coventry reef                    

Coventry reef is situated on five fathom bank approximatley 4 nautical miles south west of Penguin Island.     The reef is a surface reef rising out of 10metres of water and is generally easy to spot as it is mostly covered in whitewater and on some days is visible for a couple of miles.  

It has been a very popular spot for years probably because of its close proximity to rockingham and the fact that it is relativly easy to find. There has been a huge array of fish come from this reef over the years.   Most years in early April the reef is alive with Australian Salmon and on some days I have seen over forty boats squeezed in waiting for their turn to catch one of these great sportfish either baitcasting mulies into the wash or trolling around the reef in anticipation of that big strike.  

  A couple of weeks ago Andrew Jackson and I took a trip out early morning. We had just tended our craypots around Penguin Island took a look at the magic flat water and decided we had better get out to Cov`s before the hoards start moving in. Sure enough twenty minutes later when we arrived at the reef only one other boat was on the mark. I only fish out of a 14 foot tinnie so weather is a key factor in us getting out there for a mornings fishing, a hint of a south-westerly and I,m outa there!!!!! As it was the conditions couldn`t have been any better.

   We took our first pass on the northern corner of the reef, dropped my 85gram raider out the back and started our first pass. Andrew hadn`t even got his in the water before that noise we all wait for REEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!  STRIKE.  I was on to my first salmon of the season on the first pass. We only use light gear so the fight is tremendous. 11minutes the first fish took to land on 4kilo gear. The fish bucked and did some fantastic aerail displays in an attempt to throw the hook but to no avail, the hunter had one this time!!!! One to me..  No sooner had we started our troll again this time with one Rmg scorpion 125 trolled in close to the prop wash and a large metal slice out the back that magic noise came again in the form of two screaming reels(DOUBLE HOOKUP). This is where a small boat comes into its own, nothing can manovure as well as a dinghy with two fishos hooked up in close to breaking reef. And yes both were landed in 7minutes. Two beautiful salmon of 4.5-5kilos each.

  We ran a third pass along the northern corner of the reef and my reel started to sing again.      This time there was no jump just head down and power off into the reef. Thumb on the spool and lift, no you don’t you big mongrel out you come. Still no jump ,I look over to Andrew and said mate this is no salmon, if it was it was going to be a monster. As luck would have it I managed to stay connected to this fish for over ten minutes before getting a look at it five metres below the boat. YELLOWTAIL KINGFISH!!!!!!  Yahoo my first kingy on light tackle and on an 85gram metal slice to boot.  The fish took one last run for freedom before being pumped back to the boat and landed. It was only a small fish in comparison to some of the big kingy s I have seen over the years weighing in at just over 4.5kilos but he must have just had his weeties because he had three times the sting that a salmon the same size had.  

Andew and I proceded to catch our bag limit of salmon with double hookups on every pass of the reef over the next couple of hours. In total we landed forteen salmon releasing 6 fish, one yellowtail king and a surprise 2kilo skippy which nailed Andrews scorpion lure. The Kingys seem to appear with the Salmon at coventry and there have been mny reported over the last month in the area ranging up from a few kilos to 30kilo monsters. Simon downs landed two fish while baitcasting mulies for salmon, one fish weighed 12kilos and was kept. The other was estimated at 30kilos and was released as fish this size should be!!! Kingys that big just don’t taste good so get a photo and put it back.  

Some people might say why keep salmon there just a neighbours fish. Well I can tell you that if the fish is kept fresh, bled properly and the fillets are dressed properly it can be very palatable. In fact I find the meat very nice when cooked in marinade or crumbed or smoked.

  Tackle used at covenrtry varies tremendously between fishos but personally I use two outfits, one is a Abu 6500c3 reel on a 4-6kilo kilwell rod. The other is a banax sounion on a two kilo crocidile rod. Both are loaded up with braid which works well in close to bombies, you cant afford to give the fish any extra line than neccessary as they will clean you up every time.  These outfits perform well for me for light trolling to casting poppers and mulies over the reef.  The down side of a small rig like this is if a monster does come along you have little chance of stopping it unless you can give chase . Unfortunatley at Cov`s 9 times out of ten the resident Sambos will do you in every time they feel the prick of the hook , but for fish like salmon and big tailor these outfits perform exceptionally well.  In fact I use the same rig on my annual pilgramige to the fishing gods home in the west kimberley, and have landed fish in excess of 15kilos on the same rig.

   Fly fishing is gaining popularity year by year and I have done my fair share of saltwater fly.

Two weeks ago on a perfect Friday morning my Father Roy and myself headed back out to coventry, instead of two boats on the mark there was a flottilla of boats floating around the reef. We had only taken our trolling outfits and luck was not with us. The area was covered in weed and every troll resulted in a mass of weed on our lures. I didnt take my fly rod with me but there was one keen fisho standing on the front of his boat on the western end of the reef waving his wand around. Within a few minutes of watching him he was hooked up and having a ball, the salmon did multiple aerials and took approximately 10minutes to land. This guy caught three fish in succession before we left the reef for home.  Fly rods to use out there would be no less than and 8wt prefferably around the 10wt with an intermediate sinking line and large decievers or surf candys for fly choice.

 There are many options for fishing Coventry reef from ultralight sportfishing, flyfishing or just bobbing a mulie along the bottom all year round. Hopefully it will continue to produce the numbers of fish I have seen come from it for many years to come. This depends on you taking care of a finite ecosystem that requires respect and restraint on the over zealous fisho who might wish to plunder. Take care of it and it will fish well for generations!!!!!!!!!