Just got back from our Gnaraloo trip so doing another write up..... Grab yourself a tin and have a read if your keen

This is the first ever fishing trip I have been on where I havnt used my car, my boat, my equipment. Sold the big girl a while back and still procrastinating on what I want to do for a new boat. So was lucky enough to get an invite on a good mates boat! Did 10 days in total this time up from the 7 from last year, thank god we did because the weather didnt play nice on a few days.

Day 0-1

Decided this year to head straight up from Perth all the way through to Gnaraloo in the day. Stayed at the skippes house the night, packed the boat, watched footy and ordered pizza with a couple of beers with a sensible bed time as we were setting the alarm for 2am. Up at sparrows, loaded the last of the bits and pieces in the boat and we were on our way.... Less than an hour out of town my guts was feeling horrible dutching up the car a few times, finally had to pull over for a road side bog.. Dodgey pizza I rekon. From there made it to Gero uneventfully and then through to Carnarvon also no dramas... The other boat that was coming with us caught up to us. Bit of a chat and a walk around their boat we noticed they had no tow hitch on their extension bar, bloody thing had fallen off somewhere on the way up.. This was the start of some bloody unlucky events for this boat, quick stop in Carnarvon hardware and got a new hitch. Quick stop at the king waves kill sign for a photo and let tyres down.... and OMFG the flies were hectic.

Finished the trip into Gnaraloo, the track wasnt too bad really. let tyres down and drive to conditions and its not too bad. Rolled in, checked in and unloaded the boat and car. Next day which was Sunday was looking great for weather so we were all excited to get up early and launch. Dinner, beers and rigging up rods, lines etc. Headed to bed to get up early.

Ooohhh And we got to watch the mighty Eagles flog the Shockers!! We had starlink on this trip and bought a TV up to watch the games! 3 out of the guys on the trip were Dockers supporters and 3 others were Eagles so it was great to see the Eagles win the Derby and rub it in!! haha

Day 2

Got up reasonably early around 5:30am. Breaky, coffee and headed off to the beach as the sun came up. Launching boats was very easy. No real dramas at all. Headed out to troll to try get fresh bait. Areas that produced well for trolling last year we got nothing. Trolled for around 2 hours and didnt get a hit. Headed out to bottom bounce before bite time - Up here found that he bite times play a massive part in getting your fish. Fish literally bite in those times, could get 10 Reds in the hour and a half then it goes dead. First fish on board was a Red around 7kgs, brilliant start to the trip. In the next hour 10 reds, rankin, cobia getting a decent bad. We got the biggest red for the trip on the first day that went 9.3kgs. We were catching red throat as bait as we couldnt get anything on the troll. Ended up with a pretty decent bag for the first day.

Back to the beach to see how our first retrieve goes - We opt to retrieve as for us its easier. If we had a ute or something similar we would moore. Just the issues of getting equipment, fuel, eskies back to and from the beach every day we just find it easier to retrieve every day. Anyway first retrieve was pretty easy for our boat.... The unlucky boat had a bit of an unlucky misshap... As the boat was coming onto the trailer the hitch lock on the tow ball wasnt in place causing the trailer to come off the car... No damage done luckilym we were able to push the boat off, hitch the car on and re-set. Second time went alot smoother... We use a second car and snatch strap to help the car out. Pretty easy.

Back to the fillet station and spent a few hours filleting. On the first day we got just over 20kgs in demersal fillets which was a blessing in disguise as the fishing and weather for the next couple of days was pretty poor.

Day 3

Day 3 was a rite off. Pretty windy this day so called it a lay day.... We went hunting for spaghetti.. One of the meals we pre-cooked and froze was spaghetti bolognase however one of the deckies left the spaghetti at home. So we went sight seeing to 3 mile and Red bluff and an unsuccessful spaghetti mission. Good to see the place seems as well last time we didnt get to have a drive around. Pretty nice place and might bring the missis and daughter up here in the Van at some point.

Cleaned the house, fixed up leaders and rigs getting ready for the next day.

Day 4 

Wind was down and swell was up for the next couple of day but were fine to get out. This day we decided to go to an area that produced alot of Reds for us last year. This time the bite was very very slow. Although we managed to pick up a huge coronation trout, the biggest I had ever seen... Up to that point haha. Fished alot of places, trolled everywhere we went. I did manage to pull in a 8kg mackie on a floater which was good going. Even though i say it was slow we still managed the mackie, 7 reds, the big coronation and a big bald chin. No miss haps launching and retrieving, pretty straight forward pretty simple. 

