Kalbarri Kapers
You have got to love Kalbarri.
I had only been in town for a few hours and my old mate Tackleshack Doug took me down to one of his local spots - right in the heart of town - and with only my second cast I landed a beautiful 45 cm Black Bream.
A beautiful, solid fish, I would hate to guess how old it was - so it was really good to see it swim back into its haunt after a quick picture.
I followed that up with a nice 60 cm flathead not long after and I was quickly remembering why I love Kalbarri so much.
So many great fish within walking distance - and not a blowie to be seen.
The next morning Doug and I hit Wittecarra Beach to see how the tailor action was shaping up. The weather gods were certainly smiling on us as you couldn't have asked for better conditions - with a slight offshore wind and a low swell making fishing very comfortable.
We arrived to find a few anglers already into it (thanks to me not setting my alarm clock right), but it didn't take long for us to find a good looking spot and start hooking into the fish.
As it can be with tailor fishing, the schools were moving up the beach and there would be the odd quiet period, but you soon knew the fish were back when rod after rod starting buckling over.
We hadn't been there long when I had a great hit and what was obviously a good fish started heading north, giving my 4500H Saltish spin a good test. While I was fighting the fish I noticed that it suddenly seemed a bit panicked and was racing for the beach and I soon saw why when a huge black seal came tearing through the water.
Thankfully the high retrieve rate of the Saltist, combined with the tailor's desire to get away from the black monster soon had him in the wash and on the beach. And I knew straight away I had achieved one of my targets for that trip - a big solid 60 cm plus tailor.
While he just passed the mark at 61 cm, he was super thick through the body as you can see in this picture where it is on a plate next to a pair of 40 cm plus fish.
I think Doug and I managed about 20 odd tailor between us that morning (we returned most of them) - in about 2 hours. Most of the fish were 35 cm plus and quite a few were in the high 40s.
In between fishing, my youngest daughter and I did the Kalbarri holiday things.
She had a great horse ride and we visited the Rainbow Jungle bird park and the coastal cliffs.
I even managed to talk Rebecca into getting up at 4.30 am to come fishing with us. And she had a ball landing seven nice tailor.
In fact the whole fishing experience was fantastic.
Some of my highlights would have been Doug's 66cm cobia. A rare catch from the beach.
The incredibly consistent size of the fish and the regularity of the fishing action.
Below are a few more fishing pics.
Many thanks to Doug and his wife Deb for being great hosts.
My aplogies to Mick, who I said I would catch up with but I lost his number.
And I can't wait to get back there again.
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danno
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wats with all the repeats
wats with all the repeats
nice fish tho
good photos
cheers danno
Colin Hay
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Sorry Danno A bit of a technical glitch
All sorted now.
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wopjrb
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good effort mate
did i see you at mossies boat ramp a few weeks ago?.......if so the foul temper was cos peterb didnt stop for beers wen i was thirsty...lol.....
till
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Looks like a fantastic trip!
Looks like a fantastic trip! It has been years since I've been to Kalbarri but I think you covered it all there!
Colin Hay
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Thanks Jamie Another week would have been great as
there were a lot of my favourite fishing spots that I didn't even get to.
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danno
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that 61cm one is fat ay its
that 61cm one is fat ay
its huge well done on cracking ur pb
Colin Hay
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Thanks Danno
It was a very solid fish. It was a WA PB for me. I have caught 75 cm plus tailor at Hat Head in NSW when I was a youngster.
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danno
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wow now that would hav put
wow now that would hav put up a fight.
cheers danno
Colin Hay
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It is funny Danno
But sometimes the 40 to 50 cm tailor fight a lot better than the bigger ones. They will certainly jump a lot more.
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soupster51
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Top Trip
Looks like a great break away from the real world Colin. Great to read how you went up there. I'm a huge Kalbarri fan aswell.
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kempy
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sounds like a supa trip nice
sounds like a supa trip nice 61cm tailor
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HuggyB
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Nicely done Col
looks like and your daughter had a ball, certainly a great holiday destination Kalbarri. I hope you had a game of mini golf also!!
Good times, good company and good fish - can't ask for much more than that......
The Terrorist - coming to a fishing spot near you.........
