29 Sept 2024

After one cancelled trip due to lack of interest, our long wait paid off for six club members to enjoy a day of fishing chasing demersals. With the boat in a different pen, Greg had to bring it around to the gate for the crew to board and then we were away soon after 6am

The fishing was slow to begin with due to winds that were a little stronger than predicted but by 10 am had dropped to almost nothing and the fish started coming onboard. By midday we had our four very nice demersals and five big Cuttlefish. Time to change down on rigs and catch a few King George whiting  plus a collection of Wrasse and Sea sweep that will go to Ians for craybait.

We still had several hours left, so it was time to change rigs again  to get some tuna as we made our way home. We landed three tuna and even did a couple of drifts and picked up two King George Whiting, we were back in the marina by 4pm .

Some of the better fish of the day wereSean Dhufish 80 cm (fish if the day)  and King George Whiting 40 cm

Skipper Greg Baldchin 60 cm  Jasper Baldchin 53 cm and Break Sea Cod 32 cm.  and  King George Whiting 41 cm. and a Tuna 59 cm

Other fish caught Greg Uren Gold Spotted Sweetlip 52 cm. Tuna 57 cm and 48 cm Kerry Gold Spotted Sweetlip 46 cm Patrick Banded Sweep 38 cm

We also caught 20 wrasse and successfully released 4 pink snapper.

The fish were filleted and shared out so everyone got to take home plenty of quality fish, and everyone had a very enjoyable day. If you would like to be onboard our next trip our booking officer Jim will be sending out an email soon.

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Sunday 4th August 2024

With the demersal season closed until 16 September, it was time to turn our attention to near shore species and Sundays trip was to target large King George Whiting. Just before sunrise four members and two guests took the short boat ride out to anchor on some potentially good whiting grounds. There was a bit of sand, a bit of weed and  some gravelly rubble on the bottom that looked promising.  The  first job was to collect/catch some bait with guest Tim being up to the challenge landing a massive Cuttlefish that was more than enough for the whole day.

With fresh Cuttlefish for bait it wasn't long before the big KGW started coming over the side of the boat. We were going great guns until the wind changed direction and the boat swung off the school making it hard to get a bite. We then decided to re-anchor over the best bottom and it wasn’t long before we were again getting a fish  but  only getting the odd fish as the bite time was over.  As a group we decided to move and try for sand whiting in 18 m but  while pulling the anchor Trevor decide to leave his line down and it paid off with a double header of big KGW taking his tally to four. With the wind dropping and the double header of KGW we decided to stay and try drifting but we didn't get anymore whiting. Overall it was a very successful and pleasant day.

Results biggest KGW went to Tim 51 cm he also caught a whiskery shark 1m and the big Cuttlefish.    Shunning caught 2 big squid and his largest KGW was 49cm.   Trevor did well landing a double header of KGW and a total of four his biggest was 49cm and Skippy 36cm.    Jasper's largest KGW was 49cm and Skippy 36cm.  Solomon's largest KGW was 47cm and Banded Sea Sweep 34cm

We caught a total of 15 King George Whiting raging in size 46cm to 51cm    We successfully released some bycatch of Banjo Shark, small Snapper and Baldchin.

A great day enjoyed by all and the crew divided up the KGW and took home three each, if you want to be onboard out next trip keep and eye on your email from our booking officer Jim.

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27th July 2024

The Demersal season is ending on Wednesday

It's been hard to find weather windows for fishing trips lately, but Jim and Greg spotted one for yesterday Saturday the 27th July and called a trip. A Forecast of light Northerlies and a cloudy day looked reasonable and 5 members agreed. For the first time in a long time our Bookings Officer Jim joined the crew. Great to have him aboard.

We headed North towards Moore River in a surprisingly choppy sea with an opposite swell compounding the disturbed sea. Still the winds were light, but from the East instead of the North, as we trolled our way to a dawn drop. No tuna touched our Skirts or Bibbed lures, so by 7.45 we were into our first drift. Sean was quickly on and brought in a decent 67cm pinkie.

Greg repositioned time after time but the action was slow. A couple of undersize pinkies came up while Jasper and Greg delivered good size cuttlefish, a species which Greg seems to have a particular affinity for, as he kept hooking them,  if frequently dropping them, before getting them aboard!

Jasper finally delivered another decently sized Pink Snapper while Sean returned a small but very healthy Baldie and a small Breaksea cod. The wind and waves were moderating and fishing was becoming more comfortable.  A bit too late for Dave mind you, as he was fighting seasickness. Well done to him for never letting this miss an opportunity to come fishing. Geoff then landed the smallest demersal keeper of the day, a pinkie at 54cm.

Then just before 11.30 Geoff got the one and only dhuey of the day, but at 49cm he decided to release it as it was healthy and ready to return to the deep. That was a good decision as Dave was onto the 4th demersal of the day, a baldie at 63 cm. Best fish of the day too.

We trolled towards home, with no success, then hit some KG Whiting spots, which Greg knew, but which turned out to be principally wrasse spots! Nonetheless Greg had the magic touch and landed 3 nice KGs and finally Jim got his one and only keeper of the day.

We journeyed home with the seas now calm enough to allow for a good clean up and filleting session en route.  Many thanks to Greg for a great day on the water.

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July 15th  2024

Its been a while, but finally we scored a break in the weather with almost no wind and a  low swell.  Monday was looking promising with a major bite time right on sunup so Jim sent out the email advertising the plan for a  trip and five members were quick to put their names down. With a 7:15 am sunrise it was decided to make gate time 6:00 am and everyone was on time so we were quickly away. We had just over an hour to our chosen fishing ground, arriving five mins after sunrise. The echo sounder was showing a lot of life on the way out and even better once we arrived. The screen was lit up with bait and fish. It was instant good bites with big skippy at 37cm and a pink snapper of 55cm for Greg Uren. Trevor picked up a nice Dhuie of 60 cm . Wade was back after taking a year off and wasn't disappointed  with a very nice Dhuie at 75 cm. It was nice to see Kerry landing some nice fish it was definitely his best day with a  Dhuie of 74 cm. Skipper Greg had a quiet day with skippy 37cm and a big King George Whiting 54 cm. 

We also released two small pink snapper and two small Sampson fish plus one gurnard.

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July 11th 2024

The Annual General Meeting was held last evening. 5 members received trophies for the longest in several species.Geoff E for a 52cm King George and for a 70cm Pinky,  Ian S for a 52cm Baldy, Sean S for a 44cm Breaksea cod and Kerry T for a 70cm Dhuie. The members present also voted to remove the requirement to prepay a trip with their membership. 

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18th May 2024

Last Saturday morning, the forecast was to have strong easterlies early to around midday then dropping off in the afternoon and evening, so the booking officer Jim made the suggestion to call a trip with a gate time of 11am and fish the afternoon and evening. Four crew and skipper Greg liked the idea of an afternoon and evening fish. After refuelling the boat, (427 Litres costing over $900), we headed up towards Moore River stopping on some lumps in 30 meters. The fish were on the bite straight away with two reasonable Dhuie's coming aboard but  then the bite slowed with pickers demolishing baits and nothing decent being caught. As evening approached I heard Kerry say would anyone like some bacon and egg pie. Now  we all know real men don't eat quiche they eat bacon and egg pie and Kerry had made two Tupperware dishes full of yummy pie that we all enjoyed. This made the lack of fish a fraction more tolerable. Several moves were made, fishing different lumps but the elusive fourth demersal was proving difficult.  Mick came close, landing a just undersize Pink snapper at 48 cm. We had several big fish on but lost them during the battle. With only minutes to go before we planed to leave, Visitor Hayden was on to something big. Could this be his ever first Dhuie?  Sadly not. It was a big Port Jackson Shark. Then  Mick and Kerry tangled together landed a Bango Shark. The grey suits had arrived so the decision was made to head home with only the three demersals and a big Cuttlefish and even though the Blue box looked a little bare everyone enjoyed the trip.

Pieter and Greg had recently returned with plenty of fish from a trip to Shark Bay, so their fish was donated so everyone got to take home a quality fish.

Pieter, Dhuie 65cm  Kerry, Dhuie 58cm  Greg, Pinkie 58cm

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12th May 2024

IN QUEST OF THE DHUIE

Returning from a fishing trip to Shark Bay, Geoff's visitor from Malaysia, Liew, told Greg and Geoff of his bucket list wish to catch a dhuie…So Greg called a Club trip for Sunday 12th to potentially enable Liew’s wish to come true.  Despite it being Mother's Day, hard-core members Sean and Shunning and visitor Joel signed up for the trip

The weather was perfect with light winds and calm seas, but with falling barometric pressure, opaque sea and poor bite time forecasts, the prognosis was not looking the best. We trolled north towards Moore River but with no tuna takers. We were bottom dropping by 7.00am and a few undersize pinkies and breaksea cod were released successfully.  Then in quick succession 3 dhuies were pulled in, regrettably none by Liew. For Joel  this was his first dhuie ever so Geoff returned his to make room for another to be caught within the 4 Demersal quota. The two kept were 53 and 46cm. Then Liew was on! Could this be his dream fish coming true….NO. It was a size pinkie at 64cm but not a dhuie.

The quest continued but to no avail. Bite time was over and we weren't getting any bites. Sean did bring in 2 Samson fish, one of them size, but no one seemed to have a neighbour who would be interested so both were returned to fight another day.

By 2.00pm we were making tracks for the Marina with 4 trolling lures out behind us. No luck until we were almost back when Joel struck a blue fin tuna at 67cm. Another first for him!

Back by 4.00pm all helped with the clean up as skies were darkening and rain threatened. Gregs effort to deliver a dhuie for Liew had not succeeded but Joel had had a great day and all appreciated his efforts

Geoff Evans 

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14th April 2024

Last Saturdays trip was another success

Last Saturday, the weather was perfect, a carbon copy of the previous Sunday, when skipper Greg had a excellent day landing three nice Dhuie's. We left the marina about 6am and started  trolling on the way out to our first Demersals spot when Shunning and Eddie had a double hook-up on small 38 cm Tuna each. At the first drop, it was Shunning who was first to landed a Dhuie at 49 cm, however Saturday was going to turn out to be new member Sean's day on only his second trip, with a Dhuie 50 cm, Baldchin 50 cm and Breaksea Cod 44 cm.

The solunar tables predicted a slow day of 15% catch day and while the fish were not really on the bite, we were bagged out on our four Demersals before 10 am plus a 30cm Flathead . 

Time to go back to trolling for Tuna and add to the two caught on the way out. We deployed trolling skirts and headed towards our sand whiting spot. No birds were seen working but  with only one nautical mile to go, tuna were spotted on the surface.  We trolled around the edge of the school getting a double hook-up for Eddie and Shunning with both landing fish of 62 cm.            We tried to pick up the school again but by now the white caps had increased making it difficult to spot the Tuna on the surface, so we went fishing for whiting. The South Westerly breeze had increased, making it hard to fish for whiting so we went back to trolling on the way home.  Eddie caught his third Tuna 39 cm for the day. I'm not sure but I think it was Shunning's excellent driving that helped Eddie catch that fish. Shunning continued driving slowly home while the fish were being cleaned, however no more Tuna but it allowed Skipper Greg to fillet the fish to be shared amongst the crew. It was not a long day with us back in the pen by 3pm

With the new Fisheries rule of four demersal boat limit, it is really good to see the crew sharing the catch so everyone gets to take a feed of fish home, like visitor Ryan even though he didn't manage to get on the scoreboard this time there is always next time. Ryan appeared to enjoy himself and may become a member

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6th April 2024

It was a good day for weather with light winds and smooth seas when  4 members plus skipper Greg left Two Rocks Marina at about 5.10am to witness a glorious Sunrise. See Photo. It was the 2^nd attempt at getting a crew since the demersal ban had ended a week before.

We trolled with no success through the 3 mile reef to our first drop zone at about 40 metres. Action was slow in our first drifts but with skipper Greg on form there was sufficient interest with a 1.5m whiskery shark and a good size cuttlefish that kept all of the crew in bait for the rest of the day.

The first bite time was from 8.20 and it seemed to bring the fish on. Greg brought in a 76cm dhu fish, Pieter a 70cm Samson fish and Kerry a second 1.5m whiskery. There were a couple of small baldchin groper returned successfully as were a couple of small pinkies.

Hogging proceedings Greg brought in a monster dhufish at 86cm and a third at 63cm. The fish were really on the bite now and Kerry brought in the last allowable demersal at 56cm while Pieter Geoff and Trevor supported proceedings with baldies, breaksea cod and samson fish all returned.

With 4 demersals on board before 10am we trolled back to whiting grounds and spent a couple of hours getting 50 or so whiting on board. It was a slow session led by Geoff whose day it was not!

We trolled for a further hour without success before making our way back to the pen by 4.30pm. Greg made a great job of filleting the fish which were meticulously divided among all the crew. Too meticulously it would seem as the fishery officers who met us on shore pointed out. It appears two fillets however cut equal one fish, so we had been wrong to have cut some fillets into two. We were let off on this occasion. Lesson for us is “ Do not cut fillets up to share unless you are in the carpark”

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11 February 2024

The 2024 Mahi Mahi Tournament runs from 1^st Feb to 31^st March with $2,000 first prize for the longest Mahi Mahi plus some other very good prizes. The weather looked ok so Greg called a trip for Sunday 11 specifically to fish the Yanchep FADs to try to catch a dolphinfish

Skipper Greg and seven crew that included visitor Noel (who won the Fremantle Fishing Club championship last year), ventured out wide to the FADs on a day where the weather that can be described as very average and sloppy. Trolling on the way out and back proved very successful with some nice plump Bluefin Tuna and one Skipjack Tuna caught. On the day the largest tuna 66 cm was caught by Trevor. We had made a quick stop on the way to the FADs to collect live bait, but unfortunately no Mahi Mahi were seen or caught , and the word from other anglers fishing nearby said they didn't catch any either.

No Mahi Mahi but lots of tuna around so trolling was a lot of fun with the small tuna putting up a good fight. We even had a triple hook up and landed all three fish.

On the way in Shunning donated one of his small Bluefin Tuna that was turned into Ceviche with corn chips very yummy. Ceviche is a South American seafood dish containing large chunks of raw fish marinated in freshly squeezed lemon and lime with sliced onions, peppers  salt and pepper. 

Jim is watching the weather and when we get a suitable day he will call another FAD trip, fingers crossed Mahi Mahi will be there this time.

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 Demersal season closed for a couple of Months so its back to Whiting and Skippy and Squid. Season Reopens on 1st April to 31 July

Next trip on 14 Feb is to the Yanchep FAD trolling down and back

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31 Jan 2024

Hi All, Wednesday's Offshore Fishing Trip Report below (thanks and commiserations to Geoff) ...

As King Neptune wisely proclaimed....."What is taken from the deep shall be returned to the deep"......And he never spoke truer words than for yesterday's WCAC trip, the last of the demersal trips for the Summer season.

4 intrepid fisherfolk left Two Rocks at 5am led by our skipper Greg. Kevin and Geoff as old hands and visitor Jasper Lim. New to WCAC but certainly not new to fishing.

Trolling out through and past the 3 mile reef Geoff was lucky to snag a 67cm Bluefin Tuna. Not huge but plump as he had been feeding on small octopuses we ascertained.

Greg had spotted a small lump we had not tried before but it failed to deliver more than nibbles so we headed to our regular hunting grounds where Geoff soon had a 50cm Dhuie on board. This was followed by a huge 52cm King George Whiting . It would seem it was his day.

Not to be outdone Greg using a ball sinker with 3 snelled hooks soon delivered another Dhuie at 67cm and Jasper followed with a 50cm Baldchin Groper.  We were still in the morning bite time and would seemingly bag out early.

Geoff had pulled out his new secret weapon...a natty new lightweight jigging rod complete with compact Daiwa Electric 300 jigging reel which neatly plugged into our boat Anderson plugging system. Happily and effortlessly showing off the reel"s capabilities Geoff caught a second Dhuie, which was released to the deep. Then finally Kevin got lucky with a small Breaksea Cod, also released. 

The 4th demersal of decent size proved elusive until finally Greg pulled up another Baldchin at 49cm and we were bagged out.

But not to be outdone by fishing rules, Jasper was on to something big. Was it a shark? Was it a ray? But no, it was a 118cm Samson fish. A great fight by Jasper as he delivered the fish with relative ease.

Trolling back to inside the 3 mile reef Geoff got a second Tuna, this time a Skipjack. Jasper struck one too but it spat out his lure and lived to fight another day.

As we made our way in we got into stowning our gear. Geoff first lovingly covered his new reel with a muslin bag and rod with a cover. For 'safety' he put this combo in the rod holders above our boat cabin. As he started to remove his second rod from the rod holders above it caught his prize possession which flew out of the rod holder and into the ocean!

After some expressions of disbelief from our skipper we spent some time trawling the ocean floor with our grapple anchor but to no avail! King Neptune's prediction had indeed proved correct.

A sad end (for Geoff) to what had been a successful trip. Greg filleted all our fishing with great aplomb and we shared our fillets among us. By 4.30 we were all on our ways home. We await the next demersal ban lifting with anticipation.

