Seisia Blog 3

Again out the front of camp looks like a pond at 7am.  Wind predictions today say increasing to 20 knots around 1pm.

We head off to same area as yesterday as we thought with increasing wind predictions we may not be able to get back out here for the rest of our stay.  We trolled over the first structure we found yesterday with no luck.  Second structure just off Prince of Wales island via the sounder indicated prolific fish activity.  We decided to bottom bash even though the current was very strong.  We loose a tonne of gear with no result.  Bugger !!

Both a bit disheartened and as the wind has picked up to very choppy conditions, we now felt uncomfortable.  We start motoring back but are being so badly smashed around, we choose to take it slower and troll at the same time.  We have now committed to trolling the 10 nautical miles home.  We are on holidays so time is no issue..

Imagine the scene where you have relaxed, the wind has dropped a little so we have our feet up with coffee in one hand eating a bag of chips, rods in rod holders enjoying just being on holidays.  We are lulling over waves, when out of the blue Gene's rod spools off at incredible speed.  Drop everything to grab the rod and my line goes off.  Every man for himself!  It was a picture of pure choas!  Now we have two massive fish by the boat, smiles on our dials because we think by the look of them they are Spanish Mackerels.  We are both already taking fillets and thinking at day three our fridge is full of our favourite fish.  Gene had to give his fish some line and hope that he didn't get bit off while we landed Donna's fish.  One in and no time to look as we get Gene's in.  Gene's fiesty fish nearly demolishes the tinny getting it in.  Now we have 2 x 1.5 metre fish on the boat and they have scales!  They are very ugly with big teeth, so there goest the Spanish Mackerel dream as they look to be most likely Barracuda.  Seriously we have never seen Barracuda this big.  Confirmed they are Giant Barracuda, not a meal but what fun to catch.

Giant Barracuda !!

Wish they were Spanish Mackerel!!

By the time we reached Parau Island not too far off Seisia the winds had reduced and we stopped for lunch and rigged up to do some bottom bashing.

Parau Island

Donna proudly shows her dropper knot for paternoster rig.

Note:  Donna's fears are confirmed as the resident snapping handbag casually swims past our campsite around sunset for all to see.

Snapping Handbag swims past nearly every evening around sunset.

Seisia Blog 2

Out front looked like a pond.  We were to learn every day looked like a pond and was not indicative of actual weather conditions on the ocean.  Wind predictions of about 11 knots to us seemed perfect.

We head out toward Prince of Wales island and find structure.  Trolling with 30 pound braid, 80 pound leader and Donna's favourite red Halco lure.

After a number of trolls over the top of the structure... Bang !! Something eats the lure.  Here we are reeling in what looks to be a shark.  Bugger !!! Both of us are disappointed but it is a funny looking shark so we decided to land it.  It has stripes down its body and no teeth.  Fish identification chart show we quite possibly have caught our very first Cobia.  Fish bled and in the esky on ice.

Cobia don't be fooled likes like a Shark in the water.

Off we troll again...  The lure does it trick and this time we reel in a Mackerel.  By our estimates, double Yum. Things quieten up so we have a motor near the Prince of Wales island finding more structure but no luck.

Oh well having gone far enough out in unknown waters for day one we head back.

Back at the boat ramp, Gene is off getting the car whilst Donna does her usual Croc watching and only sees the local kids swimming !!! Two local fisherman loading their boat ask how we did.  She shows them our catch with pride.  They look into our esky and say ? "you got a Bone fish good for fish cakes and a Sucker fish makes an ok curry hey". Completely deflated and now feeling like we just caught bait only she waits for Gene to come back with the car.  Being at Seisia gave us the bonus of internet and Dr Google.  Confirmation we had a Cobia and a Spotted Mackerel.  (Still Double Yum).

Mackerel not Bone Fish!

 When we were telling one of the local shop owners our story and showing our photos.  She was not surprised, giggled and asked in good humour whether they offered to take the fish off our hands.
Both fish were good eating.  Given the texture of the Cobia we decided to save some for Donna's Seafood Paella recipe when we get home.

Seisia blog 1

We chose to set up camp for the next 12 days at Seisia Holiday Park.  The Jetty/ boat ramp is only approximately 200 mtrs away, we are central to all fishing points, have access to fuel, water and power.  We are able to launch the boat then drive the car back to camp and plug it back into 240 power for the car fridge.  This meant Donna spent 10 minutes each day sitting on the stern of the boat feet out of the water looking for Crocodiles.

Donna Croc watching

Fishing is dirty smell work and when free camping you can often have limited access to water.  Given that you cant swim in the ocean here the ability to have a nightly shower is a luxury.  Cost $48 per night for ocean front with 1/2 side hut and power.

Campsite at Seisia Holiday Park

Looking back to ocean

Our sunset view Seisia Holiday Park

After our arrival on night one Gene tries to talk me into a night fish.. Are you Kidding??  We end up at the locals performing a traditional dance at the Seisia Fishing Club instead.

A great performance - Thanks Seisia for insight into your culture.

