Ever Fish Australia ??

pearl · 07-06-2006, 07:35 PM

Just got my itinerary for a trip to SE Australia in mid September. First 6 days will be doing some work with some wineries I represent but get to finish with 4 days in Sydney to do my own thing.

Doing the basic research this morning it looks as if Yellow Fin may be a very viable option this time of year.

Anyone ever done any fishing down under. Recommendations on captains boats etc. Just starting my research so any experiences or ideas are really appreciated.

I did find a message board very similar to IFISH. I hope to get registered this weekend and ask a few questions from the locals. I'll send them the link to IFISH so that they can see how the blokes from the northern hemisphere do it.

Thanks for the help or input guys.

Pearl

Chromaflage · 07-06-2006, 07:48 PM

I never have, but it looks like your timing might be pretty good.

Quote:

Winter and spring (i.e. June to October) is tuna season. Albacore and yellowfin tuna appear with the cooler weather, heralded by gannets and albatross. The action is fast and furious when the tuna are 'on' and they are are also great to eat! We fish for tuna by trolling or by floating baits down a 'berley' trail.

from gamefisher dot com

I hear that you can get in on a croc wrastlin charter as well.

Go get ya some of that down under TUNA!

CrF

Chromaflage · 07-06-2006, 07:55 PM

And don't be taking any of that whimpy PBR as a tip for the guide...you'll be branded as a Shiela for sure.

4 REEL · 07-06-2006, 08:10 PM

One of my best friends left for there today. Will have updates soon.

HiouchiMike · 07-06-2006, 08:17 PM

Giday M8,
Spent month of March this year in W.A.. My sister and family live in Margaret River about four hours south of Perth. Fished landbased and boats. If you get chance for West Coast and its wineries let me know. Hal Harvey and Western Anglers best web based club.
Cheers and 3 beers,

Ramstrong · 07-06-2006, 09:24 PM

Mike,

Your sister lives in Margaret River? That's interesting. Back in 97 I spent 4 days surfing there. There used to be a killer hostel overlooking the beach.

The closest I ever came to dying was there. Don't get caught in the impact zone when a freak set comes in! It was a beautiful place with great surf. I didn't do any fishing though.

HiouchiMike · 07-07-2006, 07:48 AM

Yeah Margarets is great surf spot. They held the OP Pro Surf Contest last week we were there. Family moved there 34 years ago to surf from NZ.
Fishing for salmon aka kahawai from shore was way fun. Looking forward to return next year.
Cheers,
Mike

Freakwater · 07-07-2006, 08:19 AM

10 years ago I fished out of Airlie Beach, Qslnd. Six pack sport charter that fished inside the reef in the morning for spanish mackeral. 2 fish per person limit in an hour. Huge 4 foot fish. Next we went out to the reef and filled a 30 gal. trash can in another hour handlining a variety of or reef fish. On the way in we tried to raise some billfish with no luck. Apparently it was not the right time of year for billfish. Can't recall what time of year that trip was..... too many years and too many beers.

Freakwater

Billfisher · 07-07-2006, 02:00 PM

I fished with Bobby Jones in 2002,

http://www.marlinaustralia.com.au/

Had pretty tough fishing for the week, but we managed 300#, 350#, 500#, 850#, and 900+# Black Marlin in a week of fishing. If you can imagine this, we used 8-10# Skipjack as live bait, on 120# test spectra with mono topshots. It was a true experience.

When we fished dead and skipbaits, they were this size.

Bob travels south (toward NSW) when he is not in the summer prime billfishing season (Oct-Jan) and hunts smaller billfish down there.

Getting there wasn't easy, but it was fun!

pearl · 07-07-2006, 08:42 PM

Keep it comin guys