The wet weather down south has certainly sent many tourists up here this last week or two.  The town is starting to fill out more and more with regular visitors and overseas holidaymakers coming off the main track to see what we have to offer here in Exmouth.

The shore fishing has been firing for tourists and locals wishing to wet a line.  Anthony Simper and Daniel Chapman mixed up their days of fishing between shore and boat, landing some interesting fish.  The boys were primarily here to sports fish and some morning sessions from the shore the pair caught and released queenfish and trevally hand over fist using gold twisties.  Out in their 14ft Hornet boat the boys trolled for mackerel around the back of Tantabiddi and successfully landed many Spanish and shark mackerel up to 16kg.  The most interesting catch was a 4kg Robinson Sea Perch they caught in 24m of water using a floating mulie.  These fish are usually only found in water depths of 100m+. 

Local avid angler Sue Bishop wanted to catch a big mackerel last week.  Sue ventured out with a couple of friends and fished the south passage area.  The swell from the south combined with the offshore wind created perfect tubes on either side of south passage that every surfer dreams about.  The trio set a trail of mulie burley and drifted out with the current.  A few mackerel were hooked, but not landed.  They then trolled with laser pros and once again several hook-ups, but none landed.  Finally they anchored and had a floating bait out which hooked a 15kg mackerel.  A large male dolphin fish was also sighted feeding in the burley slick, but didn’t take to a presented bait.  Then to top the day off Sue caught the biggest coral trout I have ever seen.  The crew caught another coral trout, but Sue wanted to release it, which was good to see. The trout was dazed for a few seconds, and then swiftly scurried back to its hole. 

Graeme Pearson is a fly fishing enthusiast from Perth who has been here fishing for the last week with his wife Petra.  In one morning session last Sunday he caught dart, long tom, mackerel and queenfish all on fly.  His wife walked the beaches with him and using bait also caught dart, golden trevally and even a black spotted tusk fish.

Large squid have been caught around the weed beds near Tantabiddi, Bundegi and the marina.  Some of the squid were so large according to angler John Morley, that they were straightening the hooks on the jigs!  John and fellow angler Ben took home just three squid which fed four people for three meals, not to mention giving them bait for their next red emperor trip.