The Betta Billfish Bonanza is on soon. There will be a rigging session, held on the grassed area in front of Bluewater Tackle World Exmouth, from 5pm on Thursday the 16th of October. There will be a sausage sizzle. Make sure you bring a chair, and if you want help to rig your own gear, bring it too. There will be information on suggested rigs, suggested teasers and spreads, how to tag a billfish and fish handling boat-side.

No idea what that is? Read on...

Just yesterday, Eddy Lawler headed out for a practice and caught his first sailfish.  The sailfish had been previously tagged, however the fish pulled the hook before the crew could get the tag number. If you are catching these fish, please look to see if there is a tag on the fish, as it is important for research. Often the tag can have marine growth on it such as the one pictured this week.

Mackerel have been abundant at the Muiron Islands, with sharks getting their fair share of hooked ones as well. Giving the mackerel a chance to outrun the sharks has been the best way to land a few. A few spear fishers were at the islands on Wednesday and managed to land a few, but also lost a few to the sharks. The best was a 30.5 kg monster taken by a local named Dan. The sharks were that friendly that the guys were pushing them away from hooked fish on the spears, and a couple were snatched out of the hands of the unsuspecting fishers.

With the water temp warming up, more bait schools are being spotted in the Gulf with the usual tuna schools attacking them. Spotting them is just a matter of watching for the water to erupt and seeing the birds working from above. Cobia and mackerel have been welcome opponents around the schools as well.