have only just arrived here about 5 minutes ago.

Pat is on, this time she is ready for action, so with some luck it will be a Mackerel, but will soon know if its a Tuna as right now it is not putting up a big fight but if its dives for the bottom it will be a Tuna and the fight will be on, had a good run when it fist hit and I operate the boat so we get some line back in and the fish stays on Pats side where she can fight it, lost one last year because it went under the boat and the line got cut when I maneuvered the boat wrong, so have to pay attention this time so we do not loose any more like that, to hard to come by.

Mackerel it is and what a Mackerel, big it is, now to gaff it and get it in the boat for her, then we will know just how big this baby is, you can also see how calm the water is right now.

And here it or she is and what a Ripper, defiantly bigger than the biggest I have caught in the past so my best catch has been beaten by my wife, now to bleed it put it on the floor then cover it with a towel then wet it down and will keep it wet until wet back in so it does not dry out on the outside.

Not going to believe it but Pat is on again, after I had got the Big Mack in, sounds good Big Mack like it and started again, Pat skippers the boat while I get the lures out and I had just got all 3 out when she had another strike on here rod, but no hook up so on we went, this was hook up was some 35 minutes later, we had the Big Mack on board by 9am and it was now 10:20am, these 2 boats have seen that Pat is playing a big fish and  are coming over to see the action, I already told that yellow boat that Pat caught the Big Mack so they are interested to see in what she has on this time as they have not caught anything up to now, the other boat I have no idea at this time, you can see it is still very calm out here.

Turned out to be a big Tuna and I mean a Big Tuna, the biggest I have seen outside of a photo, I had to take over from Pat as it went to the bottom and even made my arm ache some as we are not used to this as yet, this had got hooked in the gill and I do not know how it came up so quickly, took about 25 minutes to get it here, it dived a couple of times and wet us through on the last one with a flick of its tail, I managed to take a couple of photos and you can see it is now starting to bleed, was thinking on how to get the lure out of it, maybe the gaff would work a it only had one on the barbs in it, then I was thinking it would be nice to get it in so I could weight it, then I had second thoughts as it was very big and I did not fancy putting the gaff into it with this life in it, so while I was thinking about this it kicked again an the line broke at the knot, so I lost the lure [$20.00] and the leader, Pat said I should have tried to get the lure out sooner, oh well that's fishing, but this was lucky lure for us today as all 3 hits had been on it, still I have a spare and will bought another when I got back in, I estimate that this fish would have gone over the 50 lbs mark, to big for us, being a tuna that is, Big Mack's, well that another thing. Well that was the last of the fun for us for the morning, trawled around for a while longer and quit at 11:30 and as I was pulling in the lures, there was a huge splash about 100 feet from the boat, have no idea what fish came out of the water, but it was big, probably a Mackerel but there was some big fish out there today and we  got our share, tomorrow is another day.

Here is Pat nice Big Mack weighed in 14 kilos / 31 lbs, poor old Pat could not hold it up, [66 year granny at that] so she has to hold it like this for the photo, boy is she struggling, don't know what she will do if she catches a bigger one, when we got  back in I met the guy that helped us out with the flat batteries he had been out fishing with another friend which is a hire boat, but just out for a days fishing by the owner and they had caught 2 small mackerels about 7 kilos each and the owner had caught a 19 kilo Wahoo, which is also a member of the Mackerel family, so indeed there are some big fish out here, ice to know that all the boats did not catch fish and Pats was the biggest Mackerel that was caught that day in fact the biggest that has been caught for some time according the guy at the bait shop, I will be cropping this photo and printing a proper photo for him to hang in his shop with all of the other photos of big fish caught here.

Some nice fillets of this Mackerel put a beer can there so you get an idea just how long they are, after I had finished cutting the fillets up and cleaning the table down, I placed them on this table and then jacked two of the back legs up so the table was at an angle to let them  dry out, then I vacuum pack them and put them in the freezer, I took some of the fillets and put them aside for smoking and what I had left weight in at 13 lbs, so I would have got somewhere around 15 lbs of fillets off this fish, 3 days and 2 mackerel, so quite happy at the moment and a lot better than last year as we never got one, now we have a lot of fishing days left we hope we can get some bottom fish in as well, would not like all Mackerel, but would not knock them back and the beer can that I placed there is 5 inches long to give you some idea of the size of these fillets, which are around 31 inches long, a lot of meat here.

My very fist attempt at smoking fish, easy enough job but requires some experience it would seem, I did some reading up on this subject on the net before I left, this lot turned out a bit on the salty side, but have plenty of time for practice.

