Anglers and families soak up GAMEX fun

There are boats and anglers in town soaking up the atmosphere of one of Australia’s most prestigious fishing tournaments — GAMEX.

Fishing tales are being told over casual drinks and many school kids are keen to see the fish filleting demonstrations.

The club is open each evening for visitors to view what is weighed-in while they can also have a meal and drinks.

There will be a special early filleting demonstration on Wednesday from 4pm at the EGFC to show youngsters and adults how to sharpen knives, plus how to make the most of your catch by filleting fish well.

Visitors will also be shown how to take the wings out easily from fish and any fish filleted will be available for a free sample to take home.

Anyone can come down on any night of GAMEX to collect free samples of fish caught.

That is just what Gino did after catching a 4.6kg spangled on a 4kg line. It was a great catch, but was topped by the 24.8kg yellowfin tuna catch on 4kg line by angler Matt Arscott aboard the boat Awesum.

The scientists are thrilled to be here for GAMEX and get samples for research. The first night had many species come in, including queenfish, golden trevally, yellowfin tuna and more.

One of the capture boat favourites, Razorback, brought in a 3.5kg goldspot trevally that was caught on a 1kg line by Ryan Turner.

The first day of the event had the fishing suspended with a strong wind warning halting the lines-in call.

Despite the prediction of 20-25 knots reaching 30 knots, the water off the lighthouse was so calm that there was not even a whitecap at 7am. The committee assessed the weather and met to find that the conditions were calmer than forecast and fishing began at 10am.

The wind stayed down for much of the morning west side, then picked up in the afternoon.

That is the interesting and challenging component to fishing in Exmouth, as the wind was howling in town yet calm on the west side. By the afternoon it was howling on the west side and a glass off in the gulf.

The billfish scene was a little quiet on the first day with only a dozen being tagged, although nine boats did not fish the first day.

Day two shaped up to be good with more than a dozen caught before 10am.

We expect the fishing to improve as the week progresses and pray that the weather god is good to us.

We have had some big swells around and it is great to have the water temperatures drop to get the fish biting on the surface.

Junior female angler Jesse Sutton fishing aboard Got ‘im On managed to land a 5.9kg golden trevally on a 3kg line, while Jason Hornardt on Wet Dreams caught a 7.kg golden trevally on a 2kg line.

The family fun day had many local kids enjoying the fish simulator and rigging clinics.

They got to have a fish in the marina, where they caught bluebone, bream, cod and all sorts. Many thanks to Recfishwest for coming to help the kids learn more about the benefits of recreational fishing.

The police are in town for GAMEX and on the water to assist with safety. The police checked 28 vessels on the first day of the event and reported no issues with safety checks and breathalysing.