Kayak fishing Exmouth WA 2010

Author: Shufoy

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:42

Written by Brett Ozanne

Diesel, Clutches and Corona's!

Day 1

An uneventful trip to Wooramel, 800km north of Perth was the go for today. Arrived in time for a steak sandwich for dinner, and sat back to watch a movie on the laptop with the first of the trips Coronas. Was uneventful, untill about 8pm, when i heard a familiar voice outside, Shorty had arrived, after hours, and was ushered out of the front garden by the owner after trying to pitch his tent there, and into a cabin out back!! We sat up with a beer, before hitting the hay for the next morning. Funny start to the trip@@@!!!

Day 2

Woke up bright and early thismorning, grabbed a bacon and egg sandwch and hit the road. Arrived in Exxy just after lunch, and was able to check into our Lighthouse Cabin straight away, securing the double bed!! Unpacked all my gear, and cracked a Corona, when Shorty limped in... Apparently his clutch cable had let go just as he left Wooramel, so he drove all the way with no clutch!!! 

Shorty also unpacked his stuff, and we moved the tv out onto the verander, where we watched the Derby. Manjimike had also arrived by now, and was in the cabin next to ours, so he also made himself known. Many beers were consumed over the afternoon and night, where we also managed to meet the avid dockers supportes in the cabin on the other side, there cries of celebration were echoed by my boos and my team went down!! By the time we hit the hay, after one of many culinary delight prepared by yours truly, we had already dented severley the first carton, and met half the caravan park!

Day 3

Shorty and Me, Day 1 on the water, bring it on!

The first day of fishing commenced at Pilgramunna today, 60km around the Cape into the Cape Range National Park, with myself and Shorty rising on dawn, and trekking to Pilgs to be on the water early. We focused on the waters inside the reef today, also having a good look at the channel. Many Redthroat and Yellow Tail Emporer were caught, and Shorty also had a massive hook up, almost dragging him into the reef!!

I managed a ripper Spangled Emporer on a 2.5" soft plastic, that soon became called jellybeans!! Smashed me in very shallow water, and after a solid fight, was landed on the yak. I remember saying to Shorty, i'll let him go and keep one later in the day, but of course, we didn't get any others this size, and Hamburgers were on the menu for dinner.

 Nice Spango in the shallows, smashed a 2.5" paddletail.

We arrived back, and Ash soon had arrived after pulling an all-nighter to get there before dark. He had some crazy funny tales of running out of fuel in the middle of nowhere at 3am in the morning, and having to drain fuel from the reserve tank, that refused to prime, into his esky, then sucked it across to his main tank. Needless to say, he had consumed a lot of it, stank of it, and turned his good esky into a diesel stinking mess. He was well ready for a drink by the time he arrived, and we obliged drinking well into the evening. Some time during the evening i met a strange english creature, that kept me preoccupied till late, and the butt of many "backpacker" jokes for the rest of the trip, i was well behaved, despite the best efforts of the lads to conjur a juicy story..

Day 4

The Day 2 Crew, Ash, Mike, Me and Shorty!

We all headed to Pilgramunna for an early launch, Mike, Ash, Colin and myself, and with perfect conditions greeting us, we headed out the back of the reef and bounced some big plastics around. I had a huge hook up early, and with Shorty keeping close view, was put through my paces landing what is apparently a huge Coronation Trout!!! Probably my fish of the trip, and a first for me of that species. With no doubt at the time that this was actually a Coral Trout, i knew they were great eating, and it was quickly dispatched for the table, some interesting debate was had later after discovering it was in fact a Coronation, about the differences in fish labled "great" tasting and "excellent" tasting, this debate certainly intensified as the evening went on, and as the Corona stocks were seriously depleted..

 What a cracker, was "excellent" eating too...

Not long after getting the Trout, i had another huge hook up on a XOS soft plastic, and this thing had BAALLLSSSSSS!!!! Almost dragged me into the back of the breakers, before i managed to get it's head up, and pulled even harder than the Trout, something i didn't believe possible!! After finally getting his head up, and making head way, i saw a monster Spango emerge from deep water, and after getting him onboard, i was knackered!! Great fish, and i was stoked!!!

 Great Spango, pulled hard, thanks for the pic Shorty.

The Trout was cooked up for dinner by myself in a beer batter, with home made chips which turned out great if i do say so myself!! The Spango went to the backpacker crew for dinner, a good move, as we had plenty of fish. Whattya know, another big night on the turps followed, and i cooked the remainder of the Trout on the BBQ just before midnight, and shortly after, the boys all retired for the night.

