Exmouth trip

Well, after the countless days of preparing, packing, and stocking up on fishing gear (this part often gets very expensive!) it was almost time for my annual fishing trip.
Destination – Exmouth
The only thing that was left to do now was to begin the all important day dreaming. See, before any holiday that I go on, I spend hours upon hours day dreaming about what the trip may have in stall for me. My mind was constantly wandering to previous years which had seen myself tussle with large spangledies from the shore, picking off spanish mackerel trawling behind my kayak, and basically trevally anywhere that there was water. Plenty of fuel for my imagination. This year though, I was particularly interested in trying my luck with my small bream gear out on the flats where a plethora of fish can be found cruising the shallows.
With the day dreaming out of the way, and the car packed, it was time to jump in and head off for a stint before it got too dark and the animals came out in force to patrol the night-time roads, making it just too dangerous to navigate at anything less than 30km/h. With that in mind, after about 7hrs driving, and Perth now well and truly behind me, I pulled over on the side of the road and obtained possibly one of my worst ever nights of sleep I’ve ever experienced. I had previously thought that sleeping in the back of the station wagon with the missus wouldn’t be that bad, but between the rods and kayak paddles that were firmly dug into my sides, and the roaring thunder of the road trains as they passed by, very little sleep was actually obtained.
Regardless of this, the next day was nothing short of spectacular.

With more driving that day, we were getting closer.

We finally pulled into Exmouth that afternoon, set up camp in the local caravan park, cracked a cold beer, and once again, let my mind wander off with the thought of a big spangledie or a trevally on the flats.

With the alarm going off at 6am and waking up to a nice soft offshore breeze and a quite agreeable swell, it was an easy decision to grab the surfboard over the rods this morning. Shaking off the cobwebs after being couped up in the city with out surfing for a while, it was a nice way to start the holidays.

With such a great start to the holidays, I couldn’t resist the urge to go straight to the flats to try my luck at what ever I could coax from the luke-warm waters.
Unfortunately the flats didn’t share the same optimism as I did, and 2 hrs later, five hundred metres out to sea, and still only in waist deep in water, we still hadn’t managed a hit, let alone a sighting of a fish.
With lure change after lure change, and still no luck, my confidence and hopes began to come crashing down.
At this stage however, my girlfriend let out an excited cheer as she began to wind in the first fish for the trip. A small flathead caught on a gold twisty. A monster by no means, but a small boost in confidence; perhaps they might be about to come to the bite.
After releasing the fish for her, the very next cast for myself saw me pulling in my very own flathead on a green and gold sx60. Where as I had mentioned that the gf’s fish was no monster, mine was nothing short of a joke.

Another half an hour of fruitless fishing saw me crack the shits and begin the long wade back to shore. At this stage though, my luck was about to change. On the way in I spied a small trevally sitting almost motionless near the surface. A precision cast saw my gold twisty land about five meters past the fish, but with the perfect line past his nose for the retrieve. A nice fast retrieve was implemented and as soon as the lure was literally an inch from the fish’s nose, he simply moved his head and smashed the lure. Needless to say, as soon as he felt the sting of the hooks, he took off. A short struggle later, I had my first trev for the trip flapping about at my legs. A quick photo opportunity later, and he was released for us to catch again next year. A few more casts from both of us saw us catching a few more that were a little bigger and a couple were kept for dinner that night.

During the walk in however, it was becoming apparent that more and more fish were coming to the party. As a bird flew past close to the water, it left a trail of fish jumping clear of the water as they tried to scramble to safety that would have easily been in excess of a hundred meters. At this stage it began apparently to us that we had hit the mother-load. The first casts from both of us saw us hook up simultaneously, as we both pulled in a couple trevally. These were lucky fish as dinner was already secured, so they were quickly released. A quick survey of the ocean showed the extent of the school, easily the biggest that I have ever laid eyes on, and roughly the size of a football field, and not a small field either!


Unfortunately with no esky or ice, we decided to dash back to the caravan park, drop the fish of and return with the bream gear. On return from the car park we were greeted with the sight of the school in closer and just milling around with their tails out of the water due to the low tide. Out came the bream gear loaded with 6lb braid, and on went the soft plastics, a recipe for great fun. After wading out to the school, I let rip with a cast that looked like it landed into a fair chunk of fish. Half a turn of the handle later, saw the rod double over as I was immediately onto one. A nice five minute struggle endured and I landed my first nice trevally on my bream gear. Unfortunately though, it was at this stage that it was realised that we had left the camera in the car, and none of us could be bothered to return to get it.
What followed from that first cast was much of the same for the next hour or so. A good fish for most casts, and at least a good hit from all the others. As the sun set, it was time to head back to taste the fruits of our labour.

The next day saw us venturing into the National Park for a wonder and a fish. Unfortunately only a longtom could be managed for our efforts, but plenty of time was spent enjoy the sunny weather and spectacular beaches.

