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We had a mixed group onboard for this trip and therefore set out to give everyone a taste of everything the Rowley Shoals has to offer.  We started off doing some trolling catching Yellowfin and Dogtooth Tuna and then decided to target Sailfish.  The group were amazed to see how close the fish could be teased to the boat before switchbaiting.  This is a very visually exciting way to fish and the acrobatic displays put on by the sails after hookup can be quite spectacular.   Good numbers of Sailfish were raised during our sessions targeting them but our conversion rate wasn't so good with just 6 Sailfish being tagged.  Bill from Sydney fishing under ANSA regulations was the first in the group to put a tag in. Noel who was recently retired from Melbourne had an epic battle fighting a good fish estimated at 35kg, the tag was put in just after the sun went down.  

This was our 1st trip to the Rowley Shoals for this year.  The boys and their Dads who joined us from NSW had been looking forward to it for sometime and we were happy to be back out in the bluewater too.  The main aims for the trip were to catch Sailfish, Dogtooth Tuna, Wahoo and really any other fish that jumped on a line.  When we arrived at the shoals the boys went out for a popper session in the dinghies and caught some nice trout and other reef species for the morning.  For the afternoon we headed outside the atoll,  the session started off well with the 1st strike coming from a nice Dogtooth Tuna as we trolled the outer edge of the reef.

BARRA TO BILLFISH

Mike and the boys joined us for a fishing and exploring tour of the Kimberley.  We had a calm steam up the coast getting gear ready for the next day and witnessed whales frollicking along the way.  Our first morning had the boys collecting oysters for the evenings entree before a refreshing swim at Crocodile Creek.  From there we cruised around to Dugong Bay for an afternoon fishing session targeting Fingermark, Queenies and GT's.  Mark caught this awesome Fingermark and took an early lead in the Champion Angler stakes.

This year we decided to fish the tournament with our kids onboard.  To make up the team we also invited one of Critter's mates Bryce Marinis.  The comp started out with the Fatty's Day Shootout, the sea was flat and the sky clear.  When the flare was fired at 0630 the engines roared into action and the boats all headed off.  Sadly by 0800 the wind had come in, it had started raining and the sea turned into a washing machine!!  This then continued to be the trend for the rest of the week, with us us experiencing probably the worst conditions ever off Broome.

Whenever we visit the Kimberley area it is nice to do some exploring and visit new areas.  We were joined on this trip by our longtime friend Ron and his good friends Ray & Steve.  We visited some of our favourite fishing spots then decided to go somewhere we hadnt been for over 20 years.  The fishing had been good and the boys had enjoyed some nice feeds of fresh fish and a big cookup of chilli mudcrab.

Reel Teaser Charters was proud to be involved with the Satellite Tagging Program being funded by Woodside to research the movements of Broome's Sailfish population.  The program is being co-ordinated by Dr Julian Pepperell and will run over the next few months deploying both pop up satellite tags and sophisticated tail tags which hope to provide important information regarding the renowned game fishing species.

When a group gets onboard with more tackle and lures than clothes then you know they are serious!! Then, when they start putting money on the table for the best Barra and best other fish and so on you know that the competition is also on. Tim and his group have fished together for many years and all look forward to catching up for some good company and fishing away from their usual cold down south and work.  For many of them this was their first time in the Kimberley and both the fishing and the scenery didnt disappoint. A huge feed of black lipped oysters started off our trip before heading closer to Barra country.

This was our first trip into the Kimberley for this year and we had onboard some extremely keen Barra guys.  Paul has done a number of trips with us before and to say he loves his barra fishing is probably an understatment.  The best Barra for the trip went to Kingy who landed this 108cm fish which just happened to swim past the boat at the right time. Kingy was just about to cast but instead thanks to Westy's spotting was able to drop his lure right in front of the big Barra and found himself hooked up to a monster. Some people have all the luck!

If you like bluewater fishing this is a trip you should consider.  This year two of the girls from last years trip bought along their hubby's for the experience.  Sandy & Mel and Cyd and Hans all from Geraldton arrived excitedly in Exmouth eager to depart.  Our plan was to fish our way up the coast, stop in at the Monte's then Rowley Shoals before arriving in Broome.

