May 2005
PO Box 63 KALBARRI WA 6536 PH/FAX (08) 9937 2043
http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/
MURCHISON BOAT HIRE MAY 2005 NEWSLETTER
Big dumping of rain this month and it went along way inland, causing the Murchison to flood. The ocean at low tide has a big plumb of brown water in the bay. Boats have been trolling around the dirty water expecting mackerel but it just hasn’t happened in the dirty water this year? Most of the macs this month have come just out from Red Bluff and just before the Sand Patch. They are all big this year (and lots of them) with the average size around 13-16kgs. Mulloway have as usual been caught in numbers from the Chinaman’s Beach during the incoming tide. Tailor are quite good on the edge of the dirty water and clean water right in the mouth.
A second dumping of rain inland has kept the river flowing and it came down hard enough to threaten to silt up and block the entrance. With that and a big swell there were a few scares and quite a few crew members checking their seats after entering and exiting the river mouth this month!
Chris Clare with his first ever mackerel.
Chris Clare knocked on the door this month wanting a boat to go game fishing. With the 6.1m and the 5.3m boat already hired, I could only offer the 4.3m dinghy. That was OK with him; Red Bluff is not far away! The mackerel had been getting more and more plentiful from the beginning of the month so he was in for a good chance. Heading straight to Red Bluff in the morning this 11kg fish was soon over the side. After that it went quiet so he tried out the front of the river mouth on the edge of the dirty water. With no action there and knowing that the bite time was at 12pm shot back to Red Bluff where he lost two more macs but managed to land another which pulled the scales down to 14kgs.
The bite times can be found in the Angler’s Almanac, a little yellow booklet that gives you all the predicted best times to go fishing every day of the year. Get one from your tackle shop they work!
Ritchie Kirk and his gang of 12 or so mates come to Kalbarri every year around this time and have been coming for the last 25 years or so. Each year they book up the 6.1m and 5.3m boats for 2 weeks and fish almost exclusively for mackerel.
The mackerel were there, but with a bit of bad luck, seemed to miss the bite time, correct location, had the wrong lures out, or the weather was a bit off. Other boats were catching their bag limits while they came in with nothing! The 5.3m boat’s luck changed and John Kirk, Bill McAtee and Jim Lawrence ended up with 8 mackerel and a tuna by the end of the week while Ian Freeman, Rob Slattery, John Slattery (present 6.1m boat biggest mackerel holder 23kgs) and Richard Cottingham on the 6.1m could only manage 1 tuna! The second week was almost a non event due to the huge swells caused by the storms in Perth and only managed to get out a couple of times landing 3 yellow fin tuna.
We discussed the trip in length and were only able to nail down one thing they were doing wrong, that is probably trolling a bit slow. They trolled at about 1400 revs in the 6.1m boat about 3-4 knots. I find that 2000 revs about 6-8 knots more productive. However there were enough macs out there that even a slow speed should have caught macs?
They also brought a dinghy up with them and spent the big swell days catching multitudes of blue swimmer crabs in the river. The crab feast continues as the river continues to wash them all down to the marina area.
The 6.1m boat then went off to Gnaraloo Station with Roger Simm for the rest of the month, so not much more to report from that boat. Roger and his group did get a 15kg chinaman cod and a very big red emperor among other fish. I haven’t got the photos yet but hope to bring them to you in next month’s newsletter.
Our local fishing comp on the last Sat of the month was well attended. My 6.1 was still up at Gnaraloo Station so I went out in the 5.3m with a couple of local juniors, Lee Ivey and Steven Eley, mentioned above, and I fished 3kg line hoping for a mac or two. The two juniors had their 6kg outfits out when we bumped into a school of yellow-fin tuna just off Red Bluff. I took the first hit landing one around 5kgs and then Lee and Steven then landed ones the same size but being under 6kgs could not weigh them in. I took a second fish about the same size so having my bag limit, handed over my 3 and 4kg outfits to the juniors. Lee then landed one on 4kg line but Steven missed about 5 in a row unable to remain hooked up!
I then picked up a 9kg mac returning to the river mouth. I had to be back by lunch as my wife, Sue, and daughter, Rebecca, wanted to go out as well. We headed back to Red Bluff and the two girls picked up a striped tuna each on 3kg line, and we were back in by 2.30pm!
Lee Ivey with his two small yft
WARNING
If you ever go up river for a fish even a 4WD may not get you to the spot you want to fish! No names mentioned of the local who had to call a crane get to out of this tight spot!
