Hey guys just got back from an amazing trip to Exmouth fishing with Josh from Onstrike Charters, as usual he put us onto some great fish.

After watching the weather report like a hawk for weeks seeing nothing but lots of wind and swell it cleared up just as we arrived with light winds and hardly any swell making for some great conditions. The afternoon before the charter it glassed off and we decided to buy some cheap spin rods and head down to the point to flick a few lures off the rocks in hopes of some queenies. We each landed a few small queenies and had some good fun before Roger hooked into something more substantial - a short fight and a bit of hopping around the rocks later and he guided in a nice golden trevally on his el cheapo spin combo. A great start to the trip!

First morning onboard Onstrike II as soon as we got out behind the reef at tantabiddi I couldn't believe how much bait was around, at some points we where surrounded by tuna bust ups the size of football fields in all directions! The ocean was literally boiling with fish at times. With that much bait around we knew there had to be some big fish lurking!

First up we decided to troll some deep divers and each boated a couple of smaller model spanish mackeral, a good start to the day! After getting a couple of spaniards each over the morning we moved on and decided to try some vertical jigging after lunch for trevally. Great fun and we all caught and released some nice Brassy Trevally using light gear that really gave the arms a good stretch. We spent the afternoon landing all shapes and sizes of Trevally on jig also hooking into some unstoppables before finally wearing ourselves out as the sharks started to move in so we made the decision to call it a day and head in.

New day and a new goal, after seeing all that bait around the day before we decided to bring out the heavy gear and troll some skirts for billfish hoping something big was taking advantage of all these bait schools. It wasn't long before we had a solid hit and a good run, a few minutes later and a close tangle with a hungry shark and we had our first fish of the morning in the boat - a nice dolphin fish sporting a few battle scars from its close call with the tax man.

Back on the troll again and looking for something bigger, a few quiet hours passed and just as we where thinking it had all shut down the rod buckled over and the drag screamed. A blistering first run! We where all initially calling it for a billfish but after the long first run with no jump we where not so sure now as it slowed its pace. After a good 10 minute battle we had a nice Wahoo on board. After bleeding it out and letting it settle for a few photos we decided to see how much it weighed, it pulled the lie detector down to a solid 17kg - great fish!

With a nice dolphin fish and a solid wahoo on board it was time for a billfish! Over the next 5 hours trolling we had 5 black marlin and a huge sailfish appear in the spread but none would commit to hitting the skirts properly. They where just checking them out and playing with them resulting in an amazing 6 billfish raised but none landed. Josh was not to be beaten and assured us with a change of tactics we would come back the next day and really nail them. 

The next morning and last day of the trip we decided to anchor up and chase some hopefully bigger spaniards on stick baits and poppers in the morning before having another go at the billfish. We set the anchor, set out a little burley trail and started throwing some stick baits and poppers around. It wasn't long before I had an awesome strike on my popper right at the back of the boat, the spaniard came flying clean out of the water and was swimming through the air towards us with my popper wedged firmly in its mouth. An awesome sight, it almost looked like it was going to land in the boat! It hit the water and screamed off at top speed. After a solid fight I had my first spaniard on a popper in the boat!

A small break for some morning tea and a couple more casts before another great surface strike on the popper, I was on again! Another spaniard hit the deck. Having never caught a spaniard on popper I was stoked to have landed back to back mackies on poppers. Was really cool seeing the big surface hits and a lot more fun than catching them on the troll!

Time for the billfish! Seeing as most of the billfish we had seen the previous day where smaller models Josh made the call to bring out the lighter spin gear and troll skipbaits with circles for a better chance of hooking up and landing one. We set up the spread and headed off with high hopes as it was still early in the day and we had seen plenty of action the day before... unfortunately for us that same action from the day before was nowhere to be seen. We trolled from around 10am through till 4:30pm constantly surrounded by bait schools and tuna bust ups but with no action to be seen. Late in the afternoon we had a big sailfish followed by another small black marlin appear in the spread for a look but neither where hungry.

4:30pm of the last day approached and with our hopes all but shot Josh made the call to hold out for an extra 15 minutes, just in case! What followed can only be described as epic and something I'll never forget. I dont have all the footage / pics just yet and think it deserves its own thread so I will put a link below hopefully by the time you get through reading this!

Stay tuned! :)

Edit: Here is the link!

http://fishwrecked.com/forum/500lb-blue-marlin-30lb-spin-gear