Land-based leviathans

For years, a large Shovel Nose Ray has evaded me. I hooked what I thought were a couple of big ones in Mozambique a few years ago and then caught small brown shovelies in India, but never a big one. The smaller species are great fun on light tackle; seen cruising in the shallows, a small bait can be sight cast in their direction and, when the line pulls tight, a solid scrap ensues as long as the tackle is balanced. Here on the west coast of Australia the White Spotted Shovel Nose Ray patrols the waters of the long, deserted beaches, picking off crabs and other tasty morsels churned up by the waves. 

A solid White Spotted Shovel Nose Ray that took a liking to a a Tailor head

The interesting thing about fishing the Western Australian beaches is that there is a good chance that some particularly large fish might snaffle the bait. Tiger Sharks, huge Stingrays and other big shark species can be encountered, particularly when the sun dips below the horizon.  The last big Stingray that took the bait fought hard for over an hour and was undoubtedly a monster. Probabably a big, black Bull Ray. Using my heavy Shimano beastmaster, 80lb power pro braid and Saragosa 18000, I leaned hard on the fish and eventually had it close to the beach. Repeatedly, it came into the surf zone only to become stuck in the deep gutter where extraction was virtually impossible. It would, perhaps, have been a few more minutes before a wave would help the fish up onto the beach, but, after an hour and ten minutes, the line parted.

Fantastic sunset on the west coast 

The first large Shovel Nose Ray that I had a good look at was cruising the clear, shallow water up in Exmouth. It was a beautiful fish around two metres long with vivid white spots against a light brown skin. Lit up by the bright Australian sun it, of course, had no desire to feed. Maybe night would be the time to catch them and we fished hard up there, but never came across another Shovel Nose. That only happened down here in Dongara after putting in a quite a  few hours on the local beaches. Milton had lost one the previous week after fighting the big fish for 45 minutes, so I was keen to fish the same water.

After being bust off by the big Ray on the previous session, it seemed sensible to stick to using Tailor fillets and heads for bait. On the beach we fish, the near gutter is deep and close, so only a short cast is needed to get the bait into the prime feeding zone. After half an hour of sending the Tailor head out, the rod arched over in its tube and the fight was on.

White Spotted Shovel Nose Ray, Dongara, Western Australia

It was a spirited tussle, some good solid runs and dogged head shaking before the large fins could be seen breaking through the white, frothy waves. With some help from James a very lively Shovel Nose was landed just above the breakers for a couple of photos. Many locals swear by the eating quality of these fish, but to kill such a beautiful creature seems a great shame.

James with a decent Lemon Shark

James, who is a keen fly fisher, was keen to get stuck into a few of the Australian fish while working over here on the west coast. Things had been pretty quiet for him, with the better specimens avoiding capture, until one evening a very solid fish picked up his bait. To start with we were baffled as to what it might be - sharks were ruled out since there was no wire trace - but from the fight it was putting up we guessed it might be a big Mulloway or even a Shovel Nose. However, after the fight had continued for a while, the croaker option was ruled out and we started to wonder whether it might be a big shark conveniently hooked in the scissors. Some twenty minutes later a Lemon Shark of around 110kg lay beached on the sand with the hook only just wedged in the side of its mouth!

Good Spinner Shark for James

James continued his shark success a couple of nights later with a lovely Spinner Shark that, for its size, went pretty well. It was on one of those evenings when the fish are really playing the game and every cast seemed to rouse some interest. Before James hooked the Spinner Shark my bait had been well and truly nailed by a very large fish which had run for the horizon. The 80lb braid sped off the reel as the drag on my Saragosa 18000 was cranked higher and higher, with what seemed like little effect. After thirty or forty seconds at least 200 metres of line had been emptied from the spool and, unluckily for me, the hook popped from the fish's mouth. I was left wondering whether a spooling might have occured or whether I could have somehow stopped the big shark before it took the remainder of my line.