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27 Jan 2024

We were a little nervous about calling a fishing trip the day after Australia Day celebrations, especially with a 5am gate time. But to our surprise everyone turned up on time, bright eyed and bushy tailed and eager to go. With gear stowed away, off we went towards our demersal fishing grounds, trolling skirts for a tuna on the way. No birds were spotted working and unfortunately we had no hookups.

With the sunup bite time, it didn't take long to have one Samson Fish and three decent demersals in the box. The strong easterly was dropping fast and the drift was slowing down to almost nothing, so we made a quick move to hit a very small lump that usually holds a Dhufish. It was an instant double hookup by Patrick and Rueben, who wound up really slow to allow the fish time to adjust to the pressure change. Patrick's Dhuie was the first to the boat, which became a keeper, with Rueben's Dhuie not far behind. By pausing and keeping his fish down around five metres, it had an opportunity to gas off and was then quickly released, to swim healthily back to the depths, unharmed to grow bigger.

Now that we had bagged out on demersals we tried trolling for a Mackie but with so much seaweed in the water it was proving impossible, so we instead made a quick change of plan to whiting fishing, catching some nice plump specimens, which was a very enjoyable way to finish off a pleasant day on the water.

The lucky guys this trip were;

Greg - Baldie 53cm;

Rueben - Baldie 45cm, Samson 72cm;

Martin - Baldie 38cm; 

Patrick - Dhuie 42cm.

This Wednesday is our last chance for demersal fishing before the 2 months closure starts 1 Feb 24.

A WCAC Planned Offshore fishing trip Email has been sent out, so if you want to take advantage of this opportunity then please reply to that Email to secure your seat onboard. We barely have our minimum crew, so another couple of starters for the trip would be welcomed.

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21 Jan 2024

We had to wait a whole week to get a suitable day to go fishing. Saturday on paper looked like it was going to be  almost perfect with a major bite time lining up with a sunup.

The  water temperature was going the be around 23°. Everything was going to be lined up…….on paper.  We trolled on the way out to 40m with no success so we started fishing for demersals on various lumps with good shows of fish but the fish wouldn't bite properly. It was tough fishing with very tender bites so we had to continually feed line to even get a half serious bite. All was not lost as we still manage to bag out by nine o'clock with four good fish. The fact there was no bycatch of wrasse and sargeant baker was a very good indicator the fish were not on the bite. As hardcore Fishman we were not going to be put off by fish not biting or that the Seabreeze was already in and getting stronger. We decided  it was time to go trolling for tuna or a Mackie. We trolled for the next three hours with only one strike and failed hookup. The ocean had turned into a washing machine and with the trolling. If it wasn't for bad luck we would have had no luck at all, so it became  time to throw in the towel and head home. It was still a very enjoyable day and with four good fish in the box and we were back in the pen about 12:30.

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21 Nov 2023

We took the boat out of the water yesterday morning to clean the hull and to change the shaft and Keel anodes and to apply a coat of antifoul to the hull. The old anodes were in fair condition and there was not much growth on the hull. Thanks to Greg S, Ian and Geoff for taking the boat out and to the painters Roko, Greg U, Mick, Kevin . Greg S and Ian put the boat back into the water this morning and put about 300 litres of fuel in before returning it to the pen. 

 

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19 Nov 2023

The weather forecast for yesterday  turned out to be a bit of a dud. We expected an easterly in the morning with a seabreeze about noon. What we got was a south wester at 10 to 12 knots making it a bit hard. We left the pen at about 7am after a safety briefing with Member, Pieter and 3 visitors, Shunning, Rueben and Bryan and headed up to the sandy grounds off the Shacks  to try to get a heap of whiting. On the way up we deployed some skirted lures and just before we got to the shacks Shunning hooked up to a northern bluefin tuna. He had a lot of fun as the medium sized fish fought him on light tackle. Once boatside it was skillfully netted by Pieter.

On arrival at the whiting grounds the fish were on the bite and we quickly began to collect a good number. None were really big though and as the wind picked up they became harder to catch.  All too soon they completely shut down and went off the bite. We even tried anchoring with very limited success. A good sized squid, a small skippy and a few bottom dwellers were caught. The decision was made to up anchor and head out to a KG spot out behind the three mile reef. On the way Shunning got another small tuna. The increasing breeze was making it very difficult and a Pink Snapper and a Baldchin Groper were caught and carefully released but there was no King George.  A large number of wrasse and a Sampson fish went in the icebox when the decision was made to call it a day and head in about midday.

Everybody had a great day. Rueben and Bryan had a cookup that night and their verdict was Tuna - outstanding, Sambo-  much better than expected and wrasse – quite edible as fish cakes

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21 October 2023

Jim could not have organised a better day for a whiting trip. It was overcast but calm when we left the Two Rocks marina at 7am and steamed down to the whiting grounds off Yanchep. There were 6 of us on board, Greg the Skipper, plus Mick K, Pieter F, Kevin J, Ian S, and Eddie N.  Once we passed the channel markers we deployed 3 skirted lures of various colours. It was not long before we had a triple hookup of smallish mack tuna, all of which were successfully landed by Kevin , Eddie and Mick. We did a circle around to see if we could tempt some more but the school had moved on. Once at the whiting grounds we went to small hooks and a variety of bait  from Prawns , oxheart, squid but the best bait I found was small pieces of freshly caught whiting.

A steady procession of Western School Whiting came over the side and by about 11am we had enough. I am not sure of the exact number but it would have been about 160. The largest I had was 24cm but the average was about 16 – 18 cm. They certainly make a good feed.  At times we drifted over weedy rocky bottom. On 2 occasions a squid followed a hooked whiting to the boat. Both were landed. It might be worth having a squid jig in the water whenever we fish for sand whiting.

Kevin set a lure out for the trip home and within 5 minutes had another small Mack Tuna. Three skirted lures went out again but there was no more. Greg had a spot where he had caught King George whiting in the past so as it was not late and the weather was still perfect we agreed to give it a go. There were a couple of craypots on the patch that we managed to avoid and Mick , Pieter, Ian and Eddie all managed a KG each with Micks being the biggest at 49.5 cm. Greg could have had one also but decided to let it go half way up (accidentally). Pieter showed his prowess on light gear with a 60 plus cm Pink Snapper that was successfully released. Eddie displayed his talent by catching footballers in the rectum and everyone else contributed a variety of wrasse to Ians stockpile of Cray Bait for the coming season.

Back in the Marina by 2:30 we had a debate on what to do with the Mack Tuna. Eventually they were taken by those who wanted to eat them thus depriving Ian of more Cray Bait.

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September trips

Hi Guys we are back fishing with a bit of a layoff due to poor weather with 2 trips over the last week,

The first was an inshore whiting trip with 4 members for a quick run up to the shacks to catch a total of 72 sand whiting and one King George of 35cm.

The second was an offshore trip yesterday that eventually went ahead after the weather forecast changed several times making conditions uncertain at the beginning of the week.

Once more Greg led a WCAC trip with 5 anglers on board. This time the temperature was a fair bit cooler than expected but the winds waves and swell were all very manageable.

Once we were out of the Marina and through the inner reef, we had 4 trolling skirts and lures out the back. Dominic's was the one to strike producing a plump blue fin tuna of 64 cm.

Out behind the  3 Mile Reef we were keen to get into bottom bouncing and Kerry was quick to deliver a 70cm Dhuey. Geoff followed with an undersized Pinky and the day looked promising. By 10am….the start of bite time we had three of our four demersals with Greg and Roko having added 2 Pinkys to the tally.

We still had one demersal to our bag limit and, despite it being the major bite time this was proving difficult.  Geoff pulled in a 53cm dhuey but reluctantly agreed to return it to the deep on the skipper's assurance it would survive. We persevered until after 3pm for our last demersal which our skipper finally delivered in the form of a 70cm Pinky

Only Alex, our guest, had not caught a fish despite having two rods working with a variety of bait, soft plastics and jigging

Trolling home again delivered a small blue fin and fortunately to Alex. Greg gave a Pinky to each of Roko and Geoff and all fishermen ended up with table fish to take home. That was a good result in what had been a great day on the water

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May 19 and 27 2023 Trips

Members and friends , I have been a bit tardy in keeping you all informed on what the boat has been  doing over the last few weeks. I had been away for a month and Greg, Geoff and Roko went competition fishing off Malaysia and have only been back 2 weeks.

Anyhow the trip on Friday the 19^th May was an inshore one with 4 members. Skipper Greg took advantage of a forecast slight evening breeze to do an inshore Snapper trip.  The wind was a little stronger than forecast but eventually dropped off. Dom had a steady catch of medium size Skippy using small hooks and fresh prawns. David caught a nice Skippy and a big Sampson see pic. Not to be out and true to his usual form, Roko had fun with a extra large Samson taking him all around the back of the boat.

We also landed two sharks and five undersize Pink Snapper but unfortunately no keeper Snapper

Saturday 27^th afternoon was a warm Autumn day with almost no wind so a three o'clock start was set for another attempt to get some inshore snapper.  Four members and skipper Greg made their way out from Two Rocks anchoring up in 15 m of water. The Skippy were on the bite straight away and were taking a variety of baits, squid, prawns and pieces of fish. They must have been well fed because after a while they just swam around the boat and would not take a bait.
With sunset approaching and a major bite time, things looked like a perfect evening, but fishing doesn't always go to plan. On sunset the bite slowed down, Mick landed a Breaksea Cod and Pieter a small Dhuie.

In all, 17 skippy were kept and several more released, including two Port Jackson sharks, several Flathead and two undersized Pinkies. Neville wasn't going home until he caught his two Squid. 

Supper was kindly donated by Neville's Hotdogs, sweets by Mick and Pieter.  There was nothing large caught, so we need you guys to come on the next trip and show us how it's done.
Skipper Greg did some sounding over a horseshoe shape reef that looks promising for our next Inshore trip.  Perfect if we have the breeze from South-West to South-East.
There was a good showing of bait and fish holding on the edge and on top of the reef.

Check you Inbox for Email from the WCAC Booking Officer announcing Planned Fishing Trips.

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Trip 30 Jan 2023

With only a short time left before the new Demersal ban,  Booking officer Jim had been studying the weather forecast for days and Monday 31st wasn't much of a day with 2.5 M swells but light winds until around lunchtime that were  expected to increase in the afternoon. Certainly not  ideal weather conditions but the best we going to get so Jim called an off shore trip. Then we had all the other variables like a  low barometer of 1006 hpa, no major bite time and even a low fish activity day of only 17% plus expected max temp of 38 degrees. You would think with all this stacked up against you a normal person would look at the statistics and stay home. But it's a well known fact fisherman aren't normal we are a very special breed and probably just a bit crazy. .

So Skipper Greg, five members and two guests ventured out for a days fishing expecting it to be a  bit unpleasant.  And it was. But fish hard they did and came home with a good catch. The years of fishing experience Roko and Dom have was  shown out again by  fishing everyone. If you ever have the pleasure of fishing along side them take advantage to watch and learn they fish old school and with a lot of success. No fancy rods n reels , no fancy tackle , no special rigs, just use the basics to good effect. Baldchin Groper do not chase a moving bait very far before heading back to their shelter. Dom and Roko just keep feeding line until the Baldie decides to grab the now stationary bait and head back to their hole. Hookup too easy thank you.

The area that was fished was again west south west of the marina. It is flat gravelly bottom with a few small lumps. The chances of getting snagged is really small so feeding line is the right thing to do. Several long drifts over these flats produced the goods once again.

The tally board proves experience counts with Roko on top this time closely followed by Dom.

Altogether the crew caught a Whiskery Shark, a Pink Snapper of 66cm, 11 Baldchin Groper between 42 cm and 49cm, a 34cm Breaksea cod, 2 kidney slapper King George Whiting to 53cm, and a couple of Skippy.

I left the best till last …….. Wade got a 84cm Dhuie and Dom got a 74cm Dhuie

All the fish were cleaned and shared equally amongst the crew so that everyone went home with their daily bag limit of demersal and some extra non demersal. 

Plus all the normal bait fish of wrasse and sargent baker. Fish successful released two Dhuies, three Samson Fish, one Stingray, three Baldies 

There is only a few photos because it was a bit rough and hard to keep your balance while holding a fish

Catch off the day is Wade's big 84cm Dhuie and is well etched into his memory. If you would like to make some happy memories of your own, look out for the emails from the booking officer Jim, during the demersal ban. We are planning some exciting trips chasing Spanish Mackerel and Tuna and for the quiet relaxing half day trips you can catch some very yummy sand Whiting.

To answer the question are all fisherman crazy, no but it helps if you are. Don't get caught up with statistics get out on the water and enjoy the day if you catch fish it's a bonus, the important thing is to have fun.

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Trip Sat 22nd Jan 2023

Members and Friends, Well done to those 8 who chose to fish out on the ocean rather than watch it on the TV with the aircon cranking.

With the temperature of 39 C forecast  for Perth,  a day on the water was the place to be at a much cooler 30 degrees. I was well worth the effort as Skipper Greg and six members and a Visitor David Nutt,  enjoyed a day of calm seas with a gentle cooling breeze. An hour run down to the lumpy flats to the south west proved very productive with a steady stream of fish being caught all through out the day. The weather was near perfect and there was a slow drift which is probably why there was 5 baldies  kept.  At the end of the day there were 21 fish with 14 of them being demersal.  It is a really good day in anyones books when the bag out was 16 demersals. Two fish that stood out as the catches of the day was Roko's Dhuie at 90cm and Courtney's Samson fish that was huge. Just have a look see at the pics.

The tally board showed a pleasing result everyone caught and got to take home some quality eating fish.

Collectively for the Demersals we got 2 Dhufish and released 2 others, 4 Pink Snapper and released 4 others, 3  Breaksea cod and released 1 , and 5 Baldchin Groper and released 2

Additionally where were 2 sharks, 2 Sampson fish, a cuttlefish and a Skippy along with the usual variety of wrasse etc

We still have time for one or two more trips before the Demersal ban so check your emails from Jim the booking officer.

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Thursday Dec 29 2022

Six members and one visitor got away from the marina fairly early and headed southwest to fish some lumps for demersals. It was to be the  last fishing trip for 2022 and it turned into another very successful day. We didn’t travel far but found fish on the lumps in 30m . When the Seabreeze came in it was an easy drive back to the marina. Everyone onboard caught and took home some quality fish. At the end of the day the tally board read

Skipper Greg Dhuie 51cm and a Breaksea Cod 41cm, Sandro Breaksea Cod 42cm,  Courtney Whiskery Shark 1M, and a Baldie 49cm. Greg Uren 2 Baldies 46cm and 50cmans a  Breaksea Cod 43cm, Patrick Spotted Sweetlip 41cm. Ben a Dhuie 64 and 2  Baldies 48cm and 49cm. Visitor Marcos Samson Fish 70cm.

There are no losers on the club boat everyone went home a winner after spending a great day on the water with bunch of mates catching fish. It was a great way to see out the year. Although I must say Courtney was full of mixed emotions when he hooked what he thought was a big Samson Fish giving him a nice workout. The fish displayed all the traits of a Sambo hiding under the boat, doing runs taking line, but we couldn't believe our eyes when Courtney finally got the fish up enough for us to see what it was, yep that Sambo turned into a 84cm 10kg Dhuie. We already had our two Dhuies so we didn't remove it from the water for any pics instead quickly releasing it back to the deep. The skipper placed an X on the ocean and made a skipper promise to Courtney next time he's on board we will return so he can catch and keep it. By the way that still counts as a catch and is Courtneys personal best Dhuie.

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Tuesday Dec 20 2022

It’s a great time to be a member of a fishing club when you can have such a great day on the water with a few mates

Booking officer Jim decided that with the demersal season open, it was time to really study the weather patterns intensely. On Tuesday, there was finally had a lull in the strong winds that had persisted for weeks. Jim sent out the email and five members plus two visitors jumped at the opportunity. We departed the Marina about 0530 had headed southwest so we could come home with a following wind when the seabreeze came in.

The solunar fishing tables prediction was for a low activity day  at 41% with a major bite time 7.49am to 10.49 am. With light easterly winds we targeted the lumps for Duhies and other Demersals. President Domenic was rewarded with a nice Dhuie 55 cm, big King George Whiting 52cm and a Break Sea Cod  of 35cm. Kevin  H scored a Break Sea Cod at 39cm and King George Whiting of 50cm. Visitor Ross caught two nice Pinkies 53 and 63cm. Visitor Sean got his arms stretched with a Samson Fish 82cm and a nice Flat Head of 44cm. Roko A also had some fun with a Samson 67cm plus a Pinkie at 51cm. Skipper Greg caught a whiskery Shark  1.2m and pinkie at 53cm. Club president Dom made quick work of the shark gutting cleaning it up and sharing it amongst the crew….. very fitting seeing the shark had managed to tangle almost everyone's lines.

Everyone had a great day and went home with some  fish

Some of the other fish released 6 pinkies, 3 Dhuies , 2 Break Sea Cod and Dusky Morwong.

Please see the attached pics 

Friday is looking like a carbon copy of Tuesday and the email has already gone out if you want to be onboard please contact the booking officer Jim

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Sunday December 11 2022

Can you call something that winds up lots of rope windy?

Regardless, the word windy will still be used quite a bit to describe Sunday's fishing trip.

