Perth Offshore Fishing
2007 Coipasa Classic Results & Photos
Better late than never but here are the results of the Coipasa Classic that was run on the 24th March this year. It was a great comp with 8 boats competing on the day with 18 anglers on board, all keen as mustard to win the fantastic prizes we had on offer this year. To say the support we received from local businesses was fantastic would be an understatement. Not only did we have Compleat Angler in Joondalup on board again for the second year in a row, but we also received support from Unique Aquariums, Bob Slights Boat Schools, Retravision Joondalup, Oscars Restaurant in Currambine, Perth Esky Hire and Garden Glow Fruit & Veg. Prizes were awarded using the points system we developed for the Fishwrecked Invitational back in December 2006, that trophy still looks good in my home office (hehehe), and despite having to use a calculator to work out the points it certainly made it an even chance for everyone to win something on the day.
The embarrassing thing however was that I managed to have a pretty reasonable day on the water and got my crew onto a good assortment of fish, which was the name of the game and meant that we walked away with most of the prizes at the end of the day. So here are the results for those who are interested.
Champion Boat: $100 gift vouchers courtesy of Joondalup Compleat Angler plus the perpetual Coipasa Classic trophy.
Winners: Macattack (Andy Mac, Darryn Brice & Rory Cowman) (Total of 8 different point scoring species between us with an average points score per angler of 1072points)
Champion Angler: 800mm size Aquarium valued at $995 from Unique Aquariums. Plus $50 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Andy Mac (1765pts) second place Darryn Brice (909pts)
Biggest Dhufish: Bob Slight Boating Course valued at $330 plus $50 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Darryn Brice (8.5kgs)
Most Species: Voucher for two people for one nights accommodation including breakfast at the Duxton hotel in Perth, valid to the 30/06/07 valued at $200 plus a $50 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner Andy Mac (5 species)
Classic Catch: Deep Fryer courtesy of Retravision Joondalup valued at $145 plus a $20 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winners: Graham & Janet Gillespie (Special NAFA Award)
Biggest Pink Snapper: Dinner for two at Oscars Restaurant Currambine valued at $50 and 7 days free hire of a 120-litre esky from Perth Esky Hire valued at $45 plus a $20 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Mat Beavis
Biggest Sand Whiting: 7 days free hire of a 120-litre esky from Perth Esky Hire valued at $45 plus a $20 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Graham Towler
Biggest Blackarse/Harlequin: A voucher for $50 worth of Fruit & Veg from Garden Glow plus $20 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Andy Mac
Biggest Other Snapper: $50 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Andy Mac (This was the big points scorer at 1.1kg it scored the maximum points for the species at 600pts)
Biggest Baldie: $50 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Darryn Brice
Biggest KG: $50 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner Darryn Brice
Biggest Skippy: A $20 gift voucher from Compleat Angler Joondalup
Winner: Ray King
So how did we do it, well I guess it pays to have done the hard yards finding plenty of ground over the years and whilst that alone isn’t a guarantee of a good day on the water it certainly helped. Basically all the boats that entered were allowed to launch from their home ramps (Hillaries / Ocean Reef / Mindarie), which meant that it evened up the score with no real home advantage for anyone in particular.
All the skippers were very experienced and have been fishing these waters for well over 5 years so it was a tough field of quality anglers vying for the prizes. To make it fair the Champion Boat prize was based on the total boat points divided by the number of anglers on board so with three onboard if only one of us had a good day their points would be divided by three when it came time for the champion boat prize, so the pressure was definitely on.
The day started with quite blustery Easterlies, which made the dash for the prime ground a little delayed for most of the boats. We chose to look at the species list and try to get a couple of inshore KG’s first off whilst the wind was so strong. It paid off immediately with Darryn hooking a big KG on light gear. The pic says it all with a very happy angler, who had luckily caught a wrasse on the first drift and appeased the fish gods before this came over the side.
We mucked about on this spot for a while and caught an assortment of non-points scoring fish that all went back to fight another day. The radio was crackling with tales of no-fish and water over the gunnels, everyone was finding it tough, so with one fish onboard and a forecast of an easing wind I decided to head out to 34m to at least get each of us a descent whiting. As it turned out the whiting weren’t as big as usual and we struggled to catch anything that remotely looked like winning the biggest whiting category, so we persisted for about half an hour. Eventually I landed a pretty good one as did Darryn and Rory, but since mine was a fraction bigger it was deemed to be the entry in the biggest whiting category and duly set aside for that purpose.
