HEADING BACK TO THE WEST

Lubin Pfeiffer, our travelling fisho, has just returned from another adventure in WA. As usual, the fishing was fast, furious and definitely worth the marathon drive.

Western Australia has become a favourite fishing destination of mine, particularly the north of the state. While our eastern states get most of the time in the spotlight, the vast WA coast has something very special about it. For me it’s a little bit wilder, has less angling pressure, and is one of the few places to access a wide variety of fishing, both blue water and inshore, with a tinny.

It had been a couple of years since my last WA trip and I was keen to get back over there, so a plan was set. Heading north to escape the winter cold is one of the best things about living in Australia, so when July came around, it was time to hook the boat onto the van and start driving. Lots of preparation goes into a massive trip like this, so I made sure the van, boat motor, and trailer all had a service before hitting the road.

Fishing gear is a funny one, as you can always take too much, but then that is never enough. The fishing in an area changes from year to year, and it’s a bit of a lucky draw as to what you’ll get while away. Having been there a couple of times before, I was able to pack for most situations we might come across, but with all trips like this there are always extra things you need and some things you didn’t need to take at all, but that’s just fishing!

Trips like these usually revolve around fishing the inshore flats and islands, so I took a good selection of light tackle spinning stuff, and a large range of lures, including soft plastics, stickbaits and metal lures. I also packed a range of fly fishing gear, including two 9wt outfits with floating lines and a spare 8wt outfit, along with a big box full of shrimp and crab patterns. For the billfish I had a box full of teasers and rigging gear, as well as three 10000-sized reels on short jig sticks spooled with 15kg braid and top-shotted with 15kg monofilament. The plan was to fish the flats around Dampier and then travel down to Exmouth in search of inshore billfish.

THE BIG DRIVE

The author with a fair lump of Spanish mackerel hooked on a soft plastic

As it turns out, the Pilbara in WA’s north is a very long way away! It’s such an interesting feeling driving for 12 hours, only to pull up for the night knowing that you have another three 12-hour driving days ahead of you! But as a friend of mine once told me, you just treat it like a job and get it done. I like to plan the driving days like a normal working day, starting early, but not so early that hitting any wildlife is an issue, and then stopping for smoko and lunch before finishing the day around 5:30-6 pm. Driving is all part of the adventure, and if you keep this in mind it won’t seem like such a grind. The worst thing you can do is just think the whole time, I just want to get there!

It was such a good feeling arriving in the Pilbara on Saturday evening with a mint forecast the next day. I had 10 days of island fishing before my friend Nik arrived in Exmouth. With the boat all loaded with camping gear, I headed out of the Dampier port and set up camp on one of the many islands. This is, without a doubt, my favourite thing to do while away. There’s something so chill about waking up on the beach and all you have to worry about is getting in the boat and searching the flats each day.

My main target while doing this style of fishing is blue bastards, which is just like chasing big snapper on the flats; the only difference is they are bright blue in colour. They are super fussy, fight exceptionally hard and are the perfect target with either a fly rod or spin outfit. Along with the blue bastards, there is always a good chance of spangled emperor, golden trevally, queenfish, permit, tuskfish and GTs. It’s amazing how quickly 10 days can fly by staring into the water cruising around on the electric motor. I’d be frustrated by the blue bastards, but caught some really nice ones, along with a swag of other fish, and the time had come to head to Exmouth for the next part of the trip.

TRYING DIFFERENT THINGS

Blue bastards are tough opponents on fly gear

It’s about a six-hour drive south from Dampier to Exmouth along a very beautiful and unique road. I love the red dirt country and the Pilbara area is full of big hills covered in red boulders. The amazing thing about this part of the country as well is that you can drive for 600km and not see a single pothole in the road!

Eventually I rolled into Exmouth and picked up Nik from the airport. We had both been checking the weather, which was not looking good for chasing billfish in the tinny. Our plan for Nik’s two weeks was to chase billfish the first week and then head to the Dampier flats the week after. But one thing that inspires me about fishing with Nik is that he can make changes to a fishing plan off the cuff to get the best out of a trip. Having guided saltwater fishing for so long, Nik knows the weather doesn’t always play the game, so being able to adjust is the way to get the best out of the trip.

