We
had a great time! More of that below.
Not
much to report on as I have not been here, but there is news.
7.8m Boat now in Charter Survey
Due to the change in the governing body regarding boat
licencing from a State Agency to AMSA which is National
I can now use my boats in any way I want as long as they are
surveyed for that use and registered on their data base as such.
This now means that I can use my 7.8m boat as a Charter
Fishing Vessel, Work Boat, Hire & Drive and for Recreational.
I have bought a West Coast Charter Fishing Licence so we
will be able to take small groups out fishing.
The skipper has to have a full Coxswain’s Ticket, which my
son has so he will be doing the skippering.
I will be giving him the heads up on my best spots and
methods, (which he already knows)
and we should be operating about mid- December.
You won’t need a Recreational Skippers Ticket or fishing
licence to fish on this boat when on Charter!
Gnaraloo Magic
Dave Alan and Sabby Pizzolante
have been hiring my boats for many years always heading up to Gnaraloo.
They always do well,
have some great spots most in close and pick up some spectacular fish.
Here is their trip
report.
Well, another year and another trip to
Gnaraloo. 2014 was another great year for us up at the station. After picking
up the 6.5 metre off Ben early
on
Saturday morning we had a great trip up through Carnarvon and onto the track. A
few rough patches but for the most, quite
ok and we made our way carefully towards
Gnaraloo with big expectations as this is the biggest trip of the year for us.
A beautiful 27 degree afternoon greeted us
which was unusually warm for early July. As usual, the weather the week before
we
arrived was perfect and the forecast was
for huge swells and strong winds. Luckily the winds were ok and we were able to
fish every day which is always a bonus. The
swell was certainly up but it did not seem to bother us as we
often fish only a few km's off the
shoreline.
Sharkman with a red
Stand out catches for us this year were the
amount of coronation trout around, plenty of Spanish mackerel
on the drift baits, a good sized sailfish,
excellent reds, rankin and some truly huge cod.
For me, I like my jigging and this year I
managed to jig a red for the first time. Other species included pearl perch,
robinson sea bream, baldchin grouper and sea perch.
Andrew with golden
trevally, cobia and dave with golden trevally
We could not get away from the
cobia and had some outstanding sessions on
the golden trevally. (The biggest we have seen)
Good mackerel for
Dave, coronation trout and rankin cod
We like to spend our days targeting certain species and found this year
that a few of our good spots were empty. We had to
find the fish which was good to mark some
new ground which we like to do each year. We spend a bit of time
travelling south and north depending on the
wind and I must say, each direction fished as well as the other.
Pearl perch for Dave,
Sabby’s red and tuna for sharkman.
Dave, Sharkman and
Andrew
The
sailfish was a funny story really. It hit both our drift baits. It was hooked
on mine and tangled on another. We claimed it as a team effort.
I was on the rod and reel with a Shimano Saragossa.
It swam off very well and we got it on
the go pro as well.
It did a lot of dancing on the water close
to the boat. A bit like Sue’s from last year.
Gnaraloo is a bit of a special place for us, we have put the hours in
and we truly go there to experience the awesome views
and fishing that is on offer. A big thanks
to Ben and Laurie for the hire of the 6.5 which is the perfect fishing platform
for this place.
My top Gnaraloo tips.
1. Be nice to Paul, you will need his help
at some stage.
2. Feed his woofa's. They love a feed of
fish.
3. Don't be in a hurry to get to the bay,
take it easy on the track.
4. Be prepared to explore.
5. Always have a floater in the water. This
technique accounts for a lot of our pelagic species.
Our bookings for 2015 are already
confirmed. Look forward to meeting some more great crew up there next year.
Cheers
Dave, Sab, Andrew and Sharkman.
New trailer for 6.1m boat
The 15 year old
trailer on the 6.1 was getting a bit rusty. It had been modified, repaired, serviced
and painted
But I felt that the
integrity was just not there anymore so we got this new beefed up version.
Built with 14 inch
Landcruiser hubs, heavy duty winch, Heller tail lights and all round beefed up
should do me for the
next 15 years!
Built by Warren
Kunzli of Gold Star Boats Mobile 0419 941 491 Ph/Fax 08 9302 6899
Big tailor
Chris Roos sent this
pic to me. He says a mate of his caught it in South Australia.
Went 13.5kg!
Now that is a big
tailor!
Bite of the Month
Dave Alan’s sailfish big
bite last month ended up tangled on another line and both Dave and Sharkman
brought it to the
boat for a quick photo and release.
It was landed using a
rod with a Shimano Saragossa and it swam off very well.
It did a lot of jumping
close to the boat and was all caught on a GoPro.
Each month I award Bite of the Month
to someone who catches the best fish from one of my boats.
30th August 2014
Bad weather postponed
the comp for a week but the weather was not much better the following
week but we fished anyhow but did not go far
from town.
Brett Bain
fished the river landing a malabar cod and an estuary cod
Shelbie landed a
nice snapper from my 7.8m boat
while Sue got one 90grams smaller.
Tess Neumann had
5 fish including this 6kg dhuie
while brother Tristan got a small red emperor.
Need a boat
for up north?
Remember I will
deliver a boat out to the turn-off for free for those heading north.
Just pre arrange
and ring me from Geraldton and I will meet you there.
Popular Northern Destinations
Thevenard
Island
Island Manager: 9184
6444.
There are a few cabins available, just ask and see if you
can get one. However Direction Island is
always open and
still a good option and bookings can be made.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton
Resort
Ashburton Resort.
Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Website: www.ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Gnaraloo
Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Email: bookings@gnaraloo.com.au
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
Steep Point
Steep Point Ranger for booking campsites.
Phone: Paul Dickson -
Steep Point 9948 3993
Email: Ranger@steeppoint.com.au
Dirk Hartog Island
Kieran
Wardle: 08
99481 211 Mob: 0407 383 449
Game, Bottom
and Beach Fishing Action
These links will take
you to Youtube showing some great action video clips taken from
my boats and also a
very good mulloway from the beach.
Archived
Newsletters
After a lot of
effort on my part, you can now view all my past newsletters in my Blogs.
I have made six
blogs; you can view all of my 2005 newsletters with photos @
And from January
2006 to December 2006 with photos @
And from January
2007 to December 2007 with photos @
And from January
2008 to December 2008 with photos @
And from January
2009 to December 2009 with photos @
And from January
2010 to December 2010 with photos @
And from January
2011 to December 2011 with photos @
And from January
2012 to December 2012 with photos @
And from January
2013 to December 2013 with photos @
And from January 2014 onwards with photos @
They are quite long
URL’s so add them to your favourites.
Remember
if you rent our accommodation in Kalbarri
you get big discounts on our boats.
Have
a look on my website for the
details, and check out the savings.
5-day
weather forecasts, www.buoyweather.com go to virtual
buoys, pick the location you want.
This is the one I go by!
