Exmouth gears up for holidaymakers
The beaches in the Exmouth Gulf have been thick with gardies and whiting lately and these can be a great option for kids to catch during the school holidays.
We expect an influx of visitors through this period as April is traditionally a busy month.
There are plenty of beaches in the gulf that can be accessed by car and we recommend having polarised sunglasses at the ready to find the schools of whiting and garfish to specifically target.
Prawns are the best bait for these species and a good berley trail works well to bring them to shore.
However, the whiting poppers are even more sensational to give you great success and fun on light gear.
Make sure you have a squid jig on a rod handy in the background in case the squid turn up.
Of course, the best tide for targeting these species is high tide and you may find that once the tide starts to drop too much, they tend to go off.
Adam Hunt from Wollongong regularly visits Exmouth for fishing.
He leaves his boat and car here and brings mates to enjoy the great options we have in town.
Last week he got stuck into some awesome mackerel and wahoo and rented a house at the marina to make it easy to get out each day.
The lures of choice were the pilchard colour in the Halco and Strada range, along with the old faithful white red head.
Adam loves it so much here that he is now looking at building a house to use on his regular visits.
The reef fishing scene has picked up, with some amazing catches of gold band jobfish, rankin cod and pearl perch from anglers working the 70m-120m depths.
While squid baits have been popular, the sanmar baits have been getting smashed too.
The Shinto lumo circle octopus hooks have been working well at this depth as they have the illumination in deep water, plus the circle to help the hook stay in while you try to get the fish to the top.
In the deeper waters we have had some reports of big ruby snapper and cod from various anglers, including new residents to town Ash Emery and Paul Bourne.
Blue mackerel baits and mullet or squid have been the preferred options for bait in the deeper waters.
Several families are here from Perth with their kids, all keen to get out and target some of the billfish in waters close to the back of the reef.
Small black marlin and sailfish have been active in the last month, and reports have brought these anglers to Exmouth for the break.
We recommend asking staff for tips on catching one of these species for the first time to ensure the safety for those on boats, plus the fish.
It also pays to look for a tag on the fish, as we have had quite a few recaptures of late which show the fish are being hooked, fought, handled, tagged and then continuing on to feed.
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