Day 5 and 6

These days should have been write off days.... Wind did totally different than what was predicted on weather apps, still got out but did not get many fish at all. Think we got a couple of Reds, Pearl Perch and Baldies for the 2 days... Once again trolled everywhere and did not get a single hook up. Still happy to be out on the water but was alot rougher than predicted. 

These days allowed us to have dinner at a reasonable time as we werent spending hours at the fillet station, filled up the boat, cooked a few great dinners so all in all not too bad 

Day 7

Looked to be one of the best days on the trip weather wise..... The weather did not dissapoint and neither did the fish...... Got to the beach and the unlucky boat had another unlucky incidents... Pulled up to the beach and one of they tyres had completely shredded itself to pieced... No dramas... Jacked it up and fitted a new tyre. When we were about to lower the jack I wiggled they tyre (Im a mechanic) the bloody bearing was dead loose I dont think the bearing cup was seated correctly on assembly because there didnt seem to be any damage just really loose... Ahh well all good tightened it up and it was sweet for the rest of the trip.... Not a good start but it was going to get better.

We decided to head out into the 80s- 100s today. First time going into the hundreds. I was given some great advise by Seakem off here. Went out do around the area he advised and found a decent showing of fish while trolling in the 70s. Came around and sounded a bit more and found alot of fish on this spot. Decided to have a quick drop.... Worth it!!! First fish came on board was an even bigger coronation trout than a couple of days before, we were stoked hi fiving and cracking our first beer (First fish first beer rule) by 7:30am..... Literally as we were celebrating bang one of the other blokes on the boat was on.... After a great fight an even bigger coronation was landed!! This was later weighed at the fillet station and was just over 5kgs!! Was massive! We were absolutely rapped!! Went back over the spot and the red throat had moved in.... Wasnt a bad thing as we needed bait... Got a heap of bait and kept trolling out to the 100s.... Before we even got to our destination again a very likely spot showed on the sounder. Pulled in the lures and sounded around. We were in just over 100m and found this spot that was absolutely on fire. The fish arches were amazing to see and I was frothing to drop a big bait down... Came around on the drift, dropped down and bang I was on!! A very very good fight and a few minutes later this thing started to "Swim" out.... I called it for a Cobia as that is what they do.... Then this thing breached the surface like a submarine.... It was the biggest Goldban i have ever seen, it was massive. My PB weighing at 6.9kgs... I was stoked to say the least. We also got a couple of reds off the same drift.

Next drift came around.... Bang on again!! not as big this time but same deal another very very big Goldban. A friendly shark had also moved in and ate a big goldban at the boat which one of the others boys on the boat pulled in... We got my goldie and another red up off that drift until we had to circle around.... 3rd drift..... We thought the other 2 drift had been good..... Well this one was better haha!! All 4 of us hooked up, we were scared we were all going to get smoked by the shark so we were literally winching these fish up!! I got in another Red and so did one of the other boys, both fish were around the 6kg mark, decent fish. The other deckie got bitten off and the skipper was still fighting his fish. It was big whatever it was. We thought a small shark must have taken his bait.... Until... Another massive Goldban breached the surface right near the other boat that was fishing with us.... It was a monster. This one weighed in at 7.3kgs when back at the fillet station... It was a thumper!!

We tried another drift but got sharked on 2 rods so decided to give up on the spot. We made the call to troll for the rest of the arvo as we pretty much should have had our demersal limit but no pelagics at all. We trolled for a few hours on the way in and nothing... I have never seen it so dead for pelagic action.

Back at the fillet station a few of the other boats around were stoked with the size of the goldies and coronation we were able to get. Weighed a few of them, filleted and same nightly ritual of cryovac, rums and dinner.

Day 8

Looked to be a half decent day. Our boat decided to troll where as the other boat decided to go out and bottom bash. They ended up with a bloody ripper of a Red as well as a few other reds - Cant remember what they got just know their red was a thumper!! They yelled over to us on the two way as they had hooked a 20kg plus mackie on their bottom rig and it snapped the line off near the hooks just as they were about to gaff it. We trolled over and once again had zero luck... We trolled for pretty much 90 percent of the day trying to get pelagics... Absolutely nothing... Had a few drops on a couple of great flare ups and kept a couple of decent reds and Pearl perch..

