Ultimate Sportfishing Adventure through the Mackerel Islands part 2.
BY STEVE TOPE
My 3rd trip to these islands for 97 saw Darren Jaeger, Pete Perrin and myself book a week with Daryl Hitchen on board the Cetacean and camping on Long Island. This island is about 35 nautical miles off Exmouth in the north west coastal area of Western Australia.
Our previous trip saw us fish on Thevenard island for a week using the dinghies available. Then with Daryl for 3 days on Long Island. However this just wasn’t enough time to enjoy what his experience of this area has to offer.
It was October and the Mackerel numbers had started to decline for the season however after a week of great fishing, we found them and a lot of other species were more readily available than our previous trip to this area.
Our 1st day saw us cruise from Onslow to the island and set up our make shift home for the next 7 days. Once camp was set and we had our rods and reels ready to go, we headed out to a well know sand spit. This was at the end of a local island we had fished on the previous trip. Daryl said the fishing had dropped off in this area compared to our last trip to this area for some unknown reason.
On arriving at this spot we were amazed at how true that comment was to be. No Queenfish, Barracouta or Long Tom to be seen. This was a concern as this area had the greatest numbers of these fish 4 months earlier and we really wanted to try out some light tackle fishing for a start. I had previously torn a muscle in my back, 2 weeks earlier and really wasn’t in physical shape to do any heavy hauling off the bottom
We decided to go to a rocky outcrop rising from the sea called table rock, which was close by and a well known productive Giant Trevally fishing spot. We were hoping this spot would have a few Trevally for us to have a bit of fun with. On arriving at this spot and casting all types of poppers and assorted lures to no avail it was decided that the fishing really wasn’t going to be like our last trip.
We asked Daryl (with long faces) to head back to camp and we would relax over a couple of drinks, and discuss our options for the next days fishing.
2nd and 3rd days saw the weather conditions turn in our favour, we would wake to magnificent sunrises and beautifully flat sea conditions. Taking into consideration we were fishing the 4 days up to the full moon and the rising tides our hopes were held high of catching some nice fish even though the previous day hadn't produced anything.
We trolled CD18,s and Mach Baits along reef drop offs, which varied from 10-20 meter drops. The fishing improved immensely on these 2 days and there was no shortage of Spanish Mackerel to 20kg,s along with some really nice shark mackerel and Mackerel Tuna.
Mackerel,
Spanish Mackerel and Spangled Emporer
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Shark
Mackerel and 2 MachTuna
Our tackle consisted of a couple of Fin-nor Ahab 20,s with 8kg line on composite developments 8kg rods, a couple of Daiwa Firewolf rods and Abu 7000,s with 10kg line which are a great off the shelf rod and reel combination for this type of fishing. A couple of Wilson classic 8,s with Abu 6500,s and 6kg line and a trusty old Penn 850 with 6kg line on a custom 6kg rod. I have found from experience that fishing with cheap quality tackle in this area only leads to disappointment. I have completely destroyed the gears and running mechanism of many cheap reels learning this lesson myself. It all reverts back to the old saying, "You get what you pay for".
Our rig's are fairly standard for this type of fishing and never give us any problems, always using about 12 inches of wire tied to a ring then onto a leader of about a 2 meters tied directly to the main line for trolling and bottom fishing. When casting lures etc we just remove the wire. We always buy the best rings and swivels available as they have bent and broken many a time with big fish on the end.
Rankin
Cod, Spangled Emperor and Cod
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Our 4th & 5th day of our trip found us quite open to exploring some new country to do some bottom fishing as we were starting to be fished out from the previous 2 days. It was a good chance for Daryl to find a couple of new spots while giving us a chance to recoup. This turned out a lot more successful than 1st anticipated with some really nice Red Emperor, Coral Trout, Rankin Cod, Estuarine Cod, Spangled Emperor and a few large Trevally species being caught along with a Cobia and a Job Fish.
We fished the areas just off shore on the edges of the surrounding reef's where the water dropped off from 15 meters to 20-25 meters, and dropped the anchor. We cast unweighted pilchards out the back into the burly trail for Spaniard's and what ever else decided to come in on the trail using our 6-8kg outfits and fished the bottom with our 10 kg outfits. We tried with the 6 and 8 kg gear however to no avail except for losing a lot of tackle in the process.
Cod, Coral
Trout, Gold Spot Trevally and Cobia
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We used fish fillets on 6-8'0 chemically sharpened hooks with 12 inches of 60lb single strand wire, tied to 6ft of 60lb mono with an 8oz sinker attached with 2 ft of line tied at the ring where the wire meets the leader to allow the bait to float about12-18 inches off the bottom with the current that was apparent at the time. We have found that it is about the right distance off the bottom to be able to get all the species available. These fish are ferocious feeders and just swallow everything, hooking them selves in the process.
Juvenile
Red Emperor and Daiwa Firewolf and Abu7000 inaction
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6th day saw us up around 4.45 am just as the 1st light from the sun started to rise over the horizon and the conditions were those that can only be dreamt of. So flat it was hard to believe it was the ocean and not a sheet of glass. Breakfast was avoided this morning as the tide had just started it's journey to a high with the full moon being present that evening.
We weren't quite sure what type of fishing to set our sites for, would it be trolling lures out back or fishing the bottom. We decided to do both, to troll some new ground while looking for some nice ledges to fish the bottom
While trolling along a drop off that went from 15 meters to 20 meters we stopped the boat to assist with a retrieve of a double hook up of Spanish Mackerel by myself and Pete. Then from the depths we noticed these great shapes under the boat around 10-15 meters below us. Darren cast out an unweighted pilchard to see what response the unknown fish below the boat may give.
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Before Pete and I could land our Spaniard's Darren had himself a nice Sailfish of around 35kg's on the end of his 6kg out fit and the Pen 850 was working overtime with the great jumping moves of the sail tearing 30-40fast meters at a time . Although the water had developed a very light chop we could see to around 15meters and there were more sails swimming below the boat. Pete and I quickly released our Spaniards and removed the lures in exchange for a double 5'0 hook arrangement with an unweighted pilchard each. It wasn't long before all of us had a Sailfish on at the same time. I lost my one within about 10 seconds due to my drag being to tight breaking on the run of the sail as it neared the surface of the water to jump. Pete was to lose his as the fish jumped and it got bill wrapped turning and cutting the line along the back of the fish. However Darren with his trusty Penn 850 and 6kg on a composite developments 6kg casting rod came through, a quick release and we were all glad to call it a day. We felt grateful to have even seen them in this area, as it is not a common site here.
We were all contented enough to go back to camp and relax and get our things ready for the day trip home the following day and reminisce the weeks fishing over the last of our beers. (Which had to be drank before the following day.)
All and all this group of islands performed again as one of the greatest unexploited light tackle spots on the west coast of Australia, where you can fish, dive in crystal clear pristine water for Green and Painted Cray fish, along with catching some beautiful looking reef fish. As with all of our fishing trips all fish a released unless they are damaged and wont survive which gets eaten or used for bait.
We have decided to buy our own sportfishing boat to operate on our own in this same area and will have another tail to tell after a 2-week adventure to the same area in September this year.
Goat Fish
and Job Fish
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Gold Spot
Trevally and Spanish Mackerel
We are currently looking for an amateur cameraman with own equipment to film us all fishing expenses paid.
Should there be an avid filmmaker / fisher person out there interested please contact me at for further details.
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