Colin Hay
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Thanks Huggy You know we ran out of time and on the last day
my daughter and I were saying to ourselves, damn, we forgot the mini golf. I think they were doing it up the last time I was there, so we were spewing we missed out.
But the fishing made up for it.
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Colin Hay
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Thanks Soupy It is hard to beat at as a family holiday
spot. Lots for the kids to do and see and the fishing is pretty darn good. There was a family fishing near us every morning and this young bloke of about 8 was having the time of his life catching big tailor.
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sherbert
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Iam glad you injoyed
Doug knows all the good places to fish in his short time hes been there
GREAT report
Good to have my old mate back, Or i will join you next time
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Colin Hay
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Mate Could you imagine the fish we could catch
on allnighters up there.
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Bluebonefamily
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Colin, it looks like you and
Colin, it looks like you and your daughter had a great time away and congrats on your pb Tailor for WA....we just had a feeling that you would catch the big one
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Colin Hay
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Thanks guys It would be a great place for you and the
youngsters. Though the boating side of it can be a bit tricky getting through the river mouth. But there are so many options for family fishing there onshore.
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Bluebonefamily
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Hi Colin, Kalbarri is one of
Hi Colin, Kalbarri is one of the 'to do' places on our list. We just have to get organised to go. If we went I think we would take the tinny and river fish. Towing 'Bluebone' is a bit of a mission for a longer drive. But we do need to investigate our options further.
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Colin Hay
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The locals were telling me that April is a good time to look at
visiting as the winds start to drop off. And if you can avoid the school holidays, it is definately a bonus as the place does get pretty packed.
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profish540
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Great trip
Mate that was a great trip you got to love Kalbarri wishing i was there right now.You must be blessed to catch a good size brim first up good to see you let the old soldier go to live another day.
Good work mate
Colin Hay
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Thanks profish I couldn't believe my luck when
I hooked that big bream. Second cast and wham. And it was great to see it swim off at 100 miles per hour.
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injected80
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congrats on pb
m8 you must be stoked eh . nice place kalbarri .
Craig Pearse
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you love those GREEN backs
you love those GREEN backs Colin,
well do mate and looks like you had a GREAT TIME.
gregk
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good trip
good trip you have been going well on target species and having a fat time good on you
Rig
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nice 1. looks unusually calm
nice 1. looks unusually calm
PilbaraBrad
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good stuff Colin nice to see
good stuff Colin
nice to see you out there getting stuck into a few mate!
makai
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Another good report Colin
Can't beat a holiday with family AND some top fish.
Peter
Colin Hay
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Thanks guys
It was an awesome trip. A bit shorter than I would have liked, but we managed to get a fair bit in and the weather was pretty spot on for Kalbarri at that time of the year.
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Bodie
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Well done Colin!! cracking
Well done Colin!! cracking fish, and great photos to boot.
That beach looks awesome!!
Well done mate and bloody good work getting the 60+cM@$#%@$#%@$#@$%@#$%#$%#@$%@#$
Colin Hay
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Lol Thanks Bodie
Mate, you would have loved the conditions up there. A few of the days it was just a light offshore until quite late in the day. Pretty amazing for this time of the year. And the water was crystal clear.
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Faulkner Family
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that is a nice fish you have
that is a nice fish you have there , sounds like you had a ball with those toothy critters and to finally get your 60cm plus tailor would have been great and on the carrot as well. never been there myself but maybe worth a look one day , now you will have to go back to work for a rest with all the stuff you got up to , good to see rebecca getting into the fish as well.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Colin Hay
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I can see a spot for a Faulkners Cafe in Kalbarri
Thanks guys. The Carrot Stick was pretty impressive. It showed a lot of back bone to keep that bream out of a lot of structure.
Russ, if you look closely you will see that the old "gumnut" popper did the deed on my biggest tailor. Go the gumnuts!
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Albee Mangles
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Great Report Col!!
Looks like you guys had a fantastic trip! Certainly caught more Tailor there than i did mate, well done!
Is a beautiful part of WA Kalbarri, i love heading up there, cant wait for my May trip to have another crack at thos Greenbacks!
