Day 135 20/4/14 – 80 Mile Beach WA

The Easter Bunny had managed to find the boys, drunk the beer and nibbled on the carrot left for him. My guess is that he liked the beer more than the carrot!  He had left a small stash for each of them and I cringed at how much sugar was going into their guts before breakfast!

After a serious truckers breakfast (deigned to soak up as much of the sugar as possible) we relaxed and waited for the tide to come in. Based on yesterdays experience I figured we had better head down pretty early to get a prime spot. We went for a drive about 10kms up the beach and were amazed that it was pretty much the same as far as the eye could see. There was the occasional rocky outcrop or there were more shells on the beach but it almost identical. 

The beach was already starting to fill up so we staked our claim in front of a channel that I thought would be full of fish in an hour or two. The boys and De walked the 300m to the waters edge for a dip and found heaps of flat round shells. They loaded up one of the boggie boards and dragged them back to Izzy where they laced them onto some fishing line.

It was not long before the water started heading across the flats and into the channel that held so much promise. At one point it seemed as if somebody opened an invisible gate and everybody started heading down the beach to start to fish...it really was quite weird!

Within a half an hour the blokes on either side of us had caught some blue salmon but we were struggling to lose our bait! Jacko was struggling with his beach rod so he retreated to the truck to rig up his own rod. In the mean time Sambo started to wind his line in to check if he still had some bait when he realised he was on! He was really struggling and the tiny rod and reel were groaning under the strain. Once I caught a view of what he had on the end of it I wasn’t surprised..it was bloody big! He got  it into the little waves and I grabbed the leader and dragged it up the beach. He had landed a 77cm White Threadfin Salmon on a $15 combo! There were high fives all round and I think it was the best Easter present by far!

Couldn't decide which one was a better pic!

While De wondered up to get supplies for our chip butties, I managed to finally catch one, a 50cm Blue Salmon. Just as De arrived back Jacko got smashed by something but it snapped his line leaving him to ponder what would have been. Just after lunch he did manage to land a small Blue Salmon but his mean dad made him throw it back!

The tide had come in and the fish had headed back out to where ever they go and as quickly as they came the fisherman we all packed up and headed back. Sam was the toast of the cleaning station as he had caught the biggest one of the day. Needless to say his dad was pretty happy for him!

De put on the Easter Sunday roast on while I spent the next couple of hours packing up the fishing gear and cleaning out the back of the truck! It was a cracking afternoon and we enjoyed sitting in the shade having a few beers chatting with fellow campers.

Some of the rigs the locals use when fishing....

Nana had given us (adults) each a bottle of wine for Easter so we enjoyed it with our yummy roast and finished it off with some eggs for desert! After the boys were in bed John (from next door) came over we had a good chat. He had done the north last year so he gave us some good tips and it again it wasn’t long before we were heading for bed after another big day!