The wind was not as strong as forecast this afternoon, and although the sea conditions looked “lumpy” an afternoon inshore fish for pinkies was too good to pass up.  Previous experience has suggested that the pinkies come in close after the storm so it was worth another go.

Headed out from Hillarys around 5pm to new ground about 5 minutes from the marina.  There are a lot of reefs in close so the plan was to fish just off a lump, burley hard and present a variety of baits.  It was a random selection of a new spot and we just chose what looked good on the sounder.  The sea was messy with swell, chop and current all going in different directions.

Within 10 minutes I had a solid take on my bottom rig.  It was a mini pink of about 300mm but a good sign.  Not long after another mini pink and hopes were high.  The bite was generally slow however as there were no other species taking the baits which was a little unusual.

As it got quite dark, and right on the change of tide, my floater went off big time.  This was a fish that picked up the mulie and was heading to the horizon.  The bait runner was screaming and I let it run before setting the hooks.  Solid, and then the drag started to scream which is always a good sign.  No doubt that this was a big fish as it headed to the rock with a lot of repeated runs and head shakes on the relatively light drag settings.  After a while it came to the surface and the concern was that it was a shark because it did this.  As it approached the boat we saw the colour and shape, and this was no shark.  A nice pinkie in the net for a happy end result.

Fished the MAAC comp on the weekend for a solid, but not spectacular result.  There were a few notable captures however.

Probably the highlight was a massive cuttlefish that we managed to hook and release 3 times – everyone on the boat got to deal with him!  Biggest one I have ever seen and in the end we cut the hook out of his tentacle so he would go away.

My highlight was a squid that went 1kg even on the certified scales.  He was quite a “beast” that was intent on a live herring and when he came to the boat we could switch bait it.  Biggest one I have caught for a while and the chili squid went down a treat with the family.

We also managed a 500mm harlequin on a live bait which again was one of the biggest that I have seen.  There were a few harlequin landed for the day which is a little unusual.

No doubt the catch of the comp was Glen’s 17kg dhu which he got just before heading in for the weigh in.  The lovely Fisheries ladies, who turn up to every weigh in to “sample” the target species were very happy to get the “bits” from this one.  A lot of quality fillets there.

Shore Catch has finalised the design for the Port Hedland 2015 Blue Water Classic Competition custom shirts.  Dolphin Fish on a blue background was preferred.  The "Classic" will be held on 8 August 2015 and participation is encouraged.  Check out the design below.

I took up Michael’s (zOOm’s) FW offer for a deckie spot today.  He proposed a long day but after finishing the draft web site and not being out for a couple of weeks due to a blown seal on my tilt and trim (burleying with hydraulic oil is not cool), and with the weather forecast, I was keen to get out there.  What a top day!

We started about 9.30am and first up tried to catch herring and gar for bait not far from Hillarys.  Not that successful really with only a few herring, and plenty of toads.  From there we headed to the back of the 3 Mile to give that a go.  Wrasse, parrot, a couple of bronze sharks (up to 1m), a just undersized baldie, a 5kg eagle ray and a nice squid (Michael’s first) was not particularly spectacular either.  Time to move on and try somewhere else.  We headed South to sound some ground off Scarborough and found a likely looking patch that seemed to be holding bait and fish.

What a nice little spot this was.  We spent the next 4-5 hours there for what could only be described as epic metro near shore fishing.  Once the burley started to work, we had fish in abundance.  Michael landed a “horse” of a black arse (well over a kg) and then the big skippy and tarwine moved in.  You couldn’t keep a bait on the bottom for more than a few seconds before it was smashed.  The floaters were going off as soon as they got down and fish on all rods was common.  Throw in the double headers, some with undersized pinkies, and it was very entertaining indeed.  I reckon we landed 40-50 fish with most going back (especially the tarwine), except the 10 or so we kept.  Michael also put out a live wrasse that got hammered by a big shark to add to the event.

Received a text from Adam asking if I wanted to go out in his boat tonight to “repay” the last Friday night trip in mine where he got the quality pink.  Conditions looked good and the thought of potentially more pinkies and it was an offer too good to pass up.  Just as we did on Friday, the idea was to try some new ground and see how we went.  Adam’s mate Marcus came along as well and it was another night with good company.

We set off from Ocean Reef just after 4pm and motored north west to a rock that breaks in swell located a metre or so below the surface.  We anchored up in about 9m of water and conditions were as good as they get.  The water was like glass, above and below, and you could easily see all of the features of the bottom.  Perhaps a bit “ideal” but just nice to be out there.

Of course I took some of my burly and the cage and it went straight in the water.  With the clarity is was good to watch how it dispersed in the water column.  True to form, within a quarter of an hour we had fish all around the boat feeding in the trail and the species in abundance were schools of skippy, and nice sized ones as well.  They were taking any bait or plastic we threw at them and it was an enjoyable time of non-stop action – there is always something to enjoy by sight fishing.  In the end it was catch and release as we had enough.  The sea was alive with everything devouring the burley, and even a pod of dolphins moved in to feed on the things that were feeding on the burley.

As it was starting to get dark, Adam threw an unweighted strip bait at the rock searching for a pink.  Just like last week, he was smashed again by something large.  The first call was shark as it hit the bait mid water and came to the surface when hooked.  It was peeling line at will and as it headed for the rock we were all waiting for the bust off.  A bit of heat from Adam pulled it away and then the fish broke the surface to reveal a nice sized salmon.  Adam had it in the deeper water and then it was just 10 minutes or more of “play” to get it to the boat.  After a few shots with the net (it was lucky to fit in) we got it onboard and indeed it was a nice fish.  It was “damaged” with the hook right down its neck so it came home for future use.

After dark, it became quite slow but we did land a couple of octopus and dropped a cray at the boat (bugger).  As usual the snook/pike came in, and we were busted off a couple of times by what were likely to be large undesirables.  The wind was building and at about 8pm it was time to come in.  Although no pinkies, it was a good night and nice to get a big salmon this far NOR.