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Surf Casting and Angling Club Logo Surf Casting and Angling Club of W.A. (Inc.)

Safari Fishing Trips - Exmouth 2002.
 


Once each year, the club aims to select a location, usually a good distance from Perth, for a recreational fishing "Safari" trip of about one week's duration. Members on these trips learn a great deal about fishing and develop their fishing skills. Safaris are a great way to get to know fellow club members and are a great introduction for visitors and new members.

The Exmouth Safari was a fishing expedition undertaken by 21 members and guests of the Surfcasting and Angling Club of W.A. (Inc.) from Friday 10 May until Sunday 19 May 2002.

The Exmouth 2002 Safari came into fruition about July/August 2001 when it was suggested and agreed upon to undertake this mighty pilgrimage to a Piscatorial Paradise (??).

The Club owns an air conditioned holiday house at Kalbarri which is available for rent to the public and club members at competitive rates

Spencer King's 3.0 kg Painted Sweetlip Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Club members line up at Minilya Roadhouse on the way to the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Terry Fuller's 1.21 kg Dart caught on the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002.

More photos at the bottom of the story. Click on any photo for a larger view.

Yours truly (Teletubby 2=Chas Riegert) took to task the logistical ordeal of locating accommodation for the enterprising group of travelers, then making all the necessary bookings and financial transactions requisite for the sojourn. To this end thanks are extended to Ian Mascarenhas for his assistance in arranging overnight quarters at Carnarvon enroute to Exmouth and Bob Henderson for the same at Geraldton on the return trip.

A meeting was held at my residence in Hillarys in January 2002 and discussions held as to activities, travel, etc. A report was subsequently published in February 2002 Club magazine Reel Talk giving details from this meeting.

All the while, more people were adding their names to the list of journeymen, while others were deleting theirs. Deposits were paid, then refunded. Finally 22 people had paid their monies, booked their vehicles, made arrangements for leave, etc, etc, and we were ready to go. Uh-oh, not quite. Ron Delary-Simpson's wife pulled out at the last moment due to family matters over east. (Maybe she had foresight of what was to come....)

In the days leading up to departure on Friday 10 May, frantic packing and preparations were made by all and sundry. Fishing tackle, clothes, food, and many other objects were carefully packed, unpacked, repacked, then the day arrived.

The Big Day's Arrived.

All vehicles had agreed to meet at the Cataby Roadhouse at about 09:00 am on the Friday morning to travel on in a convoy of sorts.

From the Hillarys area, Ron and I had agreed to leave my place at 06:30 am so I could show him the way. 07:00 am comes and still no Ron.... Phone rings... "Ron's on his way" Jill says and I hear the door closing in the background. OK. Ron's excuse. He couldn't fit the 'Rola Racks' he had purchased for his vehicle for the trip. Stow it Ron, we will put them on when we get up there. 7:30 am and we are finally on our way. I am driving and towing Cookie's trailer loaded with all and sundry. Rod tubes protruding both ends of the trailer.

On board with me I have a good old mate, Goldie (Jamie Gouldthorp), Kade Ross and his mate Daniel Chapman. Ron has his mate who flew in from Melbourne just for this trip, Len Paul and a new member for the Club, John Romano with him. Weather is fine, everything looks great. Cataby here we come.

9:30 at Cataby we have a hot drink and generally work out what channel the CB will be on. My personal thanks go to Macca for the loan of his hand held Uniden CB for the trip. It was excellent and operated flawlessly for the entire time.

Next stop, 440 Roadhouse at Geraldton. The time flew by with little incident until Ron disappeared. Where the heck did he get to??? Just a driver change, but without communications in his vehicle it was a little disconcerting until he caught up again.

Refueling motor vehicles, bodies, and spirits, and we were off again. Another stop a couple of hours down the track for a "wee" break at a roadhouse and then non stop to Carnarvon.

"Hey Stokes. Are they some of your relly's over on the right?" booms the message on the CB. All eyes turn right to see a mob of feral goats browsing on the shrubbery and laughter echoes through the vehicle. As the day progresses the number of these animals sighted increases beyond a joke. Any wonder the country side is so barren when this beast that created the Sahara Desert roams uninhibited across our land.