Shovel Nose Ray that took a squid bait

It didn't take long until, once again, my rod curved over as another big fish ate the Tailor head bait. And, again, just like the previous run, line vanished at a dizzy rate and I started to fear the worst when the fish was showing no sight of letting up after 250 metres. But, suddenly, I was able to stop wondering about the outcome when the line went slack as a sharp reef cut the braid - and that was that. It was still early and we fished on. James caught the Spinner and I went on to get a decent Shovel Nose Ray, so we went home fairly happy. Since that night, we haven't hooked into anything nearly as big as the two fish that escaped, apart from two more giant Stingrays. Like the last time, I fought the Ray carefully for over an hour and it felt larger than the previous one, but the gutter once again stopped me landing it. The steep ledge of sand that runs the length of the beach makes it almost impossible to bring a big Ray through the waves, but I'll keep trying!

Since the last Stingray busted me off, James and I met with success and finally landed one of these monsters after another, epic hour-long battle. This time it was James' turn to fight the fish after it took a fresh Mullet head from just behind the breakers. A slow first run without any head shakes indicated that the hooked fish was a Ray - and a big one at that - because James could do nothing to slow it down. An almost locked drag had no effect on the monster as it continued to plough out to the star-spangled horizon where the sun had set an hour before.

Unlike the last few big Rays we have hooked, this one didn't kite to the left and head north, but kept on a course straight out to sea. This meant James didn't need to the leave the comfort of his esky and could play the fish from his makeshift 'fighting chair'. Twenty minutes into the fight and the ray had calmed a little: the runs had become shorter and James was starting to tire. It seemed both angler and fish had a long battle ahead. But, with a considerable bend in the rod, neither of us was surprised when we heard a sharp crack as James' prediction that it would be the rod's last outing, came true.

The rod hadn't broken in two just yet, but it was perilously close to doing so. For the remainder of the fight some careful rod work was needed if the big fish was going to see the beach. Patiently, James fought the Ray for another 40 minutes, often an inch at a time, until it finally reached the surf zone. With the aid of the waves, we managed to beach a spectacularly huge, black Smooth Ray. Unfortunately, we had no tape to measure the disc width of the fish so its weight is anyone's guess. But, whatever that Ray weighed, it was an amazing capture, particularly on relatively light tackle.

Another giant stingray estimated at around 250lb + which took an hour and forty five minutes to subdue!

A break from fishing bait threw up a couple of solid Tailor to the surface lures. This time the Maria pop queen was the lure of choice.

An early morning Tailor popped up from around the beach reefs

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Another fishy West coast report

Over the last few weeks the weather has been kind to us on a few occasions. Winds have dropped and the seas flattened out enough for some great days out on the boat. And, with the warm waters have come Tuna and Spanish Mackerel. Not far offshore, the Longtail Tuna and stripeys have been busting up the bait shoals and, to any switched-on fisher are fair game for some great, light tackle sport. Terns, gulls and auks have been the give away. The birds closely follow the fast moving pelagics around the ocean's surface and, with Lloyd's sharp eye, we have had numerous chances to get close enough to cast lures into the surface mayhem.

Lloyd with a great looking Striped Tuna that fought all the way to the boat on  light tackle

We started with small, sub-surface lures such as the maria duplex, which cast far and matches the size of the bait on which the Tuna were feeding. First cast and Lloyd expertly landed the lure in amongst the boiling fish. And the result, of course, as he started the fast retrieve, was a solid hit followed by a singing Shimano reel.  A little later, when we again managed to get close to the Tuna shoal, the fish moved off pretty fast and, soon, any sign of surface action vanished. Lloyd cast a Shimano Ocea stick bait out and worked it back towards the boat. With little hope of a strike we were surprised to see a good Tuna suddenly surface and smash into the lure. It missed the hooks, but, second time around, it was more determined and a hook up resulted. Exciting fishing indeed!!

A good lure-munching Longtail Tuna for Lloyd

The Longtail I hooked next decided that it wouldn't hang around, but instead head for the horizon. The light hooks on the Maria lure meant I had to keep the drag pretty soft, so after only 30 seconds of screaming reel, the braid was nearly finished. Lloyd and I both saw the backing appear at the same moment and I thought it was all over. But Lloyd was on the throttle and in a second we were after the fast-moving fish, which eventually came to the net after a hard fight.