At this time of year the weather is generally very good and if any the wind is behind you.  This was defintely the case for us with just a bit of wind as we were leaving Exmouth before the seas became glassy flat for the remainder of the trip.  We stopped in at Long Island on our 1st night and caught some nice crays for the table the next morning before heading towards the Monte Bello's.  We spent a relaxing few days here, catching squid, more crays and other reef species as well as visiting the Island.

After spending some time in Perth early this year we were itching to get back out on the water and what better way to get into it than fish the Gamex tournament.  We were joined again by our local team of Matt Niikkula, Steve Moore and David Head.  There had been good reports of catches in the lead up to the comp so we were all hopeful that these would continue.  Well Day 1 definitely didnt disappoint with the boat raising 14 Marlin and 1 sailfish and the team tagging 5 Marlin.

This is a trip we look forward to every year as it has the potential to cover some of the best blue marlin grounds on the WA coast.  Matt Steve and Tim from Exmouth, Rob from Broome, Jim from Perth and Phil all the way from Darwin joined us for the trip.  We set off on a calm sea for our trip out to the Rowley Shoals ahead of some weather brewing further north.  Our first day fishing wide of the Rowley's was surprisingly quiet with only 3 fish raised.  Although none of these stayed connected it was a promising sign as 2 of the fish were very big.  That night we fished for Broadbill Swordfish, no broadie strikes but the boys had some fun catching squid, flying fish and a snake mackerel.    

If only we could control the weather!!  Our trip out to the Rowley Shoals was rather rough with a South West wind blowing all night.  We had a local WA crew onboard who are all extremely keen game fishermen and had been looking forward to battling some big blues.  The wind on the 1st day stopped us from targeting these and kept us close to the atoll targeting trout and other reef species.  Not a great start to our Marlin trip!!  The weather did improve for our next couple of days however we went through one day without a strike and the second day producing only 2 strikes. 

Hal & Liza along with their kids joined us for some family fun to the Rowley Shoals.  Hal and Liza are both very keen anglers and owners of the Bluewater Tackle stores in Perth.  The main aim of the trip was to have some fun fishing and snorkelling with the kids and give them the opportunity to catch a few new species.  The kids did well with a little help from mum and dad managing to catch a variety of both pelagic and reef species.  Jack caught this nice wahoo but was reluctant to hold it as it was bigger than him, fair enough Jack.

Peter and his son Matt were joined by friends Frank, Rocky and another mate Frank.  The group from Victoria were finally heading out to the magical destination, Rowley Shoals.  This trip had been in planning for a number of years, but came together in the end with very short notice.  The group were greeted by the crystal clear water and amazing colour contrasts of different depths around the atolls and didn't have to wait long before landing some nice Yellowfin.  The 1st day also saw Matt (only 15yrs) catch and release the biggest Sailfish for the trip, which was easily bigger than him.

Our group arrived from Perth well prepared to do battle with the just about anything and had the trophy's and daily medals ready to be awarded in the process.  The gear and tackle was soon strewn over the bench being checked and rigged ready for the first mornings session.  Some were more serious than others but the boys soon worked out their own system and before long had all had the chance to bend a rod catching a number of Yellowfin, Wahoo and Sailfish on the first day. 

We were joined by some old and now some new friends for this trip to the Rowley Shoals.  Our trip out from Broome was a little bumpy but once there the sea flattened out and the weather couldn't be faulted for the rest of the week.  The boys were a bit rusty on their switchbaiting techniques for Sails but soon picked up their game after Ron (who is nearlly blind) managed to tag his first ever Sailfish.  There had been a number of other requests for different species to be caught and over the week I think we were able to cross nearlly all of these off the list.  

When John & Marlene bid for a Kimberley Charter at the Geelong Football Club Annual Auction they envisaged a romantic cruise through the Kimberley enjoying the sights and scenery.  They invited close friends Gary, Kath, Bruce & Annie to enjoy the experience with them .  Although between them they hadn't done much fishing, the trip soon became a full on fishing charter with the group seriously getting into the fishing visiting some of the best fishing spots in the Southern end of the Kimberley, whilst still enjoying a romantic cruise and the sights along the way.  Next time though I will have candles onboard!!!

