March 31, 2008 Opal Mining Update - No 82 Did Good with the Fishing this Trip.

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March-1, Day off, got my lips burnt last time out, I think it was a reaction between the sun cream that I use and the lip balm that Pat uses, she asked me to put some on and in the afternoon as I was filleting the fish my lips started burning, lucky I have some special cream for this type of problem but will take a couple of days to get better I should think, today was good day to go out as well, but as this Fishing Comp wont do any harm to stay out of the way for a day or two as the boat ramp gets very crowded first thing in the morning. We went down to the weigh in yesterday which started at 3pm, one of the reasons we do not go in it, by the time they finish it is after 5pm and then you have to come home and fillet the fish, so makes for a very long day and not for us, but I was surprised that there was as many entrants as there was, 51 in all and that includes the kinds that like to fish in the river here, but a few did not turn up because as you saw in last months newsletter the river is very dirty right now, but again I was surprised that a few good little fish were caught so that means that the river is not down near the mouth has not got any fresh water there as yet as the species that were caught were salt water fish. March-2, Off again but did not go down to the weigh in for the comp but will go tomorrow on the last day. March-3, Heard that they did not do too good yesterday with the fishing comp, the wind got up early and spoiled it for most of them, but we went down today to have a butchers hook [LOOK] at what went on today and it turned out to be worse than yesterday, only 7 boats weighed in some fish and only 2 did any good that you could talk about, so all in all it was not a good comp again this year for most due to the wind, some did good, but I am glad we did not go and waste our time out there for a change, there will be enough days left for us to do that before we leave for home. March-4, Went into Geraldton to do some shopping and get the reading glasses fixed, will be our last time in there, the next time will be as we pass through on our way back to Perth and onwards, we will go fishing tomorrow and if the sea is calm enough first thing we will go deep sea fishing, the wind is forecast for around 13 knots from the SSE, today's forecast was spot on pity we had to go into Geraldton or we would have been out, we now have only 20 days left as of today, so hope we get a few good days in with some fish for the freezer. March-5, Went fishing this morning and was in the water by 7:30, went south again to the same area that we caught the last 2, the sea was a bit choppy but very fishable for trawling, did want to do some bottom fishing, but did the lure thing again, did about 15 nautical miles and for nothing, not even 1 hit on the lures, so we trawled all the way back in as the wind was from the SE and the swell/chop was behind us, got about level with the entrance to the boat ramp and Pat got a hit on her lure. As Pat was playing this fish in I was trying to pull the other 2 lures in and as I was puling one in I had another lure wrapped around the line, I said to Pat how the hell had that happened as the line of Pats did not go anywhere near the other 2, as I was trying to untangle this lot I saw Pats fish had come to the top of the water, it was a 4 foot Black Tipped Whaler, so I told Pat to leave it there while I got this mess undone. All I could do was to cut the line on the lure that I had in my hand and then it was easy to untangle the rest of the line from the other line, then as I was starting to pull this lure in I realized that I also had a fish on it so I pulled mine in first and that also turned out to be a small shark, about the same size as the one last month that Pat caught and the bottom treble hook had only one hook caught in the side of its mouth, so I cut the hook free and did not have to pull the shark aboard and off it went. But Pats was a different story, being around the 4 foot mark it was full of life and had go more then 1/2 of the lure down its throat and there was no way I could get to the hooks with out killing it, also if I was to cut the line and let it go like that it would have died anyway before the 3 hooks in its throat could have rusted out and it could not eat nor catch prey while it had this lure stuck in its mouth, so I had to kill it. But to bring it in the boat was not an option with the lure in it, different with a single hook in the mouth, but this was dangerous so I had to try and kill it outside the boat by knocking it on the head and that proved to be not an easy task, as I had to hold it up by the wire leader and in doing so could not get it head turned the right way so I could get a good hit on it, but I tried and also had got the gaff into it a couple of times and he got off  with all of the turning and kicking it was doing, so in the end I got one good hit on it and it went quiet or so I thought, I had the gaff in through one of its gills and pulled it into the boat. I had got it half way into the kill box and it was still quiet so I though I had killed it or at least unconscious, so I started to cut its mouth open so I could get to the lure, but as I started that it went berserk and was turning and thrashing and luckily it went backwards into the back of the boat where the fuel tanks are and the sea anchor, with it turning around the hook on the front of the lure that was outside its mouth, was hook by it but I had got that treble loose and now it had got hooked in the sea anchor. I thought it was going to go over the back of the boat into the sea again and take my sea anchor with it, so I had to quickly get this hook out of the sea anchor and as I had already cut the line to the lure and it was badly mauled by the shark and also had a few hits on it and caught some mackerel it was not worth the risk so I grabbed the sharks tail and helped it over the back of the boat and good luck to it, but it would not last long, do not want any sharks for meat anymore, plenty of mackerel around so who needs them.

March-6, Was supposed to be the best day of the week weather wise and it has turned out that way, we went up to the Sand Patch, put the lures in the water about half way there which is about 2 1/2 miles out from the harbor, but got no hits until we was about 1 mile past Sand Patch and with no hook ups, then Pat got a hit on her lure and in came this small Mackerel, did not weigh it but would have been around the 6 kilo mark, the smallest we have caught so far, still its a fish and tells us that there may be more around, again caught on one of the favorite lures here the Red Headed Laser Pro, the shark got the other one so will now have to buy a replacement, always have to have a spare in the boat, never know when you loose one.

