October 2008

http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/
It’s the quiet time for me at the moment; the wind starts blowing making it difficult to find a good day to go out.
I get to do a lot of maintenance, and catch up on those jobs that seem to get pushed to the back of the queue.
I have just finished 2 sets of steel mesh ready for the first hire up to Gnaraloo to assist in recovery of
the boat and hirers vehicles in the sand. The first hire gets to take them up in the boat and after using them, to leave them
at the top of the beach for the next hire. They are also used by everyone else, which is fine as long as they are
returned to the top of the beach and not left in the water.
2 pieces weld mesh, staggered & welded together with half inch Rio each side to strengthen it.
There is a building boom on (was) so there is plenty of weld mesh around!

Exmouth Trip
University student Kasey Leong made a short dash to Exmouth during the uni break with 2 mates, picking up the 6.1m boat
at the turn off on his way up from Perth. The first week of October might be a bit late in the year, and that was confirmed
by his comments as to how windy it was. Luckily they had diving gear with them so were able to spend a lot of their time
under water. No wind down there Kasey! The main mission for the trip was to pop for GTs,
however fishing had shut down, although the trip wasn't a complete write-off.
Kasey got a respectable GT from the back of the Ningaloo Reef, out from Tantabiddi, it went about 15-18kg.
He was using a Stickbait, kind of floating popper without the pop part in under 4 m of water.
He says that from 3 days popping only 2 other fish were raised. One was from the back of the Ningaloo, and the other from South Murion Island,
both on his first cast! Both fish were small (under a metre) and were quite shy, only nudging the lures.
Out the back of the reef, the sharks seemed to be very alert, although this coronation trout somehow got through the gauntlet. Diving-wise though, it was worth it, and despite the low vis in the gulf due to the big tides and wind, all involved had a good time.
Here are a couple of pics taken from the Bundegi reef.
We will be going back up again when the winds take a break. Thanks to Laurie for his great service and reliable boat, as always.
Photos complements of Kasey

Big crowds at the Pelican Feeding
During the school holidays big crowds gather at the pelican feeding here in Kalbarri. It still
amazes me, the size of the crowds!

This is just one random day that I stopped in to take a few pics
It’s more of a kid’s thing and kids are selected from the crowd to chuck them a mulie.

A misleading sign. Don’t bring your dog, they won’t feed it!

Another misleading sign

Total waste of time and money erecting a sign like this!

What should it read when they put the lines down????

Bite of the month
This months “Bite of the Month” goes to the GT caught by Kasey Leong
See story above.
See all the previous Bite of the Month winners on my website.

A great day out
A very short flying visit from my brother in law, Peter Barker, over from Cohuna, (The carp capital of Victoria)
prompted a trip out in the new 7.8m boat. Luck was on his side with a very nice day presenting it’s self on cue.

Wife Sue got a double header first drop followed shortly by a dhuie.

Peter then got his dhuie followed by a small shark

Sue got another dhuie, must have been bite time as it had a cray down its throat with the feelers and legs sticking out!

I fished with jigs the whole time not touching a single piece of bait. I did as well as the others,
even landing a size baldchin on an Octojig, and an undersize dhuie on a different brand jig as
well as a nice size dhuie.

We tried to release one of the bigger dhuies, but when they get to this size, the release weight is just not big
enough and we had to keep it. We stopped fishing and came home early.
It’s not always like this, but we saw a big group of whales and went up to see them. I know from
experience that they generally congregate over good ground and kept my eye on the sounder.
There was not much in the way of hard ground but a plume of fish on the bottom near the whales prompted
a drop which resulted in all the above fish caught

Kids Whiting Comp
Every October School Holidays, the Kalbarri Offshore and Angling Club, hosts a whiting competition for kids on each
Thursday of the holidays. It has grown to become a highlight for regular visitors and continues to grow in size each year.
Fishing Western Australia came on board this year as a major sponsor and the prizes were very good.
Kids were winning rods and reels for the smallest blowie, biggest whiting and all sorts of fish. It’s a catch and release comp so anything counts.
We had a record breaking 195 excited kids signing up the first Thursday and 176 the second week.

