Well where do i start??? This was the trip i had been waiting 18 months for,
After having visited most of W.A.’s top National parks and Natural wonders I would have to say that Dirk Harthog Island is one of the most spectacular places that our state has to offer, Turtle Bay would have to be the standout, my self and Chris were lucky enough to have baby turtles actually hatch and come storming down the beach through our fishing gear and into the ocean. Over the cource of the night we had three lots of turtles from the same nest repeat the experience. Every hour or so we would scoop up the little guys scurrying everywhere and help them to the water, probably into the waiting jaws of every predatory fish in turtle bay, waiting for a nice little turtle snack. I would like to think that one of the little critters would go on to thrive and after Chris and I are dead and buried he or she would be swimming the oceans around Dirk Harthog.
The drive in was pretty rough in a fully loaded truck and the going was slow, but we didn’t really mind as our imaginations were a buzz with all the possibilities and what the next week might hold in store for us, and with the amount of fishing gear we had on board as well as a tackle shop worth more that Moorey and Mat were bringing up it would be hard to miss.
As we rounded the cape and passed urchin point campsite we called in to say hi to the guys camped there and marvel at the super school working about 300 meters off shore. As one of the guys was cleaning the biggest baldie I have ever seen, he told us that the school had been there all morning. Now we were really peaking and I just couldn’t wait to get a line in the water, massive schools of pelagics and stonking baldies this was gunna be awesome.
As it turned out, the fishing over the first three days we were there was really hard going, the pelagics were there but just wouldn’t take a lure, I could see baldies swimming around but they just weren’t interested in our crab offerings, we managed a couple of pinkies to about three kilos which kept us interested and we got a couple of red throat from turtle bay after dark, which were very good on the BBQ, but from the amount we were all flogging the water it was pretty disappointing. The highlight of those first 3 days was Moorey’s G.T. and Matt’s Spaniard and despite the lack of action, spirits were still high and the booze was flowing freely, they two guys that had flown out from the UK Dee and Matts’ dad Dave were really top guy’s and we spent most nights spinning yarns and pissing ourselves laughing at Moorey’s antics.
It was Wednesday morning when things changed, albeit only slightly, after about 2 hours of continually being smoked by unstoppable (with our gear anyway) GT’s , I was finally hooked up to something decent, in no time at all Moorey had the video running and Matt was manning the rope gaff. I knew it was a Spaniard immediately and waited out the first couple of runs before settling into the ol’ pump and wind. The battle lasted no longer than 10 minutes and after a smoothly executed bit of gaff work from Matt I had a nice 20 kilo Spaniard topside, Time for some well earned high fives!!!
Chris was up at the camp rigging up his balloon outfit, and had missed the action but was blown away when I strode up with the slab of fish over my shoulder and after we had squared my quarry away I helped him get his balloon rig out quick smart. If the Spaniards had made an appearance and were hungry this may well be our best chance to nail the double header. After a quick adjustment of balloon size we had the skirted gardie skipping across the surface beautifully. The drag was set and I told Chris I would watch the rod while he dashed back up to camp for some refreshments. I was watching the balloon rig and spinning like mad with a renewed enthusiasm. After only 5 minutes the rod bowed slightly and about 20 meters of line slowly peeled of the tld25. I looked towards the business end and saw the balloon heading skyward.
I can only imagine that at the other end of the line the monster Spaniard was making massive runs and tearing arse all over the place, but at our end the effects were well and truly subdued by 300 meters of 30 pound mono and a hell of a lot of water drag on the line. I yelled out to Chris and he sprinted back down with the other boys in tow. No one could pick what it was at the other end of the line because when the fish was only about halfway in, in classic Spaniard style it had given its all I the fight and was basically dead.
I geared up for the gaff shot and after some major heaving we had our second large Spaniard topside. That night was sashimi heaven, and we cranked up the drinking games to celebrate. Big Wednesday.