Longtail Tuna that nearly emptied the small reel in thirty seconds flat.  

In between the high speed Tuna action a spot of jigging was in order to see if any Dhufish might be hanging around in the inshore water despite the continuing high temperatures. Macca didn't waste too much time and soon hooked into a solid fish on a soft plastic lure. It was a dogged fight, but, after a few minutes, a good Dhufish of nearly 10kg came to the boat. Amazingly, people claim these great fish don't fight; use the correct tackle and the experience will be one to remember!

Macca with a good Dhufish that hit a soft plastic hard

A little later Lloyd's rod bent over in an alarming curve as a big fish made off with his butterfly jig. Screaming reels again as he battled the fish off the bottom and towards the boat. Another big Dhufish was a the result. A real result considering that we weren't too hopeful of landing any so close to shore.

Lloyd and a solid jigged Dhu fish

After jigging, a troll was in order to try for a few maccies and it didn't take long for the swimming lures to get well and truly nailed. Thanks, again, to Lloyd, location was the easy bit.  Trying to keep the hooks in proved a bit more tricky.The first two made it to the boat then one was dropped. The day after I fished, Macca was going, finally, to settle his score with Spanish Mackerel. Having lost them before, he had the chance to get even and ,as it happened, hooked into a very good fish that fought deep and hard. Yet again though the fish got the upper hand and made a fast escape as the hooks bent. Better luck next time mate!

Trolled up Spanish Mackerel

Lloyd with a decent Spanish Mackerel

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Mulloway, Dhus, Sambos and Snappers!

13kg Mulloway from the west coast of Australia.  It took a while, but will hopefully be the first  of many!

After dreaming of it for a while, I finally landed a big Mulloway a few days ago. This great looking fish, that pulled the scales down to 13kg, had put up an incredible fight despite the heavy tackle for which I had opted. The previous sessions had been fairly eventful, but  luck hadn't been on my side whenever I'd hooked into big fish. Either the line parted on the sharp rocks or, for some reason, the hooks pulled, which on every occasion, left me a little unhappy to say the least.  

Waiting for a big fish to take the bait.  luckily, on this occasion the wait was only thirty seconds!

Using fish fillets as bait I was fairly surprised when the rod pulled around hard just a minute after the bait had settled. The fight was on as the big fish tore off, even though the drag was set pretty tight. Ten seconds later the hook popped and I felt that sinking feeling again. I knew a big Mulloway had just given me the slip! Next cast and another quick bite resulted in a 'soapie' that had gobbled down the huge bait. Then, with the third cast, my luck was in as another solid fish picked the bait up after 30 seconds and also tore off towards the horizon. Using my Shimano beastmaster, some serious pressure was exerted on the fish and, after a solid scrap, the big silver Mulloway rolled on the surface close to the rocks. Without any assistance the next couple of minutes were pure mayhem and, somehow, the fish, me and my rod ended up reaching the safe spot where I could take some photos. Luckily for me, Lloyd came to my rescue and clicked off a few good shots and helped me carry the fish home because, unfortunately, after ten minutes of trying for a release it, I found that it wasn't to be.

The Jig strikes again! 13kg West Australian Dhufish that inhaled a 55g  vertical jig dropped 45 metres. Happy days indeed!

Like the Mulloway for inshore fishing, the Dhufish is the number one target for offshore anglers. And, also like the Mulloway, a few big ones had previously given me the slip. Last time I was in Dongara, fishing with Lloyd, I  hooked and lost a big Dhufish. And lately, with the weather conditions being unfavourable, fishing out in the boat has been hard, to say the least, and a few trips have been relatively unproductive. But, finally, a perfect day arrived and we were able to get far enough out to find cooler water where Lloyd expected the fish to be shoaling up. And he wasn't wrong because as the jigs and soft plastics started touching the sea bed over 40 metres below the surface, fish started hitting the lures.

Lloyd with a great looking Pink Snapper that also nailed a vertical jig

Elise fished soft plastics, while Lloyd and I dropped Shimano jigs and both baits were eagerly accepted by the many fish below. Dhufish, Pink Snapper and, after a while, Samson fish got in on the action, at which point it became hard to hook another species.