Sunday was our club's first trip out with the new anchor winch fitted, loaded with 100m of new rope and fully operational (see attached photo).

A big Thanks goes out to all those who helped get it operational and to Extensity Pty Ltd for some sponsorship to get the rope and Chain  and to all those who contributed to this project.and to others who have made donations to keep the club running.

At this time of the year, it is often difficult to make trips happen, what with the 2 month demersal ban (Oct 15 - Dec 15 inclusive) and typical annual strong easterly wind forecasts. But given the boat had not done a trip for almost 2 months, we were desperate to make one happen, even if it was to be a half day Inshore trip in less than perfect weather (but best available).

So with a crew of five, including a new visitor David Robotham and members George B, Courtney Mand Jim H, with Greg skippering, Thalia II left the Two Rocks marina not much after 6a.m. Left behind were the hundreds of cormorants that have been busy using the boat as a roost and  recoating Thalia II white. Another Thanks deservedly goes out to Greg for his cleaning efforts on Saturday. Greg was not so impressed by Shag offerings confronting him on Saturday when he visited the boat to do some pre-checks and load up the new anchor rope. He has some impressive before and after cleaning photos, but best we move on from this "crappy" topic.

With some 15-20knot windy morning Easterlies, Thalia II cruised North along the coast up to our whiting spots. Attempts to troll some lures were made difficult due to weed in the water. Drifting for the whiting was a little too quick so once a few whiting were caught and located, the anchor was dropped.

George got off to a great start and was showing up the rest onboard with his whiting catch rate, but soon disclosed his secret weapon ... he was using lamb's heart for bait. While the usual neat offerings of squid were still effective, the whiting had an obvious preference for the red meat. New-comer David settled in well down the back with George and benefiting from the use of George's bait (which he kindly offered to all to use), the two of them consistently caught some nice sized sand whiting.

The anchor winch offered the ease of use and convenience to let extra rope out and moving spots as required.

A bit after 11a.m. a good feed of whiting (about 85 in total) had been caught, plus a few big fat herring and with the windy conditions only getting worse and forecasted above 30knots in the afternoon it was agreed by all to cruise back home.

In addition to whiting and herring, one size flathead was caught, a just under-sized tailor released, and Courtney had some fun with an eagle ray that did the right thing and got off near the boat. Greg caught the largest sand-whiting that was a real kidney slapper (apologies for no photos, but it did happen).

Back in the sanctuary of the marina, the caught fish were divided up, plus some generous gifts from club local Ian (and his crew Geoff and Brad) for each of the Thalia II crew.

Please keep your eyes out for any future Planned fishing Trips.

The Demersal ban finishes on Thursday 15th December, so weather permitting, we will be trying to get out for an Offshore fish when we can.

We have until 1st February before the new fishing restrictions come in, so from Friday, we can still catch two demersals each (boat limit of 2 Dhuies).

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Friday 14 October 2022

Last Friday the 14th was our last chance to try to catch a demersal or two before the two month ban commenced so seven members took advantage of the small weather window to fish the morning. We left the pen early and anchored just on sun rise. After an hour of getting nothing, Kerry was finally onto something decent but only to be disappointed after a good fight to find it was a stingray. A short while later he was on again and this time it was a nice Pink Sapper of 69cm. 

With the easterlies dropping off by 8.00 am, it was time to slip out into the 30 metres area to try for a Dhuie. We made some long slow drifts over mixed bottom of lumps and broken ground picking up a mixed bag of species. Leather Jacket, rock flat head,  Red Gurnard, Wrasse, Undersize Pink snapper and Undersize Dhuies. The bite had been very slow until about One o'clock when the sea breeze started to come in and the fish came back on the bite.  We stayed until 2.30 before heading back in. Overall the day failed to produce too much in the way of good fish. However, Greg caught a big cuttlefish, Adnan under seize Dhuie, George Break Sea Cod of 39cm and a King George Whiting 45cm, Kerry Pinkie of 59cm and big cuttlefish, Kevin King George Whiting 45cm, Pieter kept a steady stream of bait coming plus 1 undersize Dhuie, and Leo 2 undersize Dhuies. 

We released 5 under size fish Dhuies  plus 4 undersize Pink Snapper and 4 Breaksea Cod.

There Demersal opportunity has closed for  two months until the 15^th December.  But  the pelagic door opens and  as the sea surface temperature rises to 22 or 23 degrees, the Spanish mackerel will arrive. Soon we will be chasing mackerel and tuna offshore and inshore sand and King George Whiting, skippy and yellow tail king fish, keep an eye out for Jim's emails for planned trips.

If you haven’t renewed your membership please do so soon as we need the money to pay the Pen Fees

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19 August 2022

After weeks of cold weather, strong winds and big swells finally we were blessed with what can only be called a perfect winters fishing day. Forecast was for  no wind, no rain, warm sun shine and low swells. The Club Booking Officer, Jim Hunter had been studying the weather for days and saw this perfect weather window and called a inshore fishing trip. Five members and friends and skipper Greg, gathered at the gate after lunch at one o'clock to made their introductions for the visitors Kyle and George and new members Geoff Rose and Greg Uren.

             With  all the fishing gear fishing gear stored aboard and the safety brief done it was off to catch whiting for bait. Well almost……. while on the way to the whiting spot, skipper Greg  spotted a nice lump holding bait and thought  “lets stop and have a look and  try for a Dhuie”.   We caught three Dhuies with the largest being  69cm and released 48cm and 49cm Dhuies  in only 12 metres of water. They released well, swimming strongly back to the depths along with some undersize pink snapper.

With the afternoon sun starting to dip it was time to set the anchor and get the berley trail working. Visitor Kyle had made a special blend and suspended it in an onion bag, and as it worked,  we weren't  to be disappointed. The  the Pinkies came just as the sun dipped below the horizon. We caught five keepers and released some smaller ones. We took some happy snaps please see attached pics

Overall is was a very good evening fishing expedition.  If you would like to be onboard our next trip look out for Jim's emails for planed trips.

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13 July 2022

It was great to see so many faces at the AGM last night.

Last year was a reasonably success one for your club. The boat went out 25 times and we caught over 600 fish. The only downside was the rising costs in Fuel and Pen fees and this meant we went backwards by $3500 financially. Consequently we have been forced to make slight changes to the fees. After much discussion we agreed to introduce a $150 trip fee for trips to 100m or more, to leave the normal offshore trip at $130 and to increase the inshore trip fee to $80. The day membership fee remains at $10 for visitors and there is no change in the Membership fee of $120

Memberships renewals are currently due. When you pay by direct deposit please send me an email to say you have paid

We have a slightly changed committee with Geoff Evans coming on board to replace the retiring Jon Stanley.

We have scrapped the 55cm rule for WA Dhufish. We will now use the WA Fisheries rule of 50cm for a Dhufish. If the fisher decides to release a legal size dhufish then so be it.

Congratulations to the Trophy winners

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Sunday June 26 2022

Five members and the Skipper got away a little late due to a missing gate and boat key, luckily Skipper Ian loan his keys so we could go.

First stop was the sand whiting grounds to collect over thirty whiting for tasty Snapper bait, then off to be on anchor before sunset and what a lovely sunset it was. Dom was first to get the excitement flowing with a nice run followed by a short battle but it turned out to be a very big North West Blowfish.

Kerry had a heap of fun with some decent runs and his patience was rewarded when his fish was netted and bought aboard a huge hump head pink snapper 84cm.  That will be a night he won't forget for a while.

Not long later Dom was on again this time he caught a shark and he checked it's stomach contents, he removed a whiting with the Courtneys hooks. Not to be wasteful Greg put the whiting on and cast it out the back of the boat and walked away to check on something. The line was soon peeling off the reel on a blistering run.  Greg yelled to Courtney to take it. Courtney had several runs eventually getting the fish to the boat were Greg gaffed it.  It was a big 105cm 15kg yellow fin tuna that was filleted and shared amongst the crew. Two nice trophy fish in one night.

While the skippy didn't turn up in  quantity. Dom did catch one but it could be a bit early in the season. They will come.

We also released two under size pinkies, two rays and a small shark.

The inshore trips are popular so if you are keen to go and make some unforgettable memories, watch your email inbox Jim will send out an email once we announce our next trip.

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Sunday June 5 Evening trip

As luck would have it!

When someone had all the luck my dad would say: “if he fell into the sewer he would come up with a silver sixpence between his teeth!”. My mother, who was undoubtedly wiser would rebut with her view that people make their own luck. So on with our evening fish on Sunday. Veteran fisher and club member Terry was the only one of 8 fishers to deliver with 3 good size pinkies at 79, 72 and 62 cm respectively.

Having set out at 2pm Greg took us North toward Moore River and to our stop for fresh whiting as bait. Even they were not cooperating and an hour of drifting over sand got us a meagre supply of bait though with a few big examples were secreted to bags for a feed of whiting down the track.

From there to drifting across some promising spots identified by skipper Greg on a previous trip. Another fruitless hour and with the sun beginning to set a strengthening and icy South Easterly wind in our faces we headed to our favoured spot at the edge of the reef where Greg laid anchor to allow us to drift back over the sand. We were all into pinkie mode but with a variety of rigs suited from bottom dropping through to casting out with triple hook and light ball sinker to let the rig sink gently to the sea floor. Roko was almost immediately “rewarded” with a large NW blowie which failed to dash his natural optimism! 

Terry’s onslaught began. Using his highly flexible casting rod with 50lb braid and 100lb leaded, snelled hooks with a running ball sinker and mulies as bait. Fishing out of the side of the boat he was the next to hook up and deliver a very decent pinkie. Fired with enthusiasm and having earned his pole position, Terry maneuverer his way to a stern corner of Thalia from where he cast out two lines. As the sun was fast disappearing Terry moved to fresh whiting as bait and was rewarded with two more very decent pinkies.

For the rest of us there was no more than a couple of rays, a squid and one skipjack trevally! Greg got onto his specially prepared bacon and egg rolls which were gratefully received in the now icy conditions. Soon after 7.30 we began our trek back to the marina arriving a little after 8.30…..think a felt Terry had given us a good fishing lesson!

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Sat 21st May Evening trip

I don’t have a lot of detail but Saturdays evening trip went only reasonable. Terry got 2 pink Snapper by using a running sinker and casting out away from the boat. One was 89cm. Sinker on the bottom, paternoster style dont work so well when on anchor when the fish are away from the boat.  Also caught were a couple of Sampson fish over a metre, a couple of skippy and some squid.

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            Friday 20^th May saw the second recconnaisance mission out to the deep reefs 30 nautical miles off the coast from Two Rocks. To say that the day started with a bang is an understatement. 5 intrepid fishers joined Greg, our skipper at 5.50am. We were Club President Dominic, Roko, trainee Skipper Ben, Leo and Geoff. The usual rituals of checking the oil, cleaning windows, sorting deck gear were completed, after which Greg turned the ignition key…..BANG! One of the two kick arse batteries below decks had exploded. We surmised that a spark had ignited a hydrogen build up from the battery, or an open circuit in the battery or this or that and there was more than one theory as to how that had occurred! (We will try to get it replaced under warranty). Some checks later and with Battery Bank 1 still intact we were able to start the boat and leave the marina. It was a three hour trip to the depths of 300 hundred and 400metres that was our destination.

            We ran 3 trolling lines behind Thalia 11, one of which delivered a small but decent Blue Fin Tuna for Geoff. Others chatted or dozed or got their deep dropping gear prepared. Three had electric reels which could be run from the Anderson plugs so ably fitted by Greg along one side of the boat. Leo had a stonking Alvey manual reel about the size of those 35mm film spools they used to use in cinemas. Dominic had a heavy duty manual overhead reel and Ben something similar but smaller. We were variously on occy, squid and small fish for bait.

            The first drop was at 350metres (which meant 400 metres of line out allowing for current) and produced the expected green eye sharks. Greg navigated us around the ledge he had found and Geoff and Dominic brought up two respectable pink snapper at 52cm and 55cm respectively. Further drops into the deep got Ben 3 further pinkies….one of which was just size. He had to work really had to bring them up, each one taking well over 10 minutes to reel in!

            Geoff was on with something big, which we fervently hoped was a giant cod. That was a struggle even with his electric reel.  First the fuse in the boat Anderson plug blew and Geoff rapidly shifted to his battery. Then his reel stopped as a result of the overload and he resorted to manual winding. Eventually colour was seen coming to the suface and……..it was a 5 to 6 foot grey coated shark, probably a Whaler. Luckily it broke free near the surface returning to the deep with Geoff’s rig. Meantime Dominic was bringing in a series of small nannygais one of which he eventually decided to keep along with one of the many green eye sharks brought up.

            Somewhat exhausted with our winding exertions we got Greg to take us to the relative shallows of 190 metres where Geoff got a black spot pig fish at 47cm, while he and Greg each brought up a breaksea cod at 39 and 32cm respectively.

Faced with a 3 hour run home we reluctantly put our deep dropping gear away and trolled our way homewards. That delivered another small blue fin for Dominic while Roko missed out on something bigger…one that got away. Back in the pen by 6.45pm after an enjoyable but not especially fruitful day. 

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April 15 2022

Friday was the only day that was fishable for the whole week, so Jim sent out the email and within hours the boat was full. This means if you are keen to go on the next trip you need to watch your emails and respond early to the email.

We left the Marina just after sunup, deployed the lures and trolled for half an hour trying for Spanish Mackerel but no taker's. We wound in the lures and took advantage of the easterlies and following sea to get out to the 40m line and start bottom bouncing for Baldies. But to our surprise Sandro caught a big 70cm Grey School Mackerel on a Jig, He was lucky because it fell off the jig and landed straight into the waiting net. Sandro dropped his metal jig straight back down and was immediately bitten off by what we suspect another Mackerel. Sandro was the man of the day catching fish after fish on Jigs; two Sampson fish at  84cm and 68cm, Baldchin Groper of  47cm, Breaksea Cod at 47cm two Cuttleflish and a Wrasse

Kevin got the biggest Baldie of the day 50cm, and not far behind him was Wade with his Baldie 48cm. Greg caught the only legal Pink Snapper at 50.5cm and a Sambo 68cm. One of the Duhies and Sandro's big Break Sea Cod came of a new lump found on the way home. We only had time for a quick drop but will be definitely going back there.

In the dying minutes Patrick landed a Breaksea Cod 33cm. With a long run home it was time to go with some very tasty fish in the ice box. We are looking forward to the new clear screens going onto the sides of the boat this week. Then we wont get as wet coming home.

We also caught and released  two Duhies, two pink snapper and a baldie all of which were undersize.

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March 12 2022

The weather finally gave a good window of opportunity with some fishable days and so a trip was planned for Saturday, looking the better day.  By Friday the weather gods threw a late challenge with Sunday suddenly looking good and Saturday a little salty.  But with a full boat crew of 8 and not all being able to do a last minute swap, the originally planned Saturday trip was given the green light.

On a very calm Saturday morning, skipper Greg steered Thalia II out of the marina about an hour before the sun appeared over the Eastern horizon.

Onboard were some WCAC greats including our Club President Domenic, Ian (another club skipper and our Two Rocks almanac), and Roko (our usual Tuna & Dhuie specialist), accompanied by Jim, plus our newest member Ben and two members who were taking advantage of their well earned Loyalty Offshore trip vouchers, Terry and Martyn.  (NB: Our loyalty program offers a free offshore trip once you have done the equivalent of 5 Offshore trips in a season).

Given we are well in to Spanish Mackeral season, within about 30minutes the boat was slowed to about 6 knots and bibbed lures were set for a troll on the way Northwards. Roko appeared to have had a bump on his lure just before Martyn’s lure was temporarily grabbed for a few seconds, but unfortunately no Mackies were properly hooked.  The bibbed lures were swapped with some high speed skirts and Greg pointed the boat in the North West direction towards the destined fishing grounds.

As forecasted, the Westerly winds quickly strengthened to 15-20knots by mid-morning which resulted in the boat drifting quickly, even with the sea anchor deployed.  Holding the bottom was difficult and after trying a few spots in 30m-40m of water Terry and Domenic appeared to fish the conditions best.
Terry was the Baldchin Groper champ with 3 caught between 46cm-49cm and Domenic caught a 48cm Baldie and a double header of Breaksea cod.  Martyn caught a 44cm Baldie and Greg also got a good sized 45cm Breaksea Cod that came to the surface looking like a Coral Trout from NorthWest waters.  Martyn, after a good fight, also got a decent sized Sandbar Shark to the side of the boat before that came off the line and Terry manage to boat a 1.3m Whiskery Shark which was kept and at the end of the day shared amongst those who wanted a taste.
Wrasse, Rockcod, Flathead, Western Blue Devil, Sweep, Sargent Baker and undersized and released BreakSea, Pink Snapper and Baldchin were also caught during the day.
Good Dhufish were again hard to find, with 8 undersized caught and released (up to the size of 53cm – NB: our club rule that Dhuies need to be 55cm).  Maybe we need to address the Club 55cm Dhuie size at the AGM.

