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Last week I was writing this report while the film crew from Fishing Australia were out chasing billfish. Ed from Temptation and Michael Thompson from WIN news were out too, and Thommo caught his first billfish. Ed is pictured this week with his first sailfish and Rob Paxivanos from the program. Look out for the show in the next few weeks.
Mackerel have been showing up in numbers around the gulf side, for anglers trolling Laser Pros in a variety of depths. A few cobia have also fallen to these lures on the troll. Squid have been on in the afternoons around the marina and Learmonth jetty, according to a few locals.
Vic and Kath from Sydney are here on a ten-day break, and have been enjoying camping down the west side. They were walking along the beach near Pilgramunna when they found a mullet swimming oddly. A bird had pecked out one of its eyes, and it was swimming in circles. They decided to end its confusion and pain and cook it up for dinner - what an easy catch! They also caught a sweet spangly off the beach. After a day out in a friend’s boat diving around the islands and targeting trevally on barbless poppers, they have decided to come back with their boat and family to spend a few months a year here to enjoy the environment.
It’s a sad day today for Bluewater Tackle World Exmouth. Many of these reports and photographs each week are brought to you by Ant Simper. Ant has been a member of the team here for a few years, and at Bluewater Melville before that, but, something has finally hooked him. Yes, Ant is moving to Perth to be with his lovely girlfriend Tracey Widdup. I’m sure we will see both of them during their holidays up here in the future. We wish Ant and Tracey all the best and welcome the new staff, Brad (ex Bluewater Scarborough) and Eddy, who will be bringing you all the info each week.
The Father’s Day activity session was a great success with kids and parents learning different knots for boating and fishing, fly casting, baitcasting and how to cast a throw net. Col Jarrett won the limousine sunset cruise for booking in early, and the Wright family won the Shimano pack. The next function for EGFC will be a rigging session before the Betta Billfish Bonanza in October. If you’re keen to come along, get in touch with Jeni on 9949 1315.
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World
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The Roberts family from Margaret River caught a mixture of rankin cod, red emperor, spangled emperor and mackerel for their two week stay. The most unusual catch of their trip was a 12lb milkfish that was caught on a stickbait while trolling for mackerel.
Milkfish are extremely hard to target, and people spend countless hours and lots of money trying to lure these speedsters. Fly fishermen in particular try small bread flies and tiny hooks. Amazingly this fish was hooked in the mouth, and the size of the lure was almost as long as a loaf of bread!
Two film crews have been catching some snippets for television programs over the last two weeks. Jason Kennedy from ‘Fishing Trip’ on the Aurora channel got into some reef fish, mackerel, cobia and even hooked some sailfish during their stay. The crew of four guys had two presenters who said that one of their days’ fishing here was the best day out fishing they have ever had... now that’s a big call from guys who fish all over the country.
The film crew from ‘Fishing Australia’ with Rob Paxivanos also got into some reef fish, mackerel, GTs, queenfish, cobia and billfish. The producer of the show also said on one half-day out here, that it was the best he had ever experienced in the seven years of filming with the show! Another great comment.
The crew attempted to film fishing from a two-person Hobie kayak which has the foot pedals. This proved to be rather challenging. It was great fun, but difficult to film when the fish kept circling the kayak and taking the anglers for a ride. They plan to air the programs in a few weeks, so watch out for it on Win TV or your local channels.
Sailfish have been as thick as baitballs off Coral Bay, with Bernie Vale from Coral Bay Ocean Game Fishing Charters tagging six on one day and twelve on the next! The canyons off south passage have also been producing large numbers off billfish and several people have said they have been reef fishing or trolling for mackerel and hooking billfish. It’s gearing up to be a big season for when the tournament starts in late October, and we reckon that 2008 will go down in the history books for being a sensational year for fishing.
Shore fishing has been good too this week, with Norm Beauchamp catching the whopping 21lb+ bluebone pictured this week from the shore in Lighthouse Bay. Catches of squid off Bundegi on the high tide have also been reported.
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World |
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With the recent good weather, more boats have been able to fish the islands with mackerel schools being found around the Muiron Islands. One customer has been catching a few on Ballyhoo pushers, even throwing it back over with only half of the skirt left and hooking another! Another customer reported seeing a sailfish at the top of the north island apparently sunning itself in about eight metres of water. A couple of wahoo were caught by people trolling back from the islands on Sunday.
Anglers trying for billfish have been rewarded with plenty of strikes from small blacks and sailfish.
The good weather has also seen good sized gardies being caught along the gulf beaches with whiting and bream also being caught. Please check the sizes of the bream as most are just under the 300mm needed and just remember that these fish are in the marina spawning so leave some to replenish the stocks.
Squid are being caught both on the west side and in the gulf by shore and boat fishers. The marina has been firing for bream and some of the smaller species. The crabs have all but disappeared from the Bay of Rest with only a few being caught with a lot in berry. There are a few mud crabs starting to be caught down there too.