The discussions over the CB turn to Derry and his 'Taj Mahal' with the animal dispersers mounted on the front (Shoo Roo's). As evening was approaching, the 'hopper dogs' started to appear along the roadside. Derry soundly enthused upon us all that the devices he had mounted on the front of his vehicle would scare the kangaroos away from the road and thus keep us all safe.

As I was the last vehicle in the convoy I felt relatively comfortable, that was until I started seeing these confounded animals looking at my front tyres only a metre from the tarred surface. Maurice Kolman (travelling with Derry) assured us that the particular animal we sighted "MUST BE DEAF". A further ten or twenty animals along, the merits of Derry's devices were in a sad state of severe criticism by all and sundry. The defence was that there was a plague of deafness going through the kangaroos in that area at the time we traveled through.

Time for a Rest.

Carnarvon arrived. We located the Wintersun Caravan Park along with Wayne and Rhonda Morris, and Ross Kember. Now all seven vehicles and 21 people were present. A good night's sleep, refuel in the morning and off again to the Minilya Roadhouse for a morning cuppa.

The Wintersun Caravan Park Chalets were excellent. So relaxing were they, that when we left on the Saturday morning, I left my special pillow behind on bed.

Upon arrival at Minilya, all the vehicles pulled up in a row in the large carpark area, so out come the cameras.

Off we go again, and around 11:30 am we arrived in Exmouth to beautiful fine weather. All accommodation had been pre-arranged as to who was staying where. That is except for Cookie and his crew who took it upon themselves to go to 43 Kennedy Street instead of 5 Tautog Street. Guess who got given directions on where to go....

Unpacking and tackle preparation were the order of the afternoon as we were expecting guests at Kennedy Street for a briefing on the local situation for shore based fishing at about 6:30 pm.

Getting the Local "Good Oil".

A drive down to the Marina and we were soon talking to some 'locals' who gave us some directions on where to fish. One in particular "Gus" took us for a drive along the town beach as far as the southern end of the Bundegi Sanctuary pointing out various features. Kade and Daniel were to spend a lot of their time with Gus in the Marina chasing Mangrove Jack.

At the appointed time, Ryan Abbott from Bluewater Tackle and Peter Sharpe a local teacher arrived at Kennedy Street. Now Ryan is a quiet spoken young gentleman with a very good knowledge of local fishing. Sharpy, on the other hand is very entertaining speaker with a vast knowledge of local conditions and generally considered a bit of a guru with what he has successfully landed around Exmouth. Between the two men, a very entertaining and informative evening was had by all. From comments that I overheard, it would probably be worthwhile to fly Sharpy down to Perth for a General Meeting night as a guest speaker. With his mannerisms, anecdotal capability and sense of humour many people would pay money just to come and listen to him. He was truly entertaining and informative.

Sunday morning dawned with several vehicles in the 'first car park' down from the gravel road into the Mildura wreck. We all walked over the dunes and were greeted with a south easter blowing into our faces and a fair amount of wash over the reef in front of us. Terry Fuller headed off to the south, Daniel and Kade to the north and the rest of us generally found some place where we could cast out into clear water behind the reef. Poppers and metal slices did not prove successful for me. Although I did not lose any, Goldie and some of the others did. After a couple of hours of fruitless fishing I decided it was time to move.

Anyway, back into Exmouth, pick up some fresh bait, drop the two boys off at the marina and back out to Mauritius for the top of the tide. Still nothing caught. A couple of rigs lost on the broken bottom.

Return to town. A bit of chit chat with the other crews indicated similar stories. Meanwhile Derry Barber was busy organising a 'charter fishing trip' for Wednesday with about a dozen of the guys opting for some deep sea fishing.

Sunday evening and Kade and Daniel are back down at the Marina chasing Mangrove Jacks under the pilings. Bust offs occurred but lessons were learned and Jacks appeared on the menu. Earlier in the day, they had both walked out to the end of the north wall of the marina and brought home four Black Spot Tusk fish, a form of 'Blue Bone'. Their reports on how hard these fish fought and the number of bust offs they had instilled an eagerness into all those that heard them.

The Marina North Wall.