We had both been looking at the forecast and, surprisingly or not, we had both picked the same location as an alternative a few hours up the coast where the wind would be blowing offshore. It was still going to be 15-20knots, but at least we would be close to the shore. I’ll never forget driving up the mangrove edge of this spot we’d never been to that just looked good on the map. We picked a point that looked fishy and, with conditions that were ideal compared to where we were supposed to be, I flew the drone up to have a quick scan before we started searching with our eyes. To my surprise, I spotted a giant blue bastard sitting hard up on the sand. The very first cast of the trip for Nik resulted in the biggest blue bastard I had ever seen and the fish that he flew from NZ to catch. What a way to take the pressure off!

Nik and I had a great couple of weeks exploring the Pilbara flats and catching some amazing fish. One that will be etched in my memory was on a windy day out from Dampier. We had seen a few tuna randomly show up, but not for long enough that you could get a good shot at them. We spotted some birds working down in the bay and then all of a sudden there were massive blow-ups amongst them. We just had to get over there! By the time we did though, the commotion had stopped. Nik was throwing a few random casts with the stickbait when something huge blew up on it in spectacular fashion before nearly emptying the spool on his reel. We chased this fish for about two kilometres as it continued to melt line from the spool. It seemed like forever before an absolute hog of a longtail tuna appeared beside the boat. It was such an unreal fish to catch in such shallow water.

Mack tuna are fast and powerful on spin tackle

We also had one afternoon at Exmouth where, during a total glass out, there was a huge scum line full of jellyfish and krill and there were five or six massive whale sharks happily tailing and feeding on them. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life! After an adventure and fish-filled couple of weeks, it was time to drop Nik at the airport where I was going to pick up my mate Boehmy the next day.

BIG GTS ON THE FLATS

Each trip has been different in WA. On our previous trip Boehmy and I had such great success with the billfish. The bite was really good. This trip, however, the fishing was much more difficult. We had one day where we caught two black marlin and a big sailfish, but other days were a grind with only an opportunity or two. So the decision was made to head up to the islands around Dampier and have some fun. Boehmy had never done this style of flats fishing before, so I said to him it’s an absolute must-do thing while you have the chance. I think the big key to having a good trip like this is to be willing to change plans.

Although we still had a couple of weeks left at the campsite we had booked in Exmouth, the plan was made to change things up to find some better fishing. What resulted was something we both didn’t expect to happen. The flats fishing was incredible with all the usual suspects, but it was Boehmy’s capture on the third day that will go down in history. We had caught some amazing blue bastards and were heading across the big lagoon to find some more, when we made the call just to have a look along a big sand bar where I had seen some GTs with Nik the weeks before.

At first I thought it was a school of big queenfish before Boehmy made the cast, only to see a big GT light up and absolutely mow down the sluggo beside the boat and miss it. The sound this fish made will stay in my memory forever. Quick thinking saw Boehmy make another cast, and this time the fish didn’t miss and we were on! The GT put on the afterburners and headed straight for the rocks on the shore. It was a tense few minutes with some pretty ‘out-there’ boat driving and we had a grab on Boehmys first ever GT – sight fished on a beautiful crystal clear flat. We were unbelievably stoked.

As it turned out, we were in the middle of the full moon tide cycle and every high tide during the day for the next week saw big GTs on the flats. They would just be slowly cruising in this spot each day and would absolutely lose their minds when you put a sluggo past their noses. It was like getting the surface bite from a big Murray cod and then the fight of a big flats kingfish. It was heaven!

GT’s of this size can really pull!

The author with a softie-caught spangled emperor

Between the tides we would either flats fish for bastards or head out over the drop-off and cast stickbaits for mackerel and tuna. We did this for nine days straight before it was time to head south again. My last fish for the trip was my biggest flats GT, which we saw sunning itself with another big one along the rocky bank. I’ll never forget the sight of its mouth fully open as it engulfed the sluggo in a shower of water before racing off across the sand at full speed. After a hectic ten-minute battle we speared the fish back into the water and were content with what had been an unbelievably good trip.

WEST IS BEST

That’s a helluva trevally in anyone’s language!

Every time I head away for a big trip interstate like this, there is always so much to learn. This trip was no different, and afterwards I had so much more confidence in thinking outside the box to make do with bad weather or anything else that may hinder a well-made plan for a trip. Being flexible is so important in fishing. I think there is such a great achievement in doing a trip like this unguided in your own boat, and following a few fishing fundamentals it is easily doable for most anglers.

Rolling back into the driveway at home after spending eight weeks on the road is always a good feeling, and I had some incredible memories from the trip.

Plans are even being hatched for the next round and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next year holds!