5 day Abrolhos Islands fishing adventure

The Blue Lightning team are back again from the Abrolhos Islands. This week’s charter was a whole boat charter for a lovely group of 5 guys from Perth.

We also welcomed Jake back on board this week. He has been away completing his “Master less than 24m near coastal” ticket. Congratulations Jake on achieving your ticket and it’s great to have you back.

We departed Geraldton for the first day of the charter and within the first 10 minutes Jake ripped his shorts completely in half, I’m not sure how he did it, but it sure gave us a reason to laugh!!!

The weather on day 1 was pretty rough and the swell was running. The swell turned off the fish so it was pretty hard going, but we managed to find some Coral Trout, Break Sea Cod, and Dhu Fish.

While the guys sat down for lunch and a nice glass of wine we decided to put the trolling gear out. As soon as they sat down and took a sip of their wine the reels went screaming off. Greg and Paddy caught a nice size yellow fin tuna each. There was a bit of controversy on who caught the biggest one, as the guys decided to only keep one. In the end we kept Greg’s and Paddy’s was released.

Soon, Rob hooked a shark and was fighting it for awhile, I am still not sure who got more of a work out the angler or the shark, though I’m pretty sure it was the angler hehehe J!!! Unfortunately for all of us the line snapped and we never got to see it.

We then headed to the Southern group and tied up to Justin’s jetty while there was still light so the crew could go and get some cray fish for dinner, and they didn’t let us down, providing plenty of delicious crays for our evening meal.

After a nice feed for dinner and popcorn cray fish for entrée, we got some entertainment at the back of the boat when the underwater lights brought in the bait fish. Soon 5 Bronze whalers and some reef sharks appeared to get a feed of bait fish. It’s always a highlight for us seeing the oceans great creatures come out.

We also enjoyed some shallow water fishing this week and caught some nice Baldchin Grouper. While we were at it Paddy was hooked up to a fish but had to hand the rod to Jake as he was busting!

Ian decided to have a chilled day only fishing for 20mins, so Captain Chad acted as his wingman catching the fish for him. I think it made Chad happier than Ian☺

The crew went for another dive to get some cray fish so Rob and Mark could make a marinara pasta for dinner. Its not very often you have a pasta with more seafood than pasta, and you couldn’t get any fresher seafood. It was absolutely delicious. They can cook for me any time (hint hint).

We decided to spend the night at Middle Island. Its always nice to hop off the boat for a little while and explore and stretch our legs at these incredible islands.

The following day provided the customers with an opportunity to snorkel at the Anemone Lump. We saw plenty of fish including Pink Snapper, Coral Trout, Baldchin Grouper, Spangled Emperor and Rainbow Fish.

We also enjoyed some more Shallow Water fishing for Baldchin Groupers. While deep sea fishing Greg caught a nice sized Coral Trout. On one drift the guys got a few red emperors. Mark was a nice size, however Greg and Rob released theirs.

Our star decky Jake caught a Coral Trout on soft plastics coral trout and I caught a Dhu Fish also on soft plastic. You could say the guys were not to impressed I had a drop and caught a fish straight away. ?

We anchored in sandy passage for the night and the crew went in for a dive for some Crayfish for dinner. After a beautiful dinner Rob…. entertained us with some Karaoke.

On Friday, Ian got a nice size coral trout, and Mark got his 1^st ever Dhu Fish. Ian and Greg also managed to catch a Duh Fish while Rob got 2!

The boys told us they wanted a Dhu Fish and they got 5 in one drop. They also enjoyed some more Shallow Water fishing for Baldchin Grouper. We spent the evening out on the water although it was a touch windy.

When we woke on Saturday morning it was a very windy day on the water. We started the morning with some trolling for Coral Trout. Greg’s lure caught 7 under sized coral trout before it snapped. We never saw the lure or any fish after that on the troll. As the weather was very rough the guys decided it was a good time for us to head back to Geraldton bringing another great 5 days of fishing at the incredible Abrolhos Islands to an end.