Monday came and most everyone was down on the north wall of the marina. Sunday night had seen the house at 9 Fyfe Street catch an abundant supply of 'Ghost Crabs' for bait on the marina wall.

"Spanner" King had heeded the advice of Sharpy on Saturday evening and was floating a big Gardie bait out along the current line looking for his Mackerel. The rest of us were trying our best to land those damn Tusk Fish. I eventually landed a couple of females in splendid colours but returned them to the water as they were undersized. Then I actually landed a male well over legal status which was quickly dispatched to the bucket as a keeper.

Time to change tactics. All this time Spencer had been patiently casting his unweighted gardie out into the current line, letting it drift around and slowly retrieving it, all to no avail. No interest. Nil. None. Zip. Nada. I rigged a similar bait, but instead put it under one of those 'Rex Hunt' glitter floats and threw it into the current line, right where Spencer had been casting.

Spencer had reverted to chasing Tusk Fish and I made every effort to stand on the sloping rock behind him to stay out of his way.

All of a sudden I was leaning precariously towards the water as some monolithic beast tried to pull me in to join it. What a strike. My predicament was; do I strike the fish and fall into the water, or self preservation and just hang on until I get my balance back?. Self preservation won out and so did the fish. With a rolling splash on the surface, it kindly returned my baitless hooks to me. I did not see the fish, but those who did said it was a Spaniard of approximately 1.5 metres in length. The normally quiet Spencer could be heard muttering various words and phrases as the air around him turned a distinct shade of blue. Hey, that's fishing.

Prime fishing time had come and gone so we all headed back along the marina wall to where we had parked our vehicles. Precarious rocks necessitated careful maneuvering to get back in one piece. On the very last step before leaving the rocks, guess who slipped and fell flat on his ar.. (er, posterior)? Yep. That was me, much to the amusement of some and the concern of others. No serious injury apart from a bruised foot and a bruised ego.

As the day was very warm and the long walk back to the vehicles made it even more so, I decided that while waiting for the stragglers, a quick plunge into the briny would cool me down a bit. Ric Dunstan and I stripped to our jocks and felt the cool relief of the ocean as we plunged in. I think the rest of the crew were a little concerned about big grey 'taxmen' taking a piece of the action, or else they were just modest about their looks.

Down the Gulf to Learmonth.

Back to the house, a change of tackle, a bite to eat and our two vehicles decided to head down the gulf for a bit of a look, maybe around Learmonth. We got as far as Kailis where I quickly discovered that 40 lb tyre pressure is a little hard to drive on soft sand with. After some tyre deflation and some back and forward maneuvering, the guys from Ron's car and Goldie managed to push me out of the sand and back onto firmer ground. Bugger. Another ego buster.

With that we rigged up and walked out onto the low tide flats and tried to spin for something, anything... Whilst walking out, I was distracted by a spurt of water near my feet. Upon examining the source it was found to be a small octopus about half a metre from tip to tip of tentacles. The fresh bait was dispensed to the shoreline for collection upon returning to the vehicles. Calf to knee deep water was all that we had with a lot of small fish activity on the surface. I managed three 'Charlie Courts' and another unidentified species that all took small spinners. Well, off home again.

I need to make mention about here of the quality of food that we consumed at 43 Kennedy Street. Ron was asked prior to leaving Perth to make arrangements to feed us all. He has contacts in various areas including the culinary expertise of some magnificent cooks. Chicken patties with coriander, spaghetti bolognaise, fresh herbs and spices, chicken lasagne, lamb dishes, fresh salads, the list just went on and on. All good healthy food that would cost a fortune in any 5 star restaurant. If we didn't catch fish, we sure ate well.

Tuesday rolled around and as we all prepared our gear for the day, our neighbour came over and extended an invitation for a couple of us to accompany him on his boat. Well Daniel and Kade were so fast of the mark a chunk of four by two around the ankles didn't stop them. The rest of us headed off towards Wapet Creek. Just out of town I suddenly remembered I had left my fly rod back at the house. Went back and collected it then caught up with the rest just in time to find that Cookie had turned off at the first entry into Wapet Creek, Derry had gone past the entry that had been described to us and all was amiss as to where to go. Wayne and I went in the correct entry but as I was leading I took a right deviation at the fork instead of the left and ended up on the beach a few hundred metres south of some mangroves.