The Rowley Family lead by their father Doug arrived in Broome with more gear than we have ever seen to fish the Rowley Shoals.  The 3 brothers Brian, Mick & Steve sorted through the trays of lures, jigs, hook rigs and tackle to prepare their personally built custom rods by Mick ready for action.Talk about professional, these guys were serious!  They fished hard all week,  special mention going to their Dad Doug, who kept up with them all the way.  The boys main target were GT's and they worked hard for them, casting big poppers over the low tide period, they were rewarded with 17 nice GT's up to 30kg, averaging around 20 to 25kg. 

What a start to our 1st Rowley Shoals trip for the year.  Rick & Tanya from Black Magic Tackle along with friends Rod, Claire, Bruce & Anne joined us again this time to put their Black Magic Tackle to the test in our species abundent waters of the Rowley Shoals.  After a nice flat trip out and dropping the tenders off inside Clerke we ventured out to troll the outside of the atoll.  We didn't have to wait long before we had a double hookup on Yellowfin Tuna, which was soon followed by a double hookup on Dogtooth Tuna.  Other species caught included Spanish Mackerel, Wahoo and Sailfish.

The boys from Sydney led by Peter Barnes were back again for another fishing adventure onboard Reel Teaser.  After last visiting the Rowley Shoals they decided to battle the Barra this time in the Kimberley.  The weather was fine and the boys enjoyed a lovely steam up the coast, but made quite a dent in the grog stocks!!  The next morning a stocktake was taken and drastic measures were now required.  A few phone calls later the boys were very relieved to have some stocks being sent up via floatplane to meet us in Talbot Bay.  The fishing was a little quiet at first until we got into real barra fishing country, but soon after that the 1st barra landed measured 78cm, a PB for Peter, followed by a metre fish for John (pictured here). 

One of Ron's passions has always been fishing and considering at one point we thought we were going to loose him, being able to share his passion with his family, his brother and his brother's family made this trip even more special.  The Harper's arrived in Broome to embark on a combined fishing and exploring charter through the Kimberley.  There was a bit of competition between the brothers, both out to catch the biggest Barra.  Wes landed this nice Barra on just day 2 which was too big for our fish measuring sticker.  

Our 3 couples arrived in Broome from the cold of Victoria to enjoy some good barra fishing, good sports fishing and to see a few sights in the Kimberley.  We steamed up the coast overnight, picked up our dinghies in the morning and headed straight to Crocodile Creek for a quick swim.  Unlike the name suggests it is quite safe to swim here.  We then headed not too far away for an afternoon fish.  The fishing session started off a little quiet for the boys catching just one nice barra and a few Fingermark and Mangriove Jacks but the girls went out and on just the 2nd cast Rosa had her hands full fighting this huge fish. 

Mike had fished with us before at the Rowley Shoals but this time some of the group decided to bring along their partners to fish the Kimberley from Broome, main target being Barramundi.  Now you'd think that Tuna are normally found out off the coast but no, not up this way.  We spotted some tuna working right up in a bay in the Kimberley whilst we were chasing GT's in the tenders.  On our second approach we scored a triple hook up and cut the engine.  What happened next was chaos.  Lines started to go everywhere uncontrollably and people had to duck and dive as they fought their fish. After a few minutes we worked out that we were caught in a whirlpool and the boat was spinning.  We landed 2 and a half tuna and had the whole boat in fits of laughter.

I have always believed that it's important to remember the good things in life, and that you should always hold on to happy memories especially during sad times.  This trip with Triggy and his gang will always be remembered for many reasons, some of which cannot be spoken about due to the code of "What happens on the boat stays on the boat!", some that will make us laugh and some that will make us sad.  The group caught some great fish including this beautiful Barra for Tim.