Unfortunately Thursday was back to “all quiet on the western front” so Chris and I decided to head down to mystery beach that evening which turned out to be a good move. We had a great session on big tailor all around the 70cm mark in the white water and then moved over to the southern end of the beach and landed a bag of good pinkies and a painted sweet lip, before the sharks moved in. We arrived back to the camp at about 9.30pm and after filling the guys in as to our exploits, we were dully informed that Moorey had been in touch with home, and Kieran had called his wife and said that if we wanted to defiantly be of the island before Monday we had to be back at the barge pick up point by 7am the next morning. Awesome. As I was booked onto a flight to Broome 7am Monday morning, there was no option but to pack up and trek the 3 hours of corrugation heaven back to the homestead. We finished packing up at 11pm, shook hands with all the lads, and started the drive back. We pulled into the homestead about 2.30am Friday morning, rolled out our swags and were asleep in seconds. Kieran came and saw us in the morning as we were rolling our swags up, and informed us that we were 5th in line to get off the island and that he wouldn’t be round there till about 8.30am as he would be running about and hour and a half late. All in all 11 cars crossed the channel that morning and we finally drove off the barge about 10.30am. Thank god…the mainland!.
While we were waiting for the pick-up we got talking again to the guys from urchin point who we met earlier in the week. As it turned out, they were veterans of 7 trips to Dirk. They asked us how we went on the baldies (their favoured target) and we informed them that our count was zero, while there’s was 26 for the same period and that 6 of them were over 5 kilos, what the?? they then went on to tell us how they were fishing for them and crabs probably aren’t the best move and that the “baldie ledges” are not that important to doing well on the baldies. They also had to contend with the same swell factors that we did. If I was ever to return to Dirk, armed with their info, I reckon id do a lot better on them now. They also told us that the block is their least favourite place to fish and that the bottom is very snaggy compared to other places they fish, and that when fishing the block defiantly stay on top. We had already learned this with shioploads of lost rigs (and fish).
Am I glad that I made the trip? Defiantly even if its only once, Would I go back? Not in the foreseeable future, and defiantly not the block. Make no mistake it’s a tough trip if the fish aren’t playing nice, and I wasn’t there to photograph wild flowers. For the $$$$ that it cost me for the week I probably couldn’t justify it again with the other fishing options around. The other consideration that puts me off a return trip is the fact that you are fully at the mercy of the weather and the barge. I can see that when the fish are really on the bite the fishing could spectacular but you’ve just got to be lucky enough to jag it.
My report may seem a bit harsh but I’m not gunna sugar coat it. The guys that we passed on the way in who had the block previous to us had an even worse time of it, with only one Spaniard for the week and a few tuna, apparently the pelagics just shutdown while they were there, maybe that was why the block was such a pigsty when we got there, they were a bit jaded I reckon.
The beach fishing is the standout for me and I would highly recommend people putting in the effort to fish them on sunset and after dark, reminded me of Cape Range. To keep busy during the day I would recommend taking a few packs of 5 and 7 inch gulps as they truly did the trick better than any of the other shinny, pretty looking, rubbery pieces of crap that I once again fell into the trap of buying, nay wasting money on, due to their flashy packets and claimed results. Gulps kill the pig, Matt and myself had a light tackle session from turtle bay to Sandy’s camp over broken ground one afternoon and every cast with the gulps was a hit, follow or hook-up. I think I myself landed about 10 different species in an hour.
Bomber minnow’s in fluoro green in the biggest size were also dynamite, had good hits and hook-up on them with a variety of species, and work really well with a twitching action. Richter plugs under performed which was surprising, but Halco roosters and especially hay makers were the large lure of choice as well as big stick baits, Rover 230’s from memory, Caught an unsuspecting tourist sweetly in the shin and Moorey had to do some neat work with a scalpel.
Halco twisties worked well as always and would not go up there without a few in different sizes. Also if you want to give the demersals a good nudge take a couple of blocks of occy and mix that up with fresh cut baits, especially when fishing off the beach after dark.
Cheers Russ