With the wind easing I decided to head out to some prime spots. First point was “the Dropzone” where I had a date with several unstoppable fish that had stitched me up on more than a few occasions. The sounder was thick with fish and several large arches were distinguishable on the first pass. We all loaded up on the best bait we could find. I had raided the Compleat Angler store for the best calamari and scalie mackerel I could find the day before so I was pretty confident we had the goods.
A week before the comp I had carefully shown Darryn how I tie my rigs for Dhuies and gave him a few “Super Snells” to take home and copy. Rory on the other hand had decided to go with single hooks looking for more of an assortment of high scoring fish. Darryn and I had almost identical rigs with the super snell on the bottom dropper and a smaller 7/0 Gamatsu Octopus hook on the top dropper. I alternated with lumo squids on the top hook and no attractors on the bottom snell. The results were amazing. Both Darryn and I were hooking and landing lots of fish but Rory was really struggling. Rory did however take the next 48 points for the boat with a nice little Skippy.
It wouldn’t be “the dropzone” without the obligatory massive hookup and bust off. This time it was me again with a huge fish that pulled the hooks 5 minutes into the fight, after several big lunges for the bottom that were stopped only by extra thumb pressure. Ah well we gave it a shot so off we trotted to another spot. This time I claimed my first decent fish of the day, a lovely blackarse that went 1.3kgs and scored me a nice 325 points.
The sounder looked lively so we went around for another pass. This time Darryn hooked up on a very nice Baldie that would later win the biggest Baldie prize for the day. This fish only went 2.2kgs but it was good enough to win the prize.
We moved again and first drop on the next spot Darryn picked up another KG, slightly smaller than his first but still up there with the kidney slapper brigade.
This lump was looking like it was going to hold a good variety of fish so we gave it another drift. No sooner had we hit the mark and I hooked up again with a magnificent Red Snapper that went over the magic 1kg mark, which sent me into bonus points territory so I now had another 600 points to add to my tally. Woo Hoo!!!
This fish reminded me of my only other 1kg plus Red Snapper that was caught in last year’s Coipasa Classic and on the very same spot. Low lying coral lump in the middle of nowhere.
Next drift and I nailed a nice Baldie and Harlequin in quick succession. The decision to use the 7/0 hook on the top was a good one as it accounted for several of the smaller but higher scoring species on the day.
I think that is what helped us out a fair bit, when you are targeting Dhuies alone then the big snell rigs work a treat, but with a points scoring comp you need to adapt your rigs to account for other species. Having both options covered resulted in me hooking and holding a massive Cuttlefish, which would have gone 6kgs at least. The resulting mayhem as Darryn and I tried to dispatch the cuttlefish wasted a good 15 or 20 minutes as we battled with ink, and slippery heavy cuttlefish. Eventually we had it killed and beheaded with most of the ink washed off the boat and our hands. I thought it might have been a good entry in the Classic Catch but knowing just how excellent fresh cuttlefish can be on Dhuies and other reef dwelling species I decided to cut it up for bait. (Sorry no pics, so you will have to believe me when I tell you how big it was.)
By this time the word from the other boats was pretty glum, there weren;t too many guys catching big fish other than Alan Towler who had let it slip that they had a nice Dhuie onboard.
In the absence of anyone claiming a great day we felt quietly confident that we would be up there with the points we had amassed so far when it came to the weigh in.
One of my good mates Ray King, who had often fished together with me and knew quite a few of my spots, had gone out to a few marks we had shared over the years and really struggled to find anything that would co-operate. His deckie for the day David Screigh posed for a pic with their entire catch as at midday.
How depressing!! Things weren’t looking too good for the crew of Kingfisher judging by the only points scoring species they had landed. However later that day Ray nailed a Skippy that pipped Rory’s by a few grams and took out the prize for the biggest Skippy so their hard work didn’t go completely unrewarded.
Meanwhile Greg Boylen and his son Matty (my next door neighbours) were also scratching their heads as to why the ocean was seemingly devoid of life. Greg ended up taking pics of Matty’s teenage fashion sense to at least have something to show us back at the ramp. I’ll spare you all the sight, but let me tell you if his boardies were any lower they would be around his ankles. Thankfully Matty’s hip hop accessories didn’t stop him catching fish and narrowly missed out on a prize with this nice Baldie.
Greg in the meantime only managed a few undersize Dhuies and a couple of smaller points scoring species.
