wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 just got back from a 5 day charter around KI with Kangaroo Island Fishing Adventures. firstly i would like to say that if anyone is looking to do a charter down that way i can't recommend going with Gavin Solly, the skipper, highly enough. he wont rest until he puts you onto the fish and when he does find them, hold on!!anyway, we had 8 people on the charter including Shane Mensforth and Archerfish from this site. we set off from Gavins private marina early on Monday morning and had four lures in the water straight away trolling for Bluefin Tuna. i was the first to hook a fish which turned out to be a nice snook which we kept for bait. we kept trolling for about 2 hours when all of a sudden we had a triple hook up. myself and the 2 other fisherman landed the Tuna which were about 12-15kg. this was my first Tuna so i was stoked. we hooked several other Tuna on the run to our first bottom bashing spot and everyone had a ball catching them. unfortunatly one of the boys lent one of the others his rod only to watch it get high sticked and snapped when the Tuna decided that it didnt like the look of the boat and took off. spewing.when we got to the first spot we were bottom bashing around and all hooked a variety of reef species which included Snapper, Nannygai, Swallowtail, Gummy Sharks, Blue Morwong and plenty of other things. we had a ball on those for awhile before heading to our first overnight anchorage but i cant remember the name of the bay. Archerfish will probably know.im absolutly exhausted coz i drove all the way back to Whaylla today so i shall continue the story tomorrow after a good nights sleep in a bed that doesnt rock around. i got about 60 fish to fillet as well so im going to be a busy boy i think! Rickster, Chief, fridge and 3 others 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archerfish 685 Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Weirs Cove was the first overnight anchorage, w2bf...and I agree with your assessment of Gavin Solly and KIFA - top stuff, indeed.I'll put up a post in the next day or so as well, but as a teaser, I'll throw up a pic of what is undoubtedly the "most interesting catch of the trip", which should definitely be awarded to w2bf (I'll let him explain the details later!).Cheersaf afishyfish and trihull 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
afishyfish 4 Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Looks liek a half decent Wobbegong there AF !What a trip :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 at the anchorage on day 1 we put out some shark baits on the bottom and caught 2 large smooth rays. one of the lads had a Stella 18000 spooled with 80lb braid matched to a 400 deep jig Tcurve rod and struggled to move the ray so that just shows how big it was. i also pulled up 3 nice calamari later in the evening.Day 2 we set off from the anchorage at about 7am and had the lures out again whilst heading to our bottom bashing spot. apparently there had been kingfish around but we only got one or 2 bluefin when we reached our spot. out went the lines and a variety of fish was once again caught. these included blue groper, snapper, nannygai, one 75cm kingfish and several other species. the deckhand had been gutting the fish and throwing the guts over the side and before long a 5-6 ft Mako turned up. there was a mad dash around on deck for a wire trace and we ended up boating it. I think that AF has some photos of it. after that excitement there were a few big fish hooked but which managed to gain there freedom by getting back to the reef. after that we trolled around again before heading off to our second anchorage. that night one of the boys landed a nice school shark around 6ft and i landed a reasonable eagle ray, as did someone else. i hooked a smooth ray estimated at around 150kg which ended up breaking 140 pound mono trace when we tried to get it close enoough to release. after that we called it a night and hit the sack ready for day 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TT 2 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Saw the SA Angler photos.They look great! Congrats would have been a great trip TT Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archerfish 685 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Photo of Mako as mentioned by w2Bf...The little darling had been humanely subdued with some swift blows with a plastic mallet, however it awoke while it was being held for photographs by the guy who caught it and almost gave him a love bite to remember for a long timeGotta love those mad Makos... [attachment]051.JPG[/attachment]Cheersaf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
breambo25 1 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Doesn't seem to work for me.Can you try again AF? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archerfish 685 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 For some reason, I'm having a problem trying to upload pic's... here's take 2... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