A big Dhu for the Dhu master himself! Amazingly, people around  this area still doubt the effectiveness of jigs and soft plastics even when they see photos like these!

And another quality Dhufish, this time for Elise!

From the word go, the Dhus hit the lures and we soon all had a superb specimen. Lloyd lost a big fish, but then made up for it by landing one of around 12kg, after a strong fight. Elise landed a beauty too - finally, after five or six session, things had come right! After landing three good Dhu fish in a row, Elise hooked up to another big fish which seemed to be the same species and, even when it rolled onto the surface, it looked like a Dhu. However, it was a monster Pink Snapper, the biggest so far to grace Lloyd's boat. It seemed the day couldn't get much better, but it soon did!

Elise's massive Pink Snapper that nailed a Macarthy soft plastic!  Nice!!!

Strangely, the Samson Fish that Lloyd almost always hooks while out on the boat had also been absent on previous sessions. Rising summer water temperatures had either put the fish off feeding or sent them into deeper, cooler water. And, it seemed that we had found a shoal at last;  small fish at first, but increasing in size as the day went on until, eventually, fish of up to 12 kg were nailing the lures every drop.  It was frantic fishing that left our arms burning and wrists aching, but it was still impossible to resist just one more drop!

WA Samson Fish taken on the vertical jig!

A good fish for Lloyd on a Shimano vertical jig

As the fish shoaled below the boat, it seemed that more were joining the group as the action picked up and the size of fish increased throughout the day, eventually peaking at 10 to 12kg.

Two good Samson Fish

Double hook-ups happened most drops and, when Elise dropped her lure between filming, it was usually triple hook-up mayhem!

A bigger Sambo for Elise, taken on a soft plastic lure

Pink Snapper

While the Samson Fish were on the bite, it was hard for other species to get a look in, but occasionally, if the jig was bounced on the sea bed, a quality Pink Snapper would bite.

As soon as the wind picked up, the fish decided to shut down and that was it for the day.  The next day we were back out, but things were very different and the fish didn't want to play ball. It was still worth it because, on a long drift, Lloyd's jig got absolutely hammered by a large fish that turned out to be a big Malabar Rock Cod.

Malabar rock cod taken on the jig

Next trip out and the weather had changed hugely; temperatures were up to 45 degrees and water temperatures were also soaring.  Lloyd declared that Tuna would be on the cards, with a chance of Spanish Mackerel as well. A huge bush fire was burning south of Dongara and, as we cruised out to sea, the size of the blaze became clearer as a massive mushroom cloud of black smoke crept skywards. A troll was in order to see what was about, so we chucked a couple of lures over the back and drove around for a while. And it wasn't long before Lloyd's deep diving x rap got smashed.  The culprit was a big Samson Fish that came to the boat with a few of his mates in tow. Seeing four large fish swim around the boat made good viewing, but none of them would touch the lures we frantically threw their way.

Big, trolled up Samson Fish for lloyd

After the Samson Fish, a double hook-up resulted in two, small, but strong and fighting Bonito and then things went quiet. So we went jigging over some good looking ground and, while we jigged, some Tuna started to show on the surface around us. A horizontal vertical jig got nailed pretty fast and a Tuna of around 5-6kg came to the boat a little too fast. Lloyd was right that the Tuna would be feeding! And he would also have been right to let the fish tire a little more, because when I was about to pull it aboard, the gears seemed to engage and the fish took off at super high speed like it suddenly realised what was happening. 

Hard-fighting Tuna that nailed a jig cast in its direction

For the next hour we chased the flighty shoal of Tuna around without any more success. They were feeding, but not hard, and it seemed there were not too many fish in the shoal. A large group of Dolphins also fed close by over the rough ground. Soon, through frustration, we went back to jigging and a couple of small fish, including a Silver Trevally and a Sand Bass, graced the boat. After a while, something solid nailed my lure and a strong fight ensued for the next five minutes with the first 30 seconds feeling as though the big fish might gain cover of the rough sea bed. Lloyd called it for a good Dhu Fish and, sure enough, a beautiful big Dhuie was soon beaten.

