MURCHISON BOAT HIRE JANUARY 2008 ELETTERMarriage is society’s way of stopping people fighting with strangers.
Big month this time with lots of content as I have had to include Christmas.
The mackerel and tuna are back in vast numbers, and just this week the ocean has been boiling with
loads of small yellow-fin and bait fish. The tuna are fast growing and won’t be long until they are
a healthy size.
I am looking forward to the big Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic at the end of the month. If anyone wants
to come up and fish it, you are welcome, just email me and I will send you an info pack with entry form.
Unfortunately no boats available, all booked for that week end including the new 7.8m.
I am fishing it in the 6.1, got to defend my title again this year!
Guy, Carl, Awhina and Honk were out in the 6.1 just before Christmas and were hoping for a mackerel or
two. The hits came just past the Sand Patch; a double hook up saw Carl grab a rod and unfortunately bumped
the release leaver while trying to untangle himself from everyone else resulting in a big birds nest and resultant
bust off. The other lure hung on and we settled down to watch Awhina fight the fish in. She struggled and struggled
until we realised that the fish might be bigger than expected. Well it turned out to be a shark about 5 foot long.
After about an hour she managed to bring it boat side with one of my hired 15kg outfits, but with all the
thrashing and gnashing boatside the shark shook free, bust off and disappeared with the lure.
They continued trolling without more luck while my other boat the 5.3m already had 3 fish aboard
while the 6.1m was fighting the shark!
Bottom bouncing was a waste of time as usual with a full moon looming, but a big bait out the back
under a balloon went off with Carl grabbing the heavy 80lb braid outfit. The shark was easily visible
but did not look big until it realised it was hooked! Then all hell broke loose. Chasing it down in the boat recovered
a couple of hundred metres of line and then they sat it out until it came alongside.
A quick unhook, photos and release. Big fish Carl!(Photos compliments of Awhina)
Guy with his small samson 
and Carl got one slightly bigger.On the way back a couple of small samson fish came up to the lures, a bit unusual
but the guys on the 5.3m also had a small yellow-tail king.
Garry Millar was up over Christmas hiring the 5.3m for 6 days. Striking it lucky with great
weather managed to get out each day except Christmas Day. He was with mate Peter from
Geraldton but they found it hard to get past the nor west blowies bottom fishing but had a ball
catching 3 mackerel and 2 yellow-tail kings on the troll and this nice snapper during a late evening fish.
(Sorry no pics of the mackerel)Zimbabwean and South African immigrants have made up a fair proportion of hires over the years & Derek, Mark,
Carl and Horst make no exception, all ex Zimbabwean, (except Horst who is over on holiday & has to go back)
were out in the 5.3m over the Christmas/New Year break taking advantage of the great fishing we have here in WA.
Mark holds up the catch of the day, the big baldchin, caught by Horst who is not featured in thepic as he was home recovering from a bout of seasickness, but still managed the baldie & breaksea!
The weather was awful with a stiff southerly, but employing an old tactic of anchor and burley,
they brought a succession of fish to the boat, albeit widely spaced during the day.
John Van Der Sluys tells his story,
On a warm day in early January 5 of us decided to hire the 5.3m boat from Murchison Boat Hire. With some good advice from Laurie we set out early to try trolling in about 28m of water along side the Sand Patch.
Within 30mins we had our first strike and 10mins later we had a 1m Spanish Mack in the ice box, courtesy of aHalco lure. 40mins later we had our second, slightly smaller. With a 3m plus swell and strong winds we
decided to take our sea sick mate back inside the river mouth and try our luck there.
We got a bream, some small tailor and the poor sea sick bloke was beaten by maybe a shark or large
mulloway on 30 pound braid! A great day out for the rest of us!!
John.
Still wondering what the fish in the river was! You say there was the glimpse of silver?
Can only have been a mulloway as sharks are brown all over?
7.8m Thunderbolt Walkaround
The 7.8m walkaround is back from the paint shop and in the final stages of the fit-out.
It will be powered by twin 115hp 4-strokeYamahas, giving you 10nm offshore.
This will be a very popular Gnaraloo boat, not to mention all the other places it will be very
handy like Exmouth, Mackerel Islands and Karratha.
