January 2005

PO Box 63 KALBARRI WA 6536 PH/FAX (08) 9937 2043
MURCHISON BOAT HIRE JANUARY 2005 NEWSLETTER

It sure has been hot this month, but so has the fishing.
Gary Veenvlet who works at Bluewater Tackle in Morley and Mate Nick Singh were up in the middle of January dead keen on some mackerel.
Both these guys have enough tackle to stock a good tackle store between them. They came armed with the complete set of Tiagras on custom rods, Saltigas and TLD’s and a tackle box the size of a 44-gallon drum. They took the 6.1m boat out and to be fair, the weather was not as kind as hoped. I only found out afterwards but Nick was a mackerel virgin (never caught a mac before). He says that while everyone around him is catching them he misses out, or catches a different species. (Sounds like a Jonah to me!) Well this time his luck changed and the hit, when it came was on the lightest and oldest gear, the Shimano TLD 15 with 6kg line! It always happens like that, biggest fish takes the lightest rod.

The Barlo Firearms, Tackleworld and Camping Ultra-light was on over the Australia Day long weekend, and while we entered I did not win again. My wife Sue did however, (must be the skill of the skipper) she picked up the 3kg line class with this 8.35kg mac and the winner was Lou Parker who caught these two macs on 4kg line, winning 4kg class and over all. My mackerel on 4kg line was mentioned briefly!

Pete and Kate Brodie with Kids Seb, Jordan and my cousin Brendan Mitchell all from Zimbabwe were up for a visit. The weather was not too kind but a small window before a week of wind opened up so we shot out. All of their fishing has been on sheltered freshwater lakes and rivers so this trip out into the salt was a big shock. They adapted well after falling all over the boat and, surprisingly, did not get seasick! Kate was the lucky one taking a hit on her rod and using her experience of catching tiger fish on the Zambezi River fought this small mac to the boat. She also picked up this red-throat emperor among many other fish. Son Jordan aged 8 struggled with the unfamiliar heavy gear but caught his fair share of fish.

Kate’s mackerel

Late January Tony Thwin, Marc Orifici both from Anglers Fishing World 221 Albany Hwy and mate John Castiglione were up again and picked one ordinary day and one really good day. It was on the good day when it all went off. Water temp had come up over night and baitfish were everywhere. (See the sea surface water temp website detailed below, a warm current slick came into the bay) The baitfish were so thick that some anglers reported the mackerel spewing up bait as they came along side the boat and all over the boat when landed. Their guts extended with food but still having room for a Halco Laser Pro190! Tony and crew really know their tackle and tactics so call in and see them for info and tackle. They jigged up some of the baitfish on baitfish jigs and returned them to the water with hooks in. It was not long till their 4kg braid outfits took a hammering with the likes of a half dozen snapper that Marco and Tony are holding up. Just drifting through freshly laid cray pots in 21m of water off the Sand Patch, these snapper came up and hit the bait mid water. Great fun and entertainment on light gear guys!

Great fish for Tony Thwin

Marco Orifici

Remember if you rent our accommodation you get big discounts on our boats. Have a look on my website for the details, and check out the savings.

Check out http://www.oceanoutlook.com.au/ and go to the Geraldton weather for local 5-day weather forecasts, or http://www.buoyweather.com/ is not a bad one!

Another website worth looking at for sea surface temperatures is http://www.aodc.gov.au/ and go to “online data”, and pick “Near real-time SST” that takes you to a zoom in screen of the area you need. Some times that does not work so try this link www.aodc.gov.au/products/IDG00073.shtml
Laurie