Back out onto the road, catch up with Cookie and Derry, look at where they were, still not right. Back out to the road again, and in where I initially went only taking the left fork this time and bingo, on the spot. Not to be outdone, Cookie drove around the mud flats towing his boat, slip sliding away as he went. The tide was coming in and everything looked very fishy. The only thing I managed to land was a very small gardie on fly. To be specific, a number 16 nymph hook tied in a 'Mickey Finn' pattern. Cookie claimed my prize and quickly dispatched it back into the water carrying a considerably larger hook. Not a lot of fish were caught.

The best bites of the day were the sand flies. Poor old Ron ("Pimples") has ended up looking like he has chicken pox. He reacted to the bites and come up with little red lumps all over his legs and arms. Still has them even now back in Perth as I write this account eleven days later. The tide changed, and swoffing the mouth of the creek was not successful, so a swim was in order. Ross joined me and we both felt all the better for having cooled off on such a warm day. A short while later walking back in against the flow of the outgoing creek I saw a splash near a small feeder creek and heard a distinct "boof", albeit slightly muffled. Try as I might, I could not get any response to any lure or bait anywhere in that vicinity. I guess I didn't have the right gear. Ah well. That was the end of that day's fishing as I was then called back to the car to return home.

Upon arriving back at the house we were greeted by two beaming faces. Kade and Daniel had been very successful on the Spanish Mackerel from the boat off Tantabiddy and regaled us with their stories of four way hook-ups, and the number of fillets in the freezer. They each returned with a couple of fish each as keepers, having released the majority of their catches. Their host had injured his fingers on a Mackie's teeth and they returned to base earlier than anticipated. Still they kept score and in the short space of time they fished claimed in excess of twenty hook ups.

Out in the Deep Water.

Tuesday evening everyone was abuzz with excitement in anticipation of Wednesday's charter. Different tackle again being checked, even though everything would be supplied on board the boat. Wednesday dawned a beautiful day, and Steve Salemari's crew duly arrived at the doorstep at 7:20 am to pick us up. A short drive down to Bundegi and we were loaded on board the 'Blue Horizon' and on our way. An hour's steaming put us on our first location to the south of the Muiron Islands. Enroute, we were all allocated a different tub for our fish with none, one or two slashes on the fish to make identification easier ??? In hindsight, it would have been better if we had just allocated a tub to each of the three houses we were staying at as apart from two other people, the Surfcasters took up the entire charter.

Spangled Emperor were the order of the day with a few Red Emperors thrown in for variation. Len Paul who had traveled all the way from Melbourne caught his first ever fish, a nice size Spangly that put a smile on his dial that is still there. This was followed later in the day with a nice Red Emperor as well as a couple of others. If for nothing else, this was one very happy chappy. I reckon he would have paid for everyone's charter at that time if we had asked him, he was so delighted.

Biggest Spangled Emperor for the day was a toss up between Maurice Kolman's and mine and perhaps 'Pimples' Delary-Simpson's thrown in for good measure. Everyone caught fish and a couple of us also paid the taxman his fee in hooked fish and snapped lines. The boat supplied heavy handlines to fish with which cost Macca a cut finger when he caught it between the line and the railing with a shark attached to the other end. Ouch!

I alternated between the heavy handline and my 'Beastmaster' rod, Banax reel and 50 lb Fireline combination. I have to say that the rod and reel combination far and away outfished the handline. Then again, I was also using Mustad 'Demon' circle hooks instead of the smallish Tarpons supplied by the boat, and my bait was sweetened a little with Captain Gordon's Chumline. This was so effective that on the last stop and drop, I challenged Maurice, who was fishing alongside me, to a dollar as to who would have the first fish on deck. I lost my first strike, retrieved, rebaited and dropped a second time and still won the dollar. Needless to say, I must compliment Chumline as a very effective fishing tool.

Two hours it took us to get home from the north west corner of the Muiron Islands. Mind you, we did return direct to the Exmouth Marina rather than back to Bundegi. All the fish were dropped off at Kennedy Street, then the sorting frazzle began. Wouldn't it be marvelous to have hindsight at the start of something rather than after it... then it would be called foresight I imagine, something lacking in some areas. Any way, the fish got sorted out and everyone got something, whether it was theirs or not I don't really know, but various persons made their claims and went their way with their prize. The rest of us packaged and froze what we had. All in all, every one ended up with some fish to bring home.