Holidays 2016 - Fishing Cape York

This trip is going to be a fishing trip!  We had a fantastic 4wd holiday in 2014 to Cape York where we completed the Telegraph track, Frenchman's Track and The Old Coach Rd to Maytown out of Laura. 2014 we visited Weipa and took a fishing trip with Lee from Weipa Sports fishing and caught the most impressive Spanish Mackerel - yum and Queenies - Kiss and release. 

2014 - Weipa Sports Fishing

2014 - Weipa Sports Fishing Spanish Mackerel

2014 - Queenies

We set off this year with a slightly different set up to the Kimberley's as the boat HAD to get bigger to stay in proportion with the Crocodiles and our Adventure level .... Gone was our 68kg, 3.8 mtr Blue fin with 15hp Yamaha, in was our 115kg high sided 3.89 mtr Stessco Squire reinforced stern with 25hp Yamaha.

After much research and multiple trips to different boat manufacturers, this was we believed our best set up option for weight, size and power. Options on the boat: We bought over the Lowrance HDI sounder from the old boat as we were comfortable with its usage and found GPS very accurate.   We use this in conjunction with Navionics Boating on the IPad and the reference book 'North Australia Fish Finder 11' which we have found to be exceptional value and full of accurate useful information. We carry a 5wt VHF radio, flares and EPIRB. Yamaha installed a regulator on the boat engine which now charges a 1.5 amp hour battery to run the lights, Navigation and the addition of a bilge pump. Last year we found we were struggling to keep up with the electrical needs of the boat, car and camper due to having no 240 power in the Community, which meant the generator was running a lot. This also now means we don't have to take the battery out of boat each day to charge it. 

We had installed the 150 kg roof rack when we bought the Mazda. We put it to a rugged test last year going to Kimberley's and had no problems, however reality is we have put an extra load up there this year, so we went to our engineering company and had further reinforcing put into the canopy. This took some space from the sides where we held jerry cans but everything in remote fishing and camping is about compromise. The boat loader was same as we took to Kimberley's.

Travelling to the Tip as is customary our 1st stop was to be the Clermont bakery. This required free camp overnight at Clermont and being there on a week day as bakery shuts on weekends. 

Clermont Bakery - Yum ... just some of the food

Two more free camps and we are just outside Laura. A thorough check of the gear before the corrugations really begin we find a small hairline crack in the boat loader. Not unexpected because it had already done the Gibb River Rd and we believed that because it only had two points of weight distribution there was one section in the design that had a high probability for failure. Was the extra weight of the new boat from 68kg to 115kg going to be a problem for the whole trip? The good news is it happened now and not further up the Peninsular Development Rd. Being so close to Laura we had phone/internet reception and was able to find a engineer/welder in Cooktown who was able to do design and repairs immediately. And even better felt he was a good price. Cheers to Cape York Engineering.

Boat Loader repaired 

A day in Cooktown didn't affect our plans as we were still 3 days ahead of schedule.

We went to Vrilya Point last trip and had contemplated taking the boat however reports were the track in was closed. We spent an overnight at Crystal Creek about 4kms in where you have access to clear fresh water in the creek. We were the only ones there and surprised when, early in the morning a 4wd was coming from the other side. Old Mick had just come from Vrilya Point and we guided him across the log bridge as he needed to put a tyre on each log to cross, it was incredibly hairy. The bridge had deteriorated severely in 2 years. A cuppa and chat with Mick he had been at Vrilya 2-3 weeks and there was lots of campers/fisherman there who weren't catching much.  He was on his way to Weipa. 

Log Bridge - Crystal Creek

At the Jardine River Ferry we had to decide what we were going to do for 2 days as we weren't booked in yet to Seisia Holiday Park. A quick phone call to Seisia we were able to book in another two days. As we have so much gear to set up and unload, predictions of mild winds which were only going to increase to severe during our stay, we were keen to set up and get in the water. 

Going Home

Our final post for this trip.   Every time you travel there are some places that have to be cut off the list if you are on a time schedule and travelling so far away from home.  We decided this time on our way home we would finally visit the Bungle Bungles and Lake Argyle.  

All we have to say is  "I'D RATHER BE FISHING !!"

Bungle Bungles - The boat was missing water

Cathedral Gorge

Piccaninny Creek Lookout - Southern Section

Southern section

Northern Section - Echidna Chasm
Visit between 1130 - 1300 for best lighting effects

Bungle Bungles

Lake Argyle

Lake Argyle

Infinity pool at 
Lake Argyle Resort and Caravan Park

Goodbye Western Australia - Looking forward to next time

Middle Lagoon - part two

The wind was picking up in the next couple of days, so we launched at 6am with the tide way out.  Only the little boats were able to get on the water at this stage and we knew a few hours later with more water in the Lagoon the bigger boats would zoom past heading out to the 23km mark.  Some of the bigger boats were catching good size fish.

