Saturday, December 27, 2014

December


  

            As from the 17th December we are officially able to take paying customers out in our 8m boat.
Murchison Fishing Charters will be able to take out a maximum of 5 persons on
a personalised charter to target specific species, and you will be able to catch them using your
preferred method, being bait, jigging, soft plastics, trolling etc.
So it will be the same as if you are hiring the boat, but you get a skipper to take you
to the best spots enabling you to get right onto the fish!
I had to repaint it after all the modifications to get it into 2C survey
With the primer on
Final coat 2-pack white
Complete with new signs.
It can still be hired, used as a charter boat, work boat and used recreationally.

 
Cray Season
Another difficult cray season this year. From Port Gregory south it has been another bumper year with pot
pullers getting their bag limit each morning.
A pot with a few crays.
Kalbarri has been different and we struggled again this year to load up. We put our pots in on the 6th December with first pull on the
7th December. Our scores were as follows: 2,8,8,4,11,4,9,13,12,3,2,2,3,3,1 and pulled the pots out on the 21st December.
 Seemed like the worst season to date, but we ended up with a few more than last year, but not good overall, however
If you add up the fuel they worked out to be $2.44 each, not including the cost of the pots or the licence fee.
      On the 21st we went for a fish as well. Mate Lui has made a jig mould and we decided to trial them on a favourite spot.
The fish were not co-operating and fishing was very slow. We resorted to baits in the end,
Which resulted in Lui getting a dhuie 

and Frank a baldchin.
Anna got a nice coral trout to round out the day.
Arnies marlin video
Arnie Slabber has just sent through a link to his latest marlin video. He and his mates hire my 6.1m boat each year
for the “Billbash”, a private billfish comp up in Exmouth each year.
He does a very good job, check it out.
Consider this.
What if you had the power to be able choose what you dream about at night?
Now what if you dreamed in one night over 70 years of time, how would it be?
What would it really be like if you could make it happen?
Each night you would dream of a different or more adventurous life.
Eventually you would dream of the life you are having right now.
Check out this thought provoking short video.
If you are not dreaming the adventures you want, make a change.
Life is not a rehearsal, you only get one chance.
Chrissy Present
Bruce Thomson and Tim Aldridge with their partners and hired the 6.1m just after Christmas and came up with the presents
in the form of a couple of snapper, an unidentified fish and a good rankin cod for Bruce.
All caught a big fish as well as letting a few go.
    
Bruce with a nice rankin cod 
and an unidentifiable fish?
      
Tim’s one went back the other was unlucky and Sarina’s was kept for dinner.
USA Trip
My 6 week trip to the west side of the USA was awesome. We hired a small campervan from Los Angeles and
travelled 12 States and 7000 miles, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska,
Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Here is a short video of:
Wyoming, South Dakota & Nebraska 2014
Upcoming Events
Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic
27th, 28th Feb & 1st March 2015
Entry forms have been sent out to all past competitors and have been distributed to most tackle shops.
Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic entrants this year will have the chance to win an exclusive full day fishing charter,
valued at $2500.00 aboard Seasport Charters Kalbarri, fishing for any species they desire.
Exclusive means you and 3 mates... only on board. You could win this just for entering the 2015 Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic.

All my boats are now booked for the Classic 2015.
Entry forms available from these websites:
Bite of the Month
Bruce gets Bite of the Month for this good sized rankin cod. Caught around the
Baldface area north of town. Baldface is a known spot with good reef structure.
There are numerous waypoints on my GPS in this area.
Each month I award Bite of the Month to someone who catches the best fish
from one of my boats.
   
Need a boat for up north?
Remember I will deliver a boat out to the turn-off for free for those heading north.
Just pre arrange and ring me from Geraldton and I will meet you there.

Popular Northern Destinations

Thevenard Island
Island Manager: 9184 6444.
There are a few cabins available, just ask and see if you can get one.  However Direction
Island is always open and still a good option and bookings can be made.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton Resort
Ashburton Resort. Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Gnaraloo Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
Steep Point
Steep Point Ranger for booking campsites.  
Phone: Paul Dickson - Steep Point 9948 3993
Dirk Hartog Island
Kieran Wardle:  08 99481 211   Mob: 0407 383 449
Game, Bottom and Beach Fishing Action
These links will take you to Youtube showing some great action video clips taken from
my boats and also a very good mulloway from the beach.
Archived Newsletters
After a lot of effort on my part, you can now view all my past newsletters in my Blogs.

I have made six blogs; you can view all of my 2005 newsletters with photos @

And from January 2006 to December 2006 with photos @

And from January 2007 to December 2007 with photos @

And from January 2008 to December 2008 with photos @

And from January 2009 to December 2009 with photos @

And from January 2010 to December 2010 with photos @

And from January 2011 to December 2011 with photos @

And from January 2012 to December 2012 with photos @

And from January 2013 to December 2013 with photos @

And from January 2014 onwards with photos @

They are quite long URL’s so add them to your favourites.
Remember if you rent our accommodation in Kalbarri you get big discounts on our boats.
Have a look on my website for the details, and check out the savings.

5-day weather forecasts, www.buoyweather.com go to virtual buoys, pick the location you want.
 This is the one I go by!

