Exmouth - landbased fishing trip report
As a dedicated tailor/salmon fishermen from the southwest, was very excited to travel up to exmouth for a short trip to do some land based sportsfishing. Figured i would share my success or lack thereof in solidarity with anyone else whose had a fishless trip!
Did a bunch of research before the trip including online and also at the 2 tackle shops in town when i got up there and seemed as though there is no end of options. In no particular order i fished all the following locations - Bundegi, Bundegi flats, Pilgramunna, Lighthouse bay, Oyster reef, VLF Bay, Learmonth jetty and the marina rock wall. Target species were trevally, queenfish, spangled emperor or anything else that wanted to swim by. Fished fairly hard over the course of 4 days for a total of .... 2 long tom. Needless to say was fairly disappointed with that given all i've read about exmouth.
Fished with lures only using:
- 9ft Abu Garcia Veritas, paired with Saragosa 5000 SWA
- 24lb sunline braid with 30lb varivas leader
- Lures used were halco twisties and halco outcasts (in a variety of sizes), halco slidogs, halco roostas, soft plastics, nomad madscads and nomad riptide long casts
Trip was fantastic other than the fishing, seeing no end of wildlife inlcuding dingo's, snakes, emus, countless turtles, dugongs, blacktip sharks, stingrays and one enormous tiger shark that swam not 10m in front of the rock i was fishing on, both pubs in town are great and also had a fantastic meal at Bundegi beach shack. Only thing missing was the fish!
Would welcome any suggestions for next time i'm up (might be dragging the boat up lol), or anyone else whose had a similary fishless trip. Tight lines,
Jacko
lrp1
Posts: 75
Date Joined: 26/11/12
Have had pretty hard fishing
Have had pretty hard fishing trips up there (landbased)... about three fishing focused trips of a week plus each for just a few decent fish. Personal opinion is that landbased fishing up there used to be great, but really isn't what it used to be. I'm sure it can be amazing, but seems to be the exception rather than the rule. So, maybe not the best source for tips, but mine would be that it seems to be helpful to fish for a bit and move on if there aren't fish biting.
davewillo
Posts: 2254
Date Joined: 08/09/16
I had a fairly fishless trip
I had a fairly fishless trip Easter 2 years ago. Was a family trip so spent the day doing other things and only fished early morning and late afternooon/evening. Normally those times would be ideal but on our trip coincided with very low tides so the fishing was tough going.
Managed a couple of nice golden trevally one morning and we got a few spanglies one night when we persevered until the tide was better (hard fishing in the dark with kids!).
We decided that next time we would at least hire a dinghy to give us options. I've caught a heap of fish from boats at Exmouth so I'll stick to that I think!
PGFC member and lure tragic
blitzed
Posts: 196
Date Joined: 03/02/11
Get to the lesser named
Get to the lesser named areas and fish with some fresh squid and when you get a feed change over to your lures
carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
BAIT
You need to use bait, simple as that
Pete F
Posts: 310
Date Joined: 07/01/18
Up there fishing can be very
Up there fishing can be very tide related, often the incoming is best especially the flats, the fish can come in with the first flush of water then be much harder on the full tide. Though each location has its own traits.
It is hard to get straight on the money without local knowledge and experience. If time is limited think about using a guide one day to get the feel of the place, they will have the knowledge where the fish feed and when and move about to different locations as the tides change.
Cheers
Rets
Posts: 26
Date Joined: 19/02/16
In my understanding it's been
In my understanding it's been pretty overfished landbased up there. Pretty much all of the bombies close to shore don't hold fish anymore.
As others have already said, you gotta use bait. I'd have a rod with a lure on it on standby in-case if you see some queenies or something swimming by, but other than that, bait is the way to go.