The billfish are starting to show up in better (pardon the pun!) numbers this last week and all in time for the upcoming Betta Billfish Bonanza. Whether it is sails in the gulf, or marlin off the west side, it will be an interesting comp this year with the Exmouth Game Fishing Club hoping there will be plenty of anglers out to enjoy the three-day event. This tournament is an easy start for new anglers that want to try billfishing. If you are keen to give it a go, you don’t need big flash boats or reels to be in the running for some great prizes and good times. Many anglers can chase these species in small boats, when the weather permits, and let’s hope it will be a great weekend. For further advise, drop in to see us at Tackleworld and further details and entry forms can be found at www.egfc.com.au
The reef fishing this week has been productive with reports of red emperor and gold band job fish in depths up to 100m. Thankfully the weather has been good for anglers targeting reef fish and baits of mullet and squid has yielded good results. The inshore reef has produced good sized spangled emperor during the day, while anglers on shore have also reported spanglies around dawn. Lighthouse Bay has had some black spotted tusk fish reports and using scraps of heads and shells from a fresh feed of prawns from Kailis works well for berley for these species. Not to mention tastes good! It’s not long now before the prawn season finishes, so get in while you can.
The Muiron islands have produced some decent sized Spanish mackerel and queenfish lately. Staff member Abel Manning was fishing the Exmouth Gulf this week using soft plastics when he hooked up to a rather hard fighting fish. The boys had been catching and releasing coral trout, small trevally, blue line emperor, and Spanish flag. His fishing buddies thought it was ‘nothing special’ and kept fishing themselves. After a lengthy tussle, Abel finally managed to land the Giant Trevally pictured this week. Now, you have to put the picture in to perspective, as Abel is 6ft6! So it’s a rather large trevally to catch on a soft plastic using light gear in the gulf: I say great effort! The fish had a few happy snaps and eagerly took off back to its playground.
Abel Manning GT