A boat trip to Geraldton and back was the reason for no report last week (sorry); however the crew here have informed me of what has been happening.  Luckily for us the weather for the trip along the coast from Exmouth to Geraldton was extremely kind, especially past the treacherous Zuytdorp Cliffs.  The huge swells of 4-5meters were very interesting north of Carnarvon and I’m sure the surfers were thrilled.  Large bait schools off South passage at Coral Bay looked like scenes from the ABC Blue Planet series with large cobia and mackerel, sharks and all sorts in a feeding frenzy.  We were alerted to the baitschool by the conglomeration of birds feeding, which is always worth a closer look if you are on the water.  North of Winderabandi we raised a pod of striped marlin that absolutely annihilated our teasers.  Jo Decker hooked up to a small striped marlin by switching back a bait beside the teaser.  Later off south passage Tantabiddi and further north, we raised about another six billfish.  There’s no doubt that we have good billfish country here.  Although the trip was good, it’s great to be home in Exmouth. 

Meanwhile yesterday Wayne Maclardy and friends were fishing off Helby Bank in their 21ft boat.  They were reef fishing and had a couple of floating baits out that got smashed up by mackerel.  The boys managed to land a 20, 25 and 30 kilo mackerel.  The bigger specimen leaping out of the water like a billfish.  On the bottom, the boys caught rankin cod, estuary cod, spangled emperor and red throat emperor.  As you can imagine, they were stoked.  

It has been calm in the mornings around Tantabiddi way with strong easterly winds and then when it turns to south west it becomes rather messy, leaving the gulf to glass before the late sunset breeze finally kicks in.  This typical September pattern is quite predictable, but it is always good to check the weather forecast before venturing out. www.buoyweather.com is what we find the best to use here. 

The shore fishing has been a little slow although the whiting have continued to keep many anglers happy.  Small trevally have been prevalent and are a great fun fish for youngsters.  The early mornings around the west side have been good for spangled emperor, especially on dawn before the strong winds kick in.