Just putting this up because there are thing to do rather than wait around for DT/Sambo/whatever trips
I was invited to pile aboard
Jurien Seasport Tackle's Valkoista with shipper Whitey and a bunch of fellow
FW members. The plan was for bait-free demersal jigging all day! I had heard rumours of people succumbing to bait on a few previous trips, but was assured it wouldn't happen this time, not in the least because Dan had booked out the boat and was doing to picking and choosing this time!
Jurien is just about a 2.5hr drive from my place in Perth/6000. Its close enough you can do it in the morning before the charter, but I went up with my family and spent a couple days up there.
At 4:30am we were all onboard, and Whitey informed us that we would be heading to the second bank, and that it would take a little while in less than stellar conditions. The 18m Westcoaster Valkoista had it's clears up, so only a little water got thru, but certainly no snoozing on deck on the way out - even for me! Jurien is a great place to fish, but it does cop a lot of Southerlies and today was no exception.
As we neared the ground, Whitey gave us a 10min warning and we got ready for 1st drop. I think the first fish over the side was an old man pinky. A good size without being too old and dry and it made the esky pretty smartly. It was followed up with a few nice Dhufish, then some hunting around for a fe more switched-on fish. There were a few smaller seriola sp landed, but they were just a distraction on the demersal gear, and a few baldchin Groper on jig as well as a Stripy Tuna on the troll between spots.
For me, I was jigging PE2/3/4 setups and jigs 80g-290g, depending on the day's drift rate and winds. There were a couple fish taken on SP, and one dirty fisho was using gulp, but lets not name names
My best fish was a WA Dhufish 90cm long taken on a Patriot Cyber Edge 155g in pinky-purples on a Daiwa CJ64, Shimano TP5kSW loaded with DSBB PE3. It gave me a good workout, but as long as you can keep their head up and out of the rocks, they're yours!
Hopefully some of the other guys can put up their pics, if so I'll try and link them in.
I'll be back sometime, and here is hoping that they manage to get the Jurien FADs back in again this year and the hot currents pump. I want another
Jurien Double this year!
Ta Whitey for the great skippering and Dan for organising it!