breambo25 1 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 That's pretty massive.Cheers AF.Well done to all the guys who went on the charter. Think you got your money's worth Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archerfish 685 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Definitely did, breambo25 - save up your $$$ and put your name down for a trip as soon as you can afford it.If you want to know more about the operator, check out:http://kifishing.com.au/This was one trip I wanted to do to tick off on my "Bucket List", but there were a few guys on board that have done all three trips so far, and look like continuing to do it into the future...It can be that addictive... :whistle: Cheersaf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Day 3 came along and we had the deep divers out again on the way to fish a little known wreck near mouth flat. i think we might have got one Bluefin but they werent playing the game unfortunatly. on last years trip this area is where they hooked and lost the 100kg+ Tuna so everyone had the heavy gear out but no joy. Anyway, we got to the wreck and everyone was pretty amped up about what we might catch there as our deckie Hairs is also a longliner and had previously caught some nice mulloway at this spot so anticipation was high as we dropped the anchor. luck didnt seem to be on our side though as no one caught a mully but much fun was had on some nice snapper, nannys, the odd morwong and other fish. we moved around a bit but couldnt nail down any of the brutes the south side is famed for. it would have been nice to get out to young rocks, big kingfish country, but the weather simply didnt permit it so we were the first group in the 3 years that this trip has been happening that didnt get out there but thats fishing.decided to leave the wreck a little bit early as there were birds diving around us everywhere and as previously mentioned we knew that big tuna swim through here so we broke out the skirts and trolled our way to the 3rd anchorage, zig zagging through the flocks of birds hoping to hear a screaming reel but sadly it didnt happen.when we got to the anchorage we immediatly broke out the shark rods again and it wasnt long before we hooked up to some rays again. i was lucky enough to also catch a Wobbegong Shark that was estimated to be around 9ft and 120kgs (photo of it on the SA Angler facebook page for those who are interested). whilst thrashing around on deck it spewed up one of the biggest squid that i have ever seen! nice bait for the next day. archerfish and afishyfish 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
afishyfish 4 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 [attachment=10360]050.JPG[/attachment][attachment=10361]051.JPG[/attachment]That would give you a love bite you wouldnt forget in a hurry :ohmy: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Day 4 dawned and our target species was Whiting so off we trundled to the first drop. when we got there the whiting were a bit shy and this proved to continue to be the case as the tide started to pick up speed. the fast flowing water caused quite a few tangles and although we did boat about 30 whiting by lunch we had to move around alot and work pretty hard for them. undersize snapper proved to be a bit of a drama as well although i remember AF pulling quite a decent sized one up as he was fishing just behind me. After lunch the tide started to slow and the Whiting started to bite a bbit more freely but didnt really start exploding onto the hook until late in the arvo when for awhile everyone seemed to be pulling them in hand over fist. our tally on the fish counter at the end of the day was 87 whiting but i suspect it was more like 93 or so as a few might have just been chucked in whilst Hairs the deckie and Gav the skipper were busy. either way, i think u will agree, not a bad days whiting fishing!when we got back to the anchorage myself and a few of the other boys were keen as beans to get the shark rods out again as Hairs, Gav and Shane Mensforth had all said that this would be our best shot at a big Bronzie but the wind had been progressivly increasing throughout the arvo and by the time we dropped anchor for the night the wind would have been giving 30 knots a nudge. we put a ballon out anyway with a nice hunk of trevally but the boat was swinging around quite alot and over about 4 hours and a few bait changes we didnt get any runs. the weather was pretty average that night but by the next morning it had died off a bit thankfully. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 As we motored off for our last day of fishing the wind was still chuffing along reasonably strongly but off we went again to try for some more whiting. Gav had warned us that conditions weren't in our favour as we were in his familier area by now and the wind combined with the strong tides made for tough fishing. he alos said that he finds the whiting seem to come on the bite alot better late afternoon so all these things meant that we moved spots probably about 10 times to eventually end up with i think around 15 or so Whiting, a few mid sized Snapper and a lovely Harlequin fish that a certain Mr Mensforth seemed to pluck from nowhere. most of the spots we tried we were up against it trying to get our baits past the ever present undersize snapper and various rubbish fish and one spot seemed to be a flathead nursery as we pulled up a few that couldnt have been longer than about 100mm long.Gav tried his best but the little buggers just werent biting so we headed back to his marina, docked, wobbeled our way back to his place (we all had our sea legs, not as bad as Jessica Watson had though thankfully) and spent about 3 hours cleaning our fish before having a few beers with our lovely BBQ dinner and going to sleep on a bed that didnt move.overall a very enjoyable experience, one which i would recommend to everyone. the boat was very comfortable, the chef that came along was excellent and i think we all went back for seconds at every meal. Hairs the deckie was very friendly, helpful and knowledgable of the area, as was Gav the skipper. this was my first charter but i can guarentee it wont be my last!! im confident i will be back next year and i hope to see some of my fellow strike hookers there as well!i hope everyone enjoys reading about it and look for the story in the next issue of SA Angler. