Apologies to anyone who has read this before as I have posted this on another site. However as I have only just found this site and the trip was so good, I just had to post it for those who don't read them all. If anyone wishes to contact chevin, please email me through the site and I can pass on the details. The trip.

Can I firstly say a great big “thank you” to chevin for taking me up to Exmouth. Secondly I would like to say that if anyone from WA or anyone travelling to Western Australia wants to have a go at fishing from Exmouth then you could do a lot worse than contacting chevin and going up with him. He has the boat, the tackle and the knowledge to give you a really good time. Better than that, it is a very cheap holiday. chevin does it for his love of fishing, not to make a profit. There is all sorts of accommodation available at Exmouth although I must say chevin’s tent is the cheapest and very comfortable. Anyway to the trip.

We had a fantastic week and although the first couple of days were a bit windy and that restricted our fishing somewhat we managed to get out in his boat every day. His boat is a very good sea boat and although I am terrible sailor with the aid of a couple of Qwells each day I was not sick at all (except whenever I lost a big fish when I felt sick as a parrot)!

We left Perth on the Sunday evening at about 9.30 pm in his 4*4 trailing the boat. 1300k's and 13.5hrs later we arrived at Exmouth. On the way we saw some 'Roo's, Goats and Emu's together with some large hawks. We went past Shark Bay where I went to see the dolphins of Monkey Mia on a previous visit to OZ and later passed over the Tropic of Capricorn. We also saw an awful lot of bush.

One of the things that amazed me about Exmouth was the number of Ospreys that there are there. On the face of it, they appear to be very similar to the Ospreys we occasionally get here. Almost every post seemed to have a nest on it. One of the nests even appeared to have small birds nesting within it. A nest within a nest no less. One strange thing that happened as soon as we parked at the camp site was a bird that came down with two youngsters and went all over the front of the 4*4 picking off insects and feeding them to the youngsters. (You even get your car cleaned for free at Exmouth LOL .)

The first thing we needed to do on arrival was pitch the tent!! Well, it was a bloody great thing and I haven't pitched a tent since my early teens. So we had a bit of fun, especially as the wind was picking up. In fact it took us some time as we had to go and get some more guy ropes and pegs as all the important ones seemed to have gone walkabout. LOL. Once it was up a quick shower then the Pub and some dinner then an early night as we had hardly any sleep on the way up overnight.

The wind got stronger during the night so rather than going fishing we went beach combing next day through the dead coral rock pools at the site of a wreck. We were looking for Nudibranchs and sure enough after a little while and two or three rock pools later we found some. A web search indicates that they are a sea slug but the ones we found were not as bright and colourful as those found on the web sites.

Our first fishing venture was into the National Park to Sandy Bay,where chevin hoped we would catch some Threadfin Salmon. (They are nothing like our own Atlantic Salmon.) The bay is beautiful, the sea was turquoise blue over pure white sandy bottom with a reef all the way along the outer edge. There were odd patches of reef on the bottom that could be seen for a long way out. I was amazed when one of these huge ‘rocks’ managed to stir itself from the bottom in big swirl of sand and then proceed to swim up and down the beach for half an hour! Being a Pom I assumed it was a Shark, it was certainly big enough, but chevin thought it was a Cobia and I am sure he was right. At one time there were two of them swimming around but they wouldn't touch a lure. Thank God!

The usual method to catch the threadfin is to walk along the beach watching for shoals of fish in the gin clear water and cast a lure at them. Strip it back as fast as you can and you should hook one. Well, we saw plenty of shoals of fish, mullet and garfish but not any threadfins. Shoals of fish everywhere, but nothing that wanted to eat lures. It was the only time that chevin said we would see or do something and it never happened. Still you cannot hope for everything and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Warm sunshine, warm water and a magnificent beach with views to die for, what more could anyone want?

On the way back to the camp site we stopped at Exmouth Lighthouse which gives a great view over the gulf and the Ocean proper. We had not been there more than a couple of minutes when a Humpback Whale breached, way out at sea. The splash was huge and very easy to see from our vantage point. But they just kept coming out of the water everywhere. It was like an evening rise on trout water except these were whales! Two our three other sets of people came along and were pleased when we pointed them out to them. chevin said he had never seen them put up such a good show before. There were pods of Humpbacks everywhere and I am told that from a dangerously low level of about 1500 individuals when whaling stopped there are now about 17000 Humpbacks along the W. Australia coast. A Mother and her calf came quite close to the cliff edge and one could see them deep in the water.

We also stopped at the information bay and alternative energy station which was very interesting. Lots of info on the local sea life etc and more Osprey nests.

Days 3 & 4 we finally got out in the boat although not from the launching ramp on the beach but from the town harbour quay. Chevin was very disappointed with this but even he cannot guarantee the weather. It was pretty choppy and the wind very strong so we anchored just outside the heads. I picked up my little travelling spinning rod, cast out, retrieved maybe 20 turns when the lure just stopped the rod bent over and the line was bitten through. It all happened a lot quicker than that however. I couldn’t believe it, first fish of the trip and the thing had bitten me off. Typical Oz fish, they either bite or stick poisonous spines into you LOL!