Dhu fish that hit my jig hard, but note the almost non existent hook-up ... LUCKY ... very lucky!

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Tailor fishing

The Tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) is a widely sought after sport fish over much of the Australian coastline. Known as shad or elf in South Africa and bluefish in America, it's a fish with a wide geographical distribution and an equally wide following among anglers. An aggressive predator, the tailor can be caught with a number of different techniques, but the most exciting must undoubtedly be surface lures. Find the baitfish, structure and water movement and the tailor will seldom be far away. 

A Stunning 82 cm tailor that took a Halco Roosta popper just on sunset. Although not the best-rated tailor lure, the Roosta popper definitely comes up with the goods. Fished in the right place at the right time, most top water lures will work, but some more effectively than others. Rapala skitter pops, and Maria bull chops and pop queens are popular among tailor fisherman. Subsurface stickbaits can be devastating when fished in the right area, particularly if the fish aren't confident enough to hit the poppers.

Tailor frequent the washes around shallow reef, which Lloyd knows only too well. Casting Maria stickbaits and Shimano waxwings produced a number of quality fish including this 60cm beauty.  The closer the lure gets to the wash, the higher the chances of hooking good fish. The swirling waters provide ideal ambush habitat for this high speed predator.

Another good fish that came out of the white water on a Shimano waxwing

A tailor fisherman works a stick bait over the reef breaks. 

Tailor like this are an absolute delight to catch on surface lures. If the fish are in the mood, multiple strikes from two or three fish aren't uncommon . One thing's for certain and that is the lure will be getting nailed.

Nick casting a Roosta popper for tailor, Western Australia

And the result!  A fine tailor that fought hard all the way to the rocks. In some areas where the underwater terrain is rough, some serious pressure must be put on to keep the fish from reaching the oysters and barnacle. Although tailor are a fairly clean fighting fish in the shallow water where they like to live, the structure is often too close for comfort

A good fish on a Rapala Skitter Pop that was worked fast back to shore. When the fish are a little shy blooping the popper with short stops may help induce a bite.

Many outstanding fishing spots on the West coast of Australia are tucked away behind the sand dunes. A good 4wd vehicle can open up hundreds of superb fishing spots.

A specialist collection of tailor lures

Lloyd flicking lures to a reef break

A typical beach, Western Australia;  lots of fish and very few fisherman. Pretty spoilt over here really!

Soaking a big bait for mulloway. Unfortunately, none was to show apart from a couple of small soapies as they are known.  I'm planning to meet with a few bigger fish over the next weeks - so fingers crossed.

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Western Australia road trip

Returning from South Africa to Darwin I found the temperature soaring and humidity up at unbearable levels. The build up was here and, every day, heavy dark clouds rolled in over the Beagle Gulf. Not much rain had fallen yet apart from the odd tropical downpour, but if the previous wet season was anything to go by, it wouldn't be long until the land was well and truly drenched.

Mitch collected me from the airport in the early hours and we headed out to Gunn Point, east of the city. Enough rain had fallen, though, to transform the bone-dry landscape to a spread of rejuvenated greenness. The black, parched bush had vanished under a cloak of new lush growth, which would become even thicker as the wet continued. It was good to be back.

As we bounced along the wide red track through eucalypt forest a big frill necked lizard dashed across the road perilously close to the ute. It was a near miss, but by the time we had stopped and run into the bush the fancy-looking lizard had vanished - probably sitting quietly up a tree. Now the temperatures were up, the lizards had emerged from hibernation and later I would see plenty around the city.

Gunn point wasn't a bad spot. Miles of deserted beach ran off in both directions from the large, shady tree under which we had camped. Occasionally, along the sand, turtle tracks broke the smooth surface where one had crawled up to the high water mark to lay eggs. Unfortunately, it seemed that most of the nests had been ransacked by feral pigs. A scorching hot day led through to a crimson sunset followed by a sky peppered with bright stars. It was a perfect way to arrive back in Australia, but things deteriorated after dark when thousands of mosquitoes came out to play. This was wasn't a major problem, but when I awoke late in the night, flashes to the north east warned of an approaching storm. We hoped it would skirt around us and head inland, but in the early hours of the morning large drops of rain started to fall on the sand. Mitch and Dion had pulled an old camper van out from Darwin the previous week, so now we all huddled inside as the heavy rain drops rattled on the roof.