Feb-6 - Rest Day due to high winds and then it rained later in the morning. Feb-7 - Weather good, overcast and looks like rain again, but none forecast so out we went again we are past the Sand Flat by about a mile or so and there are already 4 more boats in the area, we have been trawling for a wile and at this point Pat has a small Tuna on Board here is one of the boats with a Mackerel on, saw him gaff it and pull it on board a short time later and on our way we went, do not go over just to take a photo, but to circle them with the lures jus in case there are more mackerel hanging about with the one that is hooked, but not time so we carried on trawling.

Here is another boat just pulled in there fist Mackerel and as it turned out when we was on our way back in [quite some time later then this] this boat looked like it was going to cut across our bow and then it straighten up and got a hook up on there second mackerel, we trawled all the way back to the boat  ramp some 7 miles, mind you the wind and chop had picked up, but still we never got another hit on the lures, this boat passed us as I was stopped and pulling in the lures just outside the gap in the reef that we come in through, caught up with him and had a chat at the boat ramp, turns out he was Canadian, that the guy in the blue shirt, did not get to speak to the guy in white as he went to get the vehicle and trailer, I told him that I though he was going to cut me off when he hooked into the last mackerel but did not make a big deal out of it, could have been mine if he had not come close but who knows.

Pats little Tuna, not worth weighing only a baby and I had promised the next door [in the background] neighbor that I would get a Tuna for him, met him for the first time yesterday and he mentioned that he would not mind one if we giving them away and we are at the moment, so here it was, I will keep the next one and fillet it into steaks for smoking, as I have just started smoking and still learning, I will practice on Tuna until I get it right with the salt an flavor, although there are many flavors/marinades I can make up and use so practice is needed, to get the full flavor into the fish I think it needs to be in the marinade overnight at least, the first lot was not bad in taste but too salty for my liking, so will cut that down, as the salt is for curing and keeping do not need that much salt as if I vacuum pack everything and freeze it and when it is opened it just like I have caught it, so it is the flavor I need the most, also a couple of the locals I have talked to say that Tuna is very nice smoked, so will let you know how I get on there later.

This is my first official Mackerel, the first one was on Pats rod but she did not feel like pulling in a big fish that day, she did at the time think it was a tuna so it turned out to be mine, anyway this one weighted 11 kilos - 25 lbs so there are some decent fish here this year, one of the locals told me that the mackerel are averaging 7 kilos each, so we have done well so far as all 3 have been well over that weight, now for the hard work in filleting and packing.

This is how the fish looks when I have finished with it, I tip the table up on a angle so the fillets can drain and dry, then I bring them inside and vacuum pack them and into the freezer they go, was a lot more on there when I did Pats Big Mack but never thought to take a photo to show what I do and how the fillets look that way I do them, I pack them into meal size bags for Pa and I, but will give some away when I get back if I fill the freezer, but I think that I will fill the both of them this year and as for smoked fish I just love it along with other meats but never thought about having a go myself until this year, so when I get it right I may end up eating more fish during the year, so better get more then 1 freezer full. So today's effort was 4 hits - 2 hook ups, one of the hits was a Spanish Mackerel was on long enough to do a run, but the hooks did not stick so got away for another days fishing, maybe next time out.

Feb-8 - Off having a rest day. Feb-9 - Great weather, south east winds so the sea was flat again, but no hits all today, nothing and we traveled around 30 miles, some 58.2 kilometers according to my GPS system used 17.5 liters of fuel where we have used 15 liters per trip the last 3 times out, anyway here we are heading for home and going to trawl again all the way in, we are opposite what is the Sand Patch right now so we have 5 miles to go, should have quit when I took this photo as the wind picked up from the south west and it got very choppy, but as we were traveling at 5.5 to 6 knots we did not get wet nor did we get any hits either. So the day was a wipe out, no hits at all and we stopped for over an hour to do some bottom fishing just back at the start of this and patch in the background, nothing there either, except Pat caught a small flathead again and I got spiked 3 times on the fingers getting the hook out of it, now I have 2 sore fingers or I should say one finger and one thumb on the right hand, will be right in a couple of days, tomorrow the weather is good again so we are going deep sea fishing, I will go straight out west about 10 miles and do some bottom fishing for the famous Dhufish we have here in Western Australia, wont hold my breath but I hope we do catch one just to show what the are like and they are the most top eating fish in this part of the country and the most expensive.

