Monkey Mia Report April 2016
Submitted by randall df223 on Fri, 2016-04-29 19:24
So here is my report for our annual family holiday to Monkey Mia. This is our 11th year and each time we go i try to advance my knowledge of the area and the fishing techniques. In that regard i think i succeeded. In the past we have been told to use fresh butterfish as bait and this trip we found a spot close to monkey mia where we could stop and catch plenty of them for the live bait tank. This we did most mornings before heading out to our chosen spot for the day. We also found a couple of new spots where we caught much bigger blue lined emperor, or black snapper as they are locally known. I fished much more with bait this year rather than jigs or soft plastics. Interestingly we didnt see one sized pink snapper.
So anyway. Pre trip, i got some of big john's jigs, and a couple of new radios (one for the boat, one for the camp). As i saud, i didnt use the jigs much, but they remain in the tackle box always ready. This was the first real fishing trip with the new kill tank and the new deep cycle house battery. Both work really well. We stopped over at Northbrook Farmstay and can highly recommend the cottage there as a rest for a night. Taking two cars means not having a relief driver so a stop over us essential for us. The cottage has a nice big bath for those who really want to relax. The farm experienced some power problems during the night, but chad the farm owner bought up a 7.5 kVa gennie. Could have powered all of Northampton! This was also the first trip towing the boat with the new car. Got between 12.5 - 14.5 litres / 100kms fuel consumption. It sruggled uphill a bit, but nothing a change down to 4th cant handle. Overtakes on the flat in 5th easily.
Got to Monkey Mia and spent the day setting up camp and launching the boat and putting it on the mooring.
10th April
Magnificent weather conditions... crap fishing. No more than 5kt SE all day. Started out trolling without luck. Chased bird activity, tuna jumping all around. Got a sounder screenshot of tuna under the boat. One light hit but didnt take the strike. Bottom bounced three different areas. Released juvenile pinks, blacks and blue bones. Got two sharks boat side on pe 1.2 outfit. One about 1.5 m, the other about 3m. Karin got photos and video.
Kill tank skin fitting still drips internally, but nothing a once a day bilge pump can't handle.
New steering is nice and stiff.
11th april
Thom's birthday. Wet and windy. Work around the camp day.
12th april
Fished the second channel. Few undersized pinks and blacks and one undersized rankin.
Trolled and immediately hit on skirted lure while i was still adjusting the drag. Pulled in a 1.38 m spanish mackerel. 10.09 kgs of fillets. Fish weighed at 37 lb (much excitment thinking it was 37 kgs....) my bad.
13th april
Fishing calendar still saying bad fishing day. Trolled second channel for two school mackerel. Bottom bounced same area and got sharked every hook up. Moved over towards faure island and anchored up and started to burley up. Caught an entire school of 31.9 cm blacks (min size is 32) and a few undersized pinks. Cutlered the macks for 2.175 kgs in the freezer.
Running total = 12.265 kgs
14th april
Started at the squid spot and ended up with 20 or so butterfish. Trolled up one school mackerel but got sharked on everything else in the second channel.
Running total = 13.795 kgs
15th april
Early morning departure by myself and headed east to the 10 mile. Wet bumpy trip across. The five miles across the flats were flat calm but not the rest. Did some hunting around for one nor' west blowie. Headed south around the island. Encountered a dugong on the flats to the south of the island. Beautiful creatures. Came up the inside of the island. Saw a few boats fishing the channel to the south west of the island, as well as a friend in their pluka heading that way. Worth exploring that area more. Eastern side didnt prove successful. Finished off in the second channel only for one black snapper, another member of the 31.9cm family.
17th april
Started at the butterfish spot, then moved out to the 2nd channel where Karin got a black spot tusk fish. Trolled for a while without any hits.
19th april
Windy all day from the south east. People going south still catching big blacks and blue bones. Others fished closer to the "crocodile". We trolled out the front for 1 school mackerel for 875gm of fillet.
Running total = 15.380 kg
21st april
Headed south towards the "crododile". Found some ground that looked good on the sounder and landed two good blacks.
And here is the story of the one that got away...
Hooked onto a monster cobia on pe1.2 (9kg) outfit. Played it for about 25 minutes including chasing it with the boat. Saw it several times and got it alongside the boat several times. Karin wanted to net it but i thought it would be too strong for her. I should have listened. My bad. I missed the gaff 3 or 4 times and the hooks pulled !!! Bugger!
Landed 4 blacks in total and two blue bones. Most fish the kill tank has seen to date. The blue bone that i got hit my bait on a retrieve about a metre under the surface! 2430 in the freezer + 955 for dinner.
