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Yvette at our Travel Australia branch was asked to help a customer organise a holiday that involved fishing. Mr Lance Butterwick enjoyed his break so much that he dropped us an email to tell us how all it.
“The 12.5 hour Qantas flight to Singapore was a good one – good food, wine and a long list of films that made for an interesting trip and with only one hour to change planes and a 5 hour flight to Perth it meant the trip didn’t drag on.
I stayed at Sullivans Hotel which is just around the corner from the Swan River. The hotel is only a 10 minutes walk from the centre of town, but there is a free bus that runs from the front of the hotel if you don’t want to walk. The hotel also offers free bikes to use and just 5 minutes down the bike track is the old Swan Brewery which has a jetty for fishing – the jelly fish (not box) and the blowies can be a bind though. 2 miles further down the track is a sandy beach by the Yacht Marina that is an easy place to fish.
When you’re in Perth visit the Bobby Dazzler pub that’s just off King Street, it’s a good watering hole and has an excellent restaurant – make sure you try their shark sausages!
A short flight up the coast is Geraldton which was my next stop – the Ocean Centre hotel is just over the road from the beach and at the back of the hotel, about 500 yards down Marine Terrace is the Geraldton Sports Centre. The manager Graham is friendly, knowledgeable and an all round good bloke. He will sell and show you how to use all the local rigs and baits – he even took me in his 4x4 to his favourite spot 5 miles up the beach. At 5am he was guiding me out on a rock ledge in the pitch black, it was unnerving, but we had a great day of fishing for snook (pike), wrasse and herring. We used mulies on a wire trace rig with 3 hooks joined together to make the bait look natural.
Only local knowledge can give you a result like this, fish off the dock wall - dawn and dusk with prawns on light tackle.
Charter fishing isn’t cheap and to stay within my budget it had to be booked well in advance. Corporate packers are to blame for this, but you can find charters that will take 10 or 12 people out at a time, bear in mind though that you can’t all fish at the same time. There are a few pirates who will offer to take you out, but they only have a handful of lifejackets and the local tackle shops wisely do not recommend them.
Here is a list of the best:
Rat Patrol – Jay Cox
www.abrolhosislandcharters.com.au
This boat is moored in the harbour at Geraldton and looks the biz!
Salt Water Charters – Craig Warne
www.saltwatercharterswa.com.au
The skipper has a great reputation locally as a fisherman who can reap a sounder and put you on to some good fish – he has a 55 foot boat named Interceptor and knows the Abrolhos Islands well.
Blue Juice Charters
www.bluejuicecharters.com.au
Well known in WA and have featured on the “I Fish” television programme.
In Geraldton I had breakfast at the Chinese Bakery and then supper at the Freemasons over the road - the lamb there is really tasty.
My next stop was Jurien Bay which is the jewel in the crown and is only a 2 hour Greyhound bus ride down the WA Highway. I stayed in a beach chalet with a fully equipped kitchen and everything was so close by - the jetty for fishing was only a 5 minute walk away as was the tackle bait shop. Feeling hungry or fancy a drink? It only takes 5 minutes to get to the supermarket and the Thirsty Camel off-licence! I found that the food in the supermarket much better quality than ours - the meat and fruit were first class.
I had a great time fishing in the morning as the sun came up, in the evening I’d watch the tennis or cricket on my porch whilst cooking my dinner and then later I’d watch the sun go down with a good bottle of wine or go night fishing off the pier when the “Taylor” come through.
When it comes to buying supplies Craig Whites’ Seaport Tackle is top class – 2 packets of prawns and a pack of mulie will cost around £7. Top tip – buy a Tupperware box the size of your freezer box in the fridge to put the bait in, but remember to take it out well before you go fishing because you will not get that 3 hook rig into a frozen mulie!
The worst day on this break was when a 12 year old lad thrashed the living daylights out of all us so called fishermen!
Near the end of my trip I took a 2 hour Greyhound bus ride back to Perth, the buses were good and show great films to keep you entertained. On my last day in Perth I went to the WA cricket ground to watch OZ vs SA, I didn’t care who won as long as the games were good and no one found out I was from England where we don’t gloat about cricket.”
We hope that this has inspired you to take a different type of holiday, if you have any questions or comments email us on newsletter@travel-centre.co.uk or call Travel Australia on 01603 488664.
Photography provided by Lance Butterwick