Last year’s champion boat Neil & Mark Mitchell were also really struggling North of Mindarie. There was no hiding their frustration over the radio.
With only an hour to go to get back to the ramp I decided we would hit “the Dropzone” one more time on the way back in, this time with a slight South Wester blowing and a change of drift angle. We had time for one quick drift only or risk missing the weigh –in time, which would be a big no-no.
I put us on a good track over the Northern tip of the lump, which seemed to hold most of the fish, the drift angle was good and we all selected our best baits. I convinced Darryn to try the cuttlefish on his snell rig and he took a big tentacle and paired it with a mulie. We all dropped down and waited. We hit the corner of the lump and several large shapes appeared on the sounder, as they left the screen the bites started. I missed one, Rory missed one but Darryn came up firm on a good fish. I quickly lifted my gear out of the way and grabbed the camera. I managed to get a bit of footage of the end of the fight. When a good size dhufish surfaced it was the icing on the cake for the boat and huge satisfaction for Darryn who was absolutely wrapped with the capture.
No sooner had the fish hit the deck and I was calling for a quick dispatch and we high tailed it in to the ramp at WOT all the way. Thankfully we arrived with 5 minutes to spare and were greeted by three of the other boats that left from Mindarie. None of them had done particularly well, with only a few species each to be weighed in. By now we were feeling very confident of at least picking up a couple of prizes between us.
By the time we got back to the house and washed the boat down, Ian Keay from fisheries had arrived and set up his operating theater to dissect the Dhuies for us. The footage was great and Ian was very informative. He even filleted the fish for us, which went straight on the Barbie along with half of every winning fish.
The weigh in was a little disappointing with clear winners pretty obvious and not too many bags that scored much at all apart from ours so there wasn’t too much in the way of suspense. Even the winning whiting was a hands down winner compared to the other fish so whilst we promised to weigh the top two bags in full they happened to be mine and Darryns, with Rory’s coming a close third in the Champion Angler point section, all it proved to do was give everyone a look at our fish and that our points were calculated correctly. We weighed all our fish including Darryn’s Dhuie seen here on our makeshift weighing station.
So the final part of the formalities was to award the prizes culminating in the fantastic Aquarium from Unique Aquariums that I picked up for the champion Angler on the day. Bob Nichols the owner of Unique Aquariums was there to present the award, which I graciously accepted. All we have to do now is pick the background, and the frame to suit our décor and Unique Aquariums does the rest.
This is the one I like the best, so it will end up looking something like this.
Or this…
So to round it all up here is the winning team with the perpetual trophy.
Well done crew a great day on the water in difficult circumstances. Lets hope next year we get as many entering if not a couple more that couldn’t make it on the day and that the weather gods and the fish gods both smile on us all. I now have a heap of vouchers I need to spend at Compleat Angler in Joondalup so next time I’m in there, there will be some serious dollars spent on a new combo (hehehe).
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No Pain - No Gain
NO PAIN NO GAIN !! Isn’t it amazing how resilient the human body is, and how undying optimism is rewarded by success. Well “for some” anyway. Let me tell you a real life story of how five men’s optimism, one man’s pain, and two pommy holiday maker’s sheer hell, turned into a great day out ...“for some”. (*NB: The names of the people in this story have been changed to protect their fragile egos.)
Well it all started with a phone call while I was at work. “Andy! I’ve got great news. My work mates have organised a charter boat trip this weekend and a couple of guys pulled out. Do you want to go?” What a stupid question! What he should have said was...”Have you got clearance from the war office this weekend?” It’s usually me that invites “Plugger” out for a fishing trip in my little 3.7m Stacer powered by a 4hp Mariner. And it’s me that has to wait for him to get clearance from the war office, often resulting in cancelled trips or solo sorties out from Mindarie. So this was too good to pass up even if it meant teaming up with four guys from Carlton United Brewery whom I had already heard stories about that had me in both awe and mortal fear all at the same time.
It must be hard living up to the envy of most red-blooded Aussies. That is, to have a job that requires you to drink copious amounts of amber fluid at the company’s expense. The night before the fateful trip was no exception. “Plugger” had a night at the footy with the guys at work including his boss. Now, knowing “Plugger” I’m sure he was just thinking of his upcoming annual performance review and so used the night to demonstrate his exceptional drinking abilities. Whilst everyone else was drinking mid strength “Plugger” opted for the “no holds barred “ approach and proceeded to out do the opposition on Crown Lagers. I still don’t know whether or not he managed to impress the boss but do know his little escapade made him feel pretty seedy the next day. So at 6-30am {gentlemen’s hours) I faithfully arrived at his house only to be greeted at the door by the “supreme commander”
“Where’s Plugger?” I inquired.
