Steve Vitali was fishing the shoreline around Mildura Wreck access road recently to target bluebone using crab and squid.  The bluebone frequent this area regularly and are a hard fighting fish that can be challenging to land.  Steve got some weird soft bites and hooked something that seemed rather unusual as it didn’t bite hard like the bluebone usually do.  He brought it to the surface and to his surprise he caught a massive rock lobster that measured three times the length of his stubbie of beer!  Despite it not being a tasty bluey, it was a rather delicious as an unexpected surprise that is always good for dinner!

Nat Everett has entered the monthly fishing comp with a 68cm spangled emperor that was caught on a Maria stick bait off Tantabiddi recently while she was fishing with her partner Tosh.  Nat is pictured this week with her great catch and beaming smile.  The fish was released again and this style of fishing with surface lures can be very rewarding for anglers.  The action is tense and very visual as the fish hunt down the lure. All entrants for the monthly fishing comp for January were fantastic, with the winner being Scott Bolt and his marlin. Congratulations Scott!

A 3m tiger shark was caught by some recreational anglers fishing from the beach this last week.  The fish was brought to the shore and carefully handled before release.  There has been quite a bit of interest with shark fishing lately, with night time fishing for these species being very productive, not to mention cooler than the days!  The balmy nights are still around 30degrees on the gulf side, but substantially cooler on the west side.

The rains have continued to fall on the eastern side of the gulf and if you are up in an aeroplane you can see there has been a lot more than in the town of Exmouth.  This is great news for the fishing year ahead, with high rainfall in this area feeding the mangroves and creeks that run in to the gulf.  The Exmouth Gulf is a very healthy ecosystem and you can catch just about any species in here where the mean depth is around 12m.  The creeks can be very tricky to navigate and we don’t recommend going there without plenty of planning and time.  However, the gulf waters hold much more variety and is far safer for navigation.  We hope the rain will continue over there and add to the excitement for the year.

Fishing report brought to you by Bluewater Tackleworld Exmouth.

The Winner of the Tackle World Exmouth Shimano competition for 2012 was Trent Gregory.  Congratulations Trent!  Junior angler Trent caught his first  sailfish and entered it in the monthly competition, which also entered him in the yearly comp and won himself $700 worth of Shimano fishing gear.  Trent shared his prize with his big sister Kiara and we’re not sure if Trent’s smile was bigger than Dad’s?  Last year a junior angler from the south won the comp and the year before a retiree from Esperance won it.  In 2013 it is even easier to win and there are more prizes too!  You can enter free in-store by telling us about your fishing story and providing us with a photo. Every month one lucky angler wins a $50 Tackle World Exmouth gift voucher and in December 2013 one person will win $1000 worth of Shimano Fishing Tackle.

Matt  Wardley of Exmouth and his brother James from Melbourne were fishing recently with Paul Cornish from Carnarvon before the cyclone came close.  The trio went out fishing aboard Matt’s boat Blackjack in search of pelagic fish off the tip of the cape and west of the lighthouse.  James caught his first billfish with a blue marlin measuring 2.4m and estimated to be around 100kg. It was caught in 300m of water using a 24kg outfit. The fish was healthily released after a quick photo.  Paul caught a sailfish in the same area measuring 2.2m on a 15kg outfit.  James also caught the cracking dolphin fish pictured this week that was 5kg.  The boys caught 4 dolphin fish and kept the one to eat fresh while here on their visit.  All three boys have entered the fishing comp already and we think they are already winners with such great fishing during their time out on the water.

The muggy weather and stirred up waters from the cyclone has made fishing a little challenging for some anglers, particularly those in the gulf with murky and confused water.  It didn’t stop people getting in to the crabbing though and several reports of good mudcrab catches with full muddies has been coming in-store. Paul Michelli and his cousin Damien are here on holidays with their families and getting in to the mudcrabs, golden trevally and ruby snapper.   The family are staying in a holiday house on the canals and have also been catching a load of small emperors from their jetty.  The kids love the fishing and they all have been enjoying the fresh seafood.

Report brought to you by Exmouth Bluewater Tackle World