We got this hit on the way in, its another tuna only this time a different species and again its Pats that has got it on the red head lure, it gave her a bit of a fight as the top hooks as you can see got hooked into its belly and Pat was pulling it in sideways, so the fish could fight and use the tide and swell against her, in the mouth is the best so you can control the fish better.

Here is the fish in a close up, its called a Bonito or Stripped Tuna it must have been a loner as I never saw a school of them if I had I would have gone round it, I also got another baby Yellow Fin Tuna first thing this morning, there was quite a few schools of them out there today and as I try and get one for a guy that's works in the local tackle shop here called Wayne, he likes his tuna so no big deal for me to get one if they are around, anyway as this tuna was cut up bad from the hooks and was bleeding badly I was just going to throw it back and then I thought that Wayne might like it so kept it for him.

So in between catching the first and last tuna today we caught 4 Spanish Mackerel, unfortunately the last one hooked pulled the kooks out of its mouth as I was playing it near the boat and as I gave pat the rod to keep the fish near the bat while I gaff it, I missed getting the gaff in on the first pass and then it kicked and the remain treble hooks ripped out and away it went, so we came home with 3 mackerel and 2 tuna and I gave the smallest one [first one caught] to the neighbor next door. In all we 12 hits on the lures and hooked up with 8 fish, Pat and I both caught 1 Mackerel each and the middle rod with is considered ours we take turns on who pulls a fish in on it when it should catch one and today I had a new lure on it not unlike the Red Headed one, but this was Pink with some pink stripes on it and a deep diver that will go to 7 meters if I was to go faster enough, anyway this lure had most of the hits today and when it was Pats turn to pull it in, she had the biggest again, 13 kilos on the knocker always Pat who gets the big one, I said to her why not on my turn, I may not be able to beat her this trip, but always hoping still time as yet, the big freezer is full, may be able to get one more layer in if I have to, but for now its full. I put the new skinning knife at the front of the fish to give you an idea of the length, it is 15 inches long and I have just realized that the spaces on the table are 3 inches apart so that makes Pat 13 kilo mackerel 48 inches long to the tip of the tail and mine would be 39 inches long, I did not weight it but it would be around the 9 kilo mark, still 2 good fish for us and enough for me to fillet and freeze for one days fishing.

This the vacuum bags with fish fillets in them and now ready for putting in the freezer, there are 34 bags here and the total weight from the 2 mackerel is 10.400 kilos, so as I have only just bought these digital scales a 3 weeks ago when I was in Geraldton shopping I do not know how much is in the big freezer and I would love to know but know I will have to wait until next year, but I will know how much goes into the smaller freezer and so far there is 9.34 kilos in there and should take another 30 kilos yet, this fish is selling for $54.00 per kilo in the shops as fillets and $26.95 as cutlets which I do not like to eat as the fish is to strong like that, the blood lines are still in there along with the bones and you cannot pack them in the freezer .like just plain fillets, this way what I take is all meat no waste at all.

March-7, Day off again, we had visitors yesterday afternoon and they arrived just as I had finished filleting the fish and cleaning down outside which was 3:15 and I dived in and had a quick shower and made myself presentable, then by the time they left around 6:30 I had to vacuum pack the fish as you saw above and put them in the freezer, so by the time I had finished that, then had a quick bite to eat, only had time for a sandwich also I was too tied and it was to late to cook some fish as planned, then relax for an hour watching some TV and then hit the sack, will be back out tomorrow weather permitting, so far the forecast is for winds from the South at 12/16 knots much the same as the weather on the 6th, just depends on what time the wind freshens up and we have to come home. March-8, Went up to the Sand Patch and put the lures in, had got Pat a new Red Headed Laser Pro deep diver and put it on for her and put the lure out, then I put mine out, the one with the Pink head on it and had just got hold of the 3rd rod and my lure got a hit on it and a hook up and in came a 12 kilo Mackerel at 7:45am, nice start for the morning and early too, so thought we was going to get another good day with 4 on board and return early. But turned out that was not going to happen, did not get another hit for an hour and a half and that was only a touch, so was very lucky to get the mackerel I got, this boat was near us but some time after I had got the mackerel and they did not do any good while I was near them and that was for over 1/2 hour, nice boat with 4 on board, twin 115 hp motors so it would cost him a few dollars to go fishing, me I used 9 liters today, the average is about 11 liters to fish in the area, 9 would be the least I would use I should think, still we do alright if there is any fish around we get normally our fair share.

Here are some guys fishing for Mulloway, they are near a flat reef and have to get over the river to get here, they have the 4 wheeler bikes which are in the back ground just behind them, I asked a local, the guy who came to the house the other day for a visit how they got across there and he told me that they build special little barges to put them on and ferry them across the river, these bikes travel miles right up the coast on the beach, well past the sand patch to go beach fishing, thought I would take a photo as the swell was breaking over the reef for effect, the entrance to the river is just to right of photo about 1/2 mile, the wind acme up very early this morning about 8:30 from the south so that may have had something to do with the fish not being on the bite, I spoke to a couple of boats that was in just before us and they did not catch anything this morning, but one caught 3 mackerel yesterday, so it may have to do with the wind direction from the south as the last couple of days have been from the SE or SSE.