Back from the paint shopIt should be ready around the second week February.
Built with a beam of 2.5m, which still allows towing at night and without oversize signs.
Built by Kevin and son Greg of Preston Craft
Check them out at http://www.prestoncraft.com.au/
I have worked out some rates and they can be viewed on my “Hire Rates “ page
Did you know?
If you book a boat to take north of Kalbarri, I will deliver it out to the Kalbarri/Ajana turnoff
for you fee of charge. You only have to book, prepay the hire and ring me from Geraldton
& I will head out to the turnoff and we should both get there at the same time.
It will save you the 1 hour each way.
You will need to return the boat to Kalbarri on your way back, unless handing it over
to someone else north of Kalbarri.
During the school holidays there is sometimes an unbooked boat and the weather is just too
good to not take advantage if it, and so it was on the 9th Jan, I shot out with no. 2 son Jared for
a quick troll around the Sand Patch. We were there by 7am and had the first mackerel on by 7.15am.
Jared fights the first mac to the boat on 6kg line; it would help if he pulled his pants
up and put a bend in his rod!
Note the lure & colour, Halco Laser pro 190 DD in
Chrome Silver Multi R21 in the catalogue.
We went on to keep two, release 4 and we dropped at least 4 in a session lasting
2 hours. We were back by 9.30am before the wind set in!
The other lure that did the damage was the King Brown, H70.
A very effective rig is the skipping garfish. Rigged up on a 4 x 6/0 VMC gang, hooked up
through the belly with the top hook through the chin and out the top of the beak, covered
with a 10 inch squid, stops it breaking up.
Tow it behind the lures with the rod in the top rod holder, and it is usually the first to go off.
If you get a strike on the lures just reel the other lures in and leave the garfish to sink slowly
down in the strike zone, the hit will come soon after so keep an eye on the rod while fighting
the lure caught mac.
Skipping nicely, making a splash
Just irresistible to a mackerel!
Just to prove a point, with the above pics: when jack Chambers, a builder with a project here in Kalbarri, expressed
his wish list to include catching a mackerel, and I wanted some slab mesh, an arrangement was made and the next
good day went out with Bruno, Jack and son Jared. Jared got the first hit but dropped it, second bit of action saw a
triple hook-up for Jared, Jack & myself. Jared dropped his, Jack held on, then the skipped garfish went off.
I grabbed the garfish rod only to land this nice 5kg snapper! Later Bruno landed a mackerel & Jared then dropped
another on a garfish rig by the boat.
Jack Chambers with his just size mackerel and my catch of the day.
You can see the garfish rig with the occy skirt in the pics above.
I doubt this snapper would have taken a lure, but without the garfish rig we would never have known
about this pelagic snapper swimming with the mackerel school and feeding on the leftovers.
This is only the second snapper taken like this over 9 years with the boats!
If you book a boat to take north of Kalbarri, I will deliver it out to the Kalbarri/Ajana turnofffor you fee of charge. You only have to book, prepay the hire and ring me from Geraldton
& I will head out to the turnoff and we should both get there at the same time.
It will save you the 1 hour each way.
You will need to return the boat to Kalbarri on your way back, unless handing it over
to someone else north of Kalbarri.
During the school holidays there is sometimes an unbooked boat and the weather is just too
good to not take advantage if it, and so it was on the 9th Jan, I shot out with no. 2 son Jared for
a quick troll around the Sand Patch. We were there by 7am and had the first mackerel on by 7.15am.
Jared fights the first mac to the boat on 6kg line; it would help if he pulled his pantsup and put a bend in his rod!
Note the lure & colour, Halco Laser pro 190 DD inChrome Silver Multi R21 in the catalogue.
We went on to keep two, release 4 and we dropped at least 4 in a session lasting2 hours. We were back by 9.30am before the wind set in!
The other lure that did the damage was the King Brown, H70.
A very effective rig is the skipping garfish. Rigged up on a 4 x 6/0 VMC gang, hooked upthrough the belly with the top hook through the chin and out the top of the beak, covered
with a 10 inch squid, stops it breaking up.
Tow it behind the lures with the rod in the top rod holder, and it is usually the first to go off.