“Poor darling” she said “He’s not the best... He’s been on the toilet for the past hour and it doesn’t sound too good.... If you know what I mean?”
I knew what she meant! ... I smelt what she meant! ( Having experienced the Pluggmeister in full roar and not being unable to escape ie.; he only lets rip when its dead flat calm and we’re in the middle of a red hot bite... not only does it make your nose hairs singe but the noise generated by that more than ample behind resonates in the little tinny and scares the fish off for at least half an hour.)
“Macca! How the hell are ya?” ... Plugger had emerged, trailing a visible aroma that defies description . “Let’s go buddy the guys will be waiting”... “give us a hand with the esky”.
Another benefit of working for a brewery is the amount of free grog and promotional gear these guys have at their disposal. So there we were carrying our VB esky choc-a-block full of beer, a VB carry bag full of food, cameras, Matilda Bay bar runners, Fosters Lite stubby holders, and wearing our VB windcheaters and Carlton Cold baseball caps. The sheer weight in the esky suggested we were the designated refreshment providers for the whole group. I should have known!!... The sight of “Plugger’s” work mates with an esky each made the pit of my stomach constrict a couple of inches and my Adam's apple well up in the back of my throat. “Shit! Are you guys actually going to get time to fish in between all that lot?” I was still in shock. “ARGH YA WOOS” they replied in unison. (My stomach took another notch, as I knew my own fragile ego wouldn’t allow me to withstand the challenge for long. I would have to regain some of my manly bravado by joining in with their inhuman consumption of alcohol)
We loaded the boat and set about introducing ourselves to one another. There was only our group and two teenage backpackers from London. They looked very much in love and quite excited about their first ever fishing trip. The skipper came down from the bridge to introduce himself and double check that we all still wanted to go.( The sky was fairly dark and ominous and the weather report suggested 3m swells.) The deckies included the skipper’s wife who struck me as being a real salty, more so than the skipper. She asked everyone if they would like a sea sickness tablet and I was shocked that Plugger was the only one to take her up on the offer. I have to admit that I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to rough weather and only ever spew at the sight, sound and smell of someone committing that same vile act right next to me, but knowing what was in store for me (alcohol wise) I was tempted to request a tablet myself. Only my ego told me that I could hack it! The skipper tried to comfort the backpackers , who were already starting to show signs of nerves, by telling them that the swell was only likely to be 1m and the clouds would blow away pretty soon. {I’m sure he thought they were ready to jump ship and he’d miss out on the fare.} The engines started and we headed out of the harbour, only to be greeted by swell that would have seen the Cray boys head back for the sanctuary of the pub on what is known in the industry as a two day pull. A quick glance back to the car park revealed not a single empty trailer... we were all on our own.
The boys embarked on the usual joke telling session whilst clinging on to the canopy for dear life. “Plugger” is usually very talkative and the centre of attention, but he was strangely quiet. His workmates continued their banter, with “Plugger” being so quiet and seemingly unable to defend himself, they set upon him with jokes like... “Hey maybe we should head for Rotto and shelter in Thompson’s Bay”... “Naw ...we’ll just get Plugger to jump in and we can shelter behind him” { a reference to Plugger’s large frame} Normally the immediate response from Plugger would have been worthy of Paul Keating on a roll, but today he had only two words to say ... “RALPH" & "HEWIE” At first I thought it was a reference to another work mate of larger proportions but then a quick glance confirmed the ample frame at 45 degrees over the edge spewing his guts up was indeed “Plugger”. Now this was the perfect moment to provide the rest of the guys with an opportunity to slam dunk him by going to the esky and offering everyone a beer. At which point the look of disbelief on the poor backpacker's faces was priceless. In one moment they had managed to confirm their opinion of all Aussies as beer swilling yobbos of the highest order. In a vain attempt at saving face “Plugger” suggested “One spew and I’m right!” The backpackers were now pleading for a sea sickness tablets to which the skipper’s wife replied “A bit late if you ask me!” How right she was as no sooner had the tablet gone down ... it was back up again as the spew fest gathered victims.
