Boys trip Exmouth 2017 - Epic
Late last year we put together a plan to re-ignite the tradition of our annual boys trip northward to Exmouth. Over the last couple of years I've been fishing with John (JohnF) regularly so threw the invite his way to see if he and the whaler wanted to make the trip up north. It didn't take much convincing.
As with every trip that far north, there were months and months and stupid amounts of money spent preparing trailers (johns was rebuilt) boats (outriggers, electrics etc) and cars in preparation of the 1200+km trip north.
We decided leaving just after the Easter long weekend should make a pretty quiet trip northward on the roads and give everyone a bit of time with the families before 10 days of literally fishing, drinking and eating, in no particular order.
25 cartons of beer loaded, a freezer full of top shelf meat (anyone wants a brilliant butcher who will prep your meat, vac seal and snap freeze if required let me know) and 7 eager blokes at 4am on Tuesday morning on route to Exmouth.
A fairly uneventful trip north with a couple of welds on the guards on my trailer being the only small hiccup, but nothing a couple of truck straps cannot solve!
The 200 series land cruisers towing the Fury and the whaler made light work of it really, only needing fueling in Geraldton and Carnarvon on the way up. We arrived at 7pm, 15 hours after leaving.
A quick unpack and a few beers on ice saw us having a BBQ and downing some coldies about an hour later. The plan was to get up early, get some fuel for the boats and drop the boat into the marina.
The dig
The next day we had the boats in the drink and decided to have a light day on the water and head over to the islands, see if we can find a Mackie for dinner, maybe a tuna or 2 and see what's about around the Murians.
Lets just say it didn't take long, there were birds everywhere and a few lures in the water saw the first decent hookup. a nice 7-8k Mackie! perfect for dinner!
Both boats continued to troll, picking up some shark mackies, school macks, a few small tuna literally every couple of minutes.
With a bit of fresh bait onboard, we decided to see if we could find a bottom fish or two to compliment the Mackie for dinner. Well, that didn't take long either!. I'm a bit short on pictures for this short session, but basically rankins, Robsin sea bream, spangos were the talk of the session, and not to go unmentioned Scano nailing a nice 7kg Yellow fin tuna on the retrieve!
It was then back to the marina, a quick fillet up and in for dinner. Fresh YFT sashimi, Fresh Mackie and chips, a couple beers a few wines.. no better way to finish the first day!
The next day the weather was looking real good, so we planned to venture further north, heading up past peak towards flat. Leaving a bit earlier to get a full days fishing in
Getting going in the mornings seemed to take a while, which was something old mate John was struggling with!!! this would lead to later in the trip John being honoured with a new nick name... ol cap-i-tan bentneck!
The accommodation from the water and the mornings exercise carrying everything up and down the stairs
Fury on the way out of the marina
We started off fishing shallower around flat chasing anything that would eat surface lures or plastics...Fishing was slow for all of about 5 minutes when old mate Capitan bentneck gets on the radio and belts out Trout City!!!! from memory, it was 2 drops for 2 trout, one on jig one on plastic, and both hooters!!! the larger of the two went to matt on a plastic which went about 70cm!
Johnny boy with a solid trout!
Matt with a honker!
Plenty of fish were caught over the next couple of hours, Spango's, about 10 different trevally species, tuna, red throats and even an occy on a twisty... yep that's right!
Johns nice Trev
Carl another nice trev
We actually had at one stage a school of all different types of trevs right under the boat in about 30m but they were using the boat for cover... drop a jig in and hold on!
Fury on the water
after this, John decided it was time to push out a bit wider and look for some gold band if they could. so off they went and we stayed in shallower looking for some bottom fish.
John went quiet for a while, then all of a sudden a message comes over the radio..... we found the goldies, and did they ever!! Double headers was the name of the game!!
We ended up finding a couple of reds in shallower too which made the day
Franks nice red
Frank again with a nice Chinaman that gave him a run
John made his way over to us later in the day and had a couple drifts around us. I had found a new bit of ground int he 70's and dropped down, only to be smashed pretty much straight away. I had this rubbing feeling on the line which has me calling it for a shark thinking it was the tail of the shark hitting the line, only to be busted off half way up....
At this stage I wasn't too dis-heartened as I thought it was a shark, but instantly after I busted carl who was next to me said...im on.. thinking that was a bit strange we soon realized he and I had tangled. He would up and we found my braid wrapped around his rig, so I grabbed the bait (bare hands) and started to handline in what I thought was a shark... being careful as I didn't want to end up with braid peeling out of my hands it came up pretty easy.
As soon as we saw colour....we knew it was no shark, and next thing the biggest trout popped up any of us had seen, it went 78cm and fat!!! not sure how this trout managed to be stuck mid water for a good 5-10 min whilst we were untangling and didn't get eaten by a shark!!