Running total = 17.81 kg
22nd april
Butterfish spot for quite a few as getting low on occy. Learnt we need to salt the occy to toughen it up so it stays on the hook better. Off towards the crocodile and took a while to come on the bite. Karin landed a stonker 57cm blue bone and i got i pb estuary cod at 65cm. Went quiet until karin got a second blue bone at 42cm. 715 gm for tea tomorrow.
Running total (in the freezer) = 20.72kg
23rd april
Perfect conditions. Trolled around the "rose". Used every lure in my tackle box. One strike, no fish. Bottom bounced to the north of monkey mia where karin caught a 47cm estuary cod. Moved to the second channel only to get sharked on everything.
Running total = 21.31 kgs
24th april
Final fishing day and the weather turned on the famous monkey mia magic. Glass calm and so quiet you could here the marine life all around. Saw turtles, sharks, and dugongs up close. Even had a squid swim up and check us out. Karin landed one estuary cod for the day.
Final total = 22.36kg of fillets plus we had a couple of fish meals.
Our second most successful in terms of fishing.
Love that place and cant wait to get back.
Photobucket is giving me grief so i will upload more photos soon.
____________________________________________________________________________
Fish! HARD!
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
Krusty
Posts: 714
Date Joined: 27/11/15
Thanks for the report and
Thanks for the report and the photos are great.
To come home after a trip like that with over 22kg of fillets is awesome...great work
My fishing spots are so secret........... even the fish don't know where they are !!
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
Very good Randall, them blue bone are bloody good on the plate. Should keep you in fish for a bit.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
Simo_
Posts: 1843
Date Joined: 13/11/06
Nice work mate
Nice work mate
Bring on April
Brock O
Posts: 3228
Date Joined: 11/01/08
Great Stuff Randell, that's
Great Stuff Randell, that's living.
Got that place susssed.
uncle
Posts: 9478
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Sounds like fun was had by all
Cant wait till next year hey
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Rob H
Posts: 5800
Date Joined: 18/01/12
Great reportYou probably
Great report
You probably came across my mate Stony up there, Razorline with twin Suzis...
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.
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Grey hull?
Grey hull?
Fish! HARD!
Rob H
Posts: 5800
Date Joined: 18/01/12
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.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Thanks for the great report and photos
Gee that shark has a big dorsal fin, if he came to the surface you would spot him a mile away.
You have certainly got some good feeds coming up, well done.
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Sandbar shark. They turned
Sandbar shark. They turned out to be a pain in the arse!
Fish! HARD!
jng
Posts: 488
Date Joined: 03/08/07
Great report Randall! can't
Great report Randall! can't wait for July I'll be back up there
kirky79
Posts: 1354
Date Joined: 13/01/12
Great report Randall
Thanks for taking the time to write it up. Love catching Blue bone.
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
I use an app called my
I use an app called my fishing companion which allows you to make trip notes. So i did that each day and then copied and pasted into one document. Bit fiddly but easier than sitting sown at the end and trying to r ed member everything.
Fish! HARD!
kirky79
Posts: 1354
Date Joined: 13/01/12
Great idea
For a trip
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Ed note... thom smashed all
Ed note... thom smashed all of us at chess and backgammon. Not so little bugger gets no favours when he beats me by a backgammon in tbe first game!
Fish! HARD!
Rob b
Posts: 211
Date Joined: 04/02/13
Great Spanish mackeral and
Great Spanish mackeral and report, nice work.
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Real good mix there, Randall!
Great report, great pics, and a great mix of top tucker and sport! And the best part is the family involvement. Pretty special to share those kind of experiences with your loved ones!
sea-kem
Posts: 14989
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Aesome report Randall, looks
Aesome report Randall, looks like it gets better for you guys each year
Love the West!
tot
Posts: 1160
Date Joined: 31/01/10
Looks like you had a great trip Randall
gotta love it when it all comes together and everyone gets in on the action.
Reverse cycle a/c supply and install - Ducted and wall splits
makai
Posts: 459
Date Joined: 28/10/08
Great report, great place
Thanks for the report Randall. Shark Bay is one of my all time favourite places.
Paully
Posts: 3246
Date Joined: 15/08/09
Great stuff that -
Gee that water looks horrible
....nice work , got to be happy with that. Next time - listen to your lady 
Cruise Control
Posts: 973
Date Joined: 03/11/10
Nice work Randall. Those
Nice work Randall. Those Blacks pull hard and are good on the chew as well.