Shorty doing it tough, in the obviously harsh conditions.

Today we were greeted by absolutely superb conditions. Almost glassed out, and at times fully glassed out. As a result things were a little quiet on the water, with only a few fish caught. Plenty of the usual suspects, Redthroat, and a few other fish thrown in. I still managed a nice little Estuary Cod, and just after, a huge strike, and i'm on to a great fish. A solid ball breaking fight followed, and a huge Estuary Cod comes to the surface!! I get him onboard and go to take some pics, when he kicks, lands on the front deck, and despite my desperate lunge, slips over the side to freedom... My timer goes of just in time to get a photo of me, empty handed, and just a little dejected....

 A great Estuary Cod, no really, slippery suckers...

With no fish for dinner, we headed into town for a meal at the pub. A relativley quiet night followed, and we hit the hay ready for the following day.

Day 6

Trevor and Shorty on the banana flotilla heading to the mark.

Another fairly quiet day on the water, with water temps starting to plummet, things seemed to be shutting down a bit. Trevor had joined us from over east, he made his way across for the Wilderness Island week, and was also staying at the Lighthouse. I managed a nice pair of Coronation Trout, with the second fish joining us for dinner with the biggest Redthroat i managed all week. The biggest of the two trout hit a trolled lure, which was a suprise!! I also caught a Longnose Emporer which is another new species for me this trip!

 Chunky little Redthroat, great eating.

Coronation Trout, camera started wigging out from this day on, tormenting me no end for the rest of the trip.

During the afternoon i noticed some bait busting up offshore, and proceeded to give chase, exhausting work!! The times i managed to catch up with the bait balls i was rewarded with instant hook-ups, and longe seering runs, followed by mysterious bust offs. It seemed the bait was so thick, othe fish were running through my line, cutting the braid off before i could land anything. Was exciting tho!!

That night we had some more beer battered fish, with salad, and many more Coronas, for something different! We had started to make a few friends around the camp by this stage, and some of our drunken friends joined us for a chat about midnight, well, he chatted, we deciphered!!

Day 7

Nice Spango from a foot of water, hit a small paddletail.

The last day of fishing for some of the lads today, and the weather had turned bad in the morning with a howling breeze. Still we hit Pilgs tho, with the afternoon forecast predicting it to drop, so we fished the inshore waters as best we could in the morning. The lads decided to park on the beach south of the launch whilst i followed the coast down to Sand Bay, picking up a heap of smallish Cod and Spango's on the way.

Small Cod, love the water clarity!

As the day wore on, we saw an oppurtunity to head out wide again, and hit the shelf south of Pilgs. I was monstered on one hook up, even after turning to the heavier gear, and soon after managed a good sized Spango again on the Gulps. I also picked up a smaller Cod again on the jigs, which were proving their worth up here!

Once we got back to camp, we were greeted by Paul who had also arrived for WI, and he told us his tales of woe, with the "protective cover" inside his fuel filler deciding to lock up, meaning it took over an hour to fill the car up at Wooramel!! With it being the last night for Ash and Col, we decided to hit the Potshot, as we had been assured Fridays were the hot nights. It started slow tho, as on arrival there were barely a dozen folk in the beer garden, but by 9pm, it was off the richter!! With the boys half charged, and an amazing amount of foreign beauty on show, it was the best place to be in Exxie at that moment!!

As the night wore on, the babe factor increased to new levels, we also met up with the Wangler crew for a few beers, and met Jim and Shane from Wilderness Island. I still can't forget the 7foot european babe that walked into the bar, wearing cut off denim shorts, with legs that went forever, and the look of awe on every single blokes face in the room!! Paul decided it was all too much for him and slept in the back seat of the Prado untill close, despite the earthshattering high decibel dance music pumping out of the place, he sure looked startled when i started tickling his toes to wake him up, priceless!! He went on to earn the nickname Captain Snooze...

So endeth another great Exmouth safari, the fishing was a bit slow at times, but with a dropping barometer, and dropping water temps, it was apparently across the board! Still we managed some fantastic fish, and for me personally, some epic struggles with some new PB and new species made it all worthwhile. Was great to meet Ash and Mike, and spend the week partying basically every night, and waking all you poor fella's up at the crack of dawn!!! Thanks to all who came, and looking forward to next year already!!!

Next week, Wilderness Island!!! BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!