Coral Bay 2018 - Trip Report
Well the weather this year looked atrocious worst in at least 5 years for our annual trip. Wind Wind..followed with 3-4m swells for the entire time. But...we made do in the 7 days we were there. North passage it was for every trip out.
We had about 3 days out there, with a terrible half day. Considering we did.....ok...
Days we couldn't get out, we spent collected big occys from exposed reefs and eating the local pastries, followed by lots of drinking beer and wine. (not necessarily in that order)
No massive reds (10+kg) this year (4-8kg), but found some awesome untouched ground in 100m that held your normal offenders in numbers....Out deep we did our normal annual efforts of bagging out on massive greyband and some average sized rubies, which always a specticle at filleting table. Biggest GB went 26.5kg.
We did notice, due to what i suspect caused by large swells, a clear colour change in about 80-90m (~15km out), and would explain why it was hard to tempt stuff below these depths. Normal for us to find big reds in 60m and loads of fish. Each mark this year was very....short on life to say these least, until you sucked it up and headed out into those ugly winds and chop past that colour change.
Sharks were normal, nothing over the top on most of our spots maybe lost half a dozen fish in the days we went out. Until we tried trolling that regular visited place at the back of the reef. Those things are smarter each year. Managed to get 1 of 2 10kg+ mack under the boat before we gave up, the other lasted 2 secs on the lure before it was blasted by big whalers. Better weather and would have liked to have gone North or South of entrances, so no macks were landed this year.
A fun video we made from occying. youtu.be/GSNI4T3bdxw
Context: I'm trying to pluck one from a hole and your mate just picks a big one off rocks with bare hands.
I'll upload some awesome drone footage from the shoreline at a later date, when i have a free wifi connection someplace. (Follow the my youtube channel for updates)
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
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Lefty 44
Posts: 163
Date Joined: 04/12/17
I heard you got outfished by
I heard you got outfished by your decky 3 out of the 4 days......
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
It's to be expected when
It's to be expected when you're the captain driving the vessel lining it up for the deckie
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Cruise Control
Posts: 973
Date Joined: 03/11/10
Good work Spence, certainly
Good work Spence, certainly did better than we did. Weather was absolute shite.
dannyblech
Posts: 9
Date Joined: 22/11/11
Lovely fish! Those occys are
Lovely fish! Those occys are the goods..
They say I'm half fish. www.discountfishingsuperstore.com
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18029
Date Joined: 11/03/08
some great fish there.
some great fish there. despite the weather looks like you got plenty of feeds on the way. them greys are decent size
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
tot
Posts: 1160
Date Joined: 31/01/10
Quality again!
Another good trip from the looks.
You have that area sorted no doubt
Reverse cycle a/c supply and install - Ducted and wall splits
Stevo81
Posts: 1278
Date Joined: 16/04/12
Awesome Mate! Those cods
Awesome Mate! Those cods would have assisted in getting your limit of fillets pretty quick!
•••••••• Electrical Contractor NOR ••••••••
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
If you counted just our
If you counted just our bags. Pretty sure we would have Come back with 40kg each. But shared between 3 boats it landed around 15ish
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Sea goat
Posts: 970
Date Joined: 26/03/17
nice effort! I think you
nice effort!
I think you caught more fish in those 3 days than I have in the last 3 years!
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
I think you need a bigger esky
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
Agreed. We carried 2 eskies
Agreed. We carried 2 eskies (white one too) and both were full with less than 10 fish
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Scotte
Posts: 1145
Date Joined: 07/12/06
Nice report
Nice report
Tom M
Posts: 661
Date Joined: 22/09/15
Interesting read well done,
Interesting read well done, what did you land from the furuno shot?
Tom M
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
Decent 6-8kg Red Emps, Loads
Decent 6-8kg Red Emps, Loads of Pearls, Spanglies from the structure. Mixture of golden, tea leaf and bludger trevally on top which we tried to avoid.
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
Well done
Well done
ChrisG
Posts: 558
Date Joined: 30/12/11
Well done mate
Well done mate
Fish_Hunter
Posts: 91
Date Joined: 18/01/15
awesome guys
nice pics good times
FIFO's got knobs on it - but it buys my toys !!
atollie113
Posts: 4
Date Joined: 10/08/18
Great pics
thanks for sharing
how did you guys catch the occys
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
Just ripped them out of holes
Just ripped them out of holes on low tide.
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Brock O
Posts: 3229
Date Joined: 11/01/08
Pretty impressive catch...got
Pretty impressive catch...got that place sorted.
What's the go with the shark...type ?
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
Mako shark that was
Mako shark that was terrorizing Boat. Wire trace floater sorted him out.
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
swabio
Posts: 32
Date Joined: 03/04/17
that looks like an epic
that looks like an epic trip.
We hit Exmouth back in June 18, and did a couple of day trips to CB (no fishing though), and it looks like a magic place, did a little paddleboarding and snorkling but nothing much.
Am starting to plan our 2019 assault.... and considering a week in CB and a week in Exy, or just two weeks in Exy, and do a couple of day trips down to CB, this time with the boat.
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
Exmouth has more options in
Exmouth has more options in bad weather, in the gulf and different pelagics other than macks/tunas/hoo etc. Deep water is also a lot closer.
Coral bay is expensive, but more country town feel, which is a pleasant way to relax. Jetty for launching is one of best in state. Only issue is no wash down facilities around due to artisian water supply.
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
swabio
Posts: 32
Date Joined: 03/04/17
Yeah, we did a couple of day
Yeah,
we did a couple of day trips down to CB (sans boat), and the ramp looked awesome. There are some decent houses to rent in CB too (as with exy). We are looking at doing two - three weeks in June, but will probably gravitate to Exmouth again, with a view to doing a day trip or overnighter out of CB.
We loved the proximity to the beach and to close in coral for snorkeling and paddleboarding etc.
The drive from Exmouth to Tantabiddi ads a fair bit of time to each end of the day also... so handy having the ramp right in town...