Unlucky trout, Lucky me!
The end result for the day for John...great day!
Time to head in and with pretty good weather it was a nice ride in from about 34 odd mile out!
Whaler motoring in
The next day we decided with such good weather it was worth another run north before heading west from tanta's in chase of some bills, so north we went again.
This time even further chasing reds, goldies and other deep water delights. the goldies were hard to find that day, but we did manage a few more reds.
Johnny boy with his first red, first of many to come!
Scanos nice goldband
Hooked up
A good day!!
The 4th day was billish day, so we fuelled up, and there was a lot of this!!!! $1k every trip to the fuel station!!
We started off out from tantas in the 200's looking for billfish but the water was quiet, no birds no bait so not a lot of action. We got 1 solid run on my boat, which was a good bill, staying connected and getting to the leader only to have the lure pop out when leadering to the boat. Solid 30 minute fish and looked 120-140kg
After that things went quiet, we trolled down passed south passage and back, John came in closer which proved to be a good move, picking up this nice saily in 20m or so of water!! first for the trip!!
After this we headed in, bill fishing not a failure bot not a raging success.
Back to the accommodation for a good feed and more beer and wine. Needless to say, we didn't do it tough food wise. Home made Cold meats cut up and on this particular night, roasts on the spit!
The following day was more trolling and deep dropping. We all wanted to catch a ruby and motored out of tantas in chase of some. John had sounded some ground the day before and I had a mark on my GPS from previous years, which was not too far away from what john had seen so we headed in that direct into the 200-400m of water.
It didn't take long, I think it may have been our first or second drift for the first rubies to come up. to say we were pumped was understatement! to go with it we had a bill free swimming under the back of the boat which was pretty cool
John putted his way over for a drift. We both setup the drift only 20-30m apart and down went the baits... it didn't take longer and there was a 4 way bookup!!! both boats, all electrics loaded!!!
John loaded
the result! solid GB's!!!
John was keen to get a ruby so he moved out deeper again to where he started and got sharked on a couple good fish. Then it happened, the whaler finally got its first ruby!!
Scano with a nice ruby.
We started to put out way back to tantas in a bit shallower looking for some ground and stopping for a drop or 2 here and there. We managed a few more goldband and Matt with a solid long nose emperor on jig I think it was
John trolled a bit on the way back and managed to hook a nice black for scano to land his first marlin!
Matt directing john during the fight
Scanos Marlin
Days end
The last couple of days saw us head north once more for a good day chasing a few more reds, John getting a couple of nice yellow fin on the troll and another day off tanta's chasing a bill for Matt... This day I jumped on Johns boat and we headed straight out of tantas and dropped the skirts in the water in a bout 70m... it took all of about 15-20 minutes for the first hookup and turned out to be Matt's first bill to the boat!!
We started to set the spread again, only to have the 1st outrigger hit before any other lures were in the water only to have it drop it a few seconds later. This day had the makings of being a brilliant day with 6 or 7 strikes, but only managing to hook and land 1 bill for the day
Heading north had John and Matt on a duo getting into some fish!!
Some solid cobia!!
John looks happy doesn't he!!
Matts cobia
A few more pics from the trip
Matt's Wahoo
the 4000 rods
More YFT Sashimi
Sounder porn!
Nice sunset
One thing we had mentioned we wanted to give a crack whilst up there was the prawns in the gulf. So on the last day Scano and den took the tinny for a run into the gulf. With a little bit of local knowledge the lads had a ball and got a wicked feed of prawns to boot!!
Needless to say the trip was nothing short of epic, 7-8 out of 10 weather wise, Fishing off the chart, plenty of beer, great food and piss taking and the best crew we've had to date on our boys trips.
John aka ol cap-i-tan bentneck, and Matt aka the deckie of the year, couple of absolute cracking blokes along with all the lads and bring on the next trip!!!
Thanks for reading.
abrohlosorbust
Posts: 99
Date Joined: 08/06/12
Nailed It!
Great read and awesome photos looks like the weather gods played ball.
Getting wet is part of the Fun
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest
big john
Posts: 8751
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Happy
Gotta be happy with that trip.
WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.
Jigs available online in my web store!
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Top Report
Great read and fantastic photo's of the trip. Makes me wish i was there..
Excellent.
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
bsir
Posts: 574
Date Joined: 24/04/11
Awesome
great report and great trip.
uncle
Posts: 9486
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Looks like you had it aĺl covered
Some great fish
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Flaminghedgehog
Posts: 58
Date Joined: 19/04/15
Awesome
Great write up. Had to laugh at the pic with the room full of gear, looks like a bloody tackle store!