A tired crew hit the beds that night and tried to have a bit of a lay in the next morning. Not so with alarm clock 'Pimples' getting up and making his way around while it was still dark. Old habits die hard and trying to get him to stay in bed was impossible.

Didn't it Rain!!!.

Thursday we decided to head down the west side of the peninsular and try and locate some places to fish the field day that was to come on Friday. Our neighbour Ian Stewart accompanied us and pointed out several favourable areas south of Five Mile. An excellent location was found with a rock ledge about two metres above the reef that extended for approximately 700 metres in an east-west direction. The reef below the ledge sloped out for about ten metres then dropped into deep water. In the centre section of the ledge there was broken ground and towards either end it became sandy with channels into the broken ground. It definitely looked fishy and we decided that was the location to fish for the field day. With that, we headed back towards Exmouth with dark clouds overhead and a northerly breeze starting to gust.

Then the rain hit. From the lighthouse back into town it bucketed down. No need to wash the rods and reels in fresh water tonight. Not a scrap of salt water would be left on them. As we cruised through town, the floodways were all flowing. Turning into Kennedy Street from the north and travelling past the shops, we came to the 'major' water course through town. This was about axle deep and it is the first time I have had to stop and give way to youths on 'boogie boards' as they shot across the road in front of us. As we later found out, this was the first rain the town had seen in over eighteen months, so the locals welcomed and reveled in it.

A clean up and fresh clothes and we were all off down to the Yacht Club for our social and Bar-B-Que function. Ian and Jenny Stewart (who took Kade and Daniel out on their boat) were our guests and as I cooked, Ian Cook gave the rules, times and weigh in location for the fishing field day that was to follow. Meanwhile, it continued to rain, and rain, and rain, and then it rained some more .....

I will mention now that during the course of arranging this expedition, costs were run on an estimation at first. Consequently we ended up with about $140 above what we needed to pay the accommodation. A little extra was gleaned at the Carnarvon overnight stay and a little more from the Bar-B-Que packs. As a consequence I was able to put about $267 over the bar for drinks for all those present. At the end of the night, there was exactly $1-00 (one dollar) left in the jug which I kindly donated to the Yacht Club. I must compliment and thank Steve and Vicki Eves (Exmouth Yacht Club Commodore and Vice) for their help and the use of their facility at the Yacht Club for our function.

Kade and Daniel left the Club early and went home to prepare their gear. Upon arriving back at Kennedy Street, still raining hard, we found that the two boys had gone to the marina to try and catch some more Mangrove Jacks, in the rain. They're keen!

Friday dawned, still overcast, so we got our gear together and headed out to our location we had selected the previous day. The breeze was slightly to our backs and the water looked very inviting. I put a squid bait out on the bottom and started setting up my second rod to throw some lures around. Too late, grab the first rod and reel in. Charlie Court. Well that will do for some fresh bait. Out it goes again. This time I managed to get the second rod rigged when the first started bending right over. A short fight later and a nice Spangled Emperor lay at my feet. Ike Jime, gill and gut and into the storage bucket.

Back into the water with another bait. Then the bait fish along the edge of the reef started going crazy. Metal slices through the schools had no result. Pimples just kept on chucking his white with red head 'Fat R' popper. Then he hooked and landed a smallish GT. One and a half kilos gilled and gutted was good enough to win the field day though. Mind you, when I said to him to 'gill and gut it' he miss understood my words as 'kill and gut it' and when at the weigh in, had to remove the gills before it could be weighed. A lesson learned.

As the tide changed, we relocated back to Bundegi to catch the outgoing tide. I anchored a nice big gardie on the edge of the current line and watched as Pimples, John and Goldie proceeded to retrieve copious amounts of 'salad'. Ron then moved away from the main channel and immediately brought up success with a little Trevally.