Feb-10, The 6th day we have fished, the forecast was for same as yesterday, Easterly winds from 12 to 16 knots and they came in early and I mean early, we was in the water just after daylight and on our way out to sea by 6:55am, was 6 miles out west when small white caps started on the water and the breeze was picking up, so decided to head back inshore, as  we was heading out straight west it was best that I headed back in towards the sand patch on a slight angle and put the lures out, that way it would not be a waste of time or so I thought. But the more we came in the stronger the breeze got until it got to be wind and not breeze anymore, the 16 knots plus had come in just like that at about 8:00am and not around lunch time as it usually does, so the swell was now at 1 meter thankfully and we had to head straight back into it as I was trawling I was only doing 6 knots so did not take a pounding or get to wet, so when we by the time we got close to the sand flat it was to bad for us to continue with any enjoyment so we headed for home with the lures out, but again it was for nothing, should have stayed in bed and had a rest. So no fish again today, funny how this game is, but that is why we go fishing for 8 weeks, never know when you are going to catch them, tomorrow the forecast is for E/SE winds at 12 to 16 knots, so will have to see how that plays out could turn out to be a good day and maybe not, will not know until lunch time tomorrow or may sooner like today, so here's hoping. Below is another experiment of smoking, this time I did some chicken thighs and some king prawns and it turned out good, the chicken was bit on the dry side, so will have to cut down on the cooking time next time by 5 minutes and the prawns I put in 5 minutes before the end and then took the smoker off the flame and left the lid on for 4 minutes and as you can see looks good and the prawns were just great and cooked just right, now for some more fish to practice on when possible.

Feb-11 - Same weather forecast as yesterday and they were right, the wind again was in early but by the time it had come in full strength we had got reached the sand patch and had caught 2 Baby Yellowfin Tuna, the wind ended up dieing down but not until about 11am, in all we had 12 hits on the lures, caught 8 tuna, yep, all small tuna, there was schools of these small tuna everywhere out there today, had to stay away from them, must have been in the hundreds of thousands all over the ocean, these photos were taken just outside the entrance to the reef channel that we come in through.

There where 3 or 4 of these schools in this small bay, very hard to sneak up on them and take photos and as I got near them they would dive and go somewhere else, so was around them for about 20 minutes taking photos, got quite a few but will only put a couple here, there were after very small white bait and also they was sharks amongst them as well which surprised me, you can see a shark fin here on top of the water, Kalbarri is just to the left.

There were sharks that were about 5 foot long, some were about 3 foot long saw quite a few of them and also some baby sharks about 18 inches long and of course the baby tuna that were really getting into the bait fish, in this photo the bait fish were well out of the water, there was also another school behind this one towards the top of photo and to the left, but there was lots and lots of these around, yesterday and the day before nothing and today thousands, why, where did they come from and will they be here tomorrow.

Here you can see in this blow up the small bait fish being forced out of the water, I spotted far to many bait balls [schools] on the fish finder  today to count, this must be the reason why all of these small baby tuna are here, following the bait fish and the reason that the mackerel and the bigger tuna are not here as the bait fish they feed o are not around right now, funny game this fishing and impossible to work out, you can go out one day and catch fish and have exactly the same weather etc the next day and nothing will be around, so go figure.

Feb-12 - Day Off - rest day. Feb-13 - Weather forecast again is good for us today, started trawling 2 mile out from the entrance and went again up to the sand patch, caught a very small tuna on the way up and by 9am we decided to come back in although the sea was perfect all the was around was these small tuna, so we pulled the lures in and went looking for some bottom fish, but could not find any, so decided to call it a day and head for home, as I was about to head off this boat came on the scene, rich mans boat and had just caught a small tuna one guy had the gaff out and had just gaffe when I took this photo, don't know why he did not pull it straight in with the wire trace, would have only weight about 3lbs made it look like he had a big one on, anyway after this photo we shot straight for home.

Was about 2 mile from the boat ramp and decided to put out 2 lures, never know but again Pat got a hit and hooked up a small tuna, so new we had 4 of these on board, one to cut up for bait, this one the biggest of the lot I will fillet and use some to practice smoking on and the other 2 will be given away as I have orders for them, other wise would not bring them in, again all that we saw out here today was lots of schools of these small tuna, they are a bloody nuisance, still part of fishing, will have to keep going weather permitting until the mackerel come back. Talking about mackerel, after this tuna I put the rods away and called it a day as we was very near the entrance  to the boat ramp in fact we had gone past it to the south and was about a kilometer away and had to turn round to head for it, as I was approaching it I saw another small boat with a guy stood up waving his arms at us, so I headed over to him expecting him to be broken down but when I got there he asked me if we had caught any mackerel and I said no, so he asked if I would like one which I did. So I got a mackerel that day after all would have been around the 7 kilo mark, could not weight it as it had been gutted and the head was taken off, nice and clean, turns out they had 3 on board and then got a double hook up, so upgraded and had to give one away, the smaller one for which I was very grateful, we are only allowed to catch 2 mackerel a day per person and do not want to get caught with any more on board by the Fisheries Inspectors, have not seen any as yet but never know when they do a surprise visit, so people do not want to get fined and 2 mackerel are enough for anybody in my option for 1 day as you do get a lot of meat off them, then you have to clean, fillet, bag and freeze them, so yes 2 is plenty.

