The boat ‘Mickey Finn’ was fishing off Tantabiddi with its crew from Perth this last week. The boys reported catching everything from mackerel, wahoo, dolphin fish, barracuda and sailfish just outside the north passage. They managed to land 14 mackerel successfully without being harassed by sharks, which is good to hear.

Anglers have been sending in emails and bringing in photos of fish caught and tales to go with it. Luke Collins caught the fine trevally pictured this week while he was trolling in 18m of water. The fish was caught on 30lb Fireline, the reel was a Shimano TLD15 on a Shimano BackBone rod. It took 18 minutes to land and towed the boat into waters that were just 6m deep. This all took place in the hotspot of Tandabiddi’s south passage. The dolphin fish have showed up consistently over the last few weeks for anglers heading out west of the Muiron islands. This area is also great for holding baitfish and other predatory species. Anglers chasing reef fish in this productive area have had success with red emperor, job fish and rankin cod. One angler was fishing for reef fish using squid Grant from Darwin is on holidays with his girlfriend Jess. Since being here he has caught loads of species including his first dolphin fish, wahoo, sailfish and bonefish.

Grant is a keen angler who will definitely be back to Exmouth. He has enjoyed the wonderful fishing and fresh seafood on offer here, but has released the majority of his catches. I think he and Jess may even contemplate looking for work here in the near future. The Exmouth Game Fishing Club had a recent meeting and the lucky member for the month of January was Garry Cossil. Each month there is a lucky member draw. If you plan to become a member for 2009, make sure you get your forms in soon so that you can be in the running for the February draw. You can get the form from the website www.egfc.com.au or at Bluewater Tackle World Exmouth.

Garry won a Billfish Foundation t-shirt. There are different prizes each month and you never know what may be next? The extensions to the marina over the last year have given more havens to small and new fish coming in to the area. Several locals have reported that many different species can be encountered using small soft plastics and very light gear. Constantly moving and trying different lures should produce a good variety of fish, but don’t expect anything too big..yet.