# WA Abrolhos islands trip report 8th to 10th Feb 2013



## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

This trip report does contain some stink boat content and photos and not too many yak caught fish, but I hope you all get a bit of enjoyment from it - after all it has been almost 2 years since I posted a trip report :lol: :lol:

Here we go then .....

Well the months of waiting for the weekend trip to the Abrolhos islands finally ended on Friday, with Riggerman, his mate Corey, JustHamilton and Hoolly Doolly rolling up at the Cuda residence in the afternoon and getting our gear loaded on board the island Leader by around 05.30pm ready for the trip across the southern group.








We finally left the fisherman's wharf at around 08.15pm in the dark and settled in for what was to be a very bumpy ride in the strong winds and lumpy sea, arriving at our destination inside Half Moon reef at around 12.30am.
Saturday morning dawned with a stiff wind greeting us and some of the early birds dropped a line out the back of the boat before brekkie was on the barbie. Riggerman caught a nice Pink Snapper that would have nudged 70cm and Corey caught a nice Baldie. The rest of us also caught some reasonable fish, with some rat sambos hitting the deck and Riggerman getting dusted by a good fish (suspected bigger *****).
























After breakfast was done, the skipper motored around the side of half moon reef and we all put our yaks in the water, with JustHamilton thinking the water was so nice that he would fall out of his yak and cool off a bit.
We went looking for some reef to toss soft plastics at and the other guys had some success on some medium sized Pinkies and baldies. I had to fish near Riggerman and JustHamilton, as my fishfinder was out of action unfortunately and after a while I decided to give up for the morning as the conditions weren't all that good.
HoollyDoolly had a rather unfortunate capsize in his yak and was bobbing around in the water for quite a while, as his Hobie vest kept getting caught on his yak and he couldn't get back on board. Luckily Riggerman assisted him and dragged him and his yak back to the mothership, or the mothership went to them, as poor old Hoolly was pretty tired by that stage and he had an unwelcome visitor checking him out as he floated next to his yak - a suspected GW around 2 metres.
We decided to give the yak fishing a miss in the afternoon and settled for some fishing off the back of the boat as the evening came in. I managed to catch a good sized Spanglie of 65cm and the other guys got some baldies etc too.








Sunday morning saw us heading around the southern end of the island to Wreck Point and on the way Corey decided to troll a hard body at the 10 or so knots the boat was cruising at. Tuna schools were busting up everywhere and it was no surprise when Corey had a strike that turned out to be a nice Yellowfin Tuna.
















Another fella on the boat also boated a Shark Mackeral so it was looking very fishy down that end of the island. The good news too was the the wind was easi ng and the swell also, so my dream of yak fishing Wreck Point was close to being realised (almost became a nightmare as I will explain later).
The boat dropped anchor and I said to myself right, I'm going to make the most of this and dropped my yak in the water, with the plan being to troll a gardie along the drop off that goes from a few metres to over 40 metres. Tuna schools were busting up everywhere and I was anticipating a strike at any time.
Riggerman also joined me in the water and we decided to head north and fish the drop offs close to the island. Riggerman scored a couple of nice Pinkies while I persisted with the trolling a bit longer, but gave up when no strikes were forthcoming.
I changed to a stickbait and twitched it over the shallow reef and had an unexpected catch in the form of a good sized Squid that latched onto the treble, however my left shoulder was playing up and I switched to soft plastics which proved to be a good move, as we found a good drop off where I caught two trout that were just undersize unfortunately - beautiful markings on these things eh.
















I was twitching my Mccarthy SP in around 15m of water when a freight train took off in a big hurry. I frantically pumped whatever it was off the bottom as this thing was hell bent on staying amongst the coral on the bottom. After several strong runs I managed to get it to the surface and when I saw what it was I yelled out ït's a @$#&^Dhui!!!!! Man was I stoked - I had finally ticked off one of my bucket list species that has eluded me for some time despite living near the Dhui filled waters of Geraldton. A quick check on Riggerman's Fisheries minimum length sticker on his paddle showed that the Dhui was respectable 57-58 cm, but when I measured it at home it came in at nearly 60cm. You can see in the photo how it totally hoofed the McCarthy down its big gob. 
