Feb-14 -10th day fishing and today turned out to be a real good day, the best so far and learned a lesson which I will tell you about later, but we got up at 6am instead of 5:45, wind was from the S/E and turning to the S/W by lunch time so had to finished by then or we would be in for a pounding again, anyway did not go far this morning about 2 to 2 1/2 miles north, water surface temp was high this morning, at first it was 27.7 degrees and as we kept going it dropped to 26.0 degrees, then it start to come back up and I had no sooner said to pat that it was 26.4 and we got a hit on her rod and after a short fight in came this 7 1/4 kilo Spanish Mackerel and it was not even 7:15 yet, so today was going to be a good one. There was other boats in the area and a couple came over to see what we had hooked into, so after I had bleed this one and cleaned the kill box out, I told Pat to start going again and I put her lure out first [mistake] as I picked up my rod and got the lure ready her rod went off again, so I had to put my rod down and take over the controls while Pat fought another Spaniard in, number 2 for her and this one weighed in at 9.5 kilos, she was on a roll, so again I bled it and put it on the floor with its mate, by this time we had 5 boats around us and 2 had hooked up with Mackerel, so they were on this morning for sure, this was the first time we had caught 2, but I forgot to tell you that Pat had another hook up before she landed the first one and it got off not far from the boat, so in fact she had hooked and played 3 mackerel so far and having all of the fun, typical women.

So off we went again, this time I managed to get 2 lures out, I had at the beginning when Pat caught and landed her first Mackerel had 3 lines all tangled except for hers, I had made up 4 new 60lb trace wires the night before and had put on a plastic squid in front of the lure and I think it was this that had caused it to spin or what ever so as Pat was playing the fish I had to pull in the lines all tangles together and cut off the lures and lines so after we got her fish in I had to tie on lure on my rod and fished with just the 2 and that turned out to be plenty, in future I will only fish with 3 lures in, a deep diver in the middle about 60 feet out and one out on either side about 100 feet out then I will not have that problem again, first time that has happened to me and hope it will be the last, lost a lot of line, really need to put new line on 2 rods. So trawling again and I cannot remember how long it was before we got another hit about 10 to 15 minutes I guess, but we got a double hook up, so here we was both playing fish at the same time, Pats was out on her side and mine luckily was out the back on the boat, so I told Pat to leave hers alone and let it swim out there while I got mine in, easier said then done, mine was a real fighter, never had one like this, fought like a tuna was alright until I got it near the boat and then it went berserk. Took me around the 20 minutes mark to get this one in, it kept diving and taking out line the rod was bent over almost touching the water at times, finally got it on top and to the boat, so gave the rod to Pat so I could gaff it and bring it on board, but it dived again, not deep but enough to give Pat a hard time and still took at least another 4minutes for her to get it on top so I could gaff it and it was all over for that sucker, so again I had to bleed it which means that I had to lift it head first into the kill box which they do not fit into real good as you saw in a photo earlier but I can cut its throat and bleed it that way and saves a lot of mess in the boat and on the carpet which Pat has to clean, this one weighed in at 10 3/4 kilo, getting bigger. So at last Pat can get back to her fish that has been really good, hardly any line pulled off the real and it stayed in the same area all this time, like a dog on a lead, so Pat started to pull this Mackerel in and it did not put up any big fight just the normal "I don't want to come over there stuff" but Pat was doing it easy, she still complains though and when it got near the boat it did not put up any great fight like mine so was easy to gaff when she got it in the right position and in it came, bled it and it weighed in at 12 1/4 kilos, again she had caught the biggest fish. We are only allowed 2 mackerel per person per day, so we had what is called "Bagged Out" full bag in other words and time to come home and was not quite 9am yet, it had taken us about 40 to 45 minutes to play and land these 2 fish, with the bleeding and cleaning etc and just as well we got them early and by the time I had finished with Pats we had drifted in close to shore and in amongst the Cray Pots, the wind had changed to the S/W and was in, white cps were forming and the other boats that were around us when we hooked into these last 2 were gone, not in sight, so we headed for home and around 10 knots, what a day, total weight of the 4 fish was 31 1/2 kilos, now for the hard work when we get home, the fun is over for today.

Due to the action and excitement of today did not get a chance to take any photos of the fish in the water, but here I am filleting them, I have already given on fillet away to a lady from the Radio Shack [Volunteer Sea Rescue] that looks after us when we are out at sea and I am about to tackle Pats big one, then they have to be skinned not an east task with these, which is why a lot of people like to cut them into cutlets, but I can cook the fish more ways if it is filleted properly and pack more in the freezer, so now to finish them off and get them ready for vacuum packing.