Near the end of the day and on the last drift, Jim who had been toiling away on the bow of the boat without success, gave a little too much effort when casting his metal jig upwind.
Apparently, in his attempt to finish the day off with a last minute catch, he literally threw everything at the fish, lure, line, rod & reel.  The entire lot left his hands and sunk in to the 40 odd metres of ocean blue beneath him.
Greg kindly tried to hook it up fishing with his rig on the bow, while Jim thanked Greg for his efforts but declared it was a one in a million chance, so Jim just sat and packed up what had been a bad day for him.
A good 5 or more minutes later, Domenic while untangling his line called out to the boat to see who had the light coloured braid.
Nobody fishing answered. Domenic asked again, at which point a very despondent Jim ventured over to see if by some very remote chance the line could be his white Tasline braid he used.
And that is when a very bad day of fishing can suddenly become a very good one.
About 200m of white braid was pulled in with a lure still on one end and a jigging rod and reel still attached to the other end.  To say Jim was very appreciative of Domenic’s abilities to catch on the day is an understatement.

That was the last stop for the day and Thalia II was once again safely steered back to it’s Two Rocks pen.

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 Feb 11 2022          

   Last Friday morning 5am gate time was calm and still dark, when Skipper Greg and seven crew arrived to make a full boat. With all the rods and gear stored aboard the boat, all that was left to do before departing the Port was to unPlug the Power cord.  The skipper should have Passed that job on to a crew member, but no, Greg insisted on doing that job, but while rolling it up, he triPPed on the bow roPe and took an early morning Plunge.  It was at that time he realised why he had Placed the ladder on the transom. With a change of clothes it was time to put all that Planning and Preparation into action.  Once over the reef we trolled for a Spanish Mackerel but no taker's. With no wind and very slow drift it was a Perfect opportunity to hit the lumps for a Dhuie.  New member Rob landed his very first Dhuie of 60cm and a Baldie 45cm, Kevin Break Sea Cod 37cm and Fox fish 33cm, Mick Baldie 45cm, Patrick Break Sea Cod 45cm, Diego a Skippy 37cm, Greg a  Baldie 46cm and a  Whiskery shark of 120cm . The day was slowly Producing results with some good fish coming aboard.

                While jigging Diego got entangled with a shear water bird (mutton bird).  Greg covered the bird with his shirt to calm him down and while holding Peter Piper (as the mutton bird is now called), Peter Piper Pecked Greg's Pecker, and yes it really, really, hurt - they have a nasty sharp hooked beak.

                The "P" of a bird was released unharmed although his Pride and Perfect Plumage was slightly Parted.

With the day nearing and end the fish had been Picking all day and only landing one now and then, Skipper Greg decided Persistent will Pay off time to go find some new ground we moved out into 60m and found a small lump with a good show of fish we did Pull a few fish off it. Proud as Punch we headed home where everyone got to take home some fish and we will be heading back to that new lump in 60m on a better day it will Produce

Skipper Greg was the entertainment for the day with his early morning Plunge and good Pecking he received from that "P" of a bird.

We have a very keen new member Courtney, welcome aboard.

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Thursday 20th Jan 2022

It was a great day to be out with Greg Skippering last Thursday. While the Jiggers didn’t do as well as the Baiters, everyone went home with some fish. The photos on this website tell the story.

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Tuesday 28th December

With a good weather forecast and a full boat crew of 8 (Skipper Greg, Daniel, Jim, Martin, Joe, Mick, Chris and his Nephew visitor Fabian), Thalia II departed the Two Rocks Marina as the sun rose. It was a fair distance North to the intended fishing spots, so a stop on the way for an early morning Pink Snapper was tried but did not produce.  Unbeknown to us all, the big snapper was to come later in the day.  So Northward went Thalia II with some high speed skirts out the back in hope of a Tuna or early season Mackie. But the only event involving strenuous reeling occurred when Jim failed to notice his lure with the added weight of some weed, had peeled off the entire contents of his line until it eventually hit the spool knot. So after the boat was stopped and about 300m of braid was wound back in (Jim was grateful for Mick’s assistance), the journey North once again continued.  Maybe someone needs to be taught how to set the drag a fraction tighter when trolling aye Jim??

Once out on the fishing grounds, in about 50m of water, Mick was the first to bring on board a nice sized 52cm Baldchin Grouper. This was followed up by Fabian, who was having his first trip onboard as a visitor, and who managed a 51cm Baldie. Other catches included Joe with a nice 43cm BreakSea Cod, Jim jigged a smaller 39cm one and Martin caught a nice sized 41cm Skippy. And about the same time a goodyear blimp sized image appeared on the fish sounder, Fabian pulled up a Norwest Blowie. 

Shortly after Greg had finished eating his tinned Tuna for lunch, we suspect the fishing gods felt sympathy and he (well actually Rodney Rodholder) joined the Baldie gang with a smaller 44cm specimen.  But the President of the Baldie gang was Mick, who proved his worth by demonstrating that his 52cm Baldie was no fluke by catching a second 52cm Baldie.  Only two small Dhuies were jigged up and returned, so it just wasn’t the day for Dhufish.

But, we’ve kept you all in suspense about the Snapper. No it wasn’t the undersized Pinkie that Greg caught and released.

It was when Joe was hooked up to something considerably larger.  The fight had gone on for a bit with Joe struggling to get his catch boatsid e.And then the big Snapper moment arrived … in the form of Joe’s rod snapping in half.

With half a rod he continued the fight for us all to eventually realise it was an unwanted Sting Ray.

So with the seabreeze getting stronger and a long journey home, Greg set Thalia II for it’s course homeward bound. Everybody went home with a feed (thanks Mick for gifting a fillet to Daniel who deserved something for his efforts jigging all day).

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Sunday 14th November

The club trip invitation E-mail for an Inshore trip was sent out on Thursday evening with talk of great weather and a forecast showing the gusts only touching 17knots. By Saturday the forecast was looking worse with those dreaded Easterly gusts looking considerably more annoying. But fortunately, easterlies also bring calm inshore waters protected by the Perth coastline so the Inshore trip was given the go ahead.
        So, at 7a.m. Greg skippered Thalia II out of the marina with crew members Martin, Daniel, Kerry, Jim and new member Ronald. Breakie Burgers (again kindly provided by Greg) were cooked up and ready to eat soon after getting to the Whiting spot. By then it was obvious that the wind was more than 17knots, or even the revised  23knot maximums forecasted on Saturday. When the wind is blowing cooked bacon off the table, water out of the top of a bucket, and baits off hooks when moving spots, you can be pretty sure it’s howling. The Ocean Reef wind logs showed Easterly gusts of 32knots at 8:30am.  (Please rest assured that the club would not have attempted to do an Offshore trip with those late forecasts, or even an Inshore trip if wind direction was different. The conditions on Sunday fishing Inshore were very safe with very low swell, just darn windy.)
Enough about the weather and on to the fishing. Drifting for the whiting proved to be difficult and after an hour or so of trying with only a handful of whiting caught, anchoring was tried. This increased the catch rate but the whiting were still down in numbers. And when the wind had dropped by 10-15knots or so and after avoiding being commandeered by 3 dubious looking salty old sea-dogs who approached by boat (club members, Ian, Jon and Roko), the anchor was raised and a few more drifts for the whiting was attempted. But after a few hours of whiting fishing and with just 45 whiting between the crew of 6, it was time to go look for some herring and skippy around the reefs.        Soon after setting anchor, some good sized herring were around the boat. Jim’s small lead heads with the 8cm (3inch) gulp minnow soft plastics worked well early and Daniel had good success casting a small 20g Samaki Torpedo lure (like a Halco twisty) and retrieving slowly. The rest of the crew also got in on the act and by the end of the session 32 herring had been caught, together with a handful of wrasse.  In the end, with the boat back in the Two Rocks marina pen by about 2p.m., plenty of fun was had on a day when the weather took the honours.

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24th October 2021

You couldn't ask for a better day for Sunday's inshore trip, warm sunshine with gentle off shore breeze.

Skipper Greg and four crew enjoyed a bacon and egg roll for breakfast while bagging out on 30 big plump sand whiting each.  With the whiting box ticked off, we made a short move to anchor the boat next to an inshore reef to chase some skippy  After 1 1/2 hours of berleying everyone agreed that the fish were not going to turn up, skipper Greg consulted the Fishermen's Bible of 101 excuse it was decided that falling barometer was the most likely excuse.

Unfortunately our club photographer had decided to go on a four wheel drive weekend holiday so no happy snaps.

If you missed out on this trip don't worry there will be plenty more opportunities. Jim will be sending out an e-mail soon with planned trips.

Thanks Greg for the words

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10th October 2021

Not for the faint hearted! With moderate winds giving us lumpy seas, seven WCAC members set of at 6am for the two and a half hour voyage to Direction Bank. Mind you Skipper Greg and new member Chris had already been at the marina for an hour scrubbing seabird guano off the decks and roof of Thalia 11! Ian, Kevin, Bob, Martin (a newish member) and Geoff made up the rest of the crew complement.

As we trolled through a couple of areas of diving birds, Ian was rewarded with a good size Blue Tuna. Not long after none of us noticed his super quiet reel delivering hundreds of metres of line to the Striped Tuna now pulling furiously at the end of his line. Despite the rude comments from all and the ineptitude of Geoff buckling Ian’s gimbal belt upside down around his sylphlike waist, Ian brought the tuna home, somewhat out of breath.

Once at Direction Bank, Greg guided us to now familiar lumps, which almost immediately began to deliver. In fact the number and speed of fish delivered to the boat make it hard to describe the process in any detail. Of special note were the first Dhuey caught by Bob at 56cm followed by the stonker brought up by Martin at 83cm and a couple of undersize ones and then…..tragedy…..Bob landed another 83cm beauty.

It might be best to gloss over the “discussion” between Ian and Greg on the best method for fish release for species affected by barotrauma! Suffice to say we did get the fish, including Bob’s 83cm Dhuey back down the bottom. Thereafter Greg’s task became one of getting us closer to our quota of demersals with no Dhueys amongst them. We ended up with 2 Pink Snappers for Greg, a Breaksea Cod each for Kevin,  Geoff, Bob and Martin and a Balchin Groper each for Geoff and Kevin. In addition we returned two undersize Dhueys, one Pinky, one Baldy and one Fox Fish. Ah yes! Geoff also brought up a 1.2 metre Whiskery Shark, which caused quite a bird’s nest among at least three less than delighted fishers!

The return journey was equally as long as the outward one but at least the seas were calmer as the Southerlies had not gained strength as yet. This enabled fish cleaning and filleting to be done by Greg and Ian (thanks to them), but our trolling produced no further results. Back before 6pm, but our excitement was not yet at an end. As we respectively drove out of the marina we were greeted by plumes of smoke and a roaring fire emanating from a car, which had apparently been driving towards the marina! Oh yes…there is no end to the adventure when you go out with WCAC!

            So as we move ever closer to the two month demersal ban which commences on October 15, club activities will be limited to inshore fishing for whiting and the like. So be it. With results like those being seen by WCAC of late we do need to give the demersals an opportunity to breed and recover!

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7th October 2021

At the AGM last July, several members asked if it would be possible to take the boat out over the horizon and fish in the really deep water looking for Blue Eye Trevalla, Hapuka, Grey Banded Cod, Bass Groper and the like. It would be an exploration trip to see how the sounder would perform and if the fish could be found. As a consequence of the meeting, those who asked at the time went out last Thursday as the weather was most favourable. The members who wens still paid for their trip.  It is probably worth doing again when the demersal ban is over if there is enough interest. The downside is that there can be a lot of travelling and then fishing but there may not be a lot of fish.

This is the report from Geoff

0.08 Leagues Under The Sea

Whilst this might not sound as impressive as the 20000 Leagues so frighteningly written about by Jules Verne, believe me 400 metres is a long way to crank a one kilo sinker, let alone a fish, continuously throughout a day’s fishing. Yet this was the heroic performance of Dominic on bait and Jim on jig, both using manual reels. For the rest of us, bar Trevor, technology came to the rescue with electric reels owned by Geoff and skipper Greg and loaned to Roko. Trevor opted out altogether and chose to treat the day as a spectator sport!

We departed at 5.00am sharp (is me or are these start times getting earlier by the minute?) and journeyed three hours out to the deep. Bacon and tomato rolls with lashings of butter and avocado occupied our time and fed our inner selves as we enjoyed the dawn and calm seas. Soon after 8.00am our first drop in 250 metres delivered a nice Bar Cod at 54cm and double header Green Eye Sharks to Geoff. Had the former been the predictor for the day we would have been delighted, but regrettably it was to be the latter with Green Eye after Green Eye appearing at the surface on our hooks.

We were on a steep contour bottom and we moved quickly to deeper then back to slightly shallower water, but without real success. A couple of undersize Nannygais came up but with one or two being less than the bait size we couldn’t really count these. Roko’s first catch of the day was a Volpine Pig Fish (thanks to Dominic for his encyclopedic knowledge of WA fish) and usually only grow to 40cm Then Jim brought up a small Mac Tuna, which he generously offered to all sashimi style. I think he wouldn’t mind me say that it wasn’t the best!

By 1.30pm Greg had to think of something else, so he brought us back in the direction of home, stopping at a previously fished lump at 100 metres or so….so shallow we could almost see the reef below us! Here at last we had some success with Geoff pulling (or rather watching his electric reel pulling) up a 56cm Pinkie, while Dominic more vigorously wound in a 42cm Baldy. A couple of undersize Pinkies later we had no choice but to head back home.

With two trolled skirts and a “Qantas” lure out the back Roko struck first with a decent 79cm Yellow Fin Tuna…probably the fish of the day, while not to be outdone, Dominic followed up with a 56cm Blue Fin Tuna.

Back at the Marina by 6.45pm the rituals were performed on docking and cleaning after which 6 weary fishermen, notably Jim and Dominic, made their ways home! The verdict was that this had been an experiment worth trying and probably worth repeating. But there is a lot of desert out there and we need to find out where the Oases lie.

Geoff Evans

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28 Sept 2021  The Rock Day

It had been two weeks since the very successful previous offshore trip to new ground further north and with another full boat of 8, those on board were keen to see what the day would bring.
Skipper Greg rocked up to the marina earlier than the rest, to be rocked by a few hundred gifts left by the many resident seagulls, all over the boat.   So after a not so quick wash of the boat, the skip’ was joined by the rest of the crew, regular members Bob, Terry, Jim, Phil, Daniel, plus two new members, Sandro and Diego.
Sandro and Diego were doing their second trip after being invited as visitors by Daniel a fortnight before.   
The new club Loyalty system meant that, Daniel was credited with their visitor trips which took his tally to 5 Offshore trips.
Therefore, Daniel became our first club member to be presented with a club loyalty voucher for a free Offshore trip. Thanks Daniel for being a great patron of the club.   For those unaware of the loyalty program, a reward of one free Offshore Trip is available once you have done the equivalent of 5 Offshore trips in the season.
You also get rewarded for bringing visitors in to the club by having their visitor trip added to your tally.   So, with all on board, Greg skippered the boat out of the marina in search of some good rocky coral ground back up North way.
After a solid couple of hours travel, a couple of spots were tried, but the forecasted early Easterly winds caused a bit of rocking of the boat to contend with.  Greg hooked up to something rock solid that appeared to have some weight to it. The battle deserves a lengthy tell all description, but Greg being very humble has requested not to make a big deal about it in the fishing report. Fortunately we did get a photo of him and his Catch of the Day, but given he’d prefer we not mention his catch, we’ll just rock on with the rest of the report.    Once further out on the grounds from a fortnight earlier, Daniel jigged up the first of many Dhufish caught for the day. A 59cm keeper.     Phil caught a 48cm Baldchin Grouper.

Bob caught a sized Pinkie (59cm) which are hard to find with about another 7 undersized Pinkie’s being thrown back during the day. Many of which are in that 45-49cm range.  Greg caught a nice sized 50cm Flathead. There was some suspicion after his catch of the day, he may have since been keeping his gear off the bottom and when noticing the drift was now safely over some sand he had confidence to lower his line down enough to catch.   Sandro and Diego jigged hard up on the bow most of the day. Sandro was rewarded with a most unusual catch on the jig when he produced a 40cm flounder.   Bob caught the second sized Dhuie for the day. A nice 65cm specimen, but no sooner had that landed on board and Terry hooked a bigger one that ended up going 73cm but with 2 already on the boat, had to send it back down. Terry continued to catch fish regularly and ended up keeping a baldchin and a break sea cod (aka black arse), plus a big Cuttlefish.  Phil also caught another good Dhuie 78cm which had to go back.   By this stage Greg was trying to avoid the area where the Dhuies were being caught, and by the end of the day 2 were kept and 7 were thrown back.   Jim got a 40cm Break Sea on jig late in the day.  

Another strange incident occurred when Terry hooked up to a fish for a short while. It came off, but when Terry got his rig to the boat, attached to his hooks was another set of hooks with somebody else’s bait on it. It turned out that Bob had just before lost a fish which bit off his hooks. It is assumed that the fish that bit off Bob’s hooks and bait then had a go at Terry’s and Terry has somehow hooked Bobs gear hanging from it, which then dislodged.  
So after Greg had once again done a great job skippering the boat on to some good fish, and having a good reason to feel like a Rock Star, he set a course back towards the rocky walls of the Two Rocks marina.   

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21st Sept 2021 arvo trip.