Well I was on cloud nine I can tell you, but little did I know that there was more excitement in store for me a short time later, as i was fishing a little distance away from Riggerman. I happened to notice a large swirl out of the corner of my eye behind me and I turned around to see a dorsal fin slicing through the water. Then it cruised past my yak side on and I was staring at 3 metres of lit up Tiger Shark just metres from me in the clear water - Fwaaarrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkk! I near on shat myself as this killing machine showed me it's full length and went behind me, which made me quite nervous when I couldn't see what it was doing. When I changed direction it stuck right behind me and when I finally got around to turning on my shark shield which seemed to take an eternity after first seeing the shark, it seemed to take an eternity to twist the knob so the SS was on.
I called out to Riggerman, who didn't have a shark shield and headed in his direction for safety in numbers (I had my paddle in one hand ready to clobber the shark if it got too close, but the SS did the trick and the shark disappeared thankfully. It looked quite aggressive to me when it first approached and I'm sure it was willing to have a go at my yak, although I could be over dramatising and maybe it was just curious and was checking me out.
This is something that is easy to get blasé about when you have been fishing for years in sharky waters and not seen one, but sooner or later the time will come and in hindsight I probably should have had the SS turned on in an area known for lots of sharks. I also wish that I had thought to get some photos before it disappeared, or ate me, but at the time self preservation kicks in and you don't think of such things.
We gave up fishing not long after that and as we were heading back to the boat it pulled the anchor and started steaming straight at us, which made me think the skipper hadn't seen us, but all was well and we quickly got back on board and ready for the trip back to Gero. 
So ended another memorable trip, although some memories would like to be forgotten I'm sure.
We want to organise a trip with just yak fishos sometime (and maybe some tinny fishos to make up the numbers, as it really is a great place to fish and the cost on the Island leader for the weekend is very reasonable, so keep an eye out in the fishing trips section and if you don't have a shark shield make sure you get one


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## Geordie (Jan 12, 2010)

Thanks for the great trip report, Sounds like you had a great trip and a few interesting experiences.

G


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## exp2000 (Jul 9, 2011)