If you get a strike on the lures just reel the other lures in and leave the garfish to sink slowly
down in the strike zone, the hit will come soon after so keep an eye on the rod while fighting
the lure caught mac.
Skipping nicely, making a splashJust irresistible to a mackerel!Just to prove a point, with the above pics: when jack Chambers, a builder with a project here in Kalbarri, expressed
his wish list to include catching a mackerel, and I wanted some slab mesh, an arrangement was made and the next
good day went out with Bruno, Jack and son Jared. Jared got the first hit but dropped it, second bit of action saw a
triple hook-up for Jared, Jack & myself. Jared dropped his, Jack held on, then the skipped garfish went off.
I grabbed the garfish rod only to land this nice 5kg snapper! Later Bruno landed a mackerel & Jared then dropped
another on a garfish rig by the boat.
Jack Chambers with his just size mackerel and my catch of the day.You can see the garfish rig with the occy skirt in the pics above.
I doubt this snapper would have taken a lure, but without the garfish rig we would never have knownabout this pelagic snapper swimming with the mackerel school and feeding on the leftovers.
This is only the second snapper taken like this over 9 years with the boats!Blue Holes becomes a Fish Habitat Protection Area
Jon Ford, W.A. Fisheries minister recently signed off the above area as a Fish Habitat ProtectionArea. This is fine with me and most people in Kalbarri as it protects a sensitive fish habitat
close to town with near zero sport fishing potential. The area only covers the flat shallow
reef area where it is good to snorkel and swim and not much else. The main tailor fishing areas are
not included which is just south & north of the sanctuary. You can plainly see the reef break
offshore north of the boundary & the inner gutter created by this reef which is a top spot.
This now stops the unethical incidents of mainly “kids” who snorkel and shoot every little
reef fish they can see with a gidgee.
Kalbarri Return
Derek is a past hirer and was back up in Kalbarri with Lloyd, a keen angler also from Zimbabwe.
(We seem to get a lot of them hiring the boats) Derek has gone from hiring a boat to buying
2 boats and now back to deciding to sell his boat and go back to hiring as he says he just does
not use it enough to justify having it!
They caught tailor for the first time
Mulloway at Red Bluff beach as well as loosing two others that were much much bigger they say.
And a day out in the boat was a burster with a couple of mackerel each.
(We seem to get a lot of them hiring the boats) Derek has gone from hiring a boat to buying
2 boats and now back to deciding to sell his boat and go back to hiring as he says he just does
not use it enough to justify having it!
They caught tailor for the first timeMulloway at Red Bluff beach as well as loosing two others that were much much bigger they say.And a day out in the boat was a burster with a couple of mackerel each. Best trip yet to Kalbarri!
Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club local competition 26 & 27th January
Kalbarri Electrical Services Ultra Light Competition
The annual Kalbarri Ultralight over the Australia Day weekend was a great success again this year.
We run the local comp as well and above are some of the fish over the two days.
Steven Eley brought in this 1.3kg bream alive to be weighed and then released it.
Daniel Tarasek had two mulloway the first night 
and then a 19kg one the next night!
The game fishing was superb with OK weather that did not get any worse during the day. I was out in the
5.3m boat as the 6.1 was up at shark bay.
I landed a 5.90kg yellow-fin on 3kg line but daughter
Rebecca got a 6kg one on 3kg line 
and followed it up with a couple of mackerel on
3kg line the next day to win the 3kg division and the overall! I took a couple of bust offs on 2kg line. (I tried).
Stan Sutherland did well and held onto this 3kg tuna on 2kg line to win the 2kg division, 
while son Jared landed tuna and mackerel on 3kg line to win the junior division.
The weekend was rounded off with fireworks across the river! We walked down, watched the show
& were back home in a mater of minutes. A lot better than the 4 hour drive home in Perth that I remember!!!
Thevenard Island
Last year the 6.1m boat spent a lot of time up at Thevenard Island in the Mackerel Islands group off Onslow.
Helen will take your accommodation booking if you would like to visit. Phone her on 9184 6444
bookings@mackerelislands.com.au
Check out the website: http://www.mackerelislands.com.au/
Gnaraloo Station
I will be up at Gnaraloo Station for 10 days or so in June trying out my new 7.8m boat.