I had promised that I would supply a Mackerel to the local fishing tackle shop owned and run by Dean Robins, they do a cook out for a group of ???????,so the mackerel I caught today I gave to him or I should say the person who works part time for him during the weekends and busy times Wayne, this is the guy I give the Yellow Fin Tuna to when I get them, does not have a boat and loves his tuna, this is Wayne holding the fish, I have as they call it here Trunked it, that is to take off the head and guts and tail, I cut the tail off in the back of the shop after this photo was taken and then Wayne wrapped it up and put it in the freezer, as this cook up will not be for another 4 weeks, Wayne gave me a lure which is what I put on for Pat today and Dean gave me the fish skinning and filleting knife that I used in the photos of the 2 mackerel above, so we are getting on well and they are nice friendly people. So did not get to do any bottom fishing again today, due to the wind getting up early, lucky we got a couple of hours in, was back at the boat ramp for 11:00am on the knocker and really should have been back an hour earlier, but as the chop on the water stayed down it was not that bad out there, but was wasting fuel as I knew early on that it was no good for fish, when you get hit on the lure and then nothing for an hour and a half I should have come home then, but as I said the conditions were not that bad so we stuck it out and then came in at 10 knots, just enough not to get a pounding. The swell today got up to 2 meters at times, when doing a run with it at our back the boat was surfing at times and would pick up speed as I only troll at around 4.5 to 5 knots and as we had deep diving lures on a couple of the rods would pull line off as the drag is set fairly light for easy fighting of the fish, don't like to set the drag to tight in case a big fish makes a sudden dive or move and may break the line [has happened in the past] so I have to drags set just right, but for these deep diving lure With the surfing the boat speed would get up 6.2 knots but it was only for a few seconds, so would have to cut the engine revs down with the swell behind us and then put them up when going into the swell, but made for a pleasant day out there even if it was overcast most of the time, still always tomorrow.

March-9, Day Off, got up at 6:30am to get ready for fishing, did the ablution bit and got dressed, fishing shirt and shorts if you call that getting dressed and then its Pats turn to get up and get ready, switched the outside light on and went to get the ice of our my small freezer outside and when I open the door it was real windy already, so I said to Pat its back to bed not going out in that as the wind is already in and will only get worse, we got up again at 9am and the wind was blowing a gale, the forecast for today was 16-20 knots from the south and the wind strength at 9am this morning would be every bit of 20 knots if not a bit more, so glad it was in when we got up and not come in just after we got out fishing or we would have had to turn round and get wet for nothing. March-10, Again the wind forecast is for SSE at 16-20 knots, got up at 6:30 and checked outside for the wind and it was blowing as bit so went back to bed, told Pat we would have the day off, then after a while Pat said to me that she had not put the rubbish bin out for collection so I said I would get up and do it for her and the wind was gone, only a slight breeze and as it was then 7:30 [seemed like a few minutes since we went back to bed] so I told Pat we was going out, no breakfast or anything just get washed and dressed and go this way we only lost 1/2 hour of our normal fishing time. Had to get a move on as we do not know when the wind will come up and have to head for home, so away we went and when we got to the boat ramp there was already a few boats out so again we went up to the Sand Patch to try our luck, today I tried a new lure out a big very deep diver and put it on the middle rod [ours] and there was quite a few schools of  Tuna out there but none feeding on the surface as yet, but the birds were sitting on them waiting for them to start or it could have been that they were feeding but deep, marvelous how they know the fish are there below but they do. As we was going past some of these birds Pat got a hit on the lure and it turned out to be tuna, she though it was a big one as it gave her a good fight and took a while for her to pull it in, but turned out to be the smallest we have caught so far as you will see below. You will also notice in the background just above the marine radio that there is a pair of speakers and a small mobile phone on the towel, this is a Nokia 5310 Express Music, it has a 2 gig card in it full of music, but it also has a FM radio in it and I have it tuned to a station that plays great music, just the thing for fishing, the speakers are also Nokia and run of 3 AA batteries and I can get 30 hours out of it, but recharge then every 2 days and the phone gives me 18 hours of music, very nice phone, course it does all the other shit like photos and videos which I have no need to use.

And here it is, the bottom treble hook had caught it in in the nose and the front treble had hooked it in the side so Pat was fighting it side on, was good fight for such a small fish and the lure is about 1/2 the size of the fish, pulled it aboard and bled it and kept it for Wayne at the tackle shop.

Finally I got a hit on my lure and it turned out be a Mackerel, pity the sun was on this side and hampered the photo, hits were few and far between this morning, but at least we have a fish, it weight in at 9.5 kilos, so went I had cleaned and filleted this fish I ended up with 5.2 kilo of fillets for the freezer, we are doing well this year with the mackerel and does not take many fish to fill a small freezer, so we are now easing up on keeping fish and will now start to give some away starting the next time out as not everybody who goes out catches a fish particularly a mackerel.

These 2 boats that were near us for all of the morning did not catch a mackerel, they were together, one of the boats is a hire boat with 5 on board and a guy on that boat caught a small tuna and the rest of his mates and the other boat, with 4 on board gave him a round of applause so it must have been hard going for them in catching a fish, but they were having a good time, but they did not catch what they came for which is Mackerel.