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
Sooooo good. Well done lads
Sooooo good. Well done lads great trip. Serious gear, serious trip, serious results
Simo_
Posts: 1843
Date Joined: 13/11/06
Smashed it. Well Done
Smashed it. Well Done
Bring on April
Glen.vit
Posts: 196
Date Joined: 11/01/11
Stop It you lads killed it,
Stop It you lads killed it, Gotta get in on those rubys, few weeks and ill give it a crack.
Deckie
Posts: 1296
Date Joined: 03/04/09
Well done.
Great report & pics again Bodie. Looks like you nailed all the main categories, weather, fish, digs & food. Not to mention the seemingly endless supply of refreshments.
I think Matt Gates would be jealous about the display of fish fighting gear you had there.
Congrats to all on a great trip.
Cheers & Stay safe
z00m
Posts: 1086
Date Joined: 10/05/14
Awesome
Very well done and good to see the boys trip alive and well.
D_d_001
Posts: 1522
Date Joined: 09/03/13
Great pics (IT DID HAPPEN
Great pics (IT DID HAPPEN !!!)
Fantastic write up. Certainly one of the best reports I have seen in a while.
Looks like you guys didn't have too much of a problem with the sharks either by the looks of your catch.
Well done to all !
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15647
Date Joined: 29/11/05
Yup yup
Makes a difference when you know what to look for, where to look and how to look. Well done fellas, looks like a great trip!
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Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
Fantastic report, very enjoyable read. Pretty good conditions, on and off the water. Shame you didn't have a better choice of beer.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
avatinni
Posts: 141
Date Joined: 06/06/10
Wow great report and some
Wow great report and some amazing fish well done fellas.
JohnF
Posts: 2837
Date Joined: 07/07/10
Had a brilliant time with a
Had a brilliant time with a great bunch of blokes, Bodie was the ringleader and put a huge effort in so many thanks!
As good as the fishing was (an it was awesome), the highlight for me was coming home each night to some truly acidic but hillarious banter and some of the best dinners I have ever had......
Assuming I did not totally piss everyone off with my lack of patience each morning waiting for you bunch of ginners to get ready, I am ready to go again next year....lock it in Eddie!
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.
kirky79
Posts: 1354
Date Joined: 13/01/12
Awesome
Nuff said
ricardothegoat
Posts: 3
Date Joined: 13/03/17
Great trip
Looks like an awesome trip. Some fantastic fish and photos there.
Having battled the greycoats there myself, cannot believe that trout sat there midwater that long without being taken!!
azza1
Posts: 199
Date Joined: 30/04/11
What an epic trip and great
What an epic trip and great write up. Cheers
Jezz1990
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 30/01/17
!!
unreal
Anchorman
Posts: 52
Date Joined: 19/09/14
Amazing
Got to love when all the preperation pays of. Awesome trip guys. Well done
Rob H
Posts: 5806
Date Joined: 18/01/12
.
great write up lads!
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Mick C
Posts: 607
Date Joined: 26/12/13
Epic
Epic report and photos. Thanks for taking the time to publish it.
Gotta go there one day.
Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it - LH.
Baitboard
Posts: 2
Date Joined: 02/03/12
Great write up and pictures
Will be there in three weeks cant wait, hopefully the Bills are still there???
Hutch
Posts: 2221
Date Joined: 21/04/13
Awesome, can only dream of
Awesome, can only dream of trips like those
timmy k (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
thats awesome!
Alan James
Posts: 2224
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Great report Bodie
Well done guys, good fishing right there.
Jim
Posts: 1336
Date Joined: 05/05/06
That is an epic trip, thats
That is an epic trip, thats what its all about!!!
Bend over
scano
Posts: 1247
Date Joined: 31/05/07
Yep as John made mention
A special thanks to Bodie (and his mrs) as they did a massive deal of the preparation work. Although there were times we got on an pitched in with some maintenance and prep here and there, without Bodie, John and even Den taking their boats up, there would not have been any sort of trip.
i myself had an awesome time and some of the best fishing I have ever experienced. The best part was that good fish were caught all round really, not just individuals. Carl did well on the deep drop, and the odd red or 2, frank with the big marlin and Chinaman, Bodie with robbo sea bream, trout, spanglies, Matt was the gun trawler, John got his first lot of reds and good ones at that, den was the throw net master and also with a tank like reel he nicknamed Helga. (Talica 20 ii speed.) I managed my first ever billfish and some descent bottom fish, and a yellow fin on the jig etc.
And I would expect us to now be on the Christmas card list for the servo owner with the amount of fuel purchased! Hahaha
above all else it was awesome to get away with a great bunch of mates, have a cracking fishing trip, and leave the stresses of work and life in general behind for about 10 days.