Scotty is still doing his dawn and dusk Pinky raids as his Saltfix videos proclaim. Winds were forecast a little strong in the morning but calming post lunch. Full moon was due and the sun was shining all day. Carpe Diem thought Greg, as he called an inshore fishing trip for Tuesday 21^st September leaving at 1pm!

Six intrepid members assembled on Thalia II, Skipper Greg, Skipper Ian, Jon, Terry Kerry and Geoff. The assault began on whiting with modest success. Members of the crew all contributed their ideas as to the best sand spots to fish. With a good 20 in the bucket for bait we headed on to the now established anchorage off the 3 mile reef in about 18 metres of water. It was about 4pm and we had a good 2 hours before dusk…the prime time for a pinky strike.

With berley streaming out behind us and with no shortage of volunteers to add more to the pot and additionally cast chook pellets on the waters, we assembled our snapper rigs. Terry had early success with a 62cm Pink Snapper, and then it seemed Kerry might have an even bigger one on his line. But instead he raised a metre long Samson from the deep which he decided to keep, despite various negative contributions from fellow crew members….neighbour fish, mongrel fish, fish patties (if you are hungry)! He was on again in a flash with a 58 cm Pinky, not to mention a long struggle with a shark. A good night for Kerry.

Meanwhile Jon was retrieving and releasing another good Samson, Ian got ‘tonight’s dinner’ with a 34cm Breaksea Cod and Terry raced up and down the length of the boat as he struggled with an Eagle Ray. Jon got an undersized Dhuie and a couple more undersized Pinkies came up too.

Geoff knew this was not his night and got the sausage sizzle going. As the familiar Bunnings smell pervaded the decks of Thalia 11, dusk fell and we were treated to a magnificent sunset and equally spectacular moonrise. Jon had noticed the Skipjack Trevally gathering around the berley pot. Ian changed his rig….just a hook on the end of his mono leader with nothing added but a small piece of mulie as bait. Soon the waters were boiling just a metre under the surface around his bait as he began the hour long onslaught on Skippy retrieval. Revitalised by his hotdogs, Geoff joined Ian and before long there were 30 Skippy floating in a blooded bath next to us!    Greg called time at 7.30 (is he getting soft?) and we moseyed our way back to the marina. Added to the usual tasks of clean up Greg and Kerry operated on the Samson and Pinky to create fillets for Kerry and Cray bait for Ian. By 9.30 we were on our separate ways home. A thoroughly varied and exciting evening. Thanks Greg.  

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Tuesday 14th Sept 2021

This was something new. Skipper Greg had been studying his charts. By buying a new phone (Aldi I believe), downloading SeaMaps, comparing with Navionics on his other phone; and with some nifty overlays he had identified some as yet unexplored areas for WCAC. Mind you they involved a long journey in each direction so it required a full boat, calm seas, low swell and a large element of luck!

This Perfect Calm materialized on Tuesday. 8 of us set sail at dawn…….Skipper Greg, members Kevin (Hanifin), Geoff and Daniel, new member Trevor, and visitors Bobby, Diego and Sandro. Initially we stuck to the 3 mile contour towards Moore River, making a couple of quick drops to take advantage of the early bite time…but with no success. Then a left turn had us going out to the North West on what seemed a long voyage into uncharted territory for WCAC.

By now we were in waters with depths between 35 and 50 metres and the first drop turned up a decent Pinkie for Geoff at 58cm, a borderline Breaksea Cod for Geoff and a borderline Pinkie for Kevin both of which were returned to the deep. There followed some undersized Dhuies and some bait fish until Sandro, jigging on the foredeck, quietly announced that he had a fish on the surface…..fish?…more like a monster!  Sandro had caught the fish of the day….a 91cm Dhuie. This was quickly followed by Geoff’s 84cm Dhuie, Kevin’s 51cm Baldie and Trevor’s 51cm Pinkie. Finally Daniel was also on…but only to a large cuttlefish. Bait for the next trip! We also returned a Whiskery, a Port Jackson, undersized Pinkies and a couple of large Sergeant Bakers.

It was only 2.30 but with a two and a half hour journey ahead of us we set out for home making a couple of unsuccessful quick drops en route. We trolled skirts and deviated our course a couple of times to pursue birds diving on bait balls. No further luck with these but we were treated to the sight of a couple of humpback whales breaching very close to us. Back in the pen soon after 5pm we performed the cleaning, filleting and securing rituals, setting out for home thereafter. As ever a great day on the water and many thanks to Skipper Greg for his enterprise in showing us some new fishing grounds.

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Saturday 4th September 2021

The Blue Box on Saturdays trip didn't reflect the effort put in by the crew.    All the planet's stars moon and sun aligned to make a perfect day for offshore fishing. The email went out and only two people were available to go therefore the trip was cancelled. Only to be on again after three late staters put there name down.

It was a  very brisk five am start, to allow enough time for travelling and to anchor before sunup. The plan came together perfectly with berley pot primed with ground pilchards. All we had to do was wait for the Skippy and Snapper to arrive and we did wait and waited, then wait some more. By eight o'clock it was obvious they were not coming. Very disappointing, so we upped the anchor and went off to do some bottom bouncing. We tried moving from lump to lump and doing longer drifts over good bottom Terry caught three Skippy a big Fox Fish at 38cm and a Pink Snapper 62cm. Neville caught a kidney slapper King George Whiting 48cm. Jim caught a skippy, sampson 62cm and the smallest Dhuie ever!!  The jig was bigger than the fish.  Jim had obviously pulled him out of bed because he was still wearing his stripped Pyjamas. We had a slow steady catch of bait fish -Sargeant Baker and wrasse and caught and released another six undersized Dhufish and eight Pink Snapper, plus a small shark. We spotted birds diving on bait with tuna leaping we deployed two lures way out the back and headed over to do a large loop around the school keeping some distance so as not to spook the school, but as we started to circle they sounded down and the birds flew off.

The Blue Box didn't reflect the effort put in by the crew, but with the sun shining, light winds and plenty of banter the crew had a very enjoyable day on the water.  

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Saturday 14th August

The  boat went out again but to the deeper water. Jim got a Dhuie and a Pink Snapper, Terry got a Baldchin Groper, collectively there were 8 big skippy, 2 Sampson fish and a sweep. 10 Snapper were returned undersize along with a couple of Dhufish…….. I don’t have any photos

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 Friday 13th August

The superstitious amongst us might think Friday the 13^th would be a day to avoid but Greg, our illustrious skipper had checked the weather, the wind, the swell, the barometric pressure and the bite times and thought otherwise! With the success of earlier trips ringing in the minds of members, the boat was full within 5 hours of the trip being announced! Everybody wanted a Pinkie and a clutch of Skippy! The crew comprised Senior Skipper Ian, Jim, Bob, Kerry and Geoff as members and Neville and Mick as guests.

Thalia 11 left at 12.30pm, Greg having promised bacon butties for lunch and fish burgers for supper. As soon as we were through the reef Jim got the frying pan out and soon the air was filled with the smells of fried onions, bacon and tomatoes. We had two lures out at the back but despite a good strike nothing was landed. Midway along rhe inside of the reef we stopped in shallow water to get some Whiting. We landed about 30 but they were not super hungry it seemed!

We moved to our now regular anchorage up toward Moore River at the edge of the 3 mile reef but on sand and in about 18 metres of water. The going was slow with Neville landing his 70cm Pinkie first followed by Kerry’s two Pinkies a little smaller but still size. Then as the sun set, there were no more. Our persistence was rewarded only with several rays, one whaler shark (which Ian kept) and a couple of squid (on snapper rigs!).

Jim set to work filleting some of the Whiting that had not gone for bait and Greg fried them up for delicious fish burgers. That was a stunning effort guys but the consensus was that filleting Whiting to feed the crew was well above the call of duty in future trips!

By 8pm we were pretty sure that tonight the Skippy were not joining our party as only one had been landed all evening.. by Neville. We upped anchor and returned to base arriving around 9pm. Just as well it was not later as Greg and Jim were leading another offshore group into the fray at 6am the next day. Good luck guys!

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Tuesday 3rd August

It was just another half day at the office for Skipper Greg and his motley crew of seven. We left the Marina at 2pm with regulars Roko and Geoff, fairly regulars Andy and Terry and newbies Kerry, Daniel and Walter.

As we headed inshore up the coast we had high speed lures out with no takers; then a quick stop on sand to get whiting and herring for bait. There were plenty to be had. Armed with our fresh bait we headed to our now regular spot at 18metres just off the inner reef near Moore River. We anchored by 4pm and got the burley going well in time for the snapper tea time just before dusk.

True to form Terry was soon on with his first of 4 snapper…3 being size and the biggest being a whopping 83cm and all of 7kg! Whilst Terry couldn’t do anything wrong the rest of us struggled but Andy managed a Pinkie at 53cm, Roko another at 73cm and Kerry a Breaksea Cod at 32cm.

As soon as the heavens turned off the lights the snapper stopped biting but the Skipjack Trevally arrived in schools. Within an hour and a half we had landed 32 Skipjacks not to mention a decent Gummy Shark which we kept and a huge Wobbegong and two large rays which were returned to the deep.

Meantime Skipper Greg, whose day it was not, cooked up a storm with hotdogs laced with onions and sauces and coffee for those that wanted, for it was a cool night. We pulled anchor around 8.30 and headed home. Everyone got some fish, except Skipper Greg! But a big thanks to him from all of the crew for organizing another great inshore trip. With trips like this we may even be turning down willing crew in the future as numbers grow!

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Tuesday 20th July   

            Sunday's afternoons inshore trip was cancelled due to strong winds but what a difference a day makes. Monday morning the winds had backed off, and Greg sprung into action.  A short notice email was sent out and two members and two guest were available to go. We left Two Rocks just after one pm and headed up along the coast to catch some Sand Whiting. The crew were enjoying catching big whiting and herring but skipper Greg was keen to head out to chase bigger fish. After  trolling on the way out with no luck,  Greg anchored up on the back of the three mile reef and begun to start a  burley trail. Walter caught his first ever Dhuie 45cm that was released and Bob caught Pink Snapper 60cm  and Western Wirrah Cod 45cm. We all eagerly wait for the sun to set and for the pink snapper to turn up unfortunately they didn't but the Skippy did on masse with some  bigger ones around 42cm. Walter was having a ball landing one after the other in between taking a bite of his freshly cooked hamburger. Trevor caught a Tailor 40cm and Roko played with something big for sometime, we never got to see it but had all the hallmarks of a big Stingray.

The Chrysophrys auratus, or Pinkies, or Big Reds, or Pink Sapper, or here in the west we like to call them Snapper,  If you are wondering why we like to call them Snapper just ask Bob. During the session, Bob turned his fishing rod from a one piece into a two piece rod. Maybe we should call them magician snappder with a magic trick like that. Luckily it happen after he caught his 60cm Snapper. Bob still had a good trip and was heard saying he enjoy this inshore fishing.

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17th July 2021

The Annual General Meeting of the Club was held on July 7 at the Maylands Yacht Club. Presented at the meeting were the Presidents Report, The Treasurers Report and The current Financial Statement to June 30 2021.

As a Club we are facing some serious increases in Fixed Costs. The biggest of these is the increase in Pen Fees to over $8000 per year as the Department of Transport works to improve the Marina Facilities and apply a full cost recovery on the pen holders as well as standardise the costs across all Marinas they manage.

At the AGM, the members present, endorsed a rise of $20 in Annual Membership to $120 and a rise of $10 in Trip Fees to $130 per trip for deep water and $70 for inshore trips. Also agreed was a proposal that if a Member does 5 Trips in a Financial Year, their 6 Trip that year if free if it is taken that year. These changes were ratified in a subsequent survey by a majority of Members who were financial at June 30 2021. 

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25th June 2021

Night time again in the shallows

Was this to be Skipper Greg’s finest hour? All those hours of YouTube research on fishing equipment, baits, berley, boat anchoring versus drifting…..could they be about to pay dividends? The weather was cold but ideal: no wind, little swell, high barometric pressure. Bite time matched late afternoon and dusk and there was a full moon under clear skies.

The crew of six including a couple of visitors, left the Marina at 1pm and commenced Trolling North along the shallows. This produced no results despite several bait balls and diving birds. That was followed by a spell on whiting, but the combined bag limit of 180 had only reduced to 175 after 45 minutes! They just weren’t on the bite.

Next was the assault on ‘pinkies’. The anchor was dropped in about 15 metres of water just off the reef on the way to Moore River. Time for the secret weapon … Leo’s Tuna Sauce made up of considerable quantity of mulched tuna heads that were poured into the mesh bag and dropped over the side of Thalia 11 and excited by Greg’s home- made masher made for the purpose. The sun was setting and it was not too long before the first Silver Trevally appeared. Roko was ‘skippy’ king both in terms of number and size, beating his own record from last week with a good fish at 41cm. Then the Pink Snapper followed the burley trail to the boat and the bite started. Greg was pulling them in and they were a decent size. Over the next couple of hours the score was Greg-4 Leo-1 and that did not count the 5 that were returned to the deep as undersize. Keepers ranged from 56 to 67cm.. Roko got a 39cm Breaksea Cod

Night had fallen and the next weapon was brought into play. Trevor’s underwater LED light powered by Greg’s somewhat oversized boat battery. Not sure if it attracted squid but once the friendly dolphin appeared he certainly wasn’t going anywhere. He would have enjoyed any fish and squid attracted by the light anyway!

Geoff, who’s finest hour it was not, turned his attention to a ‘Masterchef’ demonstration on cooking bacon butties embellished with fried onions tomatoes lettuce and avocado. Cooked with mulie flavoured hands (his secret weapon), that were enjoyed by all.

Greg, at least, was still on the fish and the others wondered if there might be certain details of his YouTube research that he was not sharing! By 8pm it was time to up anchor and return to the marina.

Greg, with his usual magnanimity shared his ‘pinkies’ and all had an opportunity to take from the total of 14 skippy in the ice box. What a great trip demonstrating future opportunities for our club.  

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Friday 18th June

Greg called a trip with a Gate time of 3pm .. yes PM. He had been following the Saltfix “YouTube” series put up by Scotty and Jack. He fishes from Two Rocks and has been having some luck with dawn and dusk pinkie raids.

We had some trouble getting a crew together but finally managed to set off with 4 members and 2 guests. The weather was perfect, calm waters, sunshine and not even too cold. We headed inshore up the coast  to Moore River, three trolling lines out in the hope of Tuna or even a Spaniard. There were a couple of bait balls and the birds were diving on them, but the fish were showing deep on the sounder and we had no strikes. We probably stayed a little too long in the trolling mode but by 4.45pm we were anchored over sand just off the reef at about 15metres of water.

                We ‘burleyed up’ with chicken pellets and pilchards and got a good stream going out behind us. Our gear was single hooks on light fluorocarbon leaders with half mullies as bait. In no time at all the Skipjack trevally were all around the burley and we pulled in 4 in rapid succession. Roko got one of 40cm….perhaps a contender for the largest of the season? He followed up with a decent Pinkie at 53cm and we thought we were set for the evening. Geoff got a nice squid but only that one seemed to be around. The skippy were still all around the boat but no-one really wanted to catch them.

But as darkness fell so the fish stopped biting. Geoff raised spirits by playing some Spotify opera classics courtesy of Pavarotti and Greg and Craig got the sausage sizzle going. The smell of frying onions did not make the fish any hungrier despite one of our guests adding to the berley over the side of the boat. The rest of us enjoyed our surprise meal and by 7.40 we were heading back to the marina.

We agreed it had been a learning lesson….leave earlier by 1or 2pm; try to pick a day with a later bite time for some bottom dropping prior to anchoring; keep dropping a regular trickle of chopped mullies over the side; stop fishing as soon as darkness falls. Perhaps a bright underwater light over the side would encourage the skippys and squid to join us for longer and in greater numbers?

Did we have fun? Yes we did! Thanks Greg for putting the trip together.

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Monday 14th June 2021

With an initial crew of five (including the skipper), it meant the trip for Sunday was green to go. But when two of our good club patrons unfortunately couldn’t make it, at 5:30a.m. and given the day was planned to be mostly inshore, it was decided to head out with just the three onboard.

About 30minutes before sunrise the boat was anchored up on a lump in about 10 to 15m of water where Greg, Ian and Jim were keen to try to get an early morning Pink Snapper. Greg hooked something, or something hooked Greg depending on how you look at it, because it never did show itself and had very little interest in leaving the sea bottom it called home. After Greg and his Kraken entertained and teased for quite a few minutes, something that was more like a fish grabbed Jim’s lightly weighted half mulie that had been cast a fair way out the back of the boat. After several good solid runs on light gear and some good netting skills by Ian, an 81cm Pink Snapper was onboard. With renewed anticipation, Greg then boated a good sized Skippy (38cm), but after another hour or so, it appeared the morning window for the Pinkies had closed and it was time to pull the anchor and go elsewhere. The next stop was for a few whiting where the bag limit was caught in good time, including some nice sized ones.

