Bluewater Tackle World News for September 11th

Still no result as to who will be governing Western Australia at this time, after last Saturday's election, but Bluewater Tackle World's Liza Harvey won decisively in the Scarborough seat and is now Liza Harvey MLA. She's keen to see a few Fisheries wrongs get righted amongst other things, but we have to wait a little longer to see which party comes out on top.

The ALP's John Kobelke, who was responsible for closing Logue Brook Dam, took Balcatta from being a 60:40 safe Labor seat down to a 52:48 near loss. Not near enough unfortunately.

Liberal's Troy Buswell, who has fought vigilantly on several recreational fishing fronts in the last few years, went from being 51:49 over the line in the 2005 election, to 65:35 at this one. That made a lot of people very happy. His political neighbour and fellow keen recreational angler, Murray Cowper, also went from a 51:49 scrape last time to a 59:41 win this time. His fight to re-open Logue Brook was evidently acknowledged within his electorate.

Unfortunately for natural justice, Labor Fisheries minister Jon Ford was handed a safe-as-houses first position on the Legislative Council ticket for Mining & Pastoral. While Labor fell from holding 16 seats to a probable 11, his was never going to be one of the losses in the upper house. 

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Glen Roberts, of Innaloo, sent us in a nice pic of a 40kg-ish samson fish (looong fish) he caught this week out at the Gemini wreck. With a mulie cube on a 7/0 Owner circle hook, he battled the fish using a Saltiga 6000GT spin reel, Pflueger jig stick and 70lb PE braided line, and after a quick pic, the fish was released.

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We're always approving of quality photography, and if you're the kind of angler who always buys Fishing Wild and casts a critical eye over the cover shot on Western Angler, chances are you'll be impressed by Catch Magazine - an internet photographic collection. It doesn't bear description. You have to look.

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This week's Bluewater Tackle World special is on Sage fly reels, 2500 and 3000 series to suit line weights from 3wt to 12wt across eight models. Save up to $249! Some of the world's best and most popular fly reels from the world's most respected fly tackle manufacturer. See those and other specials here.

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Here’s a preview of this weekend's Sunday Times fishing news, with a bit of extra stuff...

PERTH METROPOLITAN

Cottesloe Reefs are the highlight for tailor chasing from the shore, with decent size fish coming from reef spots there and from the Groyne, the very tip of North Mole also yielding a few. From northern metro beaches tailor were a very early morning option or else nothing, the bite lasting for up to 40 minutes only, not huge numbers of fish around. School size mulloway came in from beaches to the north of Two Rocks. Herring and garfish made for fun fishing off Mindarie Marina wall, soft plastics a hit with them. Still the odd salmon has turned up.

The Three Mile Reef off the north metro coastline holds big numbers of skippy, fish sometimes on the western side of the reef, at other times occupying the east, the wind direction suggested as governing where the schools are. The odd samson fish has created mayhem in the same water. Drifting for sand whiting is productive right along the coast, spots quite close to shore okay, Port Beach notable.

Jewfish have popped up in waters anywhere from 20 to 40m deep, so much closer than they have been. The 30m depth is best for the many king george whiting around, and there are numbers of breaksea cod also about the place.

Nedlands territory was among bream chasing areas, near Jo Jo’s worth a try as were the usual suspects like Canning Bridge. There were some larger bream located in deeper waters in Blackwall Reach.

MANDURAH  

Brown waters flowing out of the Cut have quietened that spot down, but once the clear tidal flow moves in things improve, herring and some garfish the major species biting, whiting numbers on the decline. There are some fine tailor at the likes of White Hill and Tim’s Thicket, but it is hard work.

Bream expert Neil Grant from Tackle World Miami has taken terrific bream from the mouths of both the Serpentine and Murray Rivers, as flood conditions have pushed the fish downstream. Some of the bream around there are up to 2kg.

Grant also took a small craft out to the Five Fathom Bank to be entertained by skippy, fish to 1.5kg abundant. There are pink snapper too and he was blown away by a big samson fish.

Tackle World Miami owner Russell McCarthy has an unusual story to tell. He had a recently arrived South African come into his store one afternoon, buying gear McCarthy suggested as appropriate, the customer adding his own ideas as to what sort of tackle and baits, including some soft plastics and other lures. The proprietor recommended some places to try. Around the middle of the next day a woman with a similar accent rushed into the store, which is about a kilometre from the north side of the mouth of the Cut where our customer was fishing, asking to buy a gaff, quickly paying and rushing off.

Too late though, the fellow had apparently hooked a large mulloway which he had played for quite awhile but the gaff didn’t arrive before the fish took him around nearby rocks and broke him off.

GERALDTON

Graham Maunder believes better weather conditions have allowed boat anglers to travel to more productive areas, waters to the east of the Abrolhos Islands fishing extremely well for baldchin groper with local restrictions on the species being lifted. Very large pink snapper were another feature around there, heaps of them about eight or nine kilos, others not weighed measured over a metre long – huge! Coral trout provided a further highlight with a few jewfish around the place. There’s also sweetlip and spangled emperor, with some of the latter around four kilos added to bags, right up to waters near South West Bank.

Bottom bouncing was also productive quite close to shore along the coast, spots adjacent to the Dongara coastline working well, as were places such as Point Moore, Southgates and Drummonds. Skippy, squid and garfish boosted bags for dinghy fishers in those areas. Some of the skippy were of excellent size.

Mulloway up to about 60cm were common from the Nine Mile to Lucy’s, bigger fish landed from the mouth of the Greenough River to Geraldton, the best rated at about 18kg, many others above ten kilos. Two were brought ashore at Southgates one night, three on another.

Yellowfin whiting have been biting well for some time but tailor are only patchy, reef areas best with tailor up to 80cm long, most from 55 to 65cm.

HARVEY FRESHWATER

Chris Still, Stefan Adams, Keith Hall and Michael Edwards lodged at Logue Brook to fish the start of the trout season, working Harvey Dam waters with lures and fly, catching redfin, quite a number of rainbows and the sole brown taken by Edwards. Still had the best of the fishing using mostly fly, but all had a good time, the fish taking soft plastics in preference to hard bodied lures.

EXMOUTH

There's a new Exmouth-only newsletter on the site here, with an amazing milkfish catch, and yet another bluebone pic - it seems to be the year of the bluebone at Exmouth now. There'll be another newsletter up next week.

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Got a 4WD? Please join us on Convoy for SIDS and Kids Day, October 12th 2008 - see you there!

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Bluewater Tackle World News comes from Bluewater, 21 Scarborough Beach Road, Scarborough, Western Australia - phone 08 9245 1313 - www.bluewater.net.au

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