About an hour out from Mindarie the skipper came down with what is unheard of in charter fishing circles “Does anyone want to head back?”... Perhaps he was having second thoughts as the bow ploughed into waves of over 4m ... A quick glance into everyone’s eyes for any signs of weakening bravado followed by four “No Way’s”, a very timid “I’ll be right” and the backpacker girl’s brave suggestion that she didn’t want to spoil it for anyone. Immediately I felt very sorry for her as I had previously witnessed my father-in-law have to endure nine hours of hell on father's day last year. Spewing from the moment he got aboard to the moment we docked. Nine hours over a toilet wishing you were dead is not the best father's day present I could have given him. Anyway I knew what she must have been thinking... trapped on a boat in 4m swells with a bunch of Neanderthal's intent on pushing their stomachs to the limit by drinking beer and eating cheese and pickled onion sandwiches at 8-00 am in the morning ...But she hung in there!
The first stop was over good ground but holding bottom was difficult as the boat yawed severely. I must say that fishing off a boat designed for diving is not my idea of comfort at the best of times, but with a massive swell it made life unbearable, you see the seats are facing inwards so you can’t brace yourself against the gunwale and fish like on other boats. Finally I opted for a plastic chair positioned as close to the edge as possible. “Plugger” was next to me squeezed into the corner of the stern and looking worse for wear. A quick dash for the other side of the boat and he had another berley stream letting loose. Thankfully it was out of ear shot otherwise I might have been joining him.
He was back again and looking decidedly better and immediately hooked up on something large. I think I was more excited than anyone else and alerted his mates who just couldn’t help themselves with early calls of “Norwest Blowie for sure” purely to rib poor old “Plugger”. It’s funny but as soon as you say something like that it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, and sure enough after a few minutes the sight of a 10kg Blowie dampened everyone’s spirits. All except the backpackers who had been awakened from their nauseous slumber by all the commotion. They were bemused by our lack of enthusiasm and utterly ‘sickened’ by the skipper’s live filleting procedure. I hadn’t heard of anyone using NW Blowie for bait and decided to stick to a mulie / occy cocktail that had seen me well in the past. “Plugger” however was open to the idea and replaced his bait with Blowie fillet.
The drift had ended and the skipper repositioned us for another pass. Enough time for “one spew Plugger” to set up another berley trail. The drop resulted in a few bites but nothing hooked , until I spied “Plugger’s” rod arc severely. He didn’t say a word {perhaps for fear of losing his lunch again, or for fear of getting falsely excited by another Blowie} After a few minutes I couldn’t help myself again and called it for a Dhuie, hoping that a bit of optimism wouldn’t go astray. His mates all offered the Blowie prophecy and the odd suggestion of a ‘Chunk fish’ (referring to “Plugger’s” berleying tactics). But low and behold a magnificent specimen surfaced with the obligatory “whoop’s and yahoo’s” that accompany any notable capture. The backpackers rose again and now were consumed with enthusiasm having seen a superb fish land in the fishbox. They braved the swell to wet their first line of the trip.
The next few hours saw a few juvenile Dhue’s go back and an assortment of small reef fish end up as bait, but nothing to write home about. “Plugger spent those same few hours asleep , sound in the knowledge that he had caught a decent fish, and the war office would be pleased. The swell didn’t ease and the Brewery Boys started slowing right down on their consumption. I felt pretty darn good even in the absence of a fish of my own. Now was my chance to make good my earlier loss of face by cracking my first of many beers and downing a cold sausage “hot dog” much to the disgust of the rest of the crew. I know it might sound strange but just being out there on a boat in foul weather is a rewarding experience for me. W hether it’s the challenge of fishing in extremes or the closeness to nature you feel when you are at it’s mercy, either way I get a buzz out of it. Top the day off with a trip back to “Plugger’s” house to help him finish off the Dhuie for tea followed by the obligatory Crown Lager or three and you can’t help but thank the lord for blessing me with a cast iron stomach and the good sense not to work for a Brewery. Andy Mac
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Day of the Dolphinfish
![]() Gurnard
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![]() Tuna
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![]() Dolphinfish
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![]() Marks
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![]() Small
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![]() Boltz's
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Well, we got blown to south africa first thing this morning. Managed to get half a dozen small flathead and one decent sized one. We then spent the next 5 hours waiting for the wind to drop fishing the desert. Just after lunch we headed out to the hundred metre mark and found schools of 1kg tuna which were a bit of fun on the light stuff.
We then headed out to the fads and trolled around them for a while with a few inquisitive dollies. Then the idea to berley up came along and wallah, we were into them.
