Exmouth in May
Submitted by longhairedlout on Thu, 2011-10-13 21:26
G'day guys,
Mate of mine is planning a trip to Exxy possibly may next year and he's keen to tangle with some billfish (which he's never tried before).
Having never chased billies meself was wondering if anyone out there can advise on whether the billfish are active up there at that time of year.
Any tips for chasing them would be greatly appreciated, with regards to lures, water temps, depths all that sort of thing.
Cheers fellas
.thumbnail.jpg "Sounder image - snapper school with one on the way to the boat")
blitzed
Posts: 196
Date Joined: 03/02/11
Gday mate, If you want to
Gday mate,
If you want to catch a billie try trollin a couple of pushers like pakula medium sprockets or rickter pinks or something similar and start trolling from 40 metres to 100 metres, 15 to 24 kg mono line with 300 pound mono trace and you should run into some small to average black marlin and other fish aswell.. If you head out wider use heavier gear and more line and hang on because the fish can get bigger and faster and hopefully you can tangle with a blue or two. After the initial crazy surface runs if the fish dives deep you may have to put boat in gear and plane it up to the surface. You may have to chase the fish around to prevent getting spooled. Be very carefull when leadering the fish and I think its best to keep the boat in gear slowly moving forward swimming the fish and then grabbing bill with gloves and pulling hook and releasing to fight another day. Best to not pull the fish into the boat as this exhausts it even more and decreases chances of survival...Best of luck and I hope u catch a big one!