Afterwards, a few more inshore spots were tried, where upon Greg caught a very large 54cm Flathead, which he generously declared had Ian’s name on it (Ian was very happy to accept what he rates as one of his favourite tasting fish).     Not wanting to do too many miles with just the three crew, the boat headed home early.  On the way, the whiting were put in the scaling machine that looks much like a cheap green onion bag. This was positioned in the wake of the boat in its best operating environment.  Given Jim’s failed attempt on a previous occasion, when he left the whiting tumbling too long and they were turned in to fish chowder, it was decided that Ian should supervise the task to see the whiting processed and perfectly scaled and ready for filleting when they got home.  
With just a few hours of total travel time for the day, the boat was back in the pen with an assorted feed of fish for all.        

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Saturday June 5 2021

After some effort and managing to get a crew of 4 plus skipper Greg, a trip for Saturday was a goer.  That crew of 4 became 5 about an hour before departure time, when Damien Aberin, used some outside of the box thinking to join in. His fishing buddy had notified him at about 4 in the morning that his pre-arranged day out on the water wasn’t a happening thing.
So Damo, with fishing gear ready for a day on the water, reached out at 4:30a.m. and got the nod to be at the Two Rocks Marina at 6:00am.

Soon after 6, Thalia II left the marina and headed out.  High speed trolling lures that could handle 10knots+ were ran out the back on the way travelling North.
After several miles travelled and no strikes on the skirted lures trailing behind, it was decided to have an early morning fish for Pink Snapper. Greg quickly boated a 48cm Pinkie which was rightfully returned.
Where there’s one, there’s more.  But sadly the Pinkies had not read that book and after a while with no success it was decided to do some trolling for Mackies.

The troll was set up with a gentle 6knots speed.  With the aid of some recent great work done by Greg to make up a couple of teasers to attract the fish and two rod holder extenders (which hold the rods out at 30degrees to the sides) it took about 15minutes before the starboard rod bent and the reel sounded with that much anticipated sound of the drag quickly giving line to whatever had grabbed the bibbed lure (a Chrome Pink coloured Halco Laser Pro 190 XDD Crazy Deep 6m+).
After a short battle and a few more runs close to the boat, Greg had gaffed a nice 117cm Spanish Mackerel for Jim to hold up for the camera.
Where there’s one, there’s more. But sadly the Mackies had not read that book and after a while with no success it was decided to head further out to fish.

At a depth of about 30m, Greg hooked something that appeared to have some weight to it. He called it early for a Dhuie.
Greg was reminded of the Banjo sharks he had recently caught which filled him with doubts that his anticipated catch was once again another Banjo.
Soon enough, a nice 75cm Dhuie came to the surface. Where there’s one, there’s more. But sadly the Dhuies had not read that book and after doing a few very well positioned drifts over the exact same ground and no more bites, the search for fish continued onwards.

The rest of the day failed to produce with some deeper spots tried, a return to trolling where the Mackie was caught, another go for the Pinkies and another go with the high speed skirts on the way back to the marina.
Safely back in the Two Rocks pen, the Spanish Mackeral was cleaned and divided up for all to take home a feed.
Let’s hope we can get back out there again soon and find where there’s one, there’s more.

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Thursday June 3 2021

Three crew joined Skipper Greg at the Two Rocks Marina Jetty, armed with rods and lures and prepared for action. Kevin Hanifin is our newest recruit, a kiwi who moved from Dunedin last year; Wade Fry, who was making his second mission aboard Thalia 11; and Geoff Evans eager to show he is no longer the “rookie”.

The plan was to troll North along the coast to Moore River, seeking those Spanish Mackerel which have been basking in the warmer waters around at the moment. With 4 rods out each with a variety of bibbed lures in tow and a couple of exciters/teasers to stir up interest we waited in anticipation. Greg concerned that one of the teasers might not be oscillating as per design and asked Geoff to check behind the boat. Lucky he did, for some predator had at that moment sliced through the wire trace on the teaser and Geoff saw half the device disappearing into the foam wake.

Having recovered the teaser, they had almost reached the end of their trolling run along the 18 metre contour, Geoff’s rod was on…..rod bending and reel racing. The fight was easy with the Spanish Mackerel swimming courteously to the side of the boat, waiting to be gaffed by Greg. Wow!.... at 1.15 metres this was the biggest ever mackerel for Geoff. We made a few more runs over the same area but with no result.

Greg had noted good bottom (nothing to do with the crew!) on the sounder and significant baitfish activity and, though this was not part of the plan, the fishermen turned to bottom bouncing at this 18 metre depth. Wade was rewarded with a decent Pink Snapper at 58cm. Bite time was still on and the fish were biting…or rather nibbling….but no more results.

Throughout the rest of the morning the guys tried favourite spots at depths between 30 and 40 metres with modest success. Wrasse, Sergeant Bakers, a smallish Fox fish. Greg took the boat back to the 18 metre spot that had delivered in the morning and this produced a nice “Pinkie” at 67cm for Kevin Hanafin and one just undersize for Geoff.

Greg advised “skirts” for our troll back as we needed to travel faster. This might produce some tuna as had happened on the last club trip. But they were not to be rewarded. Arriving back in the pen close to 5pm, Greg went the extra mile, dividing the “Spanish” among the crew as had been agreed and professionally filleting the “pinkie” for Kevin. As ever, it was a really good day to be out on the water, with everyone having some fish to take home..

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Thursday 20th May 2021

With sunny skies, light winds, gentle swell, high barometric pressure and two well spread bite-times, we couldn’t really fail! ( could we??? ). 4 intrepid fishermen followed Skipper Greg into the deep.

We fished our way out to the 40 metre line, stopping at several favoured waymarks on the way out. The result was zilch…not even the tiddlers that normally peck away at our bait. Finally Bob was on, but with more weight than struggle we doubted it would be a favoured species. Up came a sizable cuttlefish which was the first to be put in our bucket as a keeper.

We were hanging on for the second minor bite time at 12.30 and, almost bang on cue Geoff was on with decent ‘baldie’ at 51cm and Domenic with an undersized ‘dhuey’ at 50cm. Then both Domenic and Roko were on. Had our luck changed? In unison they raised their fish from the deep only to find they had both hooked into the same ‘banjo ray’, but with Dom’s hook in its mouth he could lay claim to it’s capture. These are easy to release as there is no barb on the tail.

Our expectations of more to come were hardly realized but slowly, slowly the bag grew. Greg and Bob got another ‘baldie’ each at 46 and 51.5cm respectively and Bob brought up another ‘banjo’. Finally Roko scored with a Small Breaksea Cod but at 26cm it was returned to the deep. Slim pickings it seemed.

Soon after 2pm we were heading back with three trolling lines out the back. As Roko says: “If you don’t have a line in the water, you will never catch a fish!”. How right he was. We crossed a bait ball about 5 metres below the surface and he was rewarded with a good ‘blue fin tuna’. We retraced our course over the bait ball and again he snagged another ‘blue fin’, each plump and with a length in the 60 cms. Another couple of rounds were made but the bait ball had moved away or dissipated. Not to be outdone Roko then hooked a 69cm ‘samson’, which we decided to hang on to.

Discussing sashimi recipes for ‘blue fin tuna’,  we reached port by 5pm and, after the usual clean up headed for our respective homes. Everyone had a fish to take back and everyone agreed that it had been a good day out on the water. If Dom and Roko have not eaten their tuna as yet, I should mention that ‘wasabi’ would be a great addition to the soya sauce and lemon juice recipe as long as they want to clear their airways as it goes down! It can be a bit spicy hot.

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23 April 2021

Fridays weather forecast was perfect to go wide for a day fishing so six club members kicked off the long weekend with all their gear stowed and the boat left Two Rocks Marina  before the sun had poked its head above the horizon.

Once outside  the three mile reef, various types of Lures were deployed and trolled out to our fishing grounds in 40m but the fish were either not there or not in the mood. The bottom Fishing got off to a slow start until the wind finally changed direction to the south west and the fish came onto the bite. While heading to one of Ians marks, Greg found  a very small lump that was holding bait. On the first drift over it Bob caught a Breaksea Cod at  41cm. but that was all that was interested.   Greg continue on to Ian's marks where Greg caught and released an undersized Dhuie, Geoff landed a very nice Baldchin Groper at 50cm, Rocco and Ian caught a pair of Baldy's  at 45cm and  Domenic made it onto the scoreboard with a Fox fish 40cm. The most unusual fish of the day was catching and releasing two big Banjo sharks on the same drift.

Other fish caught were Sargent Baker, Wrasse, Gurnard and Cuttlefish.  Our photographer was in holiday mode and unfortunately we didn't get and happy snaps of the fish so you will have to take Gregs word for it and we all know fisherman don't lie.

It was a very pleasant and relaxing day on the water plenty of banter between the lads and big smiles all round.

Mondays trip unfortunately had to be cancelled due to covid 19. Once we get this lockdown out the way Ken will email details of our next trip and I hope to see your smiling face on it.

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Monday 5th April 2021

Monday was a glorious day warm sunny and light winds, so seven  members and Skipper Greg took advantage of the conditions and headed up to grounds off Moore River for  a nice relaxing day fishing the 30-40m  shallow water. Everyone got to catch and take home fish. Although not quite the biggest for the year, Kevin caught a whopper of a Baldchin 50cm and Geoff almost pipped him with a 49cm Baldchin,  Joe also landed a Baldchin 47cm and a  Sampson 61cm plus a big stingray that was released. Damien caught a very respectable Breaksea Cod 42cm and  Wang Jet caught two nice Breaksea Cod 40cm and 38cm, Braydon was also very happy with his Breaksea Cod 38cm. While fishing the broken ground for Baldies Kody caught a big Flathead 42cm. The most unusual catch of the day was Greg with a very big Banjo Shark that was released. The Dhufish apparently did get the memo and only one of 48cm was caught all day by Joe and went back successfully other fish released included four Pink Snapper and a Breaksea cod. Also we caught a mix bag of Sargent baker, Wrasse and Yellow Spotted Morwong. And a big Cuttlefish

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Monday March 29 2021

Occasionally we get near perfect weather conditions that makes Fishing an absolute pleasure. Last Sunday was one of those days where we were  blessed a very gentle 5 knot aoutherly making travel to the bank a serious option. With perfect weather conditions for fishing deep, the wind held the boat perfectly against the northerly current. The Five members and a visitor on board that were all full of enthusiasm, were not disappointed when we stopped in 40m and landed two Dhufish at  82cm for Greg and 70cm for Geoff. We were off to a seriously good start so we moved out into 50m to try to find a  Baldchin Groper. Visitor Joe caught another Dhufish 55cm he bought it up very slowly and was it was successfully released. With the bite time approaching we headed out to the next stop in 80 to 90 metres where we caught a mix bag of small pink snapper, yellow spotted morwong and Whiskery shark . We really wanted to get some big pink snapper so we did a quick move to 100 m but we could not find any fish on the sounder so Skipper Greg  made the decision to go back to one of the marks in 90m that hadn’t been fished by us  fished for over ten years, It was nice flat coral bottom and it produced some quality fish…..a Breaksea Cod of 45cm for Greg, a Baldchin of 48cm for Geoff, a Baldchin of 43cm for Joe, a Baldchin of 41cm for Jim, and a Queen Snapper of 50cm for Greg. Joe had a good battle with a large Bronze Whaler shark and did well to get it to the side of the boat for some picks then we released it. It was the biggest fish for the day.

Jim mainly gigged all day and landed a 60cm Sampson fish, small Swallow Tail, a  Baldchin, Undersized Pink snapper and a Wrasse. Once again we can report he lived up to his name Dropsy because he lost some big fish on the way up with some almost to the surface. At one stage Jim was observed to move over to the darkside and drop some baits down.

Overall it was a really great day to be on the water with a bunch of mates catching fish and having a laugh.  I hope to see you on our next trip.

All you have to do is book in with Ken when he sends the email out that a  trip is being planned

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Monday 22nd March

If you did not attend yesterdays annual Fundraiser, All I can say is that you missed a great day. The weather was great ( although a bit hot early on) and the 8 tables soon filled up. Food started coming in a steady stream from 12:30.  The Door prizes were drawn during the main course with Roko the chief beneficiary.  Ian got into the whisky toss for a litre of Wild Turkey donated by Ross,  that was won by Nick( his coin was touching the bottle so we got a litre bottle of Irish Cream that eventually Ken won.  Domenic, with assistance from Ciara and Gus, conducted the draw for the raffle. Keiths number was first up and he chose the Penn Rod and Reel from Anaconda ( to give to his wife for her birthday) Bob selected the Undersink Water Filter from WestOz filters, Geoff chose kitchen pots, plates and kettle for his boat to name just a few of the prize winners.

After expenses, We made $750 on the Raffle, $104 on the Whisky Toss, and $1436 on the meals. So we now have an additional $2290 in the bank. The electric anchor winch for the boat is now looking very likely

I would like to thank all those members who attended and brought their friends to make this a success. A big thanks to all those who contributed time and salads and sweets for the event. Also thanks to those who helped in setup on Saturday afternoon and packup on Sunday night.  I slept very well on Sunday night.

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Saturday 13th March

We were one crew short of going and at the last minute Roko said he would go. The weather was good and lures put out the back soon after leaving the marina resulted in 2 Bluefin Tuna at the back of the three mile reef.  A decision was made to go out to the wall where a lonely craypot was found. After a couple of drifts over the tiny lump the craypot was near, there were 2 Dhuies on the boat. Roko was glad he decided to come as his Dhuie was 87 cm. He was seen earlier on hands and knees suspected of praying to the fish gods but we think it  proved he hasn't lost his touch. He will be wearing that big smile for a long time to come. Greg got a Dhuie of 67cm and a Pink Snapper of 53cm and a Baldchin Groper on 50 cm

If you are considering coming on our next fishing trip check out the smile on Rocco's face. Hopefully  that will convince you to come.  I Hope to see you at the fundraiser on the 21st.

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Friday 12th March 2021

The club boat has now been moved into its new pen R30 on the new floating jetty, thanks to Kevin , Ian and Greg, who made up the 6 new ropes. We had to buy 3 new T cleats to attach the ropes to the boat that Greg fitted. A piece of plywood at the stern was removed to allow access to the bolts for the new cleat on starboard side. It was rotted out and will have to be replaced. There are now no ropes crossing the deck which makes it a bit easier when loading and unloading. It is considerably easier to get onto and off the boat. The boat now faces south when it is in the pen providing a bit more shelter from the south westerlies. 

Last Saturday there was finally a break from the strong winds that had been stopping us from going fishing for a while. Greg skippered the boat with 6 crew and fished mostly deep water. The weather was kind, and it was a good day to be out. Greg started in 40m and Jim Jigged up a Mack tuna. In the 40 m area Kevin Jones got a nice Baldchin Groper at 54cm and Greg got a 68cm Dhuie.

With the weather being so good Greg then headed out to 80m line and fished out to nearly 100m, where Braydon got his first ever Nannygai at 53cm, Jim got a Pink Snapper at 50cm, Greg got a 43 cm Breaksea cod, Tom got a Baldy and Joe got a Dhui. Jim tried hard all day, using Jigs but despite many hits, hookups were hard to get. He has a new nickname (dropsy) as many fish dropped off the jig on the way up. As it was a good 2 hours steaming back to Two Rocks, they had to leave the area where they were still getting fish.

We have had donations of $342.90 in container refunds so far. The scheme number is C10308648. You just have to give this number to the recycling people when you give them your cans for the money to go straight to the club’s bank account. If you live in the northern suburbs and want to donate your Ten Cent recyclables, give me a ring and I will pick them up.

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Monday 15th Feb 2021

With all things being equal and the Covid rules being relaxed, Kevin will be hosting the Annual Fundraiser at his Ocean Reef home on Sunday March 21 commencing at Noon. This date is 2 weeks before Easter. I will do all the meat and chicken and fish. I am looking for members to do salads and sweets and for Raffle Prizes of any value to assist us in raising at least $2000 so we can get the anchor winch. The schedule of events for the day will be the same as usual but we will be doing the whisky toss before the raffle prize draws. If we don’t, then everyone just leaves after the raffle draw. We need some raffle Prizes. If you have anything appropriate can you please let me know so it can be included. Kevin will buy 2 whole fish from a wholesaler for use in the raffle. 

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Wednesday Feb 10 2021

The boat was refuelled at the end of January and there has been no trips since due to weather and Covid. We have not moved to the new pen and are waiting on Department of Transport advice on when we can move.

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Friday 15th January 2021

We are waiting notification from the Department of Transport for a date to relocate to a Floating Pen on the new “P” Jetty. I expect it to be sometime late January. We have purchased 3 and acquired one new fender that will be required for the new pen. New ropes will have to be made up but because it is a floating pen, there will be a lot less rope work required. It should also be easier to tie up. Greg and Ian will move the boat to the new pen when we are advised to do so

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Wednesday 25th November 2020

The boat was put back in the pen on Monday 23^rd November after a very successful maintenance period. The hull was pressure cleaned and a new coat of anti fouling was painted on. While this was being done, Greg welded a “winged keel” to the bottom of the rudder to assist in reversing the boat at low revs. This has proven to work really well and provides a lot more maneuverability at slow speeds. We used the clear Perspex provided by Domenic to replace 3 of the 5 windows to give better visibility for the Skipper. The seat adjuster was fitted to enable short as well as tall people to sit in the skippers chair to drive the boat. Greg and Geoff changed the oil and filters and performed a Rydlyme flush on the Seawater cooling system to make it more efficient. The engine now only gets to 70 C at 1800 rpm which is where it should be. The Rydlyme is a weak acid solution that removes calcium and scale from the heat exchanger plates. A crack in the fibreglass on the deck near the starboard fuel filler has been cut out, the rotted wood replaced and reglassed. The boat will be refuelled before the demersal ban ends on December 15.

