October 2006

PO Box 63 KALBARRI WA 6536 PH/FAX (08) 9937 2043 http://www.murchisonboathire.com.au/
The school holidays at the beginning of the month were full on with the boats with the 5.3m boat going up to Coral Bay for 2 weeks. I met Dale Fowler at the Ajana turn off at 10am on the morning of the 1st October. He had prepaid the boat hire and was on his way to Coral Bay after a quick rundown on the boat.

The 5.3m at the Ajana turn off at 10am Sunday 1st October, waiting for Dale Fowler

Dale told me he had a great time catching tuna, spangled emperor and the kids had a ball catching and releasing multitudes of trevally.

The 6.1m at the Ajana turn off at 2.00pm Sunday 1st October with Simon Dutton on his way to Karratha.
I had only just got back to Kalbarri and as pre arranged Simon Dutton phoned to say he was leaving Geraldton and would be at the turn off within the hour. I met him there with the 6.1m boat and he was on his way to Karratha for a week. He told me it was a bit of a struggle towing the boat with a station wagon, but got to Karratha in the end. They utilised their Karratha mate’s 4WD to launch and retrieve the boat and travelled far and wide picking up 20 or so big fish and kindly leaving a couple of marks in the GPS.
If you are travelling to spots north of here and want a boat, remember I will take it out to the turn off free of charge, saving you the drive into Kalbarri. You only have to pay the deposit and the hire prior to departure and ring me when you are leaving Geraldton and we should both reach the turn off at the same time. You will however have to bring it back into Kalbarri on the return.

New Accommodation
Latest development is that I have been lucky to purchase one of the Av-er-rest duplexes that were up for auction late October. It is the “Deluxe Duplex” and both units on the block have an enclosed courtyard at the back with a BBQ. Only one street back from the foreshore right behind the IGA.
Both duplexes have an enclosed back courtyard, carport, aircon, washer, microwave, TV etc, are fully self-contained and each sleeps 6.
There is a long settlement so cannot get access until February 9th but will take bookings now for after that date. Rates have not been finalised yet but will remain much the same as they were and we will still offer the same discounts with the boats for these units as usual. They each sleep 6 but being a duplex can take larger groups, as they are right together. I will be posting it all up on my website soon on the accommodation page We will repaint inside and out and fix it up a bit and make it more comfortable.

Boat Hire Price Rise
Sorry to announce but the dreaded price rise has come. This has been prompted by the new 100hp 4-stroke Yamaha that is now on the 5.3m boat and also we have not had a price rise for 3 years. As from the 1st of November the prices went up. Those of you who paid your deposit will be locked into the old price so you don’t have to worry. The price rise was not very much so it is not going to hurt too bad. All my boats now have 4-stroke Yamahas. The new prices are on my website at www.murchisonboathire.com.au/hire_rates2.htm

Kids Whiting Comp
During the October school holidays the angling club hosts a Kids Whiting Comp each Thursday of the holidays. We had 174 excited kids signing up the first Thursday, 58 more kids than last year, all ready to fish the beach from the Chinamans to the first jetty. Rules of the comp allow any fish to be caught, kept in a bucket and brought to the weigh-in live, weighed and then released. The Volunteer Sea Search and Rescue, Police, and Ashley Van Viersen loaned their 4WD bikes and gave kids a lift to the weigh station saving them the long walk over the sand.
The crowd at the weigh-in

Some of the kids with their fish

We did a sausage sizzle each day and awarded 16 rods & reels as prizes as well as loads of stuff from our sponsors for things like biggest whiting, most fish, biggest blowie, smallest blowie etc. 156 kids the second day, it sure is a fun day for the kids and some of the fish were quite good for middle of the day and the location!
We also gave away a free one-day boat hire as a raffle prize on both days.

Exmouth Billfish Bonanza
Later this month my wife, Sue, and I are going up to Exmouth to fish the “Betta Electrical Billfish Bonanza”. It is a 2-day comp and we are going to try to catch our first sailfish. The guys up there recon they will help out by telling us where the fish are and tips on how to do it! It’s not going to be easy but will be fun trying. Will write about it next month and hopefully have some pics.

