Courtesy of Scott Forbes - EGFC - July 7th

Another perfect week of weather in Exmouth. With temperatures hovering around 27 degrees and near no wind there has been simply no excuse not to be getting out amongst the fish.

Renowned bottom expert Matt Niikkula has been having a great run of late fishing out of Tantabiddi. Matt has been fishing squid baits in 70 metres of water with great success on a mixed bag of delectable bottom grubbers including big red emperor, rankin cod, tomato cod, jobfish and various species of emperor. Matt has noted a marked difference in hook up rates on the bottom fish since swapping over to the owner super mutu circle hooks in the deep water. The circle hooks work super effectively providing you don’t strike at the initial bite and rather let the fish move off with the bait and it will hook it self. Once hooked the fish simply do not get off circle hooks and are nearly always hooked in the corner of the jaw.

Keen anglers Gavin “Pardo” Pardington, Cameron Yates and Jeff Ellis are up on holidays from Perth and enjoying the brilliant fishing on offer at this time of year. During the week they ventured out to the Muiron islands and had a glorious day sampling the various options available. Bottom fishing accounted for emperor, Charlie courts and a whopper chinaman fish whilst trolling a couple of minnow style lures provided excitement in the form of Spanish mackerel and then to top the day off on the way in they spotted a free jumping sailfish which happily obliged and took the first bait thrown at it. The Sail put on a great aerobatic display for the anglers before making it to the boat for a successful release after a couple of quick photos.

Spangled Emperor have been a consistent catch along the West Coast access roads during the evening high tides whilst whiting and yellowfin bream having been keeping anglers happy fishing along the shoreline in the gulf.

[img_assist|fid=28382|thumb=1|alt=Matt Nikkula's double header|caption=Matt Nikkula with a beautiful Exmouth double header]