 

Big bait – big fish

Laurie

   


Thursday, December 4, 2014

November

  

Email: bookings@murchisonboathire.com.au           www.murchisonboathire.com.au

Very quiet now that the spring/summer weather pattern of windy weather
sets in combined with the demersal ban. I will be putting my craypots in this coming week-end
ready for the “run of the whites”.
The demersal ban ends 15th December and Christmas bookings are starting to flow in.
If you have booked a boat and not paid the bond yet, remember to pay up
before our small CPI rate increase comes into effect on the 1/1/15 enabling you to
keep the old price for your booking.
Target Mulloway
My daughter Rebecca and son-in-law Julian were in Kalbarri for a few days this month.
On one of the better days I took them for a fish not far from the river mouth.
Because of the demersal ban is still on, we had to target fish like mulloway,
tailor, and pelagics such as cobia. 
My best fish that morning was this 14kg mulloway
Rebecca got a 9kg cobia
& Sue landed this smaller cobia among other fish during the morning.
We were home by 9am ready for breakfast!
Demersal Ban Pain
Brendan McPhee and James Parry had a great day out in the 6.1m boat picking nice
morning weather but it blew quite hard in the afternoon
and were back early but had a great time
They landed an assortment of good fish but had to put most back due to the demersal ban!
James holds up a very lucky snapper that was released.
The conservation Status of Western Australia’s sea snakes:
Are species disappearing before they have been discovered?
Blanche D'Anastasi from the James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland gave me a ring wanting
to hire a boat that was in 2C survey, I could not help out there but she told me that she was going up
to Shark Bay to do some research on sea snakes.
This is the why and how of her research:
True sea snakes are a highly diverse group of live-bearing marine reptiles that that act as both predator and
prey in tropical marine ecosystems.  Australia is a biodiversity hot spot for sea snakes, containing more
than half of the 62 described species, including 11 endemic species. Western Australia is particularly
important for sea snake biodiversity as it is home to 21 of Australia’s 35 sea snake species, including five
restricted range endemics that occur predominantly on coral reefs.  In 2010 three Western Australian endemics
were listed as Critically Endangered, due to severe declines in abundance over the
 previous decade, however reasons for these declines are not known.  To date these are the first sea snake
species listed as threatened with extinction.  Many other species are currently listed as Data Deficient
due to a lack of basic data about taxonomic status, range extent, population
size and connectivity, which are essential to evaluating conservation status.
             
Erica Parker from the University of Miami was accompanying Blanche and helping
out as well as doing her own research on Stromatolites.

My PhD research aims to fill some of these knowledge gaps for sea snakes in coastal Western Australia,
where almost no sea snake research has been conducted.  To date I have been able to collect habitat use observations
and tail clips from 150 sea snakes, from 5 species in Shark Bay.  My research has demonstrated that species ranges
are poorly defined, as I discovered new records on the range extent of two species, which will be published shortly.
The next phase of the project is to evaluate the level of genetic connectivity between populations of the small range
endemic Shark Bay sea snake Aipysurus pooleorum and the Australo-Papuan endemic Olive-headed sea snake Hydrophis major
Using a powerful, cutting edge population genomics approach, which uses thousands of genetic markers
 (called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs), I will examine the level of genetic connectivity and genetic
diversity between shallow sea grass beds in the Western Gulf and the Stromatolite Reefs of the Eastern Gulf of Shark Bay. 
The genetic connectivity data obtained from this research will provide information that is critical to
managing and conserving sea snakes in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.
Upcoming Events
Kalbarri Sports Fishing Classic
27th, 28th Feb & 1st March 2015
Preparations are well advanced now with the, logo, entry form, shirts, sponsorship
etc in process. If it is anything to go by from last year, the fishing will be spectacular
again as it is in the best time of year for game and bottom fish.
Already all my boats are booked for the Classic 2015 except the 5.3m.
So if you want to be part of it and need a boat be quick as it won’t last.
Entry forms available from these websites:
 
 
Bite of the Month
Nice cobia caught by Rebecca Etiennette not far from the river mouth.
Each month I award Bite of the Month to someone who catches the best fish
from one of my boats.
 Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Local Comp.
22nd November 2014

           
   
The demersal ban continues to be a problem but surf parrot fish and tailor can still be kept     
    
Need a boat for up north?
Remember I will deliver a boat out to the turn-off for free for those heading north.
Just pre arrange and ring me from Geraldton and I will meet you there.

Popular Northern Destinations

Thevenard Island
Island Manager: 9184 6444.
There are a few cabins available, just ask and see if you can get one.  However Direction
Island is always open and still a good option and bookings can be made.
Check out the website: www.mackerelislands.com.au
Ashburton Resort
Ashburton Resort. Phone 9184 6586 email: admin@ashburtonresortonslow.com.au
Gnaraloo Station
Gnaraloo contacts for accommodation:
Barbara: 9315 4809
Website: Gnaraloo.com.au
Steep Point
Steep Point Ranger for booking campsites.  
Phone: Paul Dickson - Steep Point 9948 3993
Dirk Hartog Island
Kieran Wardle:  08 99481 211   Mob: 0407 383 449
Game, Bottom and Beach Fishing Action
These links will take you to Youtube showing some great action video clips taken from
my boats and also a very good mulloway from the beach.
Archived Newsletters
After a lot of effort on my part, you can now view all my past newsletters in my Blogs.

I have made six blogs; you can view all of my 2005 newsletters with photos @

And from January 2006 to December 2006 with photos @

And from January 2007 to December 2007 with photos @

And from January 2008 to December 2008 with photos @

And from January 2009 to December 2009 with photos @

And from January 2010 to December 2010 with photos @

And from January 2011 to December 2011 with photos @

And from January 2012 to December 2012 with photos @

And from January 2013 to December 2013 with photos @

And from January 2014 onwards with photos @

They are quite long URL’s so add them to your favourites.
Remember if you rent our accommodation in Kalbarri you get big discounts on our boats.
Have a look on my website for the details, and check out the savings.

5-day weather forecasts, www.buoyweather.com go to virtual buoys, pick the location you want.
 This is the one I go by!

 

Big bait – big fish

Laurie