Here is the finished result, all laid out on the table to drain and dry out before I can vacuum pct them, I have no idea of the weight as I do not have any kitchen scales with me as yet but have to buy some next week when I go into Geraldton shopping, this lot gave me 59 bags to put in the freezer which was too much at one time so I put half in the other f60 liter ridge/freezer for 24 hours while the freezer worked on the other half, then I put the rest in to freeze up, I did not finish bagging this lot until 9:30 at night, did have a break while this was draining and then watched Around the Word race then finished them off, but was a big job and we do not want 4 mackerel anymore in one day, in fact 2 more will do us for a while, I have to try for some bottom fish and will be going down to this Port Gregory some 60 kilometers south of here, but have to wait for the right winds which must come from the north, then we will go down and try outside the reef there for the other fish we want, will make for some good photos down there as well.

Feb-15 - Rest day and let the fish freeze up Feb-16 - Day Off, rest day Feb-17 - Winds forecasted from the South for 16/20 knots in the morning and getting stronger by lunchtime, but the wind was from the South West and around 10 knots at first light this morning, we went out and trawled 3 lures up to the sand patch and back about a mile and half then turned around and went back to the start of the sand patch then turned around again and headed for home still trawling, the wind had started to pick up some and I figured that it would be all over again by 9am. We had got no hits on the lures at all and the sea was getting quite choppy with the odd 2 meter swell in rows of 3 coming in, so by the time we got back to the entrance to the river one boat was in front of us and one behind us, when we got to the jetty and talked to other boats they also had got no hits, so was a waste of a day, the forecast I have off the net is for worse weather in the next couple of days so will stay at home until the weather is right again. In no hurry to catch fish as we still have 5 weeks to go yet, so plenty of time, Tuesday we are going into Geraldton 160 kilometers south of there, the biggest town near here [30,000 people] and what we came through, to do some shopping, still waiting for the winds to be favorable from the North so we can go bottom fishing at this Port Gregory, better bottom fishing ground there so I believe, lots of lumps and nigger heads that the fish hang around, we would like some Dhu Fish, hard to get now not like the old days when there was plenty around, slow growing and breeding fish, short and thick set like a tuna but magnificent fish to eat, with plenty of meat on it, hope we get you to show you what it looks like, also would like a Corral Trout, Red Emperor and may be a nice big Parrot Fish also called Blue Bone, another magnificent eating fish, in fact I would like this fish most of all, called Blue Bone because when you cook them whole [small ones] the bones turn blue, oh well dream on, like buying a lottery ticket, hard to win even though you are in it, same with fishing.

Feb-18 - Off, weather wrong and Pats Sick, not sure what it is right now but she seems to think it feels like food poisoning when she got up to go the toilet this morning at 7:50 I was already up then, but as I do the cooking and we eat the same food I cannot see it being that, she may have got my cold that I am just getting rid off, so will leave her in bed until she wants to get up, then will see if she wants to go to the doctor or not, will have to see about going into Geraldton tomorrow for shopping, there has been some rain a long way to the west of us a few days ago and the water it is now starting to feed its way down the river here bringing mud with it so the river is now turning a coffee brown and will soon turn to a chocolate brown so I have been told by a local. This in turn will feed its way out of the river mouth, where the breakers are behind the Cray Boat and follow the current that runs to the north, so the fishing may be affected wit the dirty water, will certainly affect the Mackerel fishing as they do not like dirty water so will head out further from shore, depends on how wide this dirty water is from the shore when it goes out to sea. Also there is a Cyclone crossing the coast today or tomorrow at a place called Onslow some 690 kilometers north from here, so that may also have some affect here in the next few days, will just have to wait and see, but this is the Cyclone Season for the North of Australia, again that is why we come fishing for 8 weeks, we may not get to fish for a week or more during this season, like now the winds are wrong, too strong and come in too early in the morning, this morning in particular the wind was up before day break and is blowing a gale right now at 9:35am, but they are forecast for 24/28 knots this morning and 28/32 this afternoon and tomorrow is a little less which is why we are supposed to go shopping, during bad fishing weather, but there may be more days to come yet, Here is the river now it has the Mud in it, it has been like this now for about 10 days and will be many weeks before it is right again, this mud has killed of trade here, people have already stopped coming, the caravan parks, cafe's etc are losing trade because of this and the guy who runs that business with the small boats etc on the bottom right of photo has shut up shop for a while as nobody is here playing in the water due to it being dirty, so this loses money for the town in general, as this is mainly a tourist town and also being the off season does not help, but I believe this happens most years, also there is this fishing competition on at the end of this month over a 4 day long weekend, there is the Deep Sea event and the River event, but I think the River event will not be on as they will be very little fish in there due to the fresh water coming down it and going out to sea.