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Friday 13th November 2020

We will take the boat out of the water for its annual maintenance on Friday 20^th November. At this time, we will also flush the Sea water coolers with Rydlime, change the engine oil and filters, replace shaft, keel and engine anodes as required, clean and antifoul the hull, and anything else that needs doing. We have 4 volunteers for Friday to pressure clean the hull ( Kevin, Jim, Greg, Ian, Geoff) and 6 for the painting of the antifouling Bob, Ian, Jon, Ken, Greg, Geoff). Greg has provided a separate, 12Volt solar charged battery and Anderson plug connectors to supply 12volt power to 5 stations for use with electric reels. The Skippers Chair is being made adjustable to cater for the heights of different skippers via a wind- up mechanism

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Saturday 31st October 2020

Greg took the boat out on 2 inshore trips on the 30th October chasing Whiting, Skippy and Herring. They bagged out on whiting and caught a few Herring but could not find a Skippy. Greg is still keen to get the boat out whenever he can and it looks like whiting fishing for the next 4 weeks is now the go

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Thursday 15th October 2020

Greg took the boat out on the 13th for the first trip in October. The weather has not been too favourable the last 4 weeks so no trips were taken. Yesterday the wind dropped to 10 knots and the swell went down to a metre so Greg got going early with 4 members and enjoyed a very pleasant day. The down side was the barometer was falling and the fish would not bite. Two Baldchin Groper of 45cm and 55cm were caught along with one Dhuie of 57cm and one released and a 35cm Fox Fish. Demersal ban comes in on the 15th so it will be whiting trips for the next 2 months.

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23rd September 2020. The WCAC bi-monthly meeting will be held tonight at the Maylands Yacht club at 7:30pm

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Wednesday 23rd September 2020

Greg took the boat out yesterday for the first trip in September. After weeks of strong winds, rain and even hailstones plus big swells, there was a small weather window that allowed the boat to get out. The wind dropped to 10 knots and the swell went down to a metre so Greg got going early with 6 members and enjoyed a very pleasant day. A wide variety of species caught including Bonito, 5 King George Whiting, Fox Fish, 61 cm Flathead and more. Jim landed a huge Sampson fish estimated at 30kg on very light outfit using a jig. After some brag pics were taken the fish was successful released. Terry wasn't to be out done also on light gear he struggled with a large Black tip shark for some time and that was also successfully released .It wasn’t brought on board for pics it was too big. So there was two tired and a little bit sore boys who were extremely happy with their achievements. Klaus had a good day 55cm Dhufish, 51cm Pink Snapper and 42cm Breaksea Cod. Also released were several undersize fish including three Dhuies and four Pink Snapper. Jim also better now known as dropsy to his friends lost two very good fish right at the surface. The one we saw was a decent Pink Snapper the other was just under the boat out of sight but had all the hallmarks of a large Duhie but we will never know though because he bought it up slow on light gear and the fish disappeared back into the deep in what we will call an unintentional successful release.

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Friday 21st August 2020

Update on Wednesdays trip  Greg took the boat out again on Wednesday  and they left  before dawn with 4 on board. No wind smooth seas and a light drizzle giving way to a rising barometer and a new moon. It was going to be a great fishing day if the fishing spirits were with us. There was a slight snag in that the club GPS would not boot up but luckily Greg had his own Garmin GPS with at least some of his favourite fishing spots marked. But the fates were against them. No matter what they did, the fish wouldn't bite.  By the end of the early 'bite time' they had just one flathead in the boat and one released undersize Dhufish both of which were caught on jigs. 

They moved spot to spot to spot but by the end of the second 'bite time' at 2pm, they had no more keepers and the throw backs amounted to no more than a couple of Gurnards. Fishing their way back to the Marina, they had a couple of last desperate drops. By some chance the boat GPS had turned on and then had confirmation that both Greg's and boat's GPS showed a group of marks along the route home. Suddenly all 4 fishers were on and 4 Dhuies were delivered ranging is size from 58 to 71cm. However,  they could only keep two by the rules. They persevered for a while longer and two more Dhuies came up and one of the largest Leather Jacket they had seen at 56 cm. The attachment is the fish on the sounder.

The day was redeemed and by the generosity of those with the keepers everyone came home with some fish or fillets. A good day and a good time for them all. Photos of our booty attached with a screen shot of the sea beneath us at the time of plenty. Other fisherfolk at the marina confirmed that fish had been off the bite until the sea breeze came in mid afternoon.

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 Monday 17th August 2020

Update  on last Thursdays 13th August trip. Ian left the marina before dawn to get to the first drop about sunrise.  5 lines went down and Jim got a just size snapper while his rod was still in the rod Holder.  As always Jim was using his favourite Jig and while he was dispatching the first snapper, hooked up to a good 87 cm snapper. He wouldn’t go home after the got the first 2 demersals in 2 drops.  When the bite stopped they moved out a couple of hundred metres and Jon and Wade both hooked up and landed 2 dhuies of 71 and 65 cm respectively. Both were kept. Everywhere they moved to after this resulted in more size and undersize Dhuies and undersize snapper. Bob got a double header of 81cm Dhuie and a 47cm Harlequin but the Dhuie had to go back as there was already 2 on board. Ian jagged a ray on his jig that gave him a bit of fun for a while. Bob landed a piece of rock that he thought was a fish along with a couple of Cuttlefish. Overall a very good day.

 

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10 July 2020

The Annual General Meeting has come and gone. Congratulation to the trophy winners, John Tonkin for a 52cm King George Whiting, Andy Ong for a 84cm Dhufish, Ian Stott for a 52cm Baldy, Phil Simpson for a 47cm Breaksea and a 63cm Pink Snapper, and Dale Stanton for a 50cm Harlequinand Geoff Evans for a 39cm  Skippy. Greg has been endorsed as a Skipper and will join the committee. 

The boat has been refuelled so all we need now is some decent weather so we can go fishing 

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30 June 2020

A reminder to all members and friends that the Annual General Meeting and trophy presentation of the club will be held at the Maylands Yacht club at 7: 30 on Wednesday 8th July. Everyone is welcome

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7th June 2020

Weather forecast was for light winds all day so in near on perfect fishing conditions we left Two Rocks, stopping on the five mile to take advantage of the perfect conditions and sunrise trying for a pink snapper or a Duhie. It wasn't long before the rain clouds and wind rolled in so we moved out wider into 40m on direction bank leaving the rain behind. Unfortunately the southerly was there to stay (the weather man got it wrong again). On arrival, we could see a pesky pro cray fisherman had placed pots on all of the lumps we wanted to fish, so we moved a bit further out toa Baldy patch in 55m where we could do long drifts over flat coral bottom. Here we  picked up a variety of species.  Klaus caught 62 cm Duhie and 44 cm Baldchin. All the crew all told Klaus he had his two fish he could go home now but Klaus decide he was having too much fun and would like to stay and help us catch our fish. It was a good day for Baldchin with  Gregs 49 cm, Craisg 42 cm and Dales 41cm. We also released three under size baldchin and several breaksea cod plus the usual Sargent baker's one of which was so big we think it was definitely a lieutenant plus gurnards we even caught a leather jacket and a trigger fish. Two big cuttlefish fell victim to soft plastics one was going home with Dale to be barbecued and added to salad. We had Klaus passing around chocolate cake (thank you Diane) and Geoff passing around spicy meatballs (thank you Patsy).  From the pics you will see the proof we put the effort in fishing hard sun up to sun down. On the way in,  the ocean glassed off and we saw large Humpback Whales playing on the surface. How lucky can you be spending a whole day on the water with a bunch of good mates fishing and John Tonkin in good form as usual keeping us laughing the whole day.

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3rd June 2020

With a perfect weather forecast of light winds and moderate swells barometer holding high 1025 and steady, the boys were keen to get started. The  bite time had already started so we did a quick drop on the five mile but no takers so it was up lines and out to direction bank. There is  a nice lump that comes up to 32m out of 40m and Greg  picked up a nice 85 cm Duhie of about 10kg on a six inch gulp paddle tail soft plastic in nuclear chicken colour. From there we  moved out to the 90m to 80m and fished the  bait schools where we caught two sweep and six under size pink snapper before working our way back, stopping in 70m on a known Baldchin spot in 50m.  Jim was using a metal jig and hooked what behaved like a big Duhie. It behaved like it could be a 20kg Duhie, but after he got it up around 10m and making several long runs doubt set in....... hmmm shark or Sampson fish was the consensus. It gave Jim a good workout and turned out to be a decent Sampson fish that no-one wanted to keep so it was successfully released. New member Daniel caught a smaller Duhie and did the right thing bring it up slow and letting it gas off we measured it at 54cm and club rule is 55cm he happily released it. Hopefully it still has  his name on it and he will come back and catch once it grows some more. Damien also did get to catch a nice whiskery shark that would go nice with some chips. Geoff ended up with a keeper Baldchin plus released another of 39cm which his wife.  Patsy turned it into a lovely meal see the pics. If you ask nicely I’m sure Geoff will share the recipe. Geoff also had something big on for a little while but did a long run before reefed him and  snapping his line. More than likely it was another big Sampson fish. There were other bait fish caught and a Gurnard caught plus a big cuttlefish. We fished a variety of fresh baits metal jigs and soft plastic all worked well. 

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19 March 2020

Members and Friends, In light of the Covid 19 pandemic and the government rules about social separation,  the West Coast Angling Club will suspend all fishing trips on Thalia 11 until further notice. This decision will be reviewed regularly but I expect the suspension to remain possibly until at least the end of April. We will review the pre-paid trip that have not been taken at the AGM

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16 March 2020

                Last Sunday your club held its annual fundraiser at Kevins  house. It was really well patronised with over 50 members and their friends enjoying a great afternoon of food and drink. Having really good raffle prizes  meant we made a lot of money from this. We had a $200 jigging rod donated by Tackle West in Beckenham, an Undersink Water filter system donated by Westoz Filters and 2 prizes of 18 holes of gold for 2 people with a cart Donated by  Sun City Golf Club in Yanchep. Plus there were another 16 good quality prizes. It was a good day with good food and good company. There was also the 8 mystery Door prizes that turned out to be 2 crayfish. The whisky toss was won again by guess who?? Bob Stanton again.  Money wise we made ( after Expenses) a total of $2144. If we didn’t have to buy the prawns and fish and some raffle prizes,  this would have been much higher. Anyhow we now have over $4200 in the bank with only the boat registration of about $580 to pay

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Feb 23 2020

Greg took the boat out again on Saturday with 6 crew fishing with a variety of fresh baits, metal gigs and soft plastics that resulted in a real mix bag of fish caught. John landing big 50cm Flathead, Klaus caught a big stingray that was released after retrieving his hooks making Klaus a very happy chappy after landing a Baldchin Groper at 49cm and Dhufish making 58cm. Geoff turned his 36cm Foxfish into yummy beer bartered fish n chips for dinner that night.  Of Terry persisted most of the day with gigs but in the dying moments turned to the dark side and switched to fresh bait and was instantly rewarded with a big Baldchin of 55cm . Skipper Greg caught a 52cm pink snapper and while drifting over a huge bait ball that extended from the bottom in 35m of water to within 5 m of the surface by dropping a six inch white Curley tail grub plastic through the bait ball. He also hooked up to a bluefin tuna of 58cm. Two under size Dhuies 30cm and 54cm and pink snapper of 43cm were successful released. Sadly the day came to an end way too soon and with the fish still biting it was time to head home. The boat still has plenty of fuel and is ready to go. I hope to see you on the next trip please look out for the email from the booking officer Ken.

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15 Feb 2020

Thanks to Gregs efforts the boat has been getting out a bit. Using the money from the last couple of trips, Ian and Greg added another 400 litres to the tanks allowing Greg to call a trip for  n Saturday. So finally, after a week of wind rain and thunder, there was a small weather window before the strong winds were forecast to return fvor another week. Six members took advantage of this small window and were rewarded with another day in paradise light westerlies and warm sunshine. The bite was slow and steady all day with the bite turning on just before it was time to head home.  The team  left them biting with a promise to return as soon as possible.

Some very nice fish were landed 77 cm Dhuie fell victim to a 6 inch Berkley Gulp Curley tail grub Nuclear Chicken soft plastic  and another 53 cm Dhuie took a Zaman 8 inch Streakz XL Nuked Chicken and was successful released. For the bait guys, fresh fillets and squid was the bait of choice catching several small Pink snapper and one that was size at 52 cm, a Breaksea Cod at 41cm and three sharks included Gummy, Wiskery and a Whaler of 120 cm, plus the usual bait fish of footballers and wrasse. All in all a fun day with plenty of banter amongst the lads made for a very pleasant day.     

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13 Feb 2020

Greg skippered the boat yesterday for its first trip out since the maintenance. The downside is not much was caught. Greg is really keen to get the boat out again as soon as the weather show it is worthwhile

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Jan 20 2020

Well all I can say is that it is all good news. The boat is performing well with a coat of antifouling and now runs at 11 knots at 1800 RPM. Everything is working as it should. The only minor issue is deck hose pressure and that may only be a seal on the impeller cover and is easy to fix. The winch head has been removed and as it was fairly useless was sold for scrap for $20. The space now holds a small table which is far more useful. Greg did a mountain of work on the shade canopy, raising the bow end and welding new rod holders across the back of it. Greg also built the table where the winch head was. Taking out the leaking fuel tanks was a major challenge as it entailed removing the motor first. The tanks were repaired and refitted but in the process we found some other things that needed replacing. Greg and Ian refuelled the tanks with 500 litres so we are good to go when the weather forecast is ok. While I was away on Kangaroo Island, I found a person who is skilled in the art of creating vinyl transfers for signs. We now have a 500mm diameter vinyl sticker of the club logo to put on the front of the flybridge. It is expected to last 5 or 6 years and we have a spare to use when one deteriorates.

            I just wish to thank everyone who came and assisted with the maintenance. I wont even attempt to name everyone but I will say Greg and Ken put in a huge effort so thanks for that. Taking the tanks out for repair is not an easy task and as usual when you undertake a task of this magnitude there will always be other thing found that need fixing. Some of these contributed to the extra cost. Everyone pulled together and did a fantastic job to keep the boat operational.

 

The over heating problem we had has been solved. There was a huge calcium build uo on the plates of the 3 heat exchangers preventing them from working properly and causing the engine to overheat. After pumping 5 litres of  Rydlime through ther raw water system for 3 hours we had the problem solved. The engine now heats to 72 C at 1800 rpm. 

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26 December 2019

Greg took the boat out again yesterday with 5 members and a visitor. It was another fantastic day on the water with everyone fishing hard all day. Visitor and potential new member, Terry Ong caught 11kg 84cm Dhufish on a bright green jig, and his mate Andy Ong caught 64cm Dhufish also on a jig.  Bob Stanton caught a thumping 50cm King George Whiting while John Tonkin caught 35cm Fox fish. Several other under size fish were released including 2 Dhufish, a Sampson, a Pink snapper and a few Sergeant Baker and Wrasse.

Jarryd Jones is our latest new member so when you see him around on the trips please make him welcome. He is very keen angler and I am sure we will see some good fish caught by him on future trips.

We still have enough fuel to do one more trip before we take the boat out of the water on the 10th January so keep an eye out for the email invitation from Ken.

I will be sending out a plan next week for the maintenance that will commence with the boat being taken from the water and the hull pressure cleaned on Friday 10th January.

 

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18 December 2019

The day started with perfect weather conditions - very light winds and not too hot with eight enthusiastic fishos with intentions of a fun day on the water and some good fish in the big blue box. It wasn't long into the trip out and new member Jarryd was hooked up on a tuna. On arrival at the first spot, the sounder was lit up with bait fish but we struggled to land a quality fish. All we got was some Wrasse, a couple of Fox fish and Breaksea Cod, a small shark, a couple of squid and a cuttlefish. The boys fished hard all day and we tried every trick in the book, fishing cay pots, lumps ground, bait schools but nothing worked. Of course I have all the excuses. It was just after the full moon, there was a falling falling barometer, we had the wrong bait etc but the old saying rang true this time. A bad days fishing always beats a good day at the office. Thankfully a good bunch of guys onboard had plenty of laughs and banter and John with his electric reel kept us amused and laughing all day. I couldn't think of anywhere else I would rather have been..... a fabulous day on the water with some mates doing what we enjoy. Fishing where catching is just a bonus. We also managed to use up some of the fuel and at the same time put some money in the bank

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14 October 2019

 Yesterday was the Clubs last day of fishing before demersal bans kick in on Tuesday and goes until the 15th of December.  The day commenced with perfect weather with of a  light South westerly  but got off  to a slow start with the crew mostly catching small bottom dwellers that were kept for bait. Some of the guys spotted some birds working nearby so it was out with the lures for a slow troll.  Three good Northern Blue fin Tuna were landed.   As the recognised bite time was approaching we went back to  bottom bouncing and jigging and spot on 10.20 bite time the dhufish came on the bite. We landed 11 Dhuies with the  biggest being an 83cm for Klaus. We kept 2 with the other 9  were released and 5 of those released were well over legal. We  tried moving around fishing bait schools and fished some really good ground trying for some pink snapper baldchin  but all we could catch was dhufish. A couple of Cuttlefish,  a Sampsonfish and Foxfish rounded out the day.