Congrats on the Dhui Cuda. Nice fish and great place to Kayak.
~


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## HoollyDoolly (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks for inviting us on this trip Cuda. The trip started off a bit rough but I still enjoyed my weekend away from work and the rugrats.
When I mean it was a rough start, it was bloody rough! After the 9 hour drive I mustve have started getting seasick as soon as we left the gero harbour and clambered my way to my bunk, realizing i hadnt put my things away. It was hard work keeping balance and moving things without spewing all over Riggermans bedding. In the end it did come out but ended up swallowing it back down for the sake of not stinking up the sleeping quarters. once on the top bunk it was a battle trying not to slide off. From what the others told me it was a chorus line of spewers at one stage of the trip over. I wanted someone to put me out of my misery at that stage 
The next day the swell was quite big. Big by my standards and had i been by myself i would have chickened out. To describe it at one stage justhamilton was maybe 5=600m away and his ivory outback was vanishing and re-appearing with respect to the swell. 
The tale Cuda is referring to is that I ended up capsizing my kayak. Hit from the side while i was reaching for something in my esky. Since getting the kayak safety was a primary concern so for this trip i had epirb, flares, shark shield, hand held radio etc etc and one of the first things i did with my kayak earlier last year was practice self rescue in a controlled environment. The point of difference between then and this trip was i was practicing self rescue with a jarvis walker inflatable(not discharged) and without a pfd at all. For this trip I purchased a Hobie foam pfd with the mesh pockets etc to help hold my radio, gps, camera, pliers etc It slipped my mind to try and self rescue with this pfd on.
As it turned out i was in the water and the kayak was upside down. Flipping it back over was the easy part and have had plenty of practice(deliberately and some not so deliberate). The method of self rescue i had practiced was gripping the side of the yak like you would a kickboard and start kicking and thrusting forward and upward momentum to get chest and belly up onto yak.
The hobie PFD is substantially much thicker then the inflatable which meant I had to work harder to get the height required but the dam mesh pockets kept getting caught. After about the 5th attempt(including flipping yak back over everytime) I was getting pretty tired and decided to unzip the pfd and opening up the chest and try with the pfd getting caught again. By this time id given up and thought i better try and let someone know. Checked the hand held radio and it was dead from the dip.I did a couple laps of the kayak to get my bearings and to see if i could see the mothership. With the rolling swell i couldnt see past 2m ahead. By then i start yelling and Riggerman pulls up. I wanted to remove the pfd but riggerman rightly so advised me not to. We try again from the rear as he had advised and i had no clue how to manage that and by then i was getting pretty desperate to get out of the water using my legs and all sorts of other unorthodox methods. I was shagged so Riggerman grabbed my anchor rope and started towing while i got my second wind. Once i was ready i got up onto the kayak and as i was repositioning into the seated position riggerman told there was a white pointer hanging around so i did what every normal person would do and that is fall back in. I was feeling pretty weak and exhausted and decided to have one more go and got up again only this time i couldnt reposition myself because the pfd got caught again.i was pretty much stuck with my left shoulder hooked to something near the rigging for the seat. I couldnt get up to reposition myself and felt the yak losing balance again so quickly slipped out of the pfd which meant falling back in the water again without a pfd before i was trapped under the kayak under water. I was so exhausted I had nothing left to give so riggerman got my flares and set off 2 smokeys for the mothership to come get us before the white pointer does(mind you the whole time i never saw it). got back on board and i felt so weak i couldnt stand for 10 minutes. felt like i weighed a tonne and never been exhausted like that ever.
in hindsight
1. i should probably have waited till conditions were better. the next day conditions looked much improved.up until then i had only dealt with wind chop in bays with no swell at all. unfortunately the charter seemed to cater more for the surfer dudes so i dont think we had much say where to go.
2. i should have stuck with the inflatable pfd. it was what i had practiced self rescue on but in the back of my mind i was always apprehensive about whether the cylinder would discharge when required so a normal pfd specific for kayakers with neat utility pockets seemed like a no brainer at the time. the hobie pfd will now be relegated to my bowrider now.
3. i should have removed the shark shield from the yak and strapped it to my ankle. the yak took a bit of water so if it had gone down the shark shield would be no good if it went down with it.
4. equipping with one of those cans of airhorns would be a worthwhile addition to the safety kit. yelling help just didnt cut it haha.
5. dont ignore those thoughts in your head telling you to bail. i was having fun and getting bites and landing some fish. the thought crossed my mind to head back or stay much closer to the ship and i ignored it.
whats reinforced
1. always have a buddy and not go out on my own as i have done in the past.
2. safety gear and practice!!!!!!!
The next day i didnt go out as i was still a bit spooked but i lost/consumed most of the safety gear anyway so there was no way i was going out again without being fully equipped again. So yeah confidence is a bit down and despite the missus telling me atm to sell the yak i think for now ill stick to chasing jacks, cods, breams and tarpon in the local creeks and rivers where i can at least swim to the banks if in strife.
Spent the second day fishing off the mothership. theres no shortage of baldie at the abrolos!
Thanks to Riggerman for keeping an eye out for me. i felt pretty vulnerable until steffan arrived....also for putting up with my snoring!
I still enjoyed the weekend but would probably only do it again if it was an all kayak or just fishing affair. ill offer to bring my dinghy as the support craft if it ever happens!


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## robsea (Apr 7, 2010)

Thanks for an exciting read Cuda. If the previous trip report was similar to this one then it's no wonder it's been a couple if years between posts. Must check out previous reports by you. I only am slightly familiar with the area through the wreck of The Batavia and from the description Hoolly Doolly and you provide I was exhausted just reading about his capsize. Great range of species captured on camera. Great idea to take the yaks . How easy was it to launch and retrieve the yaks ?

rob


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## robsea (Apr 7, 2010)

Hoolly Doolly you're a fortunate son of a gun. Thanks for your personal account of a nasty situation. Scary stuff indeed no doubt as you feel your energy reserves slipping away and frustration rising in exacting and dangerous circumstances. Good to go fishing with mates. The shark ...well that was sheer terror icing on the upside down cake. Being prepared and doing the right training for the worse case scenario paid off, but i appreciate the need for smoke and air horn. Get back on that yak!

tight lines

rob


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## TheFishinMusician (Feb 5, 2007)

Brilliant Reports Gents!! Just fantastic stuff.