After visiting the Rowley Shoals with us in 2007 the Jone's came back to tackle Scott Reef & the Kimberley this time.  We headed out firstly to Scott Reef where the boys hit the blue water chasing Sailfish, Dogtooth, Wahoo, Yellowfin, GT's and anything else that bit.  Once again we came across some very large Dogtooth and the boys had fun trying to stop them but this time the bigger fish got the better of us.  A number of good sized Doggies were still landed including this nice one for Steve.  There were  a number of Sailfish around and we even tagged 2 small Black Marlin as well.  We enjoyed a nice feed of Scott Reef Trout and Jonah even sampled some Yellowfin Sashimi.

Talk about "Girls just want to have fun!!"  When I saw the video and photo's from this trip I was even more jealous that I wasn't able to be onboard, even more than most of the blokes we spoke to who offerred to be deckhand!!  Jeni Gates from Exmouth put together this group of keen female anglers who over the 10 day journey from Exmouth to Broome caught too many species to mention and had a ball whilst doing so.  The first leg of the trip concentrated on trolling for billfish with the girls being rewarded with an est 300kg Blue Marlin, 5 Black Marlin & possibly a Striped Marlin as well as a couple of Sailfish.  

Each year Gamex seems to grow bigger, this year attracting a field of 68 boats.  We had our same team onboard again but were also joined by Matt's Dad, Tim and Heady's Dad, Ray.  We were fishing for the Champion Boat Tag & Release Marlin.  The fishing for us started off a little slow whilst it seemed everyone else was tagging plenty, however over the week the field levelled out and the scores leading into the final day were very close with the tournament still being anyone's. 

In the lead up to Gamex it is always good to have a look around to see where the good water is and hopefully find where the fish are!!  We went out for a short session one day to give our decky Hama a chance on the rod.  The session started with a bang, with both the left rigger and left corner going off with a double hook up.  Both were large fish est. approx 150-200kg, the one on the rigger shook the hook after just a few minutes, but the other settled in for a good fight.  Hama quickly adjusted to the stand up gear and found himself finally in the motion of catching his first ever marlin.

Flyfishing for billfish is no easy task.  These animals are hard enough sometimes on conventional tackle.  Graeme and Owen joined us for 2 days to target billfish on fly.  Although there had been quite a few small fish around, as usual when we wanted one they were hard to find.  We had a few shots early on the first day but missed the hook ups. Then in the mid afternoon we raised a nice fish on the teaser which was quickly switched over to the fly.  The Black Marlin is shown here leaping across the tops of the waves.

Our season started in early March with a couple of overnight Broadbill charters.  We had heard stories of a number of small blacks being around so we put the lures out on our way to and from the Broadbill grounds.  This worked a treat with a number of bites resulting in some very acrobatic marlin being tagged.

With only a few days to get the boat from Broome to Exmouth our fishing was limited but we were not going to miss the opportunity of wetting a line.  Following on from the success of our November Marlin Trip it was decided to head out west of Broome then follow the deeper water south to Exmouth in search of more of these big Blues.  We steamed all night to get into some good ground before setting the lures out at first light.  Once again we had a dream start with Henry tagging his first ever fish, a nice 150kg Blue Marlin.

Our aim on this trip was once again to prove that at this time of the year there are a number of large Blue Marlin around the Rowley Shoals.  Weather was on our side, as is usually the case this late in the year so we headed out on glassy calm seas.  With a few new lures rigged up and drags checked the gear was deployed just before sun up on the first morning.  Our first strike came at 0801hrs and after an hour long fight on 60kg standup we tagged an est 240kg Blue Marlin, a great start!!!

This Perth based group had waited quite a while to step aboard Reel Teaser so after a good look around the new vessel we soon headed off to the Shoals.  When the group arrived with copious amounts of beer and wine we weren't sure whether they had come to fish or drink!  The 6 ton dry store converted well into a cellar for the occassion.  The pelagic fishing during the week was a little quiet at times as the group had been advised to expect this late in the year, however we still managed to raise 21 Sailfish, tag a nice Striped Marlin and catch many other species including Yellowfin Tuna.