Cray Season Starts
The cray season is close to starting again. It will be all go from the 15th November, but I won’t get my pots in until I get back from the billfish comp on the 20th. It will be a couple of weeks after that until the “run of the whites” when it is real easy to get crays. The “run of the whites” is when they shed their shells, wait up in reef holes until their shells harden (still light coloured until properly hardened) and then move en mass out to deeper water. Any pot placed on sand between the reefs is obvious shelter as they move from reef to reef. The fishing really picks when the crays shed their shells as the dhuies and snapper come in and suck the jelly crays out of the reef holes and then hang around to pick up the whites.

For those of you who are planning a trip and want to catch more. Here are a few of my tips for the Midwest area that might change you into being one of the 10% who catch 90% of the fish.

1/ Plan your trip around the Almanac: It is best to plan your trip around the tides & moon phases for the species you would like to catch. Rising moon in the evening for tailor from the beach at night. Incoming tide and dark night for mulloway. Half moon for mackerel & tuna. New moon to three quarter moon with a rising tide in the morning for bottom fishing.

2/ Tackle preparation: Have all your rigs made up and stored where you know where they are and are easy to get at. If you bust off it is no good using up good fishing time tying rigs. Tie a new pre made rig on and get back to fishing fast. Make sure your reel is in good condition and spooled with new line and that the drag is smooth and set correctly. If not get it serviced.

3/ Use the correct knots: I can’t stress this point enough. If your knots are not up to scratch you will loose fish and it is usually the best fish of the day that breaks off! Of all the styles of fishing I do I only use 5 knots, a Bimini Double, Uniknot, Double Uniknot, Triline Knot and Dropper Loop. If you don’t know them get a knot book or have some one show you and practice, practice, practice. The Bimini double is a 100% knot, use it with a Double Uniknot to your leader and then a Uniknot to your terminal tackle, goes for just about all styles. For lighter lines like bream fishing a Trilene Knot to the swivel will do. The following websites have diagrams and drawings.
http://www.fish4fun.com/
http://www.netknots.com/
www.peterfaustdam.com/bimini.asp
www.fishnet.com.au/knotsrigs/knotsrigs.html

4/ Keep it simple: Use the minimum amount of clips, swivels, cross clips, wire and gangs. Too much jewellery and some thing has to give. One swivel is all you need.

5/ Fish where the fish are: If there are no fish where you are fishing you will not catch, so fish on reef structure for bottom fish, over reef or amongst the bait fish for mackerel & tuna, in the snags for bream and generally at the known hot spots, because that is where the fish are.

6/ Use the right bait or lure: Fish are not clever, they are purely instinctive. If they are not biting (and you are in the right spot) it is because they are not feeding. (Check the almanac for the predicted bite time) However changing baits to either a different type, fresher or live often brings results. (To give an example of instinctive behaviour, I was fishing with my wife for snapper on light line when I had a hook up and was about 10 minutes into the fight when my wife hooked up. We both landed a snapper at the same time; it was my snapper that had taken her bait as well during the fight on my line!)

7/ Fish the change of light: Fish keep antisocial hours feeding mainly during the early morning and late evening just as the sun is going down or rising. So often I meet anglers packing up towards evening to get home for tea, just as I am arriving. They say “No fish here mate!” and walk off gloomily. Sometimes I’m into a fish first cast!

Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club, Local comp 21st October.
Fairly quiet comp this month, with few boats going out mainly due the offish weather.

Some of the notable catches was junior Jack Fernie’s .96 kg bream from the jetty

and Koot Myburg’s 19.8kg amberjack

Daughter Rebecca picked up a snapper, baldchin and shark,

Sue a snapper and I got 3 snapper and a fair size shark that I released.

Not a great catch but the weather fined up later on but not good enough to get to the spots I would have liked but a good day was had by all.

The caravan park at Port Gregory is under new management and a booking agent for my boats. You can now book a boat and pick it up in Port Gregory.

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.

5-day weather forecasts, http://www.buoyweather.com/ go to virtual buoys, pick the location you want. This is the one I go by!


Big bait – big fish
Laurie

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