March-11, Day Off, rest day. March-12, Out fishing, forecast was again for SSE winds at 12-16 knots, so we was up a 6:30 and on the water by 7:20, started trawling about a mile short of the sand patch the sea was good with about a meter swell, it was overcast and I knew it was going to be a good day, I always like the overcast weather with a good sea for mackerel fishing, was not long before my rod went off and in came a Mackerel and the time was only 7:44 and I had told the Radio Shack that I would let him know when I had a mackerel on board, which I did, then we heard on the radio hat a couple of boats were coming our way but did not see any for well over 1/2 of an hour, then the time ticked by and it was another 40 minutes before I got another hit on the lure, me again poor Pat has not caught one for a while and this made it 4 for me without her catching one, but that was about to all change. We was just past the Sand Patch when all of the 3 rods went off, a hit on all 3, so I grabbed mine and Pat started to pull hers in, so I left mine out there and started pulling in the middle lure but there was nothing on it, just a hit, so back to mine and I had a mackerel on it but Pat was getting a good fight out of hers so I told her to pull it in and I would leave mine out there until I had hers on board, but it took a long time to bring hers in, it was fighter for sure, I was filming her fighting the fish at this time she was on my seat fighting the fish. Then Pat said that it was gone as the line went slack, but I told here that it had probably turned around and was heading for her, just to keep reeling in line and sure enough it was still on, then it went around the back of the boat and Pat had to get back on her seat and finish the fight and it turned out that the fish had jagged itself in the back side, again a upside down fish.

Now you can get a get a good look at where the treble hook got it, this morning the Mackerel was on the small size, not that we was complaining, but the first one I caught was the smallest we had caught so far this trip and weighed in at just over 6 kilo, this fish of Pats ended up being the biggest we got in the boat this day, it weighed in at 8.75 kilo, not a bad fish.

Then Pats on again another Mackerel, she did not catch a fish for the last 2 times we were out and now she is making up for it, number 2 coming in, you can see in the background that the sea is perfect this morning, one of the rare days we get it like this, the swell is about just over a meter with a little chop on the water right now, but how long will it stay like this also this is Mackerel number 4 for the morning an it was still early and we are only allowed 2 each for the day, so as there was now a couple of boats near us we went over to the nearest one that had a man and a woman on board and asked if they would like a mackerel as we had 4 on board and they said they had one on board and wanted to catch there own, fine by me. So I went over to the other boat which had 3 blokes on board and asked if they had caught any Mackerel and they said no only 1 Tuna, so I asked them if they would like a couple of Mackerel and they said yes, so I handed over 2 too them and they asked me if I was just pulling in a mackerel as they circling around near us same as the other boat but some distance away and I said yes and off we went to do some more fishing, good morning this, love it.

As we left the boat we gave the mackerel to I put Pats lure out first as I always do and then I put mine in the water and just as my lure got far enough back and I had not put the drag on as yet Pats rod went off again, she is running hot this morning and in comes number 5 fish for the morning, not bad for a 66 year old lady and a hard worker at that, I got the boat on the radio that we had just gave the fish too and told them that we were hooked up again and he said that they also had hooked up with one, so at least they now had three, only 3 more to go for them. Then Pat hooked into another mackerel, but this was big one this time and pat fought it for well over 10 minutes it went from one side of the boat to the other a couple of times and I asked Pat if she wanted me to move the boat so it was on her side all the time and she said no it would be alright, so I got the old camera again and was waiting for her to get it to the surface, well it came up and dived again a couple of times and yes it was good one, just by what I saw of it, it would have gone around the 12 kilo or bigger, then it came up again, kicked and splashed us with its tail and dived again and went round the back of the boat, I saw that the line had gone around the motor as it swam around the back of the boat and was heading for my side, I was worried that when it turned again it would wrap the line around the leg of motor, so I lifted the motor up for her and the line was on the leg and before I could get to the back with the gaff to get the line off it gave another kick and the line broke on the leg, so lost that fish and the trace and lure, it was good one for sure, but then the big ones always get way, someone may catch it and get a lure for nothing, good luck to them.