This was Andrew and the boys 2nd trip with us to Scott Reef and once again the fishing and weather turned it on for a great week.  Our steam out was quiet with only 2 Marlin Strikes for the day.  Over the 5 days out at Scott the Sailfish came out to play, we raised 75 and managed to land and tag 14.  The Dogtooth were also out in force landing 29 with the biggest fish again caught on a live bait estimated at around 50kg caught by Ben.

For this October charter to the Rowley Shoals we were joined by a group of Internationals.  Three from Sweden, 1 Singaporian, 1 Welshman and of course 1 Kiwi had to be chucked in.  We had 7 days to fish and explore the atolls, outside the reef the fishing was good producing good numbers of Yellowfin and Wahoo.  The Sailfish were very quiet with only 1 being tagged.  The Dogtooth were on the bite but proved difficult to get past the sharks at times.

After their 1st trip to the Rowley Shoals the boys from Darwin decided on Scott Reef this time.  They had been told and warned about the big Doggies, the aggressive Sails and screaming Wahoo and were more than happy to take on the challenge.  Glenn even had some shirts made up for the group as a surprise with our most popular slogan "Make Pain Your Friend".  Hillar was reminded of this when fighting this awesome Doggie, the largest for the trip.

Our group for this Rowley Shoals trip stemed from SA, Troy and his mates were keen for a variety of fishing.  We could have used a semi trailer to collect all their gear on the morning of our departure, but I think they went home a little lighter having sacrificed some to the fish gods.  We had some great popper sessions landing a number of really nice GT's.  Sam was very happy with this one pictured here.

Andre had visited the Rowley Shoals with us before but this time bought along some of his key staff for a very special meeting.  We have many highlights from this trip and there is no way I can list them all, but I can say that everyone on board had an awesome time.  The boys fished hard and were well rewarded for their efforts although some would say that some team members contributed more than others!!

Ian, his brother Keith and friends John and Laurie go away regularly to fish.  They enjoyed bending a rod but also enjoyed sitting back in evenings with a good bottle (or should I say bottles!) of red and relaxing.  They fished hard when it was required and were paid off for their efforts with Sailfish, Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo and all the usual reef species found at the Rowley Shoals.  Just like this nice Maori Sea Perch caught by Ian.

This was our maiden voyage to the Rowley Shoals aboard our new vessel.  Our group of 6 mostly from Geraldton headed by Geoff Watson timed their trip to arrive with neap tides.  This sent us trolling on the outside of the atoll targeting gamefish.  The boys got stuck into some Yellowfin Tuna and Wahoo but missed their chances on the Sailfish this afternoon.  14 year old Dion caught himself a nice Dogtooth of about 15kg on the 1st night.

This was our 1st trip to Scott Reef for this year, and what a way to celebrate the arrival of our new vessel. Scott Reef once again proved to be a pelagic fishing hotspot.

The boys from Bridgestone were bound for the Rowley Shoals however due to a very strong wind forecast we gave them the option of heading to the Kimberley instead. We swapped the popper gear and snorkels for Barra gear and crab pots and off we went.

With a group of local WA boys onboard we headed out to the Rowley Shoals. These boys had some of the best gear we've ever seen onboard, they had obviously done their homework.

A group from the Yarra Valley Fly Fishers joined us for this trip to the Rowley Shoals. Amongst them our most senior client yet Sammy, at 82yrs.

We get some pretty keen anglers onboard and when they bring along dencorub for the aches and pain from repetitive casting and jigging you know they're serious!

Being our first charter to the Rowley Shoals for this season we were all keen to see what would be biting. Mark and his mates from Melbourne were not disappointed catching 26 different species and over 200 fish.

I think the name says it all but I don't think we've ever had a group of nicknames like these, Dropper, Pole, Chief Porky, FM, Lyle and Yabbi Pump. Then came the crew Captain Shooshalicker, Captain Liverwurst and luckily they are all kind to the cook (me) Miss Tracey!!

Reel Teaser Charters have recently purchased a 2nd hand 65ft Westcoaster. The ex longliner is being refitted to replace our current 52ft vessel.

We headed out to the Rowley Shoals in search of some Marlin. Nev, Joy and the boys from Outback Building Company were just happy to have a break from work and catch some nice fish.