Anyway it was a bit of a false dawn as although I got bitten off a couple more times and had a small mackerel and a Charlie Court on a pirk I had nothing else on the lure.
Chevin had a few takes on a gang rigged Mulie but only Charlie Courts came to the boat. Later in the afternoon and the following day as the wind eased we managed to get further out in the boat and further along the coast over some better ground, coral and some deeper water. The water was gin clear and you could see the different corals very clearly on the bottom as we drifted along. We had some snapper and mackerel over that ground and on the second day in addition to the whales and green turtles which kept popping all over the place we had a huge Manta Ray do a circuit of the boat. Chevin tried to catch the fish, not sure whether they were cobia or something else that generally swim with them. His luck was out however and not just with the fish as I had left the bacon sarnies back in the tent. Sorry mate, I’ll live with it forever!!

I was still having difficulty with the hooking technique from the drifting boat. I was giving the fish too much line and not striking hard enough to sink the hook home. Very frustrating but I was still catching enough to keep me interested and on my toes.

After another missed bite I had lifted the mulie off the bottom a few feet when it was engulfed. A good fight later and I brought a North West Blowie to the boat. They have teeth, surprise, surprise, but chevin told me that these things can bite straight the shank of a 6/0 no kidding or fair dinkum dependent upon where you hail from. That fish was 5 or 6 kilo perhaps but chevin wouldn’t have it in the boat, hence the photo of it in the water. He was wearing flip flops and I don’t suppose his toes are as strong as a 6/0 LOL

Days 5, 6 & 7 we were able to launch the boat from the jetty on the beach and get towards the Nor West Reef. This reef rises up from about 40 foot of water and is a very dangerous place when the sea is rough. There were an incredible number of turtles out near the reef, at one stage I counted six around the boat.

The method here is to freeline mulies on a ganged set of 3 6/0’s. Leave the reel in free spool once it has reached bottom and when you feel a take let the fish take line against slight finger pressure on the spool. When it really takes line, put the reel into gear and whack it!! The tides are nowhere near as strong at Exmouth as they are in the UK.

Over all these days we managed to catch our limit of Spangled Emperor which is currently four fish per angler. Mostly to chevin’s rod until the last couple of days when I finally got the method sorted. This limit changes quite frequently however. There is also an overall limit possession of 20 kilo’s of fillets per angler and it is not unheard of for cars to be stopped on the road south to check that limit.
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We also hooked some monster fish in these last few days. Some were hooked directly on the mulie and some were taking the Spangled Emperor as we played them in. I hooked something that we chased round and round with the boat for 20 minutes before I pulled too hard and broke off having made no impression on it whatever. Another time both chevin and I had huge fish on together. Chevins’ bit through his line, mine finally let go of the 3 kilo Emperor it had taken which came back with hardly a scale left on it! Some were sharks and they just bit through the line after a brief period. But others were probably cod that can grow to 300 k’s so we had little chance on the gear we were using. Someone had a very small cod (about 10lb) at the filleting station one evening that had been ‘had’ by a shark. Great big gashes all over it. They had lost other fish too. In addition to the whales and turtles we also saw some dolphins one day.

Chevin had taken his heavy gear up to Exmouth but to be honest we didn’t use it, being quite happy to catch some reasonable fish but nothing huge. Just hooking them was an experience.

Apart from the Threadfins the only other fishing that I would like to have done but we just did not have the time for was GT’s off the beach. These things go like mad when hooked. The method for GT’s are giant popper plugs cast out with beachcasters and reeled in as fast as possible.


One more thing, whilst we were fishing one day the Fisheries Patrol vessel came and paid us a visit. They naturally wanted to see the fish we had caught but they also wanted the see the safety gear, the radio (they wanted to know the frequencies it transmitted on) the life jackets (we had four for the two of us) the flares, how many and what type, parachute etc. and the anchors we carried (we had two). So at least I knew that we had al the gear should it have been necessary and if you were thinking about going up there without the gear don’t. Not only would you be likely to get caught but more importantly, it is very dangerous near that reef.

Other things seen during the visit were fish striking, probably tuna, birds working but too far away to reach, flying fish, and for those of you who have never seen them, Sturt desert pea, the Exmouth peninsular strain. The night sky has to be seen to be believed with no light pollution so shooting stars are fairly common and I managed to see one whilst we were there. I’m sure there was more but that is all I can think of at present.

Thanks once again though chevin, it was a week that I shall never forget, great company, great place, great wildlife and great fishing. Thanks also to Valerie his wife who just happens to be the daughter of Fred J Taylor, Dick Walker’s old buddy, for putting me up one night.

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Sounds fab, any chance of some pictures? (welcome to AN by the way)

You are a lucky bar steward matey........

thanks for sharing that trip with us, and welcome to AN

Hi and thanks for your comments. I do have a few piccies but I wasn't sure how to post them. If anyone can help, please let me know and I will try my best.

read this then Waveney

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/ubb/ultimatebb...ic;f=2;t=003471

Just gonna move this to sea fishing......

Does sound like a great trip and thanks for posting the details.

Chevin is an old friend from the forum and good to hear things are going well for him.

I tried to post some pics. Failed! :mad:

[ 25. November 2004, 12:47 AM: Message edited by: chevin ]

HI Chevin, hows it hangin......

Welcome to AN Waveney One, and glad you had a good time at Exmouth.

Did Chevin tell you about the big sting rays he and I hooked at Exmouth ? Awesome. Must go back there with some really heavy gear

Have had many enjoyable trips with Chevin over the last forty-odd years. From chub on the Gt Ouse, through cod at Dungeness, bass from the Kerry beaches, to Northwest Blowies and Dhufish in the Indian Ocean.

Looking forward to my next visit to WA, probably early 2006, when I can meet up with "me old mate" again.