In comes number 6 and its mine, they are on the bite this morning for sure and it was only 9:45 b the time I got this one in, was thinking that we could try and give a couple more away, but then we decide to give it away as we have had our morning fun, so after packing the rods up it was 10 am and I was heading home and then I thought as I was just about to start going past the sand patch maybe we could do a hour of bottom fishing as I had brought the bait today, keep it in the fridge in a container in a thick salt brine so it lasts for months and with no smell, still it has a lid on, anyway no sooner was I thinking about this when the wind started to get up and small white caps were forming and was in within 15 minutes the full strength was in, so we came home at 10 knots again, with a smile on our faces, had been a good morning. Then as we was coming in and had got about half way back, Pat told me that there was another 4 boats heading in, she sits backwards while we are coming back in so she can see what is behind, me I have to keep my eye out for cay pots which is not easy when they are white caps on the water and spray coming over the front of the boat, but I manage last thing I need is to get the motors leg or prop caught on a Cray Pot line in rough water or any other water or that matter, but they are easy to see in good weather. Forgot to mention that I was trying to raise another boat on the radio that I was passing on the way in to see if the wanted a mackerel as they were still trawling so could not have had a full bag, but they were not answering so must not have had it on, not good should always have the radio on, never know he someone needs our help, anyway went over to them and shouted out and they said they had 3 on board, so we continued heading for home Because I had tried to raise this boat the Radio Shack called me and asked if I had been trying to call them, she recognized my voice and I said no that I had been trying to raise another boat with no success but had gone over to talk to them and was on my way in with a full bag, she asked that she would like some fish {she always says that] so I said did she have a filleting knife and she did not understand so I told her again and she said no she was just a little old lady so I said that the only way she could have some fish was if she could fillet it herself, I was only giving away whole fish as they were caught, so she got back to me and said she would meet me at the boat ramp, but she sent a friend of hers down who was going to fillet the fish for her. Then as we got the boat the ramp there was already 4 boats that were in, 2 in the water waiting for the trailers and 2 just out on trailers, the one in front of us was also a visitor from Perth and had a smaller boat that us and had been bottom fishing, we asked them what they had caught and was told that they had a small shark and a catfish, so I said would he like a mackerel and of course he said yes, then asked me if we had to use lures to catch these fish and as the boat and trailer was shinny brand new I think they must be new to this fishing game, so when his mate came back down the jetty [floating pontoon] and saw his friend with this mackerel his eyes lit up, so another good deed done. Then as after I got the trailer in the water to pull the boat out, Pat told me that a young lad behind us had not caught anything and was fishing up around the sand patch, so I asked him if he would like a mackerel to which his eye also lighted up, made his day, nothing better then having a fish that you can eat given to you when you have caught nothing, just like I was given one, so when I was out of the water and he had got his boat out he came over and I gave him one as well, I kept the biggest for ourselves, one is enough right now as we still have few days fishing to go yet. I asked this feller what lures he was using and he looked at mine and said that he had the same, then I asked what speed he was doing and he told me 7 knots maybe a bit more, so I told him that it was too fast for mackerel it has to be around the 4 to 5 knots, possible to catch them at a slightly faster speed but unlikely the prey they catch does not swim that fast, so he will try it next time out, hope he does well. So that is 5 we have given away today and 7 in total, last year we could not catch one and this year so far we have caught 22 Mackerel and we will give more away yet, after I had filleted that last fish the small freezer is about half full and only has 14.8 kilo in it, so does not hold as much I was thinking but will get 30 kilo in it which means that the big freezer which is full and 25 percent bigger then the small one will have about 38 kilo in it, still a lot of fish, but will give some away when we get home and may drop some off at my sons place in Perth if he wants any, will have to ring him and find out.

March-13, Day Off, don't need to fish but the wind was in real early this morning, was blowing a gale by 7:45 so was good that we stayed in bed, went down to the boat ramp at 10:15 and 4 boats had gone out and 3 were back before 8:30, it was that bad. March-14, Friday and have booked the 4x4 in for a oil and filter change, also the timing belt has to be replaced as the 200,000 kilometers is up and it has to be replaced on the Toyota Landcruiser, so its in at 8 am this morning and the guy will drive me home and pick me up when finished. March-15, Day off due to the wind being up at 6:30 am, went back to bed. March-16, Forecast was good for today, wind at was supposed to be from the SSE at around the 7-9 knots first thing this morning and it was spot on with a 2 meter swell, bit of chop on the water, so we had planned to go bottom fishing after I had trawled up to the sand patch from about 2 miles away, so that gave me a out 3 miles to pick up a Mackerel, but nothing, no hits at all, there was already 2 boats in front of us but a long way in the distance. So we pulled in the lures and went back about a mile to start bottom fishing, I got Pats rod ready and told her to go in and I wanted to see how much the drift was and as the rig was going down to the bottom she got a hit on it, in fact it was so quick I asked her if she had got hooked on the bottom and she said no she had a fish in it then I saw the line moving away from the boat, after about 5 minutes she pulled in this small shark about 3 feet in length, so I took this photo pulled up the leader and cut the hook off and then Pat pulled the rig in and it has also bitten off the bottom hook as well, unless it was another shark that did it, the rigs I am using here have a double hook and a single hook up the top, this shark was on the top hook.

So I had to put the sea anchor out as the drift was to fast without it and even then it was only just good enough with it for the 12 lb sinker we was using, could use heaver sinkers but does not make for easy fishing using too much weight when drifting, a lot easier when anchored, so do not like to use them, you can just see the start of the sand patch on the left of photo, so are about 3/4 of a mile past it where we are in 107 feet of water.

About 20 minutes after I had started fishing, which is after I had put the sea anchor out, I started getting a bite then I got a hook up and it turned out to be this small Corral Trout, the legal size here is 30 centimeters [1 foot] so again I had to thrown this fish back, one day I get a legal size one but not today.

Then after around another 10 minutes I got another hook up this time it turned out to be a baby Tiger Shark, first time I have ever caught one of these species, took a minute to work out what it was as I have never seen a baby one before, only the big ones and never this close only photos, although I have had them go through a fishing net when I was netting off 80 mile beach between Port headland and Broome in 1991 and, it was then that I learned how to mend fishing nets as they make big holes, I had one that was 11 foot across through a big Tiger Shark.

Anyway being a baby I pulled it aboard as you can see above and removed the hook which was just in the corner of its mouth, took these photos and sent it back to its mother, no point in killing it and I can tell you that it did what we call the Crock Death Roll, it just kept rolling around and around until I managed to get the hook out and grabbed it by the tail, then it did move its head and tried to bite and it has a very big mouth for its size again I was surprised, no wonder they are considered to be Man Eaters.