There have been good reports of red emperor, rankin cod and coronation cod being caught out from Tantabiddi, but some anglers are losing a few to the sharks that are patrolling the schools out from there. There have been good reports of spangled emperor inside the reef.
Pictured this week is Tubbs as his mates know him. While Tubb's wife was cooking prawns the night before, he pinched a few before his wife found out to use the next day fishing with mate Damo in the gulf. While fishing in one of Tubb's favourite (secret) spots his handline went off, and after a good tussle he landed this beautiful bluebone (black spot tuskfish) .
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World |
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Spanish mackerel have been caught trolling deep diving minnows along the back of the reef at Tantabiddi and out towards the Muiron Islands. The minnows are also picking up the occasional yellowfin tuna, wahoo and bottom fish. Colour hasn't been an issue but the shallow diving lures are not getting as many strikes as the deep divers.
Bottom fishing has been as productive as ever with reports of red emperor, rankin cod and spangled emperor making up the bulk of catch. Matt Roberts from Margaret River is in town on holiday for a couple of weeks, and has been making the most of the less windy days. Matt has been taking his 4m dinghy out from Tantabiddi and enjoying good catches of red emperor in depths of between 100 -110m of water.
Billfish are still being hooked mostly on trolled skirts, with a few mahi mahi an added bonus. Trolling the deeper contours should find you fish. Richard Black and Travis Rumballe had a successful double hook-up on sailfish on Richo's boat on the west side recently. The local charter boat “Freespool" skippered by Dan O'Sullivan also fished during the week, and tagged 3 black marlin for the day, with a couple of missed strikes from suspected sailfish.
Bream and whiting are being caught all along the gulf side both north and south of the marina, with some good flathead amongst the schools. Garfish are also being caught off the gulf beaches around high tide, a little bit of berley is needed to bring the garfish schools in close to the shore. Squid have started to appear in bigger numbers over recent weeks after what has been a relatively quiet winter for squid in Exmouth. The weed beds south of the marina have been the better area to try, as well as making sure you're fishing the incoming tide .
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World |
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The crabs in the Bay of Rest have been plentiful this year, but according to Fisheries many people have been keeping undersized blue mannas. Over the weekend Fisheries checked several boats, and infringements were given out to people for the undersized crabs taken. Please be mindful of this and be aware that there will be more checks from both Fisheries and DEC in the future as DEC officers are also being trained in this department.
Predominantly easterly winds have made fishing in Exmouth Gulf a little uncomfortable until late in the afternoons, when the wind drops. Squid have been plentiful both north and south of the Marina. Those fishing out of small boats having been encountering plenty of school mackerel, which have been taking mostly small diving minnow lures.
Tantabiddi has seen small black marlin and sailfish for those anglers putting in the time trolling out wide with skirted lures. Wahoo and yellowfin tuna are also putting in an appearance between billfish strikes. Anglers trolling the back of the reef have reported good action from spanish mackerel with the odd cobia and longtail tuna thrown in for good measure.
Whiting and yellowfin bream have made up the majority of the catch for those fishing the Gulf beaches. When the neap tides were on, being on the beach very early in the morning was crucial if you were chasing a feed.
A few weeks ago we talked about Alf Lemm catching some fish from his kayak. This week we have a pic of one of the fish he caught from his kayak using a Halco Roosta popper. Using 60lb leader and a 1.5m rod, Alf was able to wrestle the fish out from under a ledge after a ten-minute battle .
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World |
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Jason Turner of Willeton was fishing in the gulf last week for mackerel, in a 5.5m boat just out from Bundegi reef. Jason was using 24kg line and a Rapala Red Head lure when he managed to land the whopping great mackerel pictured this week. Apparently when they put it on the 50kg scales it bottomed out!
If this had been caught by a registered EGFC member using IGFA rated line and had the correct leader lengths, and it was weighed in on the club scales, and it weighed over 45kg... it would have been a world record! It's hard to see a size from a picture, that's why it's always good to be weighed on certified scales to verify the weight. This fish was photographed many times, and subsequently consumed by many happy campers!
The response for the Father's Day activity session for the EGFC has been huge, and it is looking to be a fun-filled day with information, activities, food, drinks and much more. There will be cast net throwing, baitcasting lessons, fly casting lessons, knot tying for fishing and knot tying for boating as well as information from the department of fisheries.
All people who have notified us early that will be attending the day, by calling and registering, will go into the draw to win either a fishing pack from Shimano and Bluewater Tackle World, or a limousine cruise for six people thanks to Exmouth Bus and Limo Hire! To assist with catering, please let us know if you want to come along by informing Jeni on 9949 1315 and what you are interested in doing.
The Father's Day raffle of an Engel will also be drawn on the day, so you'd betta hurry up and buy a ticket!
