Have you been fishing this week?  It seems everyone else has.  The afternoons have been so glorious with the waters in the gulf resembling a blue mirror with a purple and pink haze across the horizon as the sun sets.  As you drive down to the marina rod tips can be seen busily moving back and forth with baits and lures.  It certainly is a relaxing environment that helps end the day. 

Sunrise in the gulf has been just as inspiring for anglers as schools of bait have been seen shimmering close to shore when conditions are glassy of an early morning.  The whiting fishermen have been at town beach before dawn again lately with the high tide around sunrise, making it optimal for landing the tasty species.  

The shoals in the gulf have been firing lately for anyone able to get out in a boat. A visiting female angler from Japan Chizuru Sato along with a few of her friends headed out to the shoals in Captain Carlo Ferrara’s cat called “Whiskas” last week.  They were using deep diving lures that swim at depths of 7-8meters with ten kilo line when a fish hooked up.  After a hard struggle and a few screaming runs Chizuru managed to land the fish.  To everyone’s surprise it was the biggest fish they had ever seen caught.  It was a mackerel that weighed in at 25kilos!  This may have been a state record if the angler had been a member of the game fishing club, which is a little reminder for those anglers that fish regularly, just incase a record is caught.  Needless to say there was lots of sashimi going around that night!

Three guys from Bunbury, Steve Michela, Chris Torrissi and Neilson Bouquet, left the storms of the south last week to arrive in sunny Exmouth for a week of fishing.  The trio also fished the gulf around the 8m depths and caught two coral trout around the 6-8kilo mark.  They also caught a black spotted tusk fish or bluebone as we call, it around the same size.  There were large schools of golden trevally around the boat on several occasions.  Flicking lures straight in front of them worked a treat and the water was so clear that they could see every strike.  The boys have also been mud-crabbing successfully and literally having a ball.

Shore fishing around the west side has continued to do well although not as easy as the last fortnight.  Anglers willing to take that extra hike and search for the small schools of bait are being rewarded with catches of queenfish.  Spanglies at dusk with mullet and squid for bait have also been reported from traveling anglers.