Sailfish activity in Exmouth Gulf has dominated reports.  Steve Michaels from Mandurah is up on holiday in town for a few weeks with the family, and has been enjoying a memorable time fishing with wife Lisa and kids Hayden, aged five, and Brooke who is three. Young Hayden is the keenest five-year-old angler you will ever meet, and has been dreaming of catching a sailfish ever since laying eyes on one in a photo from last year. This week Hayden and dad Steve ventured out in the Gulf on the boat In Deep, with the intention of putting Hayden on to his first sailfish.

A couple of hours passed without much activity, but Hayden still remained as keen as ever trying to spots the tell tale sign of birds feeding possibly indicating feeding sailfish below. All of a sudden a lit-up sailfish appeared at the back of the teasers. A bait was dropped back to sailfish, and the fish had no hesitation in taking the live offering. Before he knew it Hayden was on the rod attached to a billfish.

With only a little bit of help from Dad, Hayden worked the sailfish for close to ten minutes before it was close enough to the boat to get a tag shot in, and then brought aboard for a quick photo before release.

Hayden followed up his sailfish capture a couple of days later with a nice cobia, which took a trolled minnow lure just out the front of the marina. After Hayden’s awesome effort with the sailfish, it was mum Lisa’s turn next, this time on the family boat “Satisfaction”. With a crew consisting of a three- and a five-year-old it was quite a team effort, with skipper Steve trying help Lisa fight the fish, pull all the teasers, drive the boat and then tag and release the sailfish in good condition. Hayden and Brooke did their bit too, giving mum all the support she needed.

Queenfish are the main target for the shore-based anglers at the moment. Old Bundegi flats late in the afternoon with the falling tide have been the time one of the better spots to try. Small surface lures such as the Owner Tango Dancers are proving to be the most successful and certainly the most visually exciting way to fish for the queenfish. The queenies can often be seen cruising along the flats in packs of four or five fish, and sometimes it’s just been a matter of placing a cast in front of the fish resulting in an instant hook up.