Low Tide -  launching boat

We only travelled about 3 kms out, motoring around looking for structure when in the distance we saw what looked like a school of dolphins.  Donna was not convinced, and wanted to head over to do some trolling.  We were both more than happy to troll, because we found bottom bashing was unable to hold our interest for extended periods of time.  We headed over to check out the activity. When  Donna got hit , we knew it wasn't weed  she was  caught up in.  Line went out at a very impressive rate. Although the salesman we bought the rods from assured us we could bend these rods in half, to our amazement it proved to be factual.  It took some time to bring the fish in, and with all the head banging and slashes of silver we could see , shouts of "its a shark?" Queenie? Trevally? then hopes raised with maybe a Spanish Mackerel? and to our absolute surprise there was a Tuna !!

How do you get a Tuna in the boat?  First you need to put the GoPro down so both hands are on the Gaff. 

Gene has never gaffed a fish before so he takes 4 or 5 unsuccessful swings, and with the thought of loosing our first Tuna he grabs the net.  Well, the fish took one look a the net and it reeled off an easy 20 metres of line nearly taking Donna overboard with it.  Five minutes later, picture Donna now tired, knees locked in against the hull, bum in the seat and she has the fish back beside the boat.  Obviously this fish is going to have to be eaten by a shark, jump into the boat of its own accord or be gaffed.  Donna was having bets on the first two because the fish hadn't slowed up and she still had the rod bent in half. 

Success our 1st Tuna was landed!

  

1st Tuna

 

 









We landed our 2nd Bigeye Tuna

Buoyed by our success in go the lures again.  Some time later just when we think we were only going to catch one, Donna's line was off again.  This time we both yell Tuna!  She had the hang of it now and put the hurt on the fish from the get go, and this one took less time to land.

 

Esky space already at a premium, there was no way a third Tuna was going in, so we decided our luck may have changed and we would target the elusive Bluebone on our way back in.  Two Stripy seaperch and a cod later we gave in. The Bluebone challenge lives to fight another day.

 

 



The Seagulls loved scavenging the
Tuna offcuts

This will keep the freezer working hard

 

 

 

Middle Lagoon - Part one

 

 

We had become a lot more confident in the boat, and we have only MINOR hesitation heading out into blue water.  We are looking for structure around 20metres deep when we heard the thunder.  Thunder ?? Now that didn't make any sense because the sky was clear.

 

Here we are in Middle Lagoon only a couple of hours from Broome towards Cape Leveque, we have running water (boil before drinking was the advice), flushing toilets and hot showers (if you get in before dark).  There was a line of camping sites close to each other in full sun along a ridge looking out over the ocean, or some shady sites with no water views.  As we were here to go fishing we weighed up the options and decided a site with more room and lots of shade was more appropriate for our needs.

 

Campsite Middle Lagoon

 

One of the attractions was the fact you could swim in the beautiful blue turquoise water.  We quickly fell into a daily routine of long days on the boat then enjoyed the freedom to swim when we got back, washing the sweat and fish guts off us.  WHERE are the Crocodiles?

 

The boat is launched off the beach near camp in the Lagoon and this can mean a 10 metre launch or 100 metres depending on the tide.

 

High tide beach launch

Now back to the thunder, the sound was being generated by humpback wales breaching.

Sound of thunder



1st sight of the whales

 

Whales kept coming closer to us

 

 

They were whales all around us, so we chose to stop fishing and drift.  Now our focus was on observing the whales, we found them to be breaching from only 400 metres away and they were in all directions.  When they came back down into the water it truly sounded like thunder.  We had been whale watching in a double hulled Cat out of Hervey Bay previously.  Sitting here in our 3.6 metre tinny on our own with no other boats in sight, the sheer size of the whales was impressive at the same time a little intimidating.   Other whales could be seen slapping their tales or just cruising past.  At times this felt like being on a push bike with a road train going past, way too close for comfort. 

 

 

 

Floating around, we actually heard the whale song.  Until today we thought it was a sonar acoustic sound made for television to make you feel warm and fluffy about nature, but out here it was clear as a bell.  Gene took the opportunity to mark off some potential fishing spots on the sounder as we drifted.

 

 

 

A very inquisitive mother and calf approached us and got to within 50 metres, she was slicing through the water always moving a little closer directly towards us exhaling air explosively through her blowhole.  We decided it was in our best interests to start the engine and move closer to shore

.

 

 

 

 

This is the second day we had tried to catch the elusive Bluebone.  We followed the advice from locals in Broome to float over the structure not anchor up, and use crustations for bait.  We had no trouble loosing our bait, feeding the fish and whilst we did catch a few Bluebone they were all undersize.  We were constantly loosing gear as well, you would drop the line get a couple of nibbles then hold on for dear life as your line spooled off then was gone.  That meant nights around camp re-rigging gear with 100 pound leader, if they were going to fight dirty so were we.  The Bluebone must be pretty tricky and tasty fish because the only large shark we saw, (nearly as big as the shark that circled us at Kalumburu), was one following our line as we hauled a Bluebone into the boat.

 

Bluebone - Back he goes undersize again

 

 

We went back to camp again empty handed however even if we didn't catch any legal size fish at Middle Lagoon the whales were worth the trip.

 

Re-rigging at camp