February 2006

PO Box 63 KALBARRI WA 6536 PH/FAX (08) 9937 2043
http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/

MURCHISON BOAT HIRE FEBRUARY 2006 ELETTER
The river continues to flow with chocolate coloured water and has coloured the ocean as far north as the eye can see. South of the river mouth it is still relatively clean and during the incoming tide pushes up against the dirty water. You can see the colour change in the pics below. Trolling along the colour change has resulted in a few mackerel catches, but no result on the day these pics were taken. (Water was a bit cold 22.5) The cold water is all along the coast from Perth up. The Leeuwin Current has just not pushed in very strongly this year!

Out the back with Blue Holes in the background

& heading west just off Blue Holes

Mulloway have been very active with the dirty water and a few boats have been sitting just out from Black Rock soaking mulies on the incoming tide. Most have been getting their bag limits, but there are a lot of undersize amongst them. I went out with my son Ben on a break before going to Uni and a mate Lou Parker. We checked out the bite time and anchored by Black Rock catching 8 mulloway and a few chopper tailor. (All released except one). They came on right on bite time and then the shutdown was like a light turning off.
Ben with the average size mulloway.

Regulars Jason Scouler and his group who call themselves the “City Slickers” were up again. Jason was on his 7th hire! There must be some sort of “Frequent Hirer” points there! This time Louie was missing, replaced by Greg, with the usual crew of James and Rob. They had a 3-day hire on the 6.1m boat and stayed in my accommodation picking up the discounts on boat hire. When they first came up they were very inexperienced but caught fish. They have had some good times and bad and as their experience increases so has their catch rate. Now they have no problems getting into the fish. Below is just one days catch, a real ripper, not to be forgotten easily. They landed 6 yellow-fin tuna and a mackerel from a swirling mass of birds and baitfish.
Greg with his best fish ever (samson fish from the bottom) before the yellow-fin tuna
This is what to look for: swirling mass of birds and baitfish
James and Rob (yellow-fin & mac)

Greg’s yellow-fin

Robs yellow-fin
A missed gaff shot: it will cost you another 10min on heavy gear,

Rob’s skippy

& Jason shows his tuna (the only bite he got all day)
They got yellow-fin tuna on both preceding days as well. Redhead Halco 190DDs and Rapala 180 Red-heads were the only lures used to catch these game fish.

Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club local comp.
The weather was quite blowie on the 18th so the comp was changed to the following Saturday. Again it was windy but we had the comp anyway! We went out trying for a mac or tuna on light line but the seas were white capping by 7.30am and pretty rough out wide as we were trying to find clean water away from the dirty river water. We got bashed around and decided that the only thing we could do was to tuck in behind Black Rock and try for a mulloway. Bite time was for 8.30 but on a low tide so thought our chances a bit slim. Within 10 minutes of anchoring, my 3kg outfit started to peel line on a very loose drag. The result after a protracted battle was this 7.2kg mulloway, which won me the game section. It was the only bite we had all day! The land-based guys did well with snapper and a big shark
My mulloway

and Daniel Tarasek did well fishing land based


RECREATIONAL SKIPPER’S TICKET
Yes it is coming in and you will have to have one to hire one of my boats. The facts are as follows:
You won’t need one if you have:
Commercial Marine Qualifications
BoatSmart Certificate
Small Craft Proficiency Certificate
TL3 or TL5 certificate issued before 10th Feb.
Inter State Boat Certificate

You still have to apply for one if you have the above qualifications.

If you are under 25 you have to have one by April 2007
Over 25 by April 2008

If you have had a boat registered continuously in your name for the past 5 years you will only have to sit the theory test not the practical, but by 1st April 2007.

Think about getting one soon, you will need it.

The big Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic is on this coming weekend. All preparations are going well and entries have flooded in. This Year we have my daughter Rebecca joining us aboard Bulawayo Buoy with the usuals, John Hoye and my wife Sue. We are aiming for our third “Champion Game Boat 6m – 7m” win this time. Wish us luck; it’s not that easy! I will be reporting on the comp next newsletter.

The river continues to flow and latest reports, today 28th Feb, the river has risen another half metre at the Murchison House Station Homestead. A cyclone has formed over Exmouth and dumping more rain in the catchment area so the “mulloway fiesta” seems as though it will continue for another month or so, and the dirty water will be here for a while. A warm current has started to flow again, at last, and a 13kg yellow-fin tuna was caught off Pot Alley yesterday and there were birds working out the front of Black Rock this morning. Things are looking up! The cyclone has now developed into a tropical low so we might be into some very nice weather for the Classic.

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 weather conditions

5-day weather forecasts, or http://www.buoyweather.com/ and go to virtual buoys, is not a bad one!


Big bait – big fish
Laurie

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