Feb-19 - Pats better, must have been a stomach bug, was up at 10am yesterday and she got better as the day went on, it has been blowing gale here for the last 24 hours, it got a bit stronger during the night, this Cyclone up north is now traveling South West and this morning is around Exmouth just south of Onslow and traveling slowly, they recon it may not even cross the coast, so I think now that it may not bother us at all will have to wait and see. Feb-20 - Went into Geraldton shopping, was blowing a gale and Pat was not sure we should go, but I told her that is when we should go when the weather is bad, it also started raining on the way in but only lightly and on and off, did our morning bit and went for lunch at a Chinese Restaurant on the foreshore and it was terrible, Pat had lemon chicken but with not much lemon flavoring, she was asked if she would like fried rice, boiled rice or soft noodles with it and she asked for the soft noodles, she got a single small piece of chicken cut into slices, the chicken looked good to me the way it was presented but the noodles were deep fried and crispy, so I went and seen the boss and explained to him what Pat had asked for and whet she had got and he said that is what they supply, so I said what part of soft did he not understand, so he nicely said that he would make her some more, but they were tasteless and mine was not good either for Curried Beef, so will not be going there again next time in Geraldton. We finished our shopping, will need to go back and finish off in a couple of weeks we had too much to do for one day there and headed from home, got back at 5pm and unloaded the vehicle and had no sooner finished than it started raining and heavy with the rain behind it, this is from that Cyclone up north, turns out it did cross the coat at Corral Bay and has turned into a depression causing wide spread rain, so we got back just in time. Feb-21 - Off due to the weather again, rain heavy for most of the night and still very windy this morning and looks like it still might rain again at any time, the temperature has cooled right down and we had to put a blanket on the bed last was so cool, we have been sleeping on top of the bed without any covers and we did not bring any winter clothes at all, no long pants for me so will just have to put up with the cooler temperature until it gets back to normal again. Feb-22 - Off again, Weather still not good, high winds from the S/E at 28/32 knots, too strong for fishing, for us anyway, but the outlook for the next week is supposed to be good, tomorrow it is supposed to be from the East at 16/20 knots, still a bit high for drift fishing so may go and try trawling to see if there are any Mackerel around, Sunday is supposed to be the same wind but from the ENE, so will go down to this Port Gregory 66 kilometers south of here and learn about the reef and find the gap to get through it to go fishing, so we have to launch the boat off the beach, just like we did when we were fishing from Coffin Bay in South Australia. Feb-23 - Off again due to high winds so did not get out fishing, this is the 6th day in a row the winds have been in, very little break in them at all, been blowing all day and night for the full 6 days and then today just after lunch they dropped and it turned out to be a beautiful day, the bad weather has now broken I believe, tomorrow it is supposed to be ENE at 16/20 knots in the morning dropping to 12/16 from the South in the afternoon, so I am hoping that the wind does not  come in first thing in the morning, but no matter what happens we will be going down to Port Gregory for a trial run as the wind is from the right direction, from Monday on it is supposed to be good weather for the next week, so we will use tomorrow to learn about the place. Feb-24 - Wind forecast was for N/E winds at 8/12 knots perfect for fishing and for going to this Port Gregory as the winds have to be from the north to do some good drift fishing there, so off we went at 7am, its some 65 kilometers [39.5 miles] from here and takes about 3/4 of an hour to get there, when we got there the wind was from the east [again] and as we have to launch the boat from the beach and the first time I have been fishing there and there is a reef that runs across the front of this Port Gregory from one side to the other and there is only 2 gaps in the reef to get through. So as I was here I wanted to find this gap in the reef even if it was for the next time, so we launched the boat, or at least we tried there was a small build up of sea weed on the beach at the high water mark which was not far from the waters edge and when we get the boat ready for launching, I have to remove the winch cable hook from the boat which requires us to undo the clutch on the electric winch and push the boat backwards a couple of inches to give me enough slack to remove this hook, then I am ready for launching the boat and this I do by reversing the boat up to near the waters edge and then removing the hook and then reversing the trailer into the water and stepping on the brakes and the boat just slides of the trailer into the water. Or so it is supposed to do, but on this occasion the trailer wheels were in front of this sea weed line [not thinking] and as I backed the trailer over this seaweed and the wheels went over and down the other side the boat slid off the trailer and into the water to soon, it was in shallow water and the back of the boat was sitting on the sand and so our morning exercise was about to start, we tried pulling, pushing but no good, so was thinking that I would have to bring the trailer back and winch the boat back on again, then we managed to pull the front of the boat around to seawards. But that did no good either so I was thinking that we would have to turn the boat around again and go and get the trailer so we can dry winch the boat on, but then I decided to rock the boat sideways to try to create a hole under the boat so the water could get under it, as it was only the rear and heaviest part of the boat that was on the sand and it will float in about 4 inches of water, well it worked and did not take long at all to get the rear floating and out to deeper water, so Pat could get on with the rear ladders and lower the motor and start it before I give it a push and get in take over as skipper and off we went. But was waste of our time and in this case effort as the wind was far to strong, we did however go out to the reef and find the gap that is the passage in and out of this small Cray fishing port, we went out to sea and looked the bottom with the sounder for a hundred meters or so in circle and because the sea was so rough we came straight back in and put the boat back on the trailer and came home, was a waste of time and fuel, this place cannot be fished outside of the reef on anything other than a wind from the north or no wind at all and for real good fishing of any kind it should be under 10 knots. Feb-25 - Wind was supposed to be from the N/E first thing this morning, so went fishing at 7am, launched the boat and went out to sea, the river here feeds into the sea and how we get out to sea fishing is now real brown with mud from rain they have had around Meekatharra area and further which is some 440 kilometers east of here as there are 5 inlets to this river from around this area in the Pilbara, it will take a long time to come clean again as they have just had another 6 inches of rain around there a couple of days ago, so it will get dirtier yet within the next few days., the mud is now up the coast some 2 miles and out to sea about 4 miles as of today. As we started towards the north and the Sand Patch where we was going to fish today, the sea was real good and pretty calm in the bay just outside the reef passage, but the further we went up the coast the more the wind increased and was from the East not the North East, the sea was very choppy and was getting worse with white caps as we got past the mud line into the clear water so we turned around and headed for home, slowly. The drift was too fast for bottom fishing even if I had put the sea anchor out, but I stopped the boat on the way back as I had picked up some fish on the bottom and got Pat to bait up her rod [2 hooks] and I put a sinker on for her and asked her to drop it over the side to see how the drift was and as I said it was far to fast, not even worth throwing out the anchor and I don't like bottom fishing that way so put the rod away and came in, end of days fun.