In in other words, John and Bodie, if your good for next year, id certainly be keen once again.
Scano
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
i reckon ive read this half
i reckon ive read this half dozen times
timmy k (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
yeah same
it just makes me wanna go " fuck it, im packing my tinny and gear and i'm going to exy on friday!"
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
do it, you wont regret it
do it, you wont regret it
timmy k (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
I wish
If only it was that easy
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
it can be...
it can be...
scano
Posts: 1247
Date Joined: 31/05/07
Just always keep in mind
There was literally a few months worth of planning involved with this trip. Rig making, lures purchased, boat and trailer prep, sinker making, food and beer prep, eskies, freezers etc etc.
We even went to the extent of taking a portable welder and grinder, which was used to repair some boat mudguard brackets due to stress fractures. You gotta be prepared and surrounded by the right bunch of blokes to have such a good time.
timmy k (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
yeah i understand what you mean
I've done 2 trips up there before, nowhere to the extent you lads went to and that was hard enough to get it happening. i'll do it soon hopefully
Stevo81
Posts: 1278
Date Joined: 16/04/12
Bloody donged it fellas!What
Bloody donged it fellas!
What a trip! Ripper Trout Bodie and how hard do those long-nose emps go eh?
Scored the weather, (which is a win by itself) filled the freezer and ticked all the target species off the list by the sounds. Can't ask for much more than that.
Got room for one more boat next year?
Cheers for the solid report
•••••••• Electrical Contractor NOR ••••••••
Krusty
Posts: 714
Date Joined: 27/11/15
Wow what a fantastic trip and
Wow what a fantastic trip and report, looks just awesome....well done fellas
My fishing spots are so secret........... even the fish don't know where they are !!
baron
Posts: 55
Date Joined: 28/07/12
Great trip great report
Great trip John was sending me a few photo updates of the trip looked awesome glad John never got a red on jig haha.
Sea cheese
Posts: 43
Date Joined: 17/04/16
Ripper trip!
Would have been a great trip, well done fellas
Too easy in the cheesy
Notorious
Posts: 914
Date Joined: 23/02/12
sick trip
sick trip
https://www.facebook.com/groups/174055815943047/?fref=nf
karlos 22
Posts: 52
Date Joined: 10/11/11
awesome report mind I ask
awesome report mind I ask who you booked the accomadation through looking at t=heading there in July.
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
through ray white exmouth
through ray white exmouth mate,31 Inggarda Lane
Doesn't come cheap was about 460 a night or so.
The_Wanderer
Posts: 735
Date Joined: 24/09/08
Awesome Report Lads in a
Awesome Report Lads in a truly magical part of the world!
davewillo
Posts: 2410
Date Joined: 08/09/16
Amazing report!
That is a great report and I'm absolutely green with envy! You worked hard to prepare for everything from the sounds of it. Thankfully the weather gods did the right thing by you. I've had a well planned trip there go to shit because of a relentless howling northerly for the whole week!
One thing about the prep for a trip like this. You absolutely need to do a huge amount on the tackle and rigs side, which we always do. We have made it easier on occasions by hiring a boat in Exxy. Not a cheap option but worth thinking about for those that don't have their own or don't want the hassle.
PGFC member and lure tragic
Jadeo
Posts: 269
Date Joined: 08/06/15
What a trip
top write, top pictures and a shit load of jealousy. Looks like a tackle shop on that couch. Well done lads
Didley
Posts: 58
Date Joined: 09/02/12
Awesome Report
I'm going up there in 2 weeks and can't wait.
Cheers for sharing
bradz
Posts: 693
Date Joined: 29/10/07
Far out - nice holiday
Great trip report. Bloody jealous.
I did then the best that I knew how. When I knew better, I did better.
tot
Posts: 1161
Date Joined: 31/01/10
trip report of the year!
now bring out the sounder porn John cmon!!
10/10 effort boys , congrats on the reward.
Reverse cycle a/c supply and install - Ducted and wall splits
SAS
Posts: 14
Date Joined: 05/04/10
Good work love the report
Good work love the report such a good time of year up there!! I saw you guys getting around up there a bit I was in the black 200 series with the 280 Outrage in tow
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
you weren't the one who had
you weren't the one who had an argument with a Kangaroo were you?
Fisheagle
Posts: 349
Date Joined: 04/02/12
Wow
Well done - great fishing
Fisheagle Ed
https://www.youtube.com/user/fisheagleed/videos
dkonig82
Posts: 2091
Date Joined: 06/07/10
That's bloody epic guys -
That's bloody epic guys - great work!
When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:
n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or
n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you.
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
Thanks everyone, Needless to
Thanks everyone,
Needless to say we are now booked in for 2018!!! bring it on!