Wild Open Spaces

By Marcus Braid on January 26, 2015 in

I love this sunburnt country; the sheer vastness of our land amazes and astounds me every time I board a plane to take a holiday to one of its endless wild open spaces.

Sitting down in Margaret River, Western Australia to write this has been a bit of a challenge, to be honest. With the never-ending coastline and unexplored bays, headlands, cracks, crevices and caves all beckoning, and with world class vineyards doing their best to distract, there’s scarcely been enough time to eat and sleep, let alone stop and write.

The southwest corner of this amazing land is a destination that you must put on your list. Late spring through to autumn is the time of year to visit, once the rains of winter have subsided and the warmth of the persistent sun has swept across the land, ripening the fruit that has put Margaret River on the map.

Despite all of the hype around the food and wine, what I really love about this place is that it is the most remote part of any populated continent on Earth, and standing among the sand dunes or at the water’s edge with the Indian or Southern Ocean lapping at your feet, you can feel the remoteness and the ancientness of the natural rhythms that envelope you. What isn’t to love about that?

To top it off, the fishing and diving’s pretty good too. In fact, I’ve lived off the ocean for the better part of the week that I’ve been here, foraging in the forests and gathering from the sea. There is no other place I’d rather be (for now, anyway).

That said, back on the home front in the best suburbs in the best city in the world, January is a cracker of a month to get on the water and wet a line, so every time you get the opportunity, take it.

If you are boat-based, start the session by dropping your legal allotment of crab pots/witches hats across some of the harbour’s sandy straights to snare a feed of the ocean’s tastiest bounty: sweet blue swimmer crabs.

Remember, even in the height of summer it’s important to ensure you have a day plan and try to stick to it. Start by having a squid jig tied to a light (4kg/7ft) spinning rod and a 7-gram metal lure tied to a separate, even lighter (2kg/7ft) spinning rod. Keeping a keen eye out for surface bust-ups, work your way over your favourite squid grounds, diligently fanning casts to cover the territory. Once you’ve got fresh bait the options can seem endless.

January is a great month for almost every species that is caught off Sydney. XOS hoodlum yellowtail kingfish have been around for at least a month – check the regular haunts. Snapper will be on the inshore reefs and pocket rocket pelagics will be everywhere. If targeting jewfish (mulloway) interests you, put in the hard yards now using a mix of live and cut baits and casting a heavily weighted large soft-plastic lure around. Offshore the mahi mahi and marlin will be on the hunt in the cobalt currents, and in the harbour you can expect all the bread and butter species and some northern surprises as well.

So whatever you do this month, find the time, make the excuse and get out there and enjoy our country’s wild open spaces.