Back in Darwin while I waited for Nick to arrive from Singapore I spotted this bush stone curlew, or bush thick-knee (Burhinus grallarius), acting suspiciously.  A closer look revealed that it was protecting its two young tucked under its wings. By lying as flat and as dead still as possible, the curlew hoped I couldn't see her! While I photographed this wonderful animal, the male curlew did his best to distract, or scare, me by running about with his wings extended.

A Kakadu Barra to christen a new popper

When Nick arrived we picked up a hire van and were both itching to get on the road, with the first stop being Kakadu for a spot of surface fishing. Knowing the spot from before, we made a beeline for the river I had fished, but stopped at a couple of bridges along the way. At one spot a shoal of tarpon fed below and it didn't take long for one of them to hit Nick's lure. The fish he hooked gave him the slip, but next cast a good barra crept up behind his fizzer before hitting it hard. This one didn't escape and so got us off the mark for the trip.

To reach the spot we wanted to fish meant some unsealed and corrugated road which, apparently, wasn't allowed in this particular hire vehicle. So the order of the day was to keep the vehicle in one piece and not get stuck somewhere deep in the bush!

After some fairly bumpy ground that made the little van moan and groan we reached our spot and made camp. It was hot and sticky, but the temperature dropped off a bit after sunset making things slightly more comfortable. Like back at Gunn Point, a huge electrical storm raged in the distance. It would spell disaster if the rain had reached us because the flood plain on which we were camped was dry clay that would turn into a sticky swamp with the slightest bit of rain. Without a doubt, we would be completely stuck, so I spent most of the night tracking the storm ready to make a fast exit if it happened to reach our camp. By some stroke of luck the rain skirted round to the east of us, but, later, around two in the morning, another storm came in from the north. Thankfully, this one also headed off east and, after that, everything was calm.

In the early morning, armed with a couple of surface lures, we walked over the bank and down to the clear water river. As soon as Nick's fizzer started to fizz, fish showed an interest and seconds later the first barra of the day was on the bank.

Surface lure gave spectacular results and it wasn't long before we had notched up a few good fish. It seemed, however, that a snake and crocodile phobia was really playing on Nick's mind, so, after a while, when the banks became steeper, we turned back to camp. It was a shame because, where the banks become harder to negotiate, the water becomes deeper and the fish are bigger. It didn't help that we heard an almighty splash downstream that sounded like a mammoth crocodile launching into the depths.

Ox-eye tarpon were about and hit the surface lures with their usual keenness. Shortly after catching this one I spotted a Sawfish cruising about at the junction of shallow and deep water. Maybe next time I'll get a closer look at one of these prehistoric beasts!

Spread out around Kakadu are numerous lush valleys where the creeks flow. We had to stop at this spot ... 'Barramundi gorge'.  I'd seen it on the map before I reached Australia and wondered what it might be like. Sure enough it didn't disappoint; clear water full of fish and, of course, plenty of barra cruising through the still water. The only drawback was that fishing isn't allowed, but it didn't actually matter - just being there was enough.

Barramundi Creek, Kakadu National park. Full of saratoga, barra, sooty grunter, and archer fish, amongst other smaller species

Nick flicking a lure in one of Kakadu's beautiful rivers. Small holes on the corners produced little saratoga and sooty grunter.

Frill necked lizard in all its glory ready to suck in a fly! When agitated, these lizards extend a huge frill around the neck which helps them look bigger. And if that doesn't do the trick he might even come in for an attack!

A quick stop and the Ord River at Kunnunura produced a couple of small barra and archer fish.

The Northern territory is home to many millions of flying foxes which roost during the day in shady trees. Unusually, these were low in the trees meaning a half decent photo could be shot. 