Feb-26 - Went out fishing this morning as the forecast as for Eastly winds turning to ENE at 9am which did not happen, it turned at lunch time when we was back in, the water was again choppy but fishable so we started trawling as soon as we got outside the real muddy water, below you can see the brown line in the background, Kalbarri is on the right, this mud line extends about 2 miles up the coast from Kalbarri, this photo and below are taken on our way back in, behind us the swell gets worse and there are white caps everywhere, as we get closer to Kalbarri it gets calmer, right now we are approaching the bay area and the water will get calmer still.

Now we are on our way in, I have just finished pulling in the 3 lures that were out and we are well inside the mud line now and right now the color is like milk chocolate, I have been told by a local it may get to be like a dark chocolate before it is finished now there is more water coming down it from the big rain they had inland east of here.

There on the right of photo is the Sand Patch which is 5 miles from Kalbarri, you can see by the engine that the muddy water is not just on the surface it is well mixed in and we are in 80 foot of water were we are, we did again pick up some fish on the move just past where I took this photo but the drift was again to fast to bottom fish, so we did not bother anyway we had enough of this getting tossed around for one morning.

This Cray boat skipper cut me off racing to get to this pot, he came from my left and did not give way to me being a little boat that I am, Asshole that he is, I had to cut off my forward speed and slow right down and turn to the left to handle and cross his wash so we did not get tossed around too much off it, then I came in, he did not have any clays in this pot and did not put it back, hope he had a bad day with all of his pots.