Laurie
http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/
MURCHISON BOAT HIRE MAY 2005 NEWSLETTER
Big dumping of rain this month and it went along way inland, causing the Murchison to flood. The ocean at low tide has a big plumb of brown water in the bay. Boats have been trolling around the dirty water expecting mackerel but it just hasn’t happened in the dirty water this year? Most of the macs this month have come just out from Red Bluff and just before the Sand Patch. They are all big this year (and lots of them) with the average size around 13-16kgs. Mulloway have as usual been caught in numbers from the Chinaman’s Beach during the incoming tide. Tailor are quite good on the edge of the dirty water and clean water right in the mouth.
A second dumping of rain inland has kept the river flowing and it came down hard enough to threaten to silt up and block the entrance. With that and a big swell there were a few scares and quite a few crew members checking their seats after entering and exiting the river mouth this month!
Chris Clare with his first ever mackerel.Chris Clare knocked on the door this month wanting a boat to go game fishing. With the 6.1m and the 5.3m boat already hired, I could only offer the 4.3m dinghy. That was OK with him; Red Bluff is not far away! The mackerel had been getting more and more plentiful from the beginning of the month so he was in for a good chance. Heading straight to Red Bluff in the morning this 11kg fish was soon over the side. After that it went quiet so he tried out the front of the river mouth on the edge of the dirty water. With no action there and knowing that the bite time was at 12pm shot back to Red Bluff where he lost two more macs but managed to land another which pulled the scales down to 14kgs.
The bite times can be found in the Angler’s Almanac, a little yellow booklet that gives you all the predicted best times to go fishing every day of the year. Get one from your tackle shop they work!
Ritchie Kirk and his gang of 12 or so mates come to Kalbarri every year around this time and have been coming for the last 25 years or so. Each year they book up the 6.1m and 5.3m boats for 2 weeks and fish almost exclusively for mackerel.
The mackerel were there, but with a bit of bad luck, seemed to miss the bite time, correct location, had the wrong lures out, or the weather was a bit off. Other boats were catching their bag limits while they came in with nothing! The 5.3m boat’s luck changed and John Kirk, Bill McAtee and Jim Lawrence ended up with 8 mackerel and a tuna by the end of the week while Ian Freeman, Rob Slattery, John Slattery (present 6.1m boat biggest mackerel holder 23kgs) and Richard Cottingham on the 6.1m could only manage 1 tuna! The second week was almost a non event due to the huge swells caused by the storms in Perth and only managed to get out a couple of times landing 3 yellow fin tuna.
We discussed the trip in length and were only able to nail down one thing they were doing wrong, that is probably trolling a bit slow. They trolled at about 1400 revs in the 6.1m boat about 3-4 knots. I find that 2000 revs about 6-8 knots more productive. However there were enough macs out there that even a slow speed should have caught macs?
They also brought a dinghy up with them and spent the big swell days catching multitudes of blue swimmer crabs in the river. The crab feast continues as the river continues to wash them all down to the marina area.
The 6.1m boat then went off to Gnaraloo Station with Roger Simm for the rest of the month, so not much more to report from that boat. Roger and his group did get a 15kg chinaman cod and a very big red emperor among other fish. I haven’t got the photos yet but hope to bring them to you in next month’s newsletter.
Our local fishing comp on the last Sat of the month was well attended. My 6.1 was still up at Gnaraloo Station so I went out in the 5.3m with a couple of local juniors, Lee Ivey and Steven Eley, mentioned above, and I fished 3kg line hoping for a mac or two. The two juniors had their 6kg outfits out when we bumped into a school of yellow-fin tuna just off Red Bluff. I took the first hit landing one around 5kgs and then Lee and Steven then landed ones the same size but being under 6kgs could not weigh them in. I took a second fish about the same size so having my bag limit, handed over my 3 and 4kg outfits to the juniors. Lee then landed one on 4kg line but Steven missed about 5 in a row unable to remain hooked up!
I then picked up a 9kg mac returning to the river mouth. I had to be back by lunch as my wife, Sue, and daughter, Rebecca, wanted to go out as well. We headed back to Red Bluff and the two girls picked up a striped tuna each on 3kg line, and we were back in by 2.30pm!
Lee Ivey with his two small yftWARNING
If you ever go up river for a fish even a 4WD may not get you to the spot you want to fish! No names mentioned of the local who had to call a crane get to out of this tight spot!
Laurie
posted by laurie malton at 11:01 PM
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