Our trusty van had covered over 500,000 km in Australia and seemed still to be going strong! We did wonder at times whether the Toyota would make it as far as Perth. A funny noise that developed half way through the trip had us thinking the worst, but the van plodded on to its destination unfazed.

A stop at eighty mile beach was pleasant. When I had stopped here on the trip north the place was seriously overrun with tourists. One could hardly move for caravans and cables, but now, a few months later, with all the tourers gone, it was actually an enjoyable spot. That is, apart from the fact that we still didn't catch a fish!

A peacock that, for some reason, was white. 

The first saltwater fish of the trip fell to nick's Halco Slice up at Point Samson at Dampier. Surprisingly, it was this shark that put up a nice little scrap!

A lot of careful thought saw us conclude that Exmouth was the best place for us to spend most of the trip! 4,000 km from Darwin, it took a few days flat out to reach the fabled fish spot of Exxy, as it's known! Not long after we arrived the fish started hitting the lures! This small barracuda was first up on to the sand!

A nice cod was up next! After a good fight I managed to coax him out of the reef!

Then a couple of coral trout fell to the lures

Nick and a shore-caught coral trout

Later in the day we headed up to the Mildura wreck and flicked a few lures. First cast with a soft plastic and wham! A strong fish took off leaving me pretty helpless. I managed to regain a little line, at which point the fish reefed me. Hmm ... so a swim was in order and, after a minute of tussling and diving, this beautiful cod lay on the sand.

The marina at Exxy holds a few good fish, but unluckily most of them gave me the slip. Small shoals of bonito cruised about harrassing bait fish shoals. No queen fish showed, but a few small trevally and snappers has a go at the lure. Evening and early mornings would probably see some good action - more so than at midday, when we usually fished.

From first impressions, Mildura shipwreck at north west cape looked like an incredibly fishy spot - a shallow reef runs out a hundred metres, giving way to deeper water channels and dispersed coral reef. Wading out at sunset and flicking a silver stick bait was the winning formula which almost guaranteed small giant trevally. Standing waist deep in the warm water with turtles swimming past within metres of my perch was a great experience. And every so often the lure would get smashed by a determined GT. Usually, the fish would shoot out of a deep channel twenty yards in front and start laying into the stickbait. On the light tackle, a good scrap would always result as the powerful fish scooted off at high speed over the reef. Surprisingly, no big fish and no other species hit the lures, but then again, the small GTts up to 6kg were enough for a good buzz. Small reef sharks would also cruise past within metres of where I stood and, sometimes, a large turtle would creep up and power off leaving a large boil on the water's surface. That was usually enough to start me wondering whether it was time to start wading back to dry land. The highlight of the evening sessions was when a dugong passed by just a few meters away, its back breaking the water's surface as it slowly plodded along. 

One of the target species of the trip was a shark. Now, most Australians don't seem too interested in catching sharks, but having lived in the UK where big fish are pretty scarce, the idea of getting your string pulled by a huge toothy shark is quite inviting! The plan was to fish nights when it would be cooler and the fish more active. A large bucket of berley was employed to try to attract some sharks into the area that we were fishing. First session it didn't take long for some beasties to show an interest in our baits and a good sized fish took the bait fairly quickly. For its size, the fight was pathetic, but the beauty of the fish made up for it. A fairly rare leopard shark rolled on the surface of the water and then posed for a photo before being slipped back into the warm sea.  Soon an absolute monster ray arrived and started nosing around on the berley trail. It was a massive fish which might have weighed >130 kg and, for some reason, I got the idea that it would be exciting to toss a fish head in the monster's direction. Five minutes later I was wholeheartedly regretting my idea as the fish powered away and I realised it might take a few hours before I lay eyes on it again. After five minutes the 100lb leader parted on what must have been about the only snag for 400 metres around! 

This chap was on holiday with his mates in Exmouth. Despite having a boat, they had fared pretty badly over the week they had fished, landing a few small tuna and trevally. Seeing us setting up tackle for the sharks, instead of leaving, they joined and in the end had the best fishing of their trip, landing a couple of beauties which looked like lemon sharks.

A snapper from the harbour.