I take over the boat from Brett & Roger Simm who will have it the week before me.
If anyone wants to take the boat after me, I will finish with it on Sunday 8th June.
It will save you the tow all the way up.
The 6.1m boat will also be up there and the hire finishes on the 28th May if you want it after then.
It will save you the tow up as well.
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Email: bookings@gnaraloo.com.au
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
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.
Triple tuna hook-up
Dhuie and snapper
Beach mulloway
Or go to the Adventure Bound website and view them there. Click this link.
http://www.adventurebound.com.au/news/latest/youtube_kalbarri_wa_offshore_episode.html
After a lot of effort on my part, you can now view all my past newsletters in my Blogs.
I have made four blogs; you can view all of my 2005 newsletters with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2005.blogspot.com/
And from January 2006 to December 2006 with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2006.blogspot.com/
And from January 2007 to December 2007 with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2007.blogspot.com/
And from January 2008 to present with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2008.blogspot.com/
They are quite long URL’s so add them to your favourites for later.
Noel and Robyn are willing to accept bookings for my boats at Port Gregory
I will deliver the boat down there for 2 or more days hire for free.
& return it to Kalbarri for you.
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, http://www.buoyweather.com/ go to virtual buoys, pick the location you want.
This is the one I go by!
Big bait – big fish
Laurie
Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club local competition 26 & 27th JanuaryKalbarri Electrical Services Ultra Light Competition
The annual Kalbarri Ultralight over the Australia Day weekend was a great success again this year.
We run the local comp as well and above are some of the fish over the two days.
Steven Eley brought in this 1.3kg bream alive to be weighed and then released it.Daniel Tarasek had two mulloway the first night and then a 19kg one the next night!The game fishing was superb with OK weather that did not get any worse during the day. I was out in the
5.3m boat as the 6.1 was up at shark bay.
I landed a 5.90kg yellow-fin on 3kg line but daughterRebecca got a 6kg one on 3kg line and followed it up with a couple of mackerel on3kg line the next day to win the 3kg division and the overall! I took a couple of bust offs on 2kg line. (I tried).
Stan Sutherland did well and held onto this 3kg tuna on 2kg line to win the 2kg division, while son Jared landed tuna and mackerel on 3kg line to win the junior division.The weekend was rounded off with fireworks across the river! We walked down, watched the show& were back home in a mater of minutes. A lot better than the 4 hour drive home in Perth that I remember!!!
Thevenard Island
Last year the 6.1m boat spent a lot of time up at Thevenard Island in the Mackerel Islands group off Onslow.
Helen will take your accommodation booking if you would like to visit. Phone her on 9184 6444
bookings@mackerelislands.com.au
Check out the website: http://www.mackerelislands.com.au/
Gnaraloo Station
I will be up at Gnaraloo Station for 10 days or so in June trying out my new 7.8m boat.
I take over the boat from Brett & Roger Simm who will have it the week before me.
If anyone wants to take the boat after me, I will finish with it on Sunday 8th June.
It will save you the tow all the way up.
The 6.1m boat will also be up there and the hire finishes on the 28th May if you want it after then.
It will save you the tow up as well.
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Email: bookings@gnaraloo.com.au
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
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.
Triple tuna hook-up
Dhuie and snapper
Beach mulloway
Or go to the Adventure Bound website and view them there. Click this link.
http://www.adventurebound.com.au/news/latest/youtube_kalbarri_wa_offshore_episode.html
After a lot of effort on my part, you can now view all my past newsletters in my Blogs.
I have made four blogs; you can view all of my 2005 newsletters with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2005.blogspot.com/
And from January 2006 to December 2006 with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2006.blogspot.com/
And from January 2007 to December 2007 with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2007.blogspot.com/
And from January 2008 to present with photos at
http://www.murchisonboathirefishing2008.blogspot.com/
They are quite long URL’s so add them to your favourites for later.
Noel and Robyn are willing to accept bookings for my boats at Port Gregory
I will deliver the boat down there for 2 or more days hire for free.
& return it to Kalbarri for you.
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, http://www.buoyweather.com/ go to virtual buoys, pick the location you want.
This is the one I go by!
Big bait – big fish
Laurie