After about an hour of dryness on the sandy quay, I looked over my shoulder towards the ranges and nearly died. As I watched a wall of water obliterated the hills. I quickly called to everyone to pack up and get back to the car as we were all wearing the last of our dry clothes. Too late. Even before we could put the rods in the sand spikes, it hit us. A shower of rain so heavy that I could not see Ron a mere thirty metres away. And so the wet continued. Back at the vehicle, I sat "au natural" in the drivers seat in order to try and keep the vehicle in some semblance of condition for the drive back to Exmouth. Pimples and John put a plastic sheet over the back seat and Goldie still had a dry pair of shorts left. What a mess.

Back to Exmouth and to the weigh in. Basically only three fish were entered according to the Club eligibility list. Two dart and Pimple's Giant Trevally. The GT took the honours by a mere 10 grams from TerryF's Dart.

Check out the May 2002 Fishing Field Day Report for the field day scores.

Time's Up, Got to go Home.

Time to start packing. Wet and all, the trailer was packed and roped down in preparation for Saturday's return trip to Geraldton. That being completed the bulk of the food that was left over was consumed in an indulgence of satiety. Personal effects left for the morning packing.

Saturday dawned overcast with the odd drizzle still presenting itself. Pack the cars, hook up the trailer, sweep and mop the floors, make sure all the washing up is done, one last check throughout the premises to ensure nothing is left behind. OK. Meet the rest of the crews at the service station. First stop at Minilya Roadhouse for coffee and leg breaks.

Cruising out of town we encountered numerous floodways with water still flowing or just pooled up over the road. Nothing that couldn't be negotiated though. Stokes repeated calls of "Wet One" still echo over the CB, as his vehicle lead the way towards home.

At Minilya all the crew invested in their respective culinary delights (pie and sauce or egg sandwich) washed down with various beverages. Much to the amusement of Daniel, a Rottweiler type dog presented himself to be fed with whatever anyone was eating. The fact that got Daniel going was that this dog 'burped' rather loudly when it ate. This also got Kade going as well and laughter reverberated around the car park.

On to Carnarvon where it was decided that Daniel and Kade would be shown the mighty Carnarvon Jetty, a fishing mecca of high repute. This was for direct comparison with Kade's home town feature of the Busselton Jetty. A point to mention here was that as we got further south, the weather improved dramatically. As a consequence, this little black duck decided to pull up the kerb when in Carnarvon to await the arrival of some slower vehicles, only to go slip sliding away on the greasy surface. Back onto the bitumen and everyone could follow my directions to the jetty by following the mud trail I left behind.

After a short sojourn to the jetty, vehicles and bodies were refueled and on towards Geraldton we went. On the return journey between Carnarvon and Geraldton, the amount of wildlife observed on the roadsides diminished remarkably.

Into the 440 Roadhouse and I won my bet with Maurice that it was closer than 20 kilometres from Geraldton. Refuel the vehicles and into the adjoining Motel units for the night. Three units were occupied with Spanner's crew getting first dibs on which one they would use. Hendo turned up and was disappointed that the unit he was in had no cooking facilities. Nor did the unit that my vehicle got. However, the third unit Pimples got had everything. Hendo only discovered this after borrowing my gas cooker and Ron's wok to prepare their evening meal. The gardener was not amused.

Sunday and the last few hours to get home. Scheduled stop at Cataby for final refreshments and the trip would be over. Somewhere between Eneabba and Cataby, Ron's vehicle stopped to change drivers and when we were all parked at Cataby, they went sailing past despite the mighty Teletubby 2 standing on the side of the road waving his arms. I guess he knew his way from there.

Cataby gone, only home left. We arrived back at my house in Hillarys just after midday, unpacked the back of the car, then Pimples and his crew arrived. They had gone into Gingin before travelling over to the Lancelin Road to come home. No problems, all's well that ends well.

Fishing wasn't that grand in Exmouth this trip, but I sure would go back there again.

Those who undertook this expedition were:-

Derry Barber, Bob Henderson, Ric Parker,, Wayne Morris, Daniel Chapman, Ross Kember, Len Paul, Pete Stoeckel Ian Cook, Spencer King, Chas Riegert, Jamie Gouldthorp, Ron Delary-Simpson, Morris Kolman, John Romano, Rhonda Morris Ric Dunstan, Ian Mascarenhas, Kade Ross, Jim Yeates, Terry Fuller.