A view of the Mildura wreck. The photo is deceptive in that the distance from the gulls to the wreck is much longer than it seems. After a hundred-plus metres of wading there is still eighty metres of water to the wreck, and this water is where the trevally hit the lures.

Just on sunset, the usual time for action, the water erupted behind my stickbait as this GT ploughed into it. The strike came soon into the retrieve so the lure was still far out near the wreck and the result was a long fight with me somehow winning the battle after some tense moments. Not a big fish by any means, but big enough to take over ten minutes to land and cause some solid excitement!

Back at the shark fishing spot we landed a string of good fish, as well as losing some crackers. For every fish we landed the hook would pull on another, but with so many runs every night it was nothing to worry about.  The larger fish usually took ten to fifteen minutes to play to the beach using 80lb power pro and a Fin Nor 6500 doubled with my Shimano Beastmaster beach caster. Four metres of 100lb hard mono and a further metre of 150kg wire with a circle hook finished off the rig and seemed to be strong enough to land the fish we encountered.

Nick with a good Lemon shark that took line for six minutes on its initial run. It looked doubtful for a while whether it would stop, but eventually, with very little line left, the fish turned and slowly started to come to the beach. See the run here..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbR6ZabxJA4&context=C3ff6134ADOEgsToPDskLVZFXlongJIjrOHzqkTSeC

These bait fish, known as hardy heads, are plentiful around Exmouth at certain times of the year. Unfortunately, we didn't come across many, but when large numbers are pushed up against the shore, good fishing is never very far away!

 

Another good shark that took a mackerel head bait.

The flies reached plague proportions while we stayed in Exmouth and there really was no way of avoiding them apart from jumping in the sea. But then, as soon as your breath ran out, the flies would be there ready and waiting.

The resident osprey usually seemed to have more luck than us when it came to fishing!

 
The night after I hooked and lost the big ray Nick also hooked into a big fish that fought differently to a shark. We suspected a big sting ray and, sure enough, after a relatively short fight of 45 minutes, we landed a huge sting ray. It was quite subdued for the duration of the fight, but when I grabbed the leader, the fish woke up and all hell broke loose. Unable to pull the heavy weight any further than the shallowest water we were happy when the leader popped and the big fish swam free without any further trouble. It's hard to appreciate from the photo quite how big the ray was, but with my limited experience I'd estimate it at somewhat over 130kg.

Another evening Trevally that couldn't resist the silver stick bait at the Mildura wreck.

The Naval pier is known for its big resident  GTs, but we unfortunately weren't destined to meet any of these powerhouses. A few big fish did hit the large surface poppers, but all were sharks. One afternoon as we walked up the beach towards the pier, packs of sharks were roaming up and down the reef that ran the length of the beach. A popper cast out was guaranteed to be chased by one of these 50kg fish, but without any wire I drew the popper away on every strike. A couple were pretty keen and followed the popper up into a few feet of water before turning to seek deeper water. One that sticks in my memory came so far up the beach that I had to back out of the knee-deep water in case the shark got any strange ideas!

Joy of joys; a bait-scoffing puffer fish! Nice!

Another spot on the cape produced some good fish, but unfortunately my luck was out and a string of slippery customers jumped the hooks! This small trevally was one of the unlucky ones that had to come ashore to have its photo taken.

After losing four in a row, I was over the moon when this beautiful queen fish stayed attached to the hooks. It was a spectacular multi-strike hook-up followed by numerous rocket-like jumps throughout the fight. For a twenty or thirty minute period the tide movement was just right for the fish to go on a feeding spree and then, suddenly, all would be quiet again.

Another shark that might be a whaler of some sort...

While we were in Exmouth hundreds upon hundreds of turtles were inshore to breed and lay eggs. Some of the beaches such as Janz were so busy with turtles that it was almost impossible to cast a lure. Every morning, many new turtle tracks led the way up the beach to just above the high water mark where the nest is dug and the eggs laid. Whereever we fished around Exxy, the turtle numbers definitely meant subsurface lures were out and surface lures were in!

After a week or so in Exmouth the flies drove us out. They were too much, so we headed south towards Perth, where a stop was made at Quobba.

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