Colin Hay
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May would be great Brett
The river mouth was looking really fishy while we were there. And if you get the wind conditions we had for the first few days, you would have a ball mate travelling along the cliffs in your yak. There has to be some great fishing along that area. Just watch out for the monster black seal Lol.
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Ganged
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great report and pic's Colin
great report and pic's Colin glad to see the fishing gods were smiling on you. I have got to take the family there soon.
Still learning
Riaz
Colin Hay
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Thanks Ganged You're family would love it.
There is good family fun fishing in the river, as well as options off the rocks and beaches. And there are a lot of other activities to keep the youngsters happy.
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Wrassassin
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Wow looks like an awesome
Wow looks like an awesome trip, nothing better than quality time with the kids and some quality fish thrown in.
That's a very impressive bream.
Colin Hay
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Thanks mate I was pretty stoked with that bream
It was a very solid fish. That same spot also turned up a lot of estaury cods, which I have been told can get pretty big around there.
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buschy
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Looks like an awesome trip
Looks like an awesome trip mate! Cracking fish too!
Colin Hay
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Thanks Buschy It was a trip to remember
I just wish I was still there.
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scere_182
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Great Effort Colin Good to
Great Effort Colin
Good to hear you got onto some solid fish up there. Now makes me so anxious i cant wait till i get back up there in april.
What more could you want in a holiday... top fishing with friendly company.
Cheers
Rob
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Colin Hay
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April should be a great time to visit Rob
I remember from my old days living in Geraldton that April/May always seemed to be a good time for Mulloway at Kalbarri.
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Adam Gallash
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well done Col
Great report and writeup mate, thats a lovely tailor too!
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Colin Hay
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Thanks Adam We lost a few real hooter tailor unfortunately
One started dragging my daughter down towards the water. I knew I shouldn't have put that whole tailor fillet on her hook (Lol).
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callum
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awesome report
another awesome report collin and a great read,
sounds like you had a cracker of a trip
happy fishing
Colin Hay
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Thanks Callum
It is hard not to have a good time in Kalbarri - especially when the winds are being kind.
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Jody
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Nice one Colin
Gotta luv the tailor up that way, specially those biguns. Looks like damn fine times had by all. Envious as hell
TWiZTED
Colin Hay
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Jodes - you would have had a ball with the Moonraker and
the Saltiga up there mate.
It was interesting, you would have one school come through -and every fish would be around 35 cm to 37 cm, then another school would swim by and every fish would be be about 40 to 45 cm and then finally a smaller school would come through, and every fish was over 50 cm. You had to love those schools.
You could tell when they were coming as you would see a rod start bending over, 100 m up the beach, and then the next rod would go off 20 metres closer, etc, etc,
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Jody
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Awsome
Tailor mexican wave....now THAT'S my kind of fishing lol
TWiZTED
Colin Hay
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Lol Yeah it was a buzz Jodes
And the heart started pumping harder when you saw that rods were really buckling over because you knew it was one of the schools of bigger fish.
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Andy Mac
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Onya Colin,
Great destination. Looks like you had a ball. Thats a very nice Tailor and Bream.
Cheers
Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)
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Colin Hay
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Thanks Andy
It is hard to beat Kalbarri for a nice family and fishing holiday.
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Emric1
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Just finished commenting on
Just finished commenting on your other Kalbarri post and this just gets better.
Great Report and great fishing.
Can't wait to get out there myself. Got to get myself a 12footer asap.
Cheers
Emric1
Colin Hay
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Go the 13 footer Emric
I found it gave me a bit of an advantage where we were fishing as there was a reasonable sized shore dumping wave evey day and the extra foot meant I was able to keep my line well up above the waves and my bait in the strike zone. But then again, I am a short arse.
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Emric1
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I have a 10ft rod and was
I have a 10ft rod and was thinking of 12, or should i consider something bigger?
any advice is appreciated.
Cheers
Emric1
Colin Hay
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It really depends on the conditions Emric
The first day you could have got away with a little bream rod as the swell was pretty small.However, by the last day, the shore break would have been upwards of four feet and there was a strong south wester blowing pretty early, so longer rods definately had an advantage.
A 12 foot rod should be fine in all conditions.
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