Until next time .... service your tackle...... Teletubby 2 (Chas Riegert).

What did we get out of this fishing trip? Well, fun and fellowship with club members and visitors, friendly recreational fishing competition, we learnt lots of new techniques for northern fish species, we got lots of hints and tips from fellow club members. We did nearly every type of shore based recreational fishing including surf fishing, beach fishing, rock fishing, rock wall fishing, reef fishing, jetty fishing, and some boat fishing.

Some Photos.

Club members line up at Minilya Roadhouse on the way to the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Terry Fuller's 1.21 kg Dart caught on the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Spencer King playing a fish from the west coast during the Exmouth Fishing Safari. Spencer King, Daniel Chapman and Kade Ross on the Exmouth Marina North Wall durung the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Spencer King's 3.0 kg Painted Sweetlip Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. South Wall viewed from the Exmouth Marina North Wall Spencer King playing a fish from the west coast during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Beach and rocks south of Exmouth's Mildura Wreck, during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Beach and rocks south of Exmouth's Mildura Wreck, during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Ross Kember on the Exmouth Marina North Wall during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Peter Stoeckel and Bob Henderson Boating during the Exmouth Fishing Safari. A small boat in a big bay!. Club members on the North Side of Exmouth Marina North Wall during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Terry Fuller's 1.5 kg Spangled Emperor caught during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. These are the rocks you have to negotiate on the Exmouth Marina North Wall to get out the end to the deeper water - photo during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Beach and rocks at Exmouth Lighthouse Bay - photo during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Club members on the end of Exmouth Marina North Wall during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Bob Henderson Ballooning from Exmouth Lighthouse Rocks during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Spencer King's 1.5 kg Spangled Emperor caught during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Beach and rocks south of Exmouth Lighthouse Bay - photo during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Spencer King's Chinaman fish caught during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002. Spencer King's Military Sea Pike caught during the Exmouth Fishing Safari 2002.

Put your mouse cursor over the photo for a description, or click on any photo for a larger view.

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Some background information about the trip to Exmouth.

Arrangements were that people travelled in groups of three (medium size vehicles) or four (larger vehicles) taking trailers for the gear, sharing costs, and will share 6 to 8 berth accommodation. Some people took a small boat.

Accommodation in Exmouth (2002) is typically $600 to $700 per week for 6 - 8 berths, so work on $110-$120 each for accommodation. Food, etc is typically 10-20% more expensive than Perth, fuel in Exmouth was $1.11 per litre, in Geraldton and Carnarvon was around $1.00 per litre in August 2001, but that varies.

Exmouth is 1270 km from Perth - and that's a long drive. Depending on the season, the red kangaroos are big and numerous for around 200 km south and north of Carnarvon, - judging by the number of victims by the road. From Minilya to Exmouth, there are lots of grey kangaroos, emus, sheep and goats, and I suspect a few horses or donkeys judging by the deposits on the road. Not what you want to run into at night - you may not go any further even with if your vehicle has a bull bar. Past Exmouth on the western side of Cape Range, the kangaroos are in their hundreds even during the day. Keep your speed right down if travelling at night - all the skid marks and victims are the clues.

Four wheel drive vehicles aren't really needed - nearly all the spots can be reached by two wheel drive. On the Western side, there are only a few places you would be able to take a four wheel drive onto the beach, but there may not be any great advantage, and I suspect that would not be allowed. On the gulf side, there are long stretches of beach south of Exmouth township - but when you see the water north and west of Exmouth, my guess is that is where most of the shore fishing will be done on the safari.

Good maps are the RAC road map covering Exmouth to Kalbarri, and the Transport WA chart Exmouth 900 is essential for any boating in the area - it is excellent - and you'd better believe the warnings on it.

If you want to know what fishing is possible from the shore at Exmouth, check out articles in Western Angler, including "Exmouth Shore Options" in the June/July 1999 issue.

The security following the September 11 terrorist attacks closed the road to the Exmouth Naval Jetty and Point Murat. You can still walk up the beach from the Bundegi Jetty, and it's easy walking at low tide, but it's still a fair way.






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This page last updated 10 December 2003.

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