Graeme Colyer and Tony Torre from Mindarie have been fishing in the gap using mulies and squid. The boys landed a longtail tuna that was 1.4m long. This fish will be eaten fresh as sashimi, cooked up quicky on the bbq, smoked, and the leftovers frozen. They also hooked a big fish that played with them for some time before spitting the hook. This all happened on their first day out.
There are a few surfers up at present looking for the winter swell. While the swell has been down many of the guys have been fishing. One of them from PDOT called us up on the radio to ask how to release a large cod they caught in 35m of water. Advice was given over the radio and the fish was released successfully. If you are not sure about how to do this, then please call in to the shop and pick up the free DVD from Recfishwest on proven best practice for releasing demersal reef fish .
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World |
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Walking down to fishing access areas at this time of year is spectacular, with all the wildflowers in bloom. That's just what Jason Whittaker has been doing as he has fished all up and down the Ningaloo coast from Mildura Wreck to Yardie Creek this week. He has been targeting fish on light tackle with soft plastic lures and hard bodied lures, for catch and release, and has had success with over 20 different species.
Sue Swayn and husband Dean are up on a return fishing holiday for a few weeks with their new boat called 'On Strike'. They were bursting with news from their first few days out, during which they managed to land their first marlin that was an estimated 60kg. They've also had success north of Tantabiddi on spangled emperor and other reef dwellers.
Damien Cestrilli and Paul Micheli are also on a fishing holiday and came up to target GTs for catch and release, as well as billfish on a trip to Dampier via the ocean. The guys got blitzed on GTs between the 20 and 30kg mark using large poppers, barbless hooks and Saltiga gear. They also tagged two sailfish and raised another couple on the first day. No doubt, the boys will remember this trip for a long time! They're now on the water heading for Dampier.
It's not very often we get somebody as keen and as enthusiastic here in the store as 81yrs young Ian Dunn. “Dunny “as he likes to be called, is in town for a couple of months on holiday from Geraldton, with his 5m Swiftcraft boat in tow. Dunny has been a daily visitor here in the store since his arrival last month, but has been struggling to find a crew to take out in his boat. Last week Dunny finally made it out fishing with his long time mate Don Young and with Ant Simper. The guys had a couple of fantastic days fishing out from the Muiron Islands, catching plenty of quality bottom fish. Spangled emperor, rankin cod, chinaman fish, Robinson's sea bream and red emperor were all encountered in good numbers. Dunny hasn't caught a red emperor since the 1970s, so he was absolutely ecstatic when he pulled in a lovely seven kilo red emperor on his deep sea outfit. The near-perfect weather conditions made it all the more enjoyable for the guys with glassy conditions .
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World |
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Cam Druitt was up on holidays from Perth with mates recently. Cam makes sea anchors and wanted to see some of his work in action. He also wanted to go out for a day's fishing to target some pelagic fish.
They chose to target marlin, and booked Freespool II for the day. In the past, we generally have not had many boats targeting these species in these colder months; therefore we haven't really had the statistics to show how prevalent these species are at this time. However, the results were amazing.
The guys hooked five marlin for the day. Each one of the men tagged their first billfish. I don't think there is any other place in Australia that has this kind of fishery at present. The fish ranged in size from under 50kg to over 150kg. We are extremely fortunate. The guys also caught mackerel for the day and enjoyed the day so much that they are still raving about it and sending letters to tourism departments.
Young brothers Zane and Mason Crocker from Floreat were fishing off the gulf when Mason hooked a flathead, and as he was landing it a crab came close and nearly bit his toe off! Zane caught three yellowfin bream using prawns.
Meanwhile Exmouth local Chris Damen headed out for a day's fishing off the Muirons, with Ant Simper in Ant's 5m centre console. The pair fished various spots throughout the day, concentrating on depths around 30m. Fishing in that depth of water you are likely to encounter a big variety of fish species and this day was no different. Red emperor, bluebone, coral trout, rankin cod, longnose emperor, spangled emperor, mackerel and a big cobia all were encountered over the day.
Chris was really keen to catch a big bluebone, and was lucky enough to score a beautiful big specimen on his very last drop of the day.
Are you looking for something to do on Father's Day? The EGFC are holding a Father's Day breakfast at the park opposite the Mall, on Sunday Sept 7th. You and Dad can learn how to throw a cast net, or cast a baitcast reel. There will be knot tying for fishing, rope tying for boating and much more. If room and interest permits, there may even be fly casting. The Father's Day raffle will be drawn on the day and there will be bacon and eggs rolls to keep the energy levels up! Anybody is welcome to come along; Mum's, Dad's, kids, grandparents or individuals: so register your interest at Bluewater Tackle World Exmouth or ring Jeni on 9949 1315 .
Text and pics © Bluewater Tackle World |
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