March-17, just anchored outside the entrance to the river mouth and fished on the bottom for about a hour and a half, wind as up early again and not many boats went out only 4 plus us, one I know only went to check on there cay pots and was not far form us directly in front and just to the right of this photo, they did not catch any fish, nor did we, to bring home anyway. Pat caught one of those useless sweet Lips again so that went back and then she hooked into a small shark again, I managed to get the hook out as it was only caught in the side of its mouth, but it or another had bitten off the bottom twin hooks, so last all the hooks on that rig, but at least w got the sinker back, easy to put on a couple more hooks, then I got a very small baby Stingray on, this I had to cut the line off and leave the hook in its mouth as it had taken it right down, then after putting another hook I caught this eatable fish called a Tarwine, member of the Bream Family, but believe it or not it was 1/4 inch undersize so had to return it to the water and that was the end of that days fishing, was getting too rough, looks good here but the wind was getting stronger so better to come in and call it a day.

March-18, Was hoping for better weather than yesterday, forecast was for high winds from the SE again, but what time they came in was what I wanted to know, but could only fin out when it came in, so we went up to the Sand Patch again and put the first lure in at 7:25 and all 3 in by 7:32 and started trawling about 1.5 miles before we got to the Sand patch and the wind came in at 7:45 on the knocker, and full strength, like someone had thrown the switch , boy did it get rough real quick, one other boat near us and that was Charter Boat, it had first gone out to a spot called the 3 mile, 3 miles out west of the entrance, supposed to be a reasonable bottom fishing spot, but as I said before have not been many around this year. So as the weather was rough even for this boat which is a lot bigger than mine he came up to the area where we were, but we was already turned around and heading for home, left the lures in the water as we could not go any faster without getting a pounding and wet through and as we got near the entrance [below] I stopped as it is a lot calmer here in the bay area and pulled in the lures, this Charter Boat was heading for this area to let the couple on board do some fishing before he came in, have to give them there moneys worth I suppose, but for us the day again is finished with no fish again, a week ago we was giving them away, now the weather has turned again and we cannot top the freezer up, need about another 14 kilo of fillets, may get them, will go south tomorrow so if its bad we will get some protection from the cliffs and at least have the sea behind us on the way back.

March-19, Last night they has a small Thunder Storm here and I heard it raining at 6 am although it was not heavy rain, then I must have dozed off again and the next thing I heard the cell phone going of as I use it as the alarm clock, it was 6:30 so got up and went outside the front door and checked the wind, it was up a little so went back to bed, got up again at 7:15 and it was still a bit windy so went back to bed again and up again at 8 am on the knocker and it was as still a grave yard so I told Pat we was going out fishing and hoped that the wind would not start up again for a couple of hours at least. So when we got to the boat ramp there was 5 boats out already, I could see 2 of them just about to go out through the entrance, both of them I knew, one was going out to check his Cray Pots and the other was young lad and his wife that we had given a Mackerel to 7 days ago and he had not caught one before or since, sound like me last year and today was his last day he is going home tomorrow. We had planed to go fishing in the same area with him yesterday, which was South this time we have not been catching anything North for the last 3 days so decided to give this direction a go at least we would have the wind behind us when we came in, as you can se the sea is almost flat with a slight chop on it wind about 7 knots maybe a bit less and overcast sky, what I call a Mackerel Sea as this is the kind of weather we have done well with in catching the Spanish Mackerel, which I have just read up on and found out that this fish is called the King Mackerel in California. Sp here we are some 7 nautical miles south of Kalbarri, which is tucked in behind the cliffs in the distance, we started trawling down here from about 3 miles out and have not had hit on the lures, nor have we seen any bird activity on the water only the odd bird that dives for bait fish, but did see a bait school on top of the water but noting feeding on them.

So we are just drifting and trying some bottom fishing, there is a Cray Boat working near the cliffs and the other boat in the photo as do not know but we met them when  they got back a the boat ramp and they had only just got up here for the Easter Weekend, they had caught nothing and also had not done any luring was not set up for it, the boat that I know is behind me and too my right and we are in contact via 27 meg radio and he has done no good with the lures nor the bottom fishing so far, nice day but o fish around again, wonder what turns them on, but nothing on the sounder either so its dead.

These cliffs go down south from Kalbarri for about 23 kilometers [14.25 miles] to a property called "Wago" they hire out cabins to fisherman, Spectacular Cliffs, Pat recons that they remind her of the Grand Canyon and I would have to agree, when you se them in real life and how the colors change during the daylight hours is very similar, anyway the fishing is no good here on the bottom so we are about to head for home and trawl again on the way back. On the way back we saw lots of bait schools on top of the water with no fish feeding on them, another dead day, I always wonder where the fish have gone or why they are not feeding when the bait schools are so plentiful, but we did not pick any fish up on the sounder, normally I would pick up the odd fish on or near the bottom or near the top , but again today there was nothing at all, another nice day gone to waste.

