Sunday, January 10, 2016

December 2015

  

        Email: bookings@murchisonboathire.com.au           www.murchisonboathire.com.au

      After a monumental computer crash, hard drive failure, I now have it back complete with all my data.
But it is not the same and I am still having problems. That is why this newsletter is so late.
Its been a good start for the season with a few early mackerel and tuna, and the weather over
Christmas/New year was phenomenal.
Crayfishing in December
We put our pots in each December and see what we can catch. This year we put 6 pots out with 3 licenced fishers on the 12th Decenber
And pulled the next day. We got 2, then 10 the next day, then 6, 20, 15, 21, 2, day off, 5, 0, 1, and 11 on the 24th December and we took
our pots out as it gets too busy with boat hire and charters.

 We fished for 12 days spent $210.00 on fuel and bait, caught 93 crays at a value of $2.26 each.
Better than the last few years!
A Big catch from early January on Charter
During a bottom fishing session that was a bit slow, we spotted a few small tuna jumping out in a small bust up. Deciding that they
 might be a bit more fun, we pulled the anchor and trolled tiny skirts through the mass.

Not long and Aaron hooked up on this small striped tuna.
That’s good I thought we will try that again. Next hook-up was a triple, one line had the 80lb leader cut through, the other got off
which left Liz holding a rod with lots of line unloading. Too heavy for her, so she passed it to partner Andrew Frankham.
Wondering what was taking Andrew so long I looked at his reel and realised it was emptying very quickly!
I turned the boat and recovered some line for him, but he was still struggling.
    
After an hour and 10 minutes we got to see this big tuna circling under the boat.
 
     
It turned out to be a 28.7kg yellow-fin tuna, landed on 15kg mono line. Quite a memorable fish for Andrew and everyone on board!

An exhausted and elated Andrew.
We took some Gopro footage, and I made a short video, see it here.
Andrew’s 30kg tuna
    

   

We did catch other fish, David Mansell holds some of his catch.
A few catches from my December Charters
                
Here are some of the fish caught from my charters over the holiday break.
    

  

 

They are a bit mixed as with the computer crash, I was unable to keep them sorted and labelled properly.

   

But as you can see we have been getting some good fish

    

           South of the river has been quite productive, but the mackerel and tuna have been north.
More catches from my December Charters
    

Annele, got her biggest fish ever, a good snapper and then promptly broke that PB with a big gold-spot trevally.

Then Craig Phillis followed up with another trevally.

 

  Brother Paul Phillis did well with a mackerel and trevally as well.
    

 

The Phillis group with their catch.
  

    

A few days before, a couple of big cod came aboard. Both of these were too big to keep and went back with the
help of an extra-large release weight that I keep in the boat for this reason.
 
Maintenance time
The trailer from one of the 6.5m boats is a rust bucket, so time to build another.
Got it all welded up to the exact dimensions as one of my better trailers.
 
Got it hot dipped galvanised and I then painted it with marine pylon paint to protect the galv.
It is all coming together, slow and with problems, but I am getting there!
Are Bananas Bad Luck?
 
Bite of the Month
Bite of the Month goes to Andrew Frankham for his big tuna.
Trolling a small skirt expecting a few rat tuna, his rod unloaded line at a rate of knots, only retrieving some when chased with the boat.
An hour and 10 minutes later this 28.7kg yellow-fin tuna was boat side.
Each month I award Bite of the Month to someone who catches the best fish
from one of my boats.
Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic
the 4th 5th & 6th March
Its all go for the Classic now and everything is in place.
Just took a booking this week for the last boat, so now all boats are booked over that weekend.
The entry forms are out and can be down loaded from my website: www.murchisonboathire.com.au

It’s going to be a pearler, Mate

 
    Need a boat for up north?
Remember I will deliver a boat out to the turn-off for free for those heading north.
Just pre arrange and ring me from Geraldton and I will meet you there.

Popular Northern Destinations

Thevenard Island
Island Manager: 9184 6444.
There are a few cabins available, just ask and see if you can get one.  However Direction
Island is always open and still a good option and bookings can be made.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton Resort
Ashburton Resort. Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Gnaraloo Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
Steep Point
Steep Point Ranger for booking campsites.  
Phone: Paul Dickson - Steep Point 9948 3993
Dirk Hartog Island
Kieran Wardle:  08 99481 211   Mob: 0407 383 449
Game, Bottom and Beach Fishing Action
These links will take you to YouTube showing some great action video clips taken from
my boats and also a very good mulloway from the beach.
Archived Newsletters
You can now view all my past newsletters in my Blogs.

They are quite long URL’s so add them to your favourites.
Remember if you rent our accommodation in Kalbarri you get big discounts on our boats.
Have a look on my website for the details, and check out the savings.

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

 

Life’s too short to safely remove the USB!

Laurie

   



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