We didnt know what we were going to do with pelagics this year... Talked to alot of the other boats that were around and not many had gotten onto the pelagics apart from a few cobia.

Pretty low key at the fillet station thisarvo, stoked with the other boat and their red, they had a great day fishing!

Back to the accommodation and some deep discussions were had...... We had some really really good red ground a fair way north we use to fish when we were in Coral Bay and used to get mackies and the odd Wahoo out there. Big gamble but we were thinking should give that a go... Running low on fuel we were tossing up what to do. The skipper in his most serious voice says while eating dinner "Right we need a group decision what do we all want to do"...... Fuck it we dont need demersals lets do it!! Do the miles get the smiles.

Day 9

Decision was made to head to our Coral bay spot... Got up early and headed out..... A pretty decent drive and we were there.... No joke its some of the best ground you would see up there. Marked a heap of fish on the bottom and a heap sitting about 30m up... Surely that has to be something... Started trolling... teaser out... then ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..... Were on!!! we were so bloody excited that we were on while trolling....... And then...... Snap!! hahahahahah..... The frigging wire leader broke hahahhahaha Lost the fish and the lure!!! Just our bloody luck trolling this year..... Stuff it, put some deeper divers on and try get these deeper fish to play the game.... Started trolling again up to the mark where we marked the fish and then.... ZZZZZZZZ....ZZZZZZ....ZZZZZZZ.......ZZZZZZZ........ 4 WAY HOOK UP!!! hahahahaha it was going ballistic.... Rods and people going everywhere... Thank god one of them got off so we had Andrew (Gaff) to help get the fish on board.... 3 mackies all around the 15kg mark came on board and into the catch bag... We were all pumped and stoked!! High fiving, fist pumping, bloody stoked with the decision. Again set up, lures out, teaser in, beer out of the esky..... Went to crack the beer and a huuugggeeee Run...ZZZZZZZZZZZZ THAT IS BIG!! The bloke that picked up the rod says "I dont even want to reel this in Im too screwed from the last one" hahahhaha after a bit of groning and about a 20 minute fight this fish surfaced with amazing electric blue stripes on it!! It was a bloody WAHOOOO!!!! We were bloody excited until it jumped and a hook popped out.... Fuck get it it... Get it in hahaha we were yelling, got it to the site of the boat and Andrew (Gaff) managed to nail it in the worst spot haha right in the back part of the fillet.. But just as he did the second hook came out so all in all was pretty lucky!! We were pumped!!! For the next hour and a half we trolled over this 1 spot where the fish were showing and got 11 Mackies and a Wahoo off it in one of the best ever pelagic sessions I have ever seen. We got our bag limit by 9:30am........ We were on the biggest high, better than any drug could ever give you! It was insane!!

We stopped when we had our fish and decided to have a drop on the spot as this is one of our best Red spots....... Huge fish hooked but couldnt get them to the boat, had 1 pass and lost 4 fish to either sharks or mackies, gave up on that idea. Headed in towards Cape Farqua where we had a few spots we have done very well on before. Wanted a red for dinner.... First drop... Bang red around 8kgs and a pretty big Pearl Perch.... Dinner sorted.... If you havnt had Peal Perch for Sushimi you should try it, one of the best fish for sushi

Came in and got in the bay pretty early, had a swim, cleaned up and headed to the fillet station.... Everyone couldnt believe our catch, neither could we. Few nice blokes up there gave us some Pasta to go with our bolognese sauce and garlic bread so we were more than happy to give them a heap of fillets for helping us out. The comradarie with everyone up there is one of the best things about going up there!!

Day 10

Yesterday was our last hurrah sp we cleaned, packed and headed back into carnarvon to stay the night then drive back through to Perth the following day..... Not much else to report, everyone got home safe!

Thought I would mention a few thing

- We took a deep freezer and Generator this year as we learnt from last year..... Wayyyyyyy better

- If your fishing and not catching try something different

- Sharks were insane.... Like hugely insane.... We lost over 100 rigs.... Luckily we bought spare hooks and spare sinkers and that Eugene from Mackdog tackle was there... The underdog jig he makes is awesome!

- We stayed in the cabins, they are alot cleaner than most of the accommodation around and amazing views

- Take 6 max tracks for retrieving you will need them

Cheers hope you enjoy the write up!!

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