March-20, Got up at 6:30 and the wind was lowing at full strength, so went back to bed, only 2 more days left for fishing, funny we have not caught a fish now for the past 8 days, since we was giving them away now we cannot catch one or like today cannot get out to try, need at lest 3 to fill the last freezer, not that I have too as I will only give it away when I get back home, but its a hell of a game this fishing, one minute plenty and then a famine. March-21, No wind at all when I got up at 6:30, so out we went, was in the water by 7:15 and as we went up to the sand patch this time, the wind came in as we cleared the bay area, funny but the wind seems to go over the top of Kalbarri itself as it is in somewhat of a valley, but as soon as we get out along the sand hills it is on us, this morning it was from the East and fairly strong around the 16/18 knots I recon, there was rough chop with the wind taking the tops of them, we were getting wet traveling at 5kots when the chop hit the side of the boat and the wind blowing the spray over the boat as we traveling side on to the wind and chop, not nice I can tell you. But we was out and had to make the most of it, not bad enough to turn around and go home, just yet anyway, so had the lures in by 7:30 and it was quiet again, nothing on the fish finder and as this is the Easter Long Weekend that is not good for the many people who come up here looking for a fish to take home, going to be hard work trying to find one for sure. March-22, Our last day here fishing and what a excellent morning it turned out to be, the sea is calm as you can see with very little swell and a very slight breeze from the SSE, we are up near the Sand Patch and put the lures in 3 miles out from Kalbarri, I put Pats lure in first as always, then mine and last the one in the middle which we share on and the next fish caught on it is Pats, anyway I had just set the middle one and my rod went off, would not have been in the water 2 minutes, so I am thinking that is going to be a good morning for mackerel for sure, might have 4 on early and go home, so as I had to pull the other lures in because of the drift I told Pat to play the fish and pull it in, she does not like my reels as I have to wind the line across it with my finger and hers has a self winder on it, so she is on again and looks like she has not woken up as yet, at this stage the fish has gone away from the boat and near the surface, typical Mackerel.

No mackerel this one, turned out to be a big Yellow Fin Tuna, played like a mackerel until it got near the boat, we still had not seen it when it dived down deep that told us it was tuna, always dive for the bottom then the fight is on, Pat was having trouble in getting it up so I had to take over for the last 10 minutes or so, could not take a photo of it in the water as when it came to the surface it was right next to the boat and kept trying to dive and going around in circles, still had a lot of fight in it, so at the right moment I had to give Pat the rod while I gaffed it on the 3rd attempt as it swam around.

I had to take the leader off the lure as I forgot 1 knife today, the fish took the lure from underneath and got a treble hook caught on either side of its mouth and I would have to cut through its jaw to get one out and this Tuna weighed in at 15 kilos, the biggest fish we have caught this trip and on the last day as well, not that I wanted one of these, so I left the lure in the Tuna and would take it out when I got home, got plenty of lures to choose from, now on to the next fish, this has cost us about 30 minutes from the time it was hooked to killing, bleeding it etc.

Well it was not that good a morning after all, Pat got a hit on her lure about 20 minutes later and it was another big Tuna and she played it for around 5 minutes and then it dived for the bottom and all of a sudden the line went slack, I said to pat that it had may have turned around and was heading for the other side of the boat, but no it had spat the lure out, the hooks had not stuck in, so was no great loss and after that we got a tap on 1 rod just enough to call a strike and that was it for the morning, no fish on the sounder again, only the came across the odd beep, a couple of schools of bait fish on the surface with noting on them, we did see a few small schools of baby tuna first thing in the morning and there was lots of boats out, most were bottom fishing. We did run of 2 miles past the sand patch where there was 8 boats fishing and there was another 5 boats in the distance bottom fishing where we turned around and came back 1/2 mile past sand patch and all the boats that were there bottom fishing had gone, so not much around for them and again nothing on the sounder nor any hits on the lures, what a waste of a good morning, so we turned around again and did another short run of a mile and then as we was totally wasting our time so we headed for home and just as well as the wind came in as we were on our way home, does not take long for the wind to pick up from just a breeze into full scale wind of 12/14 knots with white caps on the chop, all with in about 5 minutes, so we was in by 11:30. So here is Pat with her [and mine] 15 Kilo Yellow Fin Tuna, after this photo was taken we started puling the canopy of the boat and took it round the corner of the house and on the grass where Pat will clean it later this afternoon ready for packing in the boat for another 10 months, later on this afternoon I will take this tuna and give it to Wayne in the tackle shop, a going away present from us.

Here you can see the lure still hooked in its mouth, one treble hook in either side, if this fish had broken the line it would have starved to death, you can also see that it hit the lure from underneath, now I know why they jump out of the water, I always thought they were playing around, but I know that they come up from underneath to attack there prey and we only se them jump when the bait school is on top of the water, this lure dives to 7 meters so was about 15 foot down when this tuna hit it, I cut through its jaw on one side to get one hook then the other was easy, then after Pat had got things done we took it in town and gave it to Wayne at the Tackle Shop.

This is how I carry the lures on the boat and have some sinkers in the bottom for stability, I use a big strong bucket and as you can see I carry a good selection of colors, also there are some that dive to 2 meters, some to 5 meters and some deep divers to 7 meters and I trawl between 4.5 and 5 knots for Mackerel, you can trawl faster for Tuna as they feed at 35 kilometers per hour or there about's, Mackerel are slower, so if you trawl to fast the odds are you will not hook up with one.

This is the house that we hired for the 8 weeks, nice little property for fishing, lots of room for everything with shade both sides of the house, the boat just backs under the car port with the sun shade on it if I kept it to the house side.

Here is the boat stripped and cleaned ready for packing, Pat has done a good job again, she works her ass off cleaning this boat every time we have gone out fishing and I flush out the motor and it is the same job even when we do not catch any fish, have to get that salt spray off everything, now to start packing it for the trip home.

There is a small veranda at the rear of the house with the B-B-Q's which I never used, just use this for putting the stuff that we do not need and this is the side door that we use.