The next morning saw a nice wind early on, but some incredibly menacing clouds lurking overhead, and by about 8am, it was howling onshore. Unfortunately the wind had set in for a few days, so fishing was put on a hold.

After a few days of strong winds, someone in the camp foolish let slip that, “it could be worse, it could be raining”.
That night we received 55mm of rainfall, something which is not very fun when you are bottled up in a small tent.

The locals didn't seem to mind though.

Another few days later we finally caught a break in the weather and we decided to try our luck at one of the many access tracks that litter the Ningaloo side of the cape. Straight away we were onto queenfish, trevally and dart, all of which was great fun on our light rods that we were using. Once again we only kept a nice trevally for dinner with the rest having their picture taken then released. Unfortunately, when my dad said he knew how to use my camera, what he really meant was that he didn’t have a clue, with only the one picture actually being taken from that morning, needless to say that i was a little bit dark on him for that one.

The afternoon left us with the perfect opportunity to take the kayak for a spin out the front of the caravan park. Fishing out here in previous years had provided decent meals of snapper and Spanish mackerel, which gets very interesting when only fishing from a small kayak. This time around though, we had obviously forgotten to tell the fish, as only an undersized Spaniard was managed, with a large bust off from the bottom which left the ‘deckie’ using some pretty colourful language.

With another cooperative day of weather, it was decided to head back down into the National Park to try our luck their again. Once again we were greeted with the slow fishing that had plagued us for the holiday, only managing the one trevally for about three hours, with absolutely no mention of any snapper about.

With another stint of bad weather about to greet us, and with the fishing still slow, we decided to cut the trip short and head back down to Perth. On the way out though, we decided for a last ditch effort at one of the local mangrove systems. The reception was the same as the rest of the trip – small trevally. With the rain starting up again, I came up with the ingenious plan to park the campervan as close as I could to the creek, and simply fish from the comfort of the van. Thus keeping dry, and doing so in style of the vans couch.

I had previous thought that you would have to be fairly careless to step on a stonefish, even bordering on stupidity, as surely you would be able to see them on the bottom. Alas my tune has now changed. After fishing a part of the creek for some time, I was beginning to get a little bored so I retrieved my lure almost to my toes on the shore, or this is what I was intending to do, as when the lure reached about a foot away from my toes it passed over a rock. As it passed over this rock, the rock opened is mouth, engulfed the lure, and settled back on the bottom. In complete astonishment, it was dragged onto the shore, admired and had it’s picture taken, then pushed back into the water with my rod, all the while enjoying its new lip ring and about 30cm of fluorocarbon leader.

So all in all, it turned out to be a windy and rainy holiday with the fish few and far between. I was lucky enough to manage a few fish on the bream outfit, but there was little mention of the snapper that I was truly chasing. Rather than putting a dampener on one of my favourite places to fish, I have simply begun to day-dream about my next holiday to Exmouth. I’m thinking maybe September / December, and this time, I’ll get the snapper.

At least there was a rainbow to great us as we began to reach Perth.

Well what can i say, very good report dude ( looks like some one wants a rod :P) love the pics.

Hi Nath,

Thank you for sharing this awesome trip you have had. Looks bloody wicked and some great photography shots there. The one of the red looking plants with the sea and sky as the background is just terrific.

Well done mate and that is one big long tom man!!!

Cheers

Ben

Nath,

I realy enjoyed the read and pic's. When i head up there i will driil yah for some info. Getting into some mack's of my yak would be a ball!

Wicked report Nath!!

Great yarns and photo's to match. I'm with AA, that pic of the native red bush and water in the background is a killer ;-)

Those Stonefish are ugly Mo Fo's eh! :lol:

The Trevors look like they'd be fun, and yes, that is a LONG Tom! :lol:

Very enjoyable report there Nath! Thanks for posting!

Cheers

Theo.

Cheers fellas
Had a ball regardless of the weather and slow fishing.
I'll post a few more photo's up in a bit, they just take a little to resize.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adidaspeteman

Nath,

I realy enjoyed the read and pic's. When i head up there i will driil yah for some info. Getting into some mack's of my yak would be a ball!

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No worries, theres a couple of awsome spots up there for a yak, and more than happy to share a few.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ando_04

Well what can i say, very good report dude ( looks like some one wants a rod :P) love the pics.

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Gotta be in it to win i say.:)

Cheers Nath

O.k, here comes a few more pics from the trip, unfortunately theres none of any fish.

Great report and great pics...
My personal fave is the 14th down...hahaha

Haha, is that the one where if got the misus rounding up the baitfish for me.

Nath86, thanks for the pics, thoroughly enjoyed them!!!

great report there and some great piccies to boot. Sounds like an awesome trip despite the weather issues.
Col.

Great read-report-pics mate, well done. :D Nothing like a northern adventure aye. Beats fishing around Perth.
Cheers Danny