‘Diverse’ Exmouth bags sixth for billfish

Exmouth has again been rated one of the best in the world for billfish.

The town was rated sixth in the 2016 Billfish Report’s top 10, based on a mix of fish numbers, variety, size, length of season and number of boats fishing.

The report noted Exmouth was “perhaps the most diverse fishery in the world,” describing it as the only place on the planet where anglers could hook onto more than 10 blue marlin, black marlin and sailfish, as well as plenty of striped marlin, in a day.

Working against Exmouth’s chances of making the top of the list was the relatively small number of big fish caught, though the report noted the number of 500lb fish caught had grown from three in 2013 to 15 in 2016.

One super grand slam was recorded in 2016, with Peak Sportfishing catching and releasing a sailfish, striped, black and blue marlin.

The Exmouth fishery features the second smallest fleet covered in the report, meaning the anglers involved punch well above their weight class.