This side I have the freezers on and after I had put them here I realized that it was the wrong side of the house for them as this is the afternoon sun side and the hottest in the afternoon, it should have been the other side that gets the morning sun and the coolest for them, I had to use this large table on its side to hide them from the sun late in the afternoon when the sun was on them as the outside of the freezers got very hot and the big newer freezer has a temp gauge on the outside and the temp would drop about 5 degrees when the sun was on it so had to cover it up, if I go back next year I will put them on the other side of the house.

This is the 2 freezers, the one on the right is the newest one and is 80 liters in size and the left one is 60 liters in size and very old, I bought it 2nd hand in 1990 and it has never given me any trouble, runs like a Swiss Watch as they say, I do not use them at home and only turn them on about every 4 months just to give them a run for 24 hours, but this year I will be running the big one until it is about half full, then I will transfer the fillets to the freezer in the house and switch it off and Pat will clean it out ready for next time.

The 80 liter freezer if full, I have no idea of the weight in it as I did not have any weighing scales at the beginning, I did buy some digital ones when I went to Geraldton, but was to late for this one, I did start weighing the fillets and in the old one next door I have 14.8 kilos in it and it is about half full and this 80 liter one is 25% bigger so it will have around 38 to 40 kilos in it, will know for sure next time I go fishing now I have these scales, but we have done well this trip with around the 52 kilo of fillets, too much for us to eat and so as planned will give some away to friends that are not so lucky as us to go fishing. This Spanish Mackerel is a very popular fish in Australia, cannot buy it in most fish shops as it is not caught commercially by the professional fisherman although I believe it may be so in Queensland, here in Western Australia is sold as Cutlets when available and in the Eastern States it is sold as fillets, most top eating fish now here in Australia is very expensive, this Mackerel in Cutlets in Geraldton was selling for $27.00 a kilo and would be around the $60.00 mark if you could buy it as fillets, the reason this fish is expensive is that it has to be caught by hand with a lure, they are not in schools as such so cannot be netted and filleting then is not easy nor quick, that is why they sell it in Western Australia as cutlets.

On our way north from Perth we came across the place where some truck drives got killed in a bush fire some 80m kilometers from Southern Cross and I said to Pat at the time that on the way back I would take some photos of the burned out area and the spot where they got trapped and died, a terrible incident and one of the worst ways I can think of to die, I feel for the truckers that died that day and there families, it happened on December 31st as far as I can remember or find out. I got this info below off the net.................................. Three men died and another was injured when an inferno engulfed a truck convoy in the West Australian Goldfields after drivers were told it was safe to drive through a bushfire. Police found their bodies in two burnt-out trucks amongst a one kilometer stretch of blackened trailers, melted aluminum and twisted metal on the Great Eastern Highway between Southern Cross and Coolgardie about midnight. They were among 15 trucks allowed through a roadblock at 8pm on Sunday even though a potentially dangerous weather change was expected at 9pm.

And this is my photos as I was going past the area in question, the fire had burned out many, many square miles of bush land laying it bare.

As I was traveling through this area I saw road works in front and I said to Pat at the time that I wondered if they were fixing up the back top where the trucks were burnt on the road and when we got there this is exactly what they were doing, this is a photo of one of our trucks, not quite the road train as it only has one trailer behind and the road train has 2, making it 3 trailers in all, but still long enough to get past on the road for me when I catch them up.

This is the spot where one of the trucks got caught and got burnt out like the truck above, they have dug up the old black top and are at the moment repairing the underneath before laying the new top.

Here I am 12 kilometers from the West Australian / South Australian Border, you can see what the bush looks like in the photo, unlike a lot of bush and small trees around the world ours are full of oil, especially the gum trees which most of ours trees are and they burn something fierce with the wind behind them, saw a Landrover vehicle once catch on fire that got bogged crossing a creek bed, it had got bogged on top of a bunch of spinifix also full of oil and burns fast and real hot, the exhaust pipe had started it on fire and that was the end of that vehicle, luckily it was in the middle of a lot of sand/gravel so did not bother the surrounding area outside of the creek bed as there was no wind at that time.

This is the border, on the way into West Australia, we have to stop and they have a look at the vehicle etc to see if we are carrying any prohibited goods, such as certain vegetables and fruit and this way they stop us at Ceduna and do the same thing,  from here we have 480 kilometers to Ceduna where we stop over night and another 466 kilometers to Port Augusta where again we will stop overnight as we want to do some shopping in the afternoon and I have to find and talk to a Cabinet Maker about a kitchen sink cabinet and again the next morning and then its 544 kilometers back to Coober Pedy.

And so that is the end of this holiday and trip, now back home and will take a few days to catch up on paper work and getting the info from the laptop to this big computer, seeing some people now I am back and giving some of the fish away over the next few days and getting back into things in general. Pat was back at work Yesterday, so she is back to normal, as for me I have no idea when I will be back mining, I have to go back out to 11 mile and pull the ladders and the pegs from the old claim, then hunt around for another spot to put the machine down so will not be a quick now easy job. But first I have some repairs to do starting with the blower truck, it has 2 flat tires on the rear, seems like the tubes have perished, so have to take them off and get them fixed, after that a few small repairs and modifications to the tunnel machine. So not sure if there will be another newsletter next month, will try as I would like to get back mining as soon as possible, need the opal and need the exercise. 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!

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