Having spent the past five weeks of my life on nightshift, I finally had an opportunity to head out for a fish with good mate Jason Haack. The plan was to explore some of the inshore reefs and flats with medium tackle spin gear in search of coral trout and GTs. We left pretty early on Saturday morning from the Dampier boat club.

Already the wind was quite stiff blowing at 10-15kt from the south west. The passage out to the islands we wanted to fish gets pretty messing in that type of wind. Fortunately, the Bar Crusher 615XS handles it effortlessly and the 15nm trip to the bay nicknamed ‘Just T’ was over in no time.

The sun was literally just creeping above the horizon when the first casts were deployed. Jason came up solid straight away and fought a good-sized trout to the boat. It was a sign of good things to come. The morning session resulted in quite a few species and a lot of trout. The highlight was the double hook-up on 25kg+ GTs that were sight cast in less than a metre of water. Needless to say, it ended in tears!

The wind disappeared throughout the middle part of the day and it gave us an opportunity to explore some new water on the east side of the Burrup Peninsula. We were pretty successful picking up multiple small GTs, brassie trevally and spangled emperor. We moved into a protected bay before sunset and set-up a basic campsite before settling in for the night.

We got up just after 4.30am with the intention of hitting-up some ground close to the previous morning. The tide was bottomed out and the flats were less than a couple of feet deep in parts: pretty much perfect for throwing small stickbaits for trout. The session was as hot as the previous day with trout, Spanish flag and the odd cod regularly making their way to the Bar Crusher. The highlight of the morning was the 20kg GT I landed on 30lb spin gear!

The trip home was again straight into a stiff breeze. Yeah, in a centre console boat I sometimes get wet, but a good spray jacket takes care of that minor factor. I wouldn’t compromise the fishability of my custom layout Bar Crusher 615XS for anything.

Luckily, there was a cold beer and warm counter meal waiting for us at the Mermaid Tavern back in Dampier. Happy days!

Brad Bell, WA