Exmouth News 2007 10 18

The fishing in Exmouth this past week has been nothing short of sensational, with fish reports seemingly coming from all areas. More pics than usual this week...

Bluewater Exmouth's Ant Simper took his dinghy out for a quick troll around the baitballs off Tantabiddi through the week, and tagged this feisty black marlin. It was in the 150-200kg range.

Big masses of baitfish have arrived along both the west side and in Exmouth Gulf. Of course with the huge abundance of baitfish in the area, many species of predatory fish haven’t been far away.

The Tantabiddi region has been alive with all manners of pelagic fish, from trevally, tuna and mackerel right in close to the reef right through to marlin, wahoo and sailfish out in the deeper water.  From the few people that have ventured out chasing billfish, the reports have been very positive ,with most reporting predominantly small black marlin, and just the occasional larger marlin showing up. 
 
Bluewater Exmouth's Matt Gates accompanied Brett Wolf for a casual fly session on Monday, which included this bonefish. That's one of the Invizo nets we sell too... they're good too. Not as good as catching bonefish on fly though. 
Everywhere you look there seems to be schools of tuna busting up on the surface chasing baitfish, and some anglers have been picking up a few big wahoo by trolling around the tuna schools with deep diving minnow lures trolled as fast as they can go with the lures still holding in the water.
 
Who'd be a baitfish. Seriously. Who would ever be a baitfish. Tantabiddi this week.
A few members of the Department of Fisheries were in town last week doing a biological research study on spangled emperor in Exmouth waters. The guys were collecting filleted spangled emperor carcasses off the anglers at the boat ramps, but they also went out for a couple of evenings' fishing out of the research vessel, and found plenty of good-sized spangled emperor out from Tantabiddi  in around 20m of water.
 
Jonah Freestone's sixth birthday was a very good day. Brett Wolf helps balance a powerful gold-spot trevally for the camera.
Shore based anglers haven’t missed out on the bait-ball mayhem either, with the baitfish being pushed right in close to a few of the access roads on the west side. The few anglers that have been lucky enough to find the bait schools along the beach have been rewarded with awesome sessions catching everything from queenfish, various trevally, small mackerel and even tuna all caught from the comfort of the beach.
 
Of course, while catching a bonefish would make a fly fisherman's day, following it up with a permit is something else again. One of two Matt scored the same day as the bone above; and if he had been quick they could have shot down the Gulf for a tarpon. But they retired for a celebratory instead.
Want to learn more about rigging up for gamefish?  Bluewater Tackle World Exmouth are holding a rigging session night for interested anglers.  The focus will be on the upcoming Betta Billfish Bonanza, with suggestions for rigging lures, baits and general setting up of gear for sailfish and marlin.  Numbers are limited, and there is no charge, so please make sure you book with Jeni on 9949 1315.
Another one of Ant's marlin from the dinghy.
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World

 

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