The gulf has continued to show up some good variety of sports fish with bait schools hanging around the back of Bundgei reef. A clear-blue warm stretch of water has been running from Bundegi down to Two-Rocks and within this area anglers have caught shark mackerel, trevally, cobia, queenfish, small Spanish mackerel and a variety of tuna. Dave Knight has been on holidays and visiting his son Ben, who enjoys getting amongst the sports fish. In just a few days Dave managed to catch cobia, queenfish, golden trevally, giant trevally, shark mackerel and rankin cod. All these species were caught on the Bozo’s soft plastic range. Dave also caught his first bonefish on the west side of the cape. Almost all of the fish were caught and released, while Dave enjoyed a few fresh fish dinners as well.

Queenfish caught on soft plastic Bozo lure The mackerel have showed up around the west side off Tantabiddi lately. One of the charter boats had a great day off Helby Bank with mackerel and some of the customers caught their biggest fish ever! The charter boats have had some good reports of spangled emperor and rankin cod in the 70m depths, while the sharks have not been as prevalent.

Schools of large squid have been caught off Bundegi inside the reef. The succulent cephalopods have made some great dinners for anglers. There is always the debate about which colour works best, but according to reports, the blue and green colours have had the best results.

The schools of gulf mulies have already started to congregate in the gulf on the north western side of Exmouth Reef. The sailfish should be moving through in big numbers soon to feed on the masses of bait as it approaches the dates for the Billfish Bonanza. This three-day tag and release billfish event is a great way to get into billfishing. There will be a rigging session a week prior to the event and you can learn everything from what gear to use, how to tag and handle a billfish boatside and how to target them at this time of year. If you are interested in getting a team together, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Email info@egfc.com.au or call in to the tackle shops and ask for some advice.