We managed to land 5 dolphinfish, lost 3, 2 to the fads and 1 jumped out of the net and snapped off. I have some awesome photos and some SIIIIICK video footage that I will get to editing this week. Our day was saved by some awesome aerobatics, line peeling action on the light gear and a few beers on the way home.
Andy Mac and the Adventures of "Fishless Pete"
![]() Bonito
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![]() Queen Snapper
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![]() Harlequin
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Boatside Bonito
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I took Fishless Pete out today, we trolled the back of staggies and picked up three bonito in an hour (sorry no Spaniards). That was a first for Pete, he had never caught a bonito before. Unfortunately I had some pretty heavy gear out on one rod and that was the one that Pete was using, so the fight was a little one sided. I was tempted to get the whiting gear out and troll with them, but I was really after Spaniards.
We headed out about 14nm west of Mindarie and caught a good mixed bag. Pete hooked the only Dhuie for the day which went back to grow some more. I caught a nice Queenie around 3kg and released him too (too many dhufish fillets in the freezer to be worrying about a queenie.) Pete picked up a couple of blackarse and his first ever red snapper. Meanwhile I picked up three blackarse (one was a horse), a nice big KG, and a big harlequin. We released a few more fish including Pete's first ever Sambo and a small baldie.
We headed in at about 2-00pm and on the way back a big lump appeared on the sounder. We stopped to investigate and realised it wasn't a lump but a massive school of bait fish. After drifting through the baitfish for barely a bite, the sounder showed several larger fish in mid water. I wound up half way and left it there for a couple of seconds then "BANG" I was monstered by what I thought was a big Sambo. After a tough fight I got some line back and as it came to the surface there were another 10 or 12 shapes swiming with it. I signalled Pete to go back down but just before he went in we saw that my fish was a black tip reef shark. Trying to get it to the boat was going to be fun, so Pete put his rod down ad tried to get it in the transom door. The fish was tail wrapped and when it came to the side of the boat the line caught on the ladder and snapped. "bye-bye mr shark". Pete dropped again while I re-rigged and immediately hooked up on one of his little brothers. We landed it and Pete decided he would have flake for tea, so we dispatched the shark to the esky.
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Ocean Reef Sunday the 21-08-05
We decided to go fishing out of Ocean Reef yesterday as we had tried from Fremantle the week before with some success, but not enough to warrant the hassle of the East Fremantle ramp and the costs of parking. Hearing reports from the weather bureau of strong 10-15 knot south easterlies and a 3.5-5mtr and over swell, we were a little concerned about what sort of fishing we were going to be able to do. After making the decision to meet at the skippers house at 5.45 we arrived out at our first spot 2 hours later and proceeded to use two drift anchors as the current and seas made difficult fishing. We decided that we would use a combination of squid and mulies and on the very first drop I landed a great sized cuttlefish. Things were beginning to look good with the bites continuing over the lump and onto the flat ground. We decided that we would go back around and try it again to see if we could hook up onto anything solid. Three drifts later we were still hadn't found the lump and decided that we would try elsewhere.
Traveling another 5 km out we found a great spot with fish all over the sounder and we set the drift anchor and proceeded to get some good bites over the lump and decided that we were going to anchor and berley up as a big school of midrange fish popped up on the echo sounder directly over a 5 meter coral rise. After two failed attempts of anchoring we finally got onto a decent spot with some severe ledges below us. The problem was that we landed three scorpion cod all of equal size for the next 15 minutes and a bit of tension surfaced in the boat. Shortly after I thought I had hooked into the bottom and left my line in free spool until mighty thumping headshakes began and I was onto something. After a 10 minute fight in 40 meters of water a 6 foot wobbygong shark surfaced and my hopes for a big dhufish had been dashed.
Small Boats = Big Rewards
Article by Josh (Shizz)
You know what they say about people with small boats, right? Wrong! Small boats are often the best choice when going to inshore spots. There are a lot of areas which have big, hard fighting fish which are caught without having to travel far. More times than not you will find that many of the bigger vessels travel right past them without a second glance.
Fishing Offshore in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia, has a diverse marine habitat which provides an opportunity for anglers of varying skill and knowledge to have a great time fishing off our shores. Once basic safety regulations are adhered to, it is easy to launch from one of the many harbours or boat ramps and head out to fishy waters.
Small vessels under 15 foot are able to go miles out to sea on calm days but must be wary of the strong winds that often blow up and make uncomfortable and slow trips home. The fishing grounds off Perth have been heavily impacted upon recently by the increase in boating population and developments of fish finding technology.
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