It is really pleasing to see the sportsmanship among the members on recent trips. Sometimes an over 55cm dhuie comes on board but the catcher chooses to release it in the hope of catching a larger one. New member Andy released one on Thursday so Bob could catch a bigger one and again Andy on Sunday did the same so Klaus could keep his.  This is a really good story to hear. Thanks Andy. Overall a fun day was had by all with plenty of banter and laughs and some quality fish 

The Tuna are Pelagics so they can be taken all year round when they are about. Maybe we look at targeting them during the demersal ban. We also can go out to the sand patches and target Western School Whiting

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11 October 2019

The next trip is planned for Sunday 13th October

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11th October 2019

New Skipper Greg took the boat out on Thursday 10th October with 3 members. Jigs were the tackle of choice and those using them were not disappointed. 2 Breaksea Cod fell to bait and many dhuies fell to jigs. the 2 Dhuies kept were 66 and 76 cm with 6 released - the biggest being 84 cm. The release weight was kept busy. Also kept was a 55cm Pink Snapper on a soft plastic a Cuttlefish, a 50cm harlequin a Black Spot Pigfish some wrasse and a Sea Sweep.

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27th September 2019

Ian Skippered again and took out 6 members as crew. Although only one Dhuie at 66 cm was kept 5 others under 55cm were released. A good Pink Snapper at 63cm and a Breaksea Cod plus a good King George were also kept on a day that had plenty of fish on the sounder but not much wanting to bite.

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11th September 2019

Meeting tonight at the Maylands Yacht club at 7:30pm

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September 9th 2019

Ian skippered with 3 visitors and 3 members. 2 Dhuies over 65cm kept and 5 released, 2 Pink Snapper kept, a Baldy kept plus skippy and a 52cm King George. Hard start to the day with the North easterly, but once the wind went to the south , Ian was able to drift slowly along a ledge and this is where the majority of the fish were caught.

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 August 25 2019

Ken skippered on a very slow day with Northeast Breeze and a southerly current. Lots of fish on the sounder but not a lot of fish on the boat

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August 9 2019.

This is the first trip out since the overhearing problems were resolved last week. There are photos of Lloyds Dhuie at 55 cm and Ians at 70 cm and Tonys brace of almost 50cm  King George whiting on the photos page. Also caught were a couple of whiskery sharks and a Foxfish. The boat went really well. Ken is looking at next weekend for the next trip.

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August 6 2019

There is a trip planned for Friday August 9th with Ian as skipper. If you want to go please call Ken  to book in

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August 2 2019

So its been a year since this was updated. I am so sorry. Anyway the AGM has come and gone and we have one new face on the committee Ken Sunderland the booking officer has been elected to the Snr Vice Presidents role.

Since January we have had a lot of trouble with the engine overheating. After a lot of work replacing the fresh water waterpump and rekitting the seawater pump, we decided after a lot of advice, to flush the seawater side with a product called Rydlime. It is very effective at removing the scale and lime build up on the heat exchanger, the after cooler and the transmission cooler. After cycling the Rydlime through the collers for about 3 hours, we put it all back together and took the boat for a run. The engine temperature using the infra red gun never went over 72C and the gauge on the dash showed 75 C at 2000rmp. There was no steam or smoke coming out of the exhaust. Problem solved.

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August 17 2018

Ian took the boat out with a Father and Son team and 4 others. The Son got the first fish of the day, a nice 60 cm Pink Snapper. Not to be outdone Dad got a 67cm dhuie. What a great way for new members to start. The bite was a bit slow but several Breaksea Cod and a 2 kg horse of a Flathead to Mike coupled with another size Dhuie to new member Chris made it an interesting day. Another 5 Dhuies were released.

Keep an eye on your emails for when the next trip is planned

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 August 11 2018

Ken took the boat out on Sat with 4 members and 3 visitors. This was the first time in a long while that  the weather was favourable enough to go. A good mixed bag was caught with the biggest Dhuie being 67cm and 9 being returned to grow bigger. Jim worked his magic using only a 220gm Vexed Jig to catch several Dhuies and a good Bigeye Tuna. Several Pink Snapper over 60cm and a Sampson Fish made it a fairly good day. There is a rule about no Bananas on a fishing boat. 2 of the fishers on Sat had bananas and didnt catch a fish all day. Fact or fiction....you be the judge. The boat went well and was back in the pen at 4:30pm

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July 12 2018

The AGM has come and gone with only minor chages to the Committee. Ken has taken over the Booking Officer role after Ian managed it for nearly 10 years. To make it easier for those going fishing , the start time will be dependent on the crew rather than sunrise as it has been. Return time is still 4pm.

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June 30 2018

A long lull with some good days weather wise but everyone seems too busy or away on holidays to go fishing so ther hasn't been a trip for several months. Clearly we need more members.

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Ken took the boat out again on the 4th March with 6 members, It was a hard days fishing in none too ideal conditions . The net result was one good Dhuie, 5 Breaksea Cod, 2 nice Pink Snapper, 2 almost 50cm King George whiting and a couple of Sampson fish.

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Saturday Feb 3  turned out to be a reasonably good day considering the fishing almanac outlook was not good. The winds started north east 2-5 knts, then slowly swung to north, then west then a light south west. Seas & swell way down, so not as taxing on the body. 

We hit the 22mtr mark at about 6:30am just outside the 2^nd reef and the fish were around on sounder but must have been a bit fussy as only a fox fish, baldie, & Breaksea Cod came up on that spot. 

On the way to explore new fishing ground we circled some birds working but no hits. When we arrived at my planned spot a dive boat was right in it, but preparing to leave, and I found this place to be loaded with various fish. Sounder had black balls on the bottom, with a mix of reds in it as well. Always a good sign when this appears on the screen.  This new spot now called `Dive` (21 mtrs) produced some solid hits & runs as a few people lost gear (including myself) trying to tame the beasts below, as they just ran away. Pulled some nice Foxfish, Skippy & Breaksea, before the fish on the sounder quickly disappeared within 3 drifts as the wind swung quickly to the west. Well worth trying this new ground again in the future. Its not far from my snapper & baldie spots.  We then headed to 40 metres to the aptly named `17x Duhie` spot and the wind was up & we had a drift of 1.3 knts. 24oz sinkers only just holding bottom. We were on 2^nd to last drift of the day. Poor Rocko had no luck all day and was about to accept defeat to another fishless day, when he soon found the secret to a big Duhie is to drop the sinker directly onto its head below, spooking it into smashing the bait. This technique seemed to work for Rocko as he barely had time to set his drag after hitting the bottom, upsetting said Duhie, laughing and calling `Duhie` all it`s way to the top. Rocko`s Duhie turned out to be a whopping 93cm long, and a heavy 26lbs. Have a look at the photo to see his smile was as big as the fish.

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5th January 2018 Friday

Thursday was a bit better than Tuesday. After departing the Marina at 05:30 Skipper Ken went northwest, fishing the 30m lumps catching very little and not much showing on the sounder until about we got to the 35-40m lumps at 13:30. With the wind behaving itself and certinly no more than the forecast 10Knts, we were able to pick up some nice fish.  Leaving fish on the bite, we returned home to the pen at at 16:15 with 1 Pinky about 60cm, 2 nice Dhuies with 5 returned successfully, one Baldy and a good sized Foxfish along with some other odds and sods Wrasse and sgt Baker etc.

 

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2nd January 2018 Tuesday

Ian skippered the boat for the first trip out since early October last year with 5 crew. Left the pen at Two Rocks at about 05:30 with the southerly at about 5 knots. The wind built steadily during the morning and was at 20 knots by the time we got back to the marina at 14:30. It was a hard day with Jon P getting the only keeper dhuie with 3 others released. Jon also got the only Baldie. Ian got a reasonable Breaksea cod and Terry got a good Flathead. Overall not a very good day. Hope Ken has a better day on Thursday.

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16th December 2017

Boat ready, Crew ready Skipper ready. Weather very ordinary. hopefully we can get a tripin soon and pay some bills.

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25th November 2017

We took the boat out of the water for annual maintenance. Pressure cleaned the hull and put on a new coat of antifoul. replaced the shaft and keel anodes. The sea cock for the deck hose was seized solid and could not be turned off so it was replaced. The seacock for the engine cooling was cleaned up and works ok. Back into the water monday morning where we found the voltage regulator on the alternator was failing intermittently and overcharging the batteries. Angelo weaved his magic and soon got it working properly. We are now ready for the reopening of the demersal season.

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1st October 2017

Ian took the boat out with 5 crew. Jon S got a 70cm Dhuie and Dale got a Pinky that was bigger. It was a pretty good day withe final tally being 2 Dhuies, 2 Baldies, 2 Pinkies, a couple of Longtail tuna,  5 sampsons and  2 sandbar sharks.

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9th September 2017

Yesterday’s trip had all 8 fishers happy with action most the day. The water was a calm, flat, light roll with a light NW all day.  First drift was at `17 Duhie` & immediately  had us all at action stations with shark, duhies and a few others. First slow drift went for almost one nautical mile as all were kept busy and fish below us almost the whole time.

We then went into the 35`s to a baldie spot we have called `Brian’s Patch` which produced two large Baldies, of which one was 63cm. Then went to `Lucky Last` which had nothing.

The last spot was `POTS2` which also was loaded and we got smashed with all sorts. We had to leave the fish on the bite to head back in.

So overall 22 good fish, with 10x duhies thrown back. And yes our resident dolphin friend showed up for his lunch, took a undersize Duhie we had just released, then went.

We also had two whales entertain us while waiting for a bite.

All in all a very good trip with everyone getting their 2 demersals

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2nd September 2017

Had to do a dive on the boat this morning and sure enough found a piece of pot rope loosely wrapped around the prop shaft. All fixed in about 15 mins. The water wasn't cold but the wind when you got out of the water was. All you people have a great Fathers Day tomorrow

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29 August 2017

The boat went out yesterday with a skipper (Ken) and 6 crew. They left at sunrise (6:30) and fished in various depths to 40m just west of More River. 5 Dhufish were released and 2 kept. Jasons was 750 mm and Toms was 790mm. Several Pink Snapper all over 55cm and several skippy were also kept. Ran over a pot line on the way in and left a rope wrapped around the prop shaft so it looks like a dive next week.

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22nd July 2017

Its been a long time between notes. Ians foot is ok. A new Stainless Steel pedestal has been manufactured and the seat reinstalled. There was no trips without the seat and as usual this coincided with good weather. The AGM was held on the 12th July and Bill Shean cleaned up with 3 of the 6 trophies thus giving him bragging rights for a while. With the weather looking like normal winter patterns, I dont know when the boat will get out next.

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20th April 2017.

4 members and  skipper Ian  took the boat out for the day. It turned a bit af a disaster when the skippers seat broke off at the base while Ian was sitting on it. A severe laceration to his foot was the result so after we patched him up it was back to the marina where an ambulance was waiting. Not a very good day.

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12th April 2017

The fundraiser last Sunday although down on numbers still raised over $1500 including donations which helped us pay for the boat insurance and the replacement of Battery Bank No 2. We also gratefully received a donation of $1000 from Wally Pheobe.

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5th April 2017

The fundraiser this coming Sunday looks to be loads of fun with lots of raffle prizes. Let Kevin know by Friday night if you are coming

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Wednesday 5th April 2017

5 members and 2 visitors plus the skipper left the marina at 6am and went fishing yesterday. Mike and Reg dragged skirted lures on the trip north and Reg got a hit from a tuna that took loads of line. It was lost at the boat when the braid broke at the knot to the mono. Mike and I both believe it was a small Yellowfin.  The fish bit well from the first drop at 8am  just north of Moore River with a 68cm Dhuie landed by Rod McFarlanes guest and 3 others were  released. We all got bites and a couple of good King George were kept.  Mike Fogarty and Rod then got a reasonable Breaksea cod each then it all went quiet for a couple of hours. The good bite time was for less than an hour. Rick Walker got his biggest ever King George at 54cm and Ian got a 53cm one at almost the same time. That was it and as the wind got up to 15knots, we headed into it all the way home. We were back in the marina by 2pm.

 

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Friday 31st March 2017

Ian has planned a trip for Tuesday 4th April and it didnt take long for all the spots to be taken up. It will be good to get out with a full crew and get some fish

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Wed 8th March

Our Easter Fundraiser is going to be held at Jon and Susi Pallettes place in Neaves Rd. The mains are nearly all seafood with steak for the non fish eaters. There are heaps of raffle prizes with packs of crayfish and fish being the main ones.

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Friday March 3 2017

The next meeting of the West Coast Angling Club will be at the Maylands Yacht club this coming Wednesday March 8th at 7:30 pm. Discussion items include the Seafood Fundraiser at Jon Pallettes on Sunday the 9th April, latest trips, how the boat is going. Fuel consumption with the new motor and the financial report

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Friday March 3 2017

Ian took the boat out yesterday with 5 crew. Fishing was really tough with a northerly current and no wind. The first decent fish, a Breaksea cod wasnt caught until after lunch then with a bit of a westerly breeze we were able to drift slowly along a ledge,  2 Dhuies at 53 and 54 cm were released along with one under 50. Kevin got a big fat King George whiting at 53.5 cm and Rod got a 53 cm Red Snapper to go with his Breaksea cod. Two good Foxfish made a disappointing day marginally better.

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Monday February 20 2017

Ken skippered the boat yesterday with crew of 6. He worked hard to get a bite despite seeing lots of fish on the sounder. The caught most of the fish as the seabreeze came in after lunch. They kept one good Dhuie and released 3 others. other fish kept were 3 Breaksea Cod a nice big Baldchin Groper a Harlequin, a Foxfish and a 50cm Red Snapper

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Sunday 5th February 2017

Ian took the boat out with 7 members on Friday. One Dhuie was kept at about 650 mm and one under 550 was released. Mike trolled up a northern bluefin tuna. The decided to fish the shacks on the way out and managed to score a couple of dozen reasonable sand whiting but the area was plagued with undersized flathead but a good sized one was kept.

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Thursday 26 January 2017

Ian took the boat out todat with 4 members. Fishing was tough with all dhuies released as they were under 55cm. All that was kept were a tuna trolled up by Angelo on the way out and a Foxfish and a good breaksea cod.

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Monday 23 January

Ian will skipper the next trip this coming Wednesday. The forecast is food with light winds for most of the morning and up to 2pm. If you are interested ring Ian or email him to book in. Meet at the Marina gate at 05:30 for a 05:45 start.

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Sunday 22 January

Saturdays trip was hard going with fish being found easily enough but getting them to bite was a real challenge. Mike dragged a lure out and back and was rewarded with a couple of Long tail ( Northern Bluefin ) Tuna. A couple of good King George whiting and a Foxfish were also caught.

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17 January 1300 hrs

There is a trip planned for this Sat Jan 21. Ken will skipper the boat. If you want to go please email or call Ian to book your spot. Meeting time is 05:45 at the gate. Only 4 people have booked in so far.

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12th January 1600hrs

At the meeting at Maylands Yacht Club last night we had a robust discussion about the boat and how much better it is with all the lights, sensors and alarms working properly. A big vote of thenks to Jon, Angelo and Ken who performeed the majority of the work. Early stage planning for the next fundraiser was brought up. If will be on a Sunday probably 2 weekends before Easter and will be at either Jon or Kevins place. Seafood will be the main food. Membership was discussed as we have only 34 members so getting a spot to go fishing  is relatively easy as there was only 4 plus the Skipper on yesterdays trip.

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12th January 2017 1000 hrs

Ken took the boat out with 4 members yesterday on its first club run with the new motor. Everything went really well and some comments were that its so much quieter than the last engine. The Lucky Last spot produced most of the fish againwith the fishers keeping one dhuie ( releasing 5 under 55cm ) 3 whiskery sharks, one Baldchin, 2 Breaksea Cod, 2 King George Whiting, a Foxfish, a Sampson fish and a Blue Morwong(Queen Snapper).

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8th January 2017........1500 hrs

Our Booking Officer, Ian Stott has emailed members today to see if we can get a crew for next Wednesday Jan 11. As expected it took little time for most of the spots to be taken. Ken will be the skipper.

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8th January 2017....1200 hrs...

The boat came out of the water for its annual maintenance in early December. We expected to have the new motor in and running within a week but we had just a few problems. The new engine was perfect and is considerably quieter than the old one. We had a few problems with the cooling systems resulting in replacing the Thermostats and a week later replacing the main engine water pump Impeller. Not a lot of cost but difficult to discover the problem when it only showed up over 1600 rpm and under load. After a short test run early this morning we have an engine that is working perfectly driving the boat along at between 11 and 12 knots at 1900 RPM while having an engine temperature of 82 degrees C. We have rewired all the gauges and dashboard lights, replaced the engine alarms and got the Turbo Pressure gauge working. We have ordered an Hour meter to replace the busted one which will be installed soon.

Time to go fishing