About 360 fish were caught over the two days in four hours
They caught 13 species of fish, including blue and mud crabs

We had 5 quad bikes ferrying kids to and from the weigh station with their fish.
Each day we finished off with a lunchtime sausage sizzle and prize giving
DPI came up and did a flare demo and let some of the kids
fire off flares.

The new Fishing regulations to come into force in January 2009

PROTECTING OUR FISH FOR THE FUTURE – WEST COAST
New rules for managing the recreational catch of demersal scale fish in the west coast bioregion

New recreational rules from January 2009
Fisheries Minister Norman Moore has announced a revised package of recreational fishing rules to take effect in January 2009,
at the same time that further changes to reduce commercial fishing effort will take effect.

1. Reduced mixed bag limit for high risk fish – 4 per person per dayThe mixed daily bag limit for “high risk” fish will be reduced from seven to four fish in the West Coast Bioregion.

2. Reduced species bag limit for pink snapper – 2 per person per dayThe daily bag limit for pink snapper will be reduced from four to two fish per person.

3. Increased minimum legal size for pink snapper south of Lancelin South of Lancelin, the minimum legal size for pink snapper will be increased from 41cm to 45cm on 1 January 2009 and then from 45cm to 50cm in 2010.

4. Boat limit for “high risk” fish A Boat Limit for “high risk” fish is introduced for recreational boats and licensed fishing tours. Where one to four fishers are on board a boat, the boat limit would be
eight “high risk” fish (subject to individual daily bag limits). Where five or more fishers are on board, an additional two “high risk”
fish per person (over and above the new boat limit) is permitted for the fifth and additional fishers.

5. Discourage fishing competitions from targeting “high risk” fish.

6. Reduced possession limit at Abrolhos Islands to 10 kilos per person. The finfish possession limit within the Abrolhos Islands Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Area is reduced from 20kg to 10kg of fillets or from 2 day's
bag limit to one day's bag limit of whole fish per person – this possession limit can be transported back to the mainland. The possession limit to remain in
place for at least two years while a review to assess the option of managing the Abrolhos Islands as a wilderness “no take away” fishing area is undertaken.

7. Voluntary logbook program for “high risk” fish Introduce a voluntary logbook program for high-risk fish to provide additional catch and effort information.

8. Recreational Fund review The Recreational Fishing Fund will be reviewed with a view of providing recreational fishing stakeholders more meaningful input
into recreational fishing spending priorities.

9. Research into large-scale closures Further research be undertaken to investigate the appropriateness of introducing large scale fish reserves or closed areas to provide protection for large numbers
of fish or over an area, which is particularly important to spawning.

And for recreational cray fishers

Minister limits recreational lobster take to six.

Fisheries Minister Norman Moore today outlined details of plans to limit the recreational fishing take of western rock lobsters.

“Taking effect from the opening of this year’s season, the daily bag limit for lobsters taken by each recreational fisher will be
reduced from eight to six,” he said.

“There will be a similar reduction in the catch limit per boat from 16 lobsters to 12 and we will impose a ban on the use of power
winches on recreational boats to prevent the lifting of commercial pots.”

Mr Moore said he would also place a personal possession limit of 24 lobsters per licence holder. This will replace the existing
‘unrestricted’ number of lobsters allowed per licence holder - subject to daily bag and boat limits - and will apply State-wide.

“Starting next year, we will delay the current November 15 start of the recreational rock lobster season in zone C (which
extends from Jurien Bay to Augusta and is where 80 per cent of recreational lobster fishing occurs) to coincide with the
November 25 start of the commercial lobster fishing season.

Mandurah Boat Show

I just happened to be in Perth while the Mandurah Boat Show was on so went along to have a look.
I felt that the show lacked a bit of lustre or vibrancy? It might have been my mood as I wasn’t buying a boat this year, but
I did see a few that I would like. There was nothing new and seemed to be same old same old stuff.
They would not let anyone aboard this boat, the biggest at the show, even when I said that I was a serious buyer they did not believe me.
I guess they have a list of people who arrive by helicopter!

Thevenard Island
This 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
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Email: bookings@gnaraloo.com.au
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au

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.
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
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.