Cuda, the amount birds working in the background of that Duhi pic is crazy!

HoollyDoolly, glad you made it out of the water & thanks for writing it up in detail. Theres a few things in there for all of us.


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## Daveyak (Oct 6, 2005)

Great reports & well done on the dhufish Mark. I'm pleased to see that the wind doesn't blow all the time out there.

Good to see some decent fish on kayaks out there, something we didn't see on the trip in '08. The Island Leader is a great boat for that trip, even though I left some vomit stains down the side (from top deck) on the first night as well.
I'd be keen to do something similar again so will have to keep an eye out for your next trip out there (next year?).

It's been a while since I've done any remounting practice on my kayak so probably time to do some more. I found that there's a technique to develop to be able to get my PFD pockets & (underlying gut) over the side & onto the kayak & other than the first couple of times I tried it, isn't too hard to achieve. So don't let it put you (or the wife) off kayak fishing HoollyDoolly. I'd be out practicing with the problematic PFD & looking at what was catching on it and maybe changing your gear layout on the kayak to avoid such snagging.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Excellent trip, and well written reports. Thank you!

Sorry I missed it or couldn't break the code. Do you call this a pink snapper or a Baldie? Doh, by the file name it's a baldie.


>


What is its scientific name? I can't find it on the American Google.
We've got a very similar fish we call sheephead (_Semicossyphus pulcher_). It's olivey pinky brown as a female but then changes to red and black as a male. Coincidentally, my yak PB was caught on the same day and just after my first and only encounter with a white shark.
Some internet photos of female and male:









male








Both have that wrassey overbite set of chompers.

Thanks again for the report. Sorry to derail.


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

No worries Zed. Baldie is an abbreviation for Baldchin Groper - looks much the same as the specimens you have attached. They grow to around 10 kilos max, fight very hard and taste superb ;-)


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

Daveyak said:


> Great reports & well done on the dhufish Mark. I'm pleased to see that the wind doesn't blow all the time out there.
> 
> Good to see some decent fish on kayaks out there, something we didn't see on the trip in '08. The Island Leader is a great boat for that trip, even though I left some vomit stains down the side (from top deck) on the first night as well.
> I'd be keen to do something similar again so will have to keep an eye out for your next trip out there (next year?).
> ...


Hi Dave.

I will definitely keep you informed about the next trip. I'm finally starting to get the feel of fishing that place and having some success and looking forward to getting back over for some more Dhui action :twisted:


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Mark good to see you ticked the dhui from your bucket list mate, and good to read the whole report on a nice part of Aust.

HoolyDooly was interesting to read about your reentry attempts, but as to your concerns re the discharge failure on the gas bulb on your inflatable, does it not also have a manual inflation tube you can inflate by mouth if needed? I also use an inflatable and have both the rip cord to activate, and a manual tube.


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## HoollyDoolly (Mar 5, 2012)

in the end i weighed up the risks/consequences and pro's and cons between the 2 styles and thought i had made the right decision based on the lack of requirement to manually activate or inflate the hobie pfd and what i thought was an advantage having lots of pockets. theres probably nothing wrong with the hobie pfd, and in reality i should have practised self rescue wearing it before hitting the blue but the thought never crossed my mind considering how easy it was to self rescue with an inflatable style.


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

robsea said:


> Thanks for an exciting read Cuda. If the previous trip report was similar to this one then it's no wonder it's been a couple if years between posts. Must check out previous reports by you. I only am slightly familiar with the area through the wreck of The Batavia and from the description Hoolly Doolly and you provide I was exhausted just reading about his capsize. Great range of species captured on camera. Great idea to take the yaks . How easy was it to launch and retrieve the yaks ?
> 
> rob


Hey Rob, with regards to your query about launch and retrieve from the mothership, it's really easy as the boat has steps going down to a mesh type marlin board that sits just below the water. you can setup your rods etc while someone holds your yak there and then jump in and start fishing  Plenty of room on the main deck of the boat to get the yak mostly set up too!

almost perfect for kayak mothershipping. I'm thinking of organising a yak fishing weekend possibly in July when the cray season is finished - won't be many pelagics around unless the Leewin current hangs around, but the bottom dwellers will still be there :twisted:


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