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archerfish 685 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 w2Bf has done an excellent job of describing the fishing action on the trip. I will just add a bit of information to put it into geographical perspective.Check out this map:http://kangarooislandvisitorguide.realviewdigital.com/#folio=M1• We launched from Western River Cove (Map Reference A3)• First night’s anchorage was at Weirs Cove (D2)• Second night’s anchorage was at Vivonne Bay (D5)• Third night’s anchorage was at Antechamber Bay (D10)• Fourth night’s anchorage was at Emu Bay (A7)All up, we covered about 500-600km, when you consider we circumnavigated the island and had quite a few diversions along the way. Bear in mind that the direction of travel for this trip is very much governed by the prevailing weather conditions. Our original dates were changed from late April to early May because of forecast bad weather - a decision which proved to be correct, as generally the weather was quite reasonable for most of the trip.Our food and drink requirements on board were met more than adequately – we had an wonderful Chef (who also likes to fish) on board, and he managed to conjure up some magical meals with limited resources and sometimes in trying conditions.The first and the final nights were in comfortable accommodation at cottages at Western River.A couple of pics to whet your appetite:Cheersaf[if you would like further background to this thread, please check out “South Australian Angler†August/September 2010 (pp 6-12) and June/July 2011 (pp 28-33)] wishing2Bfishing 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Boyington214 0 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Sounds like you guys had a cracker time. What's something like that cost? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archerfish 685 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 PM sent, Boyington214... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Boyington214 0 Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Cheers AF! Reply sent. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 i will do a quick review of the tackle i used on this trip whilst im here..i bought myself a Stella 5000 spooled with 30lb power pro braid and matched to a Wilson live fibre 4-10kg Snapper FC 7' rod. the Stella was flawless and up to the task of probably 70% of the fishing out there. the rod was also good although next time i will be taking couple of heavier outfits as most of the bottom fishing was in 50+ metres of water and the sinker alone put a bit of a bend in my rod.my next purchase will be a Stella 10000 spooled with 50 or 60lb braid and matched to a Tcurve of some sort (borrowed one of the boys Tcurve deep jig 400 rod matched with a 18000 Stella and was extremly impressed with the power of the outfit). you definatly need a heavy outfit on a trip like this as i was busted off at least twice on what had to have been a very large fish simply due to the fact that my outfit wasnt heavy enough to turn its head. better start saving my pennies i reckon! :dry: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murphysegg 31 Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Great read & as you say something to tick off the bucket list. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wazza 0 Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 Cheers for the great report guys, seems like you both had a fantastic trip with good company & good weather. KI is one of my favourite destinations & you've made me extremely envious all of a sudden. I'm gonna get my arse into gear and arrange a Charter for next Summer.Thanks for the inspiration. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 no worries, ring Gav from KI Fishing Adventures, he will tell ya the best time to come and put u onto the fish when u get there Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jack. 10 Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 Priceless memories I'm sure Thanks for the comprehensive write up W2B and af also would love to wet a line with Shane one day, seen him about a couple times, but he must have a few cool stories to share hey. I'll be looking for has in sa angler.Thanks again for the first hand account enjoyed the read tremendously wishing2Bfishing 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wishing2Bfishing 0 Posted May 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 no worries, yea shane definatly kept us entertained with some good stories, things he has seen and caught. he thought it was funny to come up to us and lock the drag whilst we were trying to bring in 100+kg rays. was funny to watch unless u were the one on the rod! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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