Feb-27 - Wind not good again for us, from the East again so decided to stay at home and give it a miss, still plenty of time left for fishing, so will just relax and watch some DVDs, Pat can catch up on some washing etc, me work on this newsletter Feb-28 - Wind not much better than yesterday, but from the North East this time so we decided to go out and try, I was told at the Radio Shack that a guy went out yesterday and caught a couple of Mackerel down south and we had been going north as usual, not that I wanted to go south with the wind from the N/E it meant that if it did blow up real strong we would be coming back straight into it, so we gave it a hot and headed south, had the lures in the water by 7:10 and was some 4 miles south of Kalbarri. At first there was only a couple of Cray Boats working out there for about the first half hour then another little boat like us with just came out to where we were, he must have had a crack in his hull as he kept bailing water out by hand while he was trawling, anyway we where not together and was working from opposite directions and we trawled up and down this patch of water, I did not want to go further south just in case the wind blew stronger then predicted and we would have a hard time coming home. On one run as we had just passed this boat, he was going south and we north, he showed me with his hands that he had caught noting and I to him the same thing as at that time we had not had a hit, but no sooner had he gone past us there was a hit on Pats rod but no hook up, so we carried on trawling and we turned around again after a while and assed this boat again, this time we was heading north and as this guy was about a couple of hundred meters past us we got hits on all 3 rods and hooks all I could do is to stop the boat and let Pat play and pull her fish in and I worked on the middle rod with the deep diving lure on it. Turns out that Pat had a small Bronze Whaler Shark on and as it was small and no problem I continued to play my fish which turned out to be a Spanish Mackerel of 7 3/4 kilos, the other rod which was mine had lost the fish that was on it, so now we had one for the day and the sea was choppy, but the wind was staying the same so I asked Pat now we had a Mackerel should we head for home before it got worse and she said it was up to me [she always says that] so as we were going to trawl on the way back I head for home, the other boat had already gone he must have kept going when we passed him and hooked into this lot. So off we went and I said to Pat that if we was to hook another it would be a bonus and sure enough we did hook one on my rod, the lure is called a King Brown Laser Pro and the one Pat has on is a Red Headed Laser pro, the 2 most popular lures used here for Mackerel fishing, so this time I had time to take this photo of the fish, it has been caught by the bottom hooks in the gill so was lucky to get him, you can see now why we do not get all fish that hit the lures, if they do strike the lure properly the hooks will not sink in, the mouth on these fish are like steel plates, very hard on the inside.

As I was on my way back I got on the radio to check in with the operator to see what time he knocked off, if there is not many boats out they shut down at 10am and then a lady takes over from the caravan park to log us off as we come in and this morning he was closing shop at 10am, I told him I had 2 Mackerel and 1 Shark on board and he said that the other boat that was out near us had done no good  and another 3 had gone up to the Sand Patch and had also done no good and that I must be using special bait, I told him it was the BO that helped, so it turned out that we was the only ones to catch fish this day, which I must say made us happy to the boat of the day. Here's today's catch, 2 mackerel both the same size 42 1/2 inches long to the end of the tails and the same weight, when I had finished filleting them and got them in the freezer bags I had 30 bags for a total weight of 9.343 kilos and 3 good pieces for dinner, so about it would seam that we loose almost 50 percent of the weight of the fish in waste, still a good result for us and catching fish like this does not take long to fill the freezer.

As it is not the end of the first month, we now have 24 more fishing days as we leave here on the 26th of march and will take 2 days to pack everything up ready for the trip home, which will be a 5 day trip as we will stay in Port Augusta overnight so we can do some shopping before heading for home. The fishing in general has not been good this year again here, but then the last 4 years for us has been the same, the weather seems to be changing and altering the fishing pattern no matter where we go or we seem to be there at the wrong time, the same with going fishing, the fish most times are always some place else and you should have been here or so should have been there type of thing, problem is you can only be in one place at a time and if you chose to go to the wrong place so be it. We did want to get some bottom fish and the weather has not been good for this type of fishing or has there been any around so we believe, the first week or so we was here the weather was great, but in general the last 2 weeks has been very windy with the winds coming from the east, some times the sea is calm with this wind and others it is very rough, can fish in all winds but to enjoy ones self is another thing and we like comfort and also the fish are not always there. Feb-29 - There is a fishing competition on this 3 day long weekend starting today, so today we are having off and until I get on the net later today we may have the whole weekend off as the long range forecast I have at the moment is not good for the weekend with southerly winds and from 17 to 25 knots in strength from first light, we do not need to go out fishing in the wind or sea, so will wait for better weather, but will go down to the local pub every day at weigh in time [3 pm] to see what has been caught. Last year they did not do good because of the windy conditions and it would seem that the wind may get them again, but I am interested to see what bottom fish are caught and if possible to find out where, but as it is a comp they may not tell me, perhaps on the last day when they will not be here the next day as most of the competitors are from out of town. So the total of days we have fished this month is 13 days and the fish caught has been on 6 of those days and the fish caught so far is Spanish Mackerel 9 and 1 was given to us so 10 in all, 1 small Shark and 11 Tuna which we have let go [2] and given the rest away, the main 80 liter freezer is full and now will work on the 60 liter one, so will have to take it easy as with this Mackerel fishing it does not take many to fill this freezer and it only takes on day to catch 2 or 4, but I will never fillet 4 Mackerel again it is too many for me for one day and too much for the freezer anyway, so we was to get 4 again in one day I would have to give 2 away or try and get the hooks out and let them go if possible. 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 Fish and lots of them, 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!

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