Billfishing remains steady LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE… INTUITIVE CONTROL

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE… INTUITIVE CONTROL

This month’s report has been supplied by Connor Luff. GameX has been run and won, and there was a good turn-out this year. It started off pretty windy for the first couple of days, but then the weather game good, so everybody got a good crack.

Out of the 237 billfish tagged, there were 161 black marlin, 68 sailfish, seven blue marlin and one striped marlin. There were 59 pointscoring fish weighed in, which included Spanish mackerel, shark mackerel, school mackerel, queenfish, golden trevally, cobia, dolphinfish, yellowfin tuna, striped tuna, wahoo, barracuda, spangled

Vic Mercury Dealers

ALBERTON

ALBERTON MARINE

BRAESIDE

JV MARINE WORLD

878 Springvale Road Braeside (03) 9798 8883 (03) 9798 7554 jvmarine.com.au

Good locations to try for jacks and other species include the marina and creeks like Wapet Creek, around any kind of structure, ranging from jetties and moorings through to snags, mangroves and rocks.

MELBOURNE

MELBOURNE MARINE CENTRE

393-399 South Gippsland Hwy Dandenong South (03) 9703 2003 info@melbournemarine.com.au melbournemarine.com.au

MORNINGTON PENINSULA

There have been a few mackerel around for the guys specifically targeting them. Professional guide Maccy Dave has been getting his clients into some good mackerel fishing from kayaks behind the reefs, and recently got the surprising bycatch of a green jobfish that went nearly 10kg.

Fishing In May

F: (03) 5821 2908

W: boatsandmore.com.au

Cnr Nepean Highway & Ponderosa Place Dromana

P: (03) 5987 0900

W: mymarine.com.au

Wa Mercury Dealers

BUNBURY BLUEWATER MARINE

18 Hawkins Street BUNBURY

P: (08) 9791 1499

F: (08) 9791 1497

E: bluwater@bigpond.net.au

W: bluewatermarine.com.au

MANDURAH MANDURAH OUTBOARDS

53 Gordon Road MANDURAH

P: (08) 9581 7224

F: (08) 9581 6305

E: james@mandurahoutboards.com.au

W: mandurahoutboards.com.au emperor and chinamanfish.

MORWELL

CRAWFORD MARINE

71-77 Chickerell Street Morwell

P: (03) 5134 6522

F: (03) 5134 6455

W: crawfordmarine.com.au

The winners went home with an array of great prizes, including a top prize of a $50,000 Northbank Trailerboat package. To see the full list of winners, plus the stats of the fish they caught, go to facebook.com/gamexexmouth.

ECHUCA we send a lot of people when its windy. The queenfish are taking stickbaits between 80-120mm (e.g. Slidog 85mm or 105mm) with a quick retrieve, either skipping or twitching it across the surface.

MORNINGTON PENINSULA

NAUTICAL MARINE

The billfishing should still be pretty good in the coming weeks, and hopefully the mackerel and tuna catches will pick up. The bottom fishing should be pretty consistent, just be aware there will be a lot more boats around, so please be patient around the ramps.

141 Hotham Road Sorrento

P: (03) 5984 1666

ALBANY

RUSTY’S MARINE

U2/205 Chesterpass Road

ALBANY

Now to the fishing around Exmouth.

EADES XTREME MARINE

24 Sturt Street Echuca

P: (03) 5482 2333

F: (03) 5482 2133

The billfishing has still been pretty steady; a lot of the rec guys have been going out and getting a couple.

W: xtrememarine.net.au

GEELONG

EDENCRAFT MARINE

22-30 Buckley Grove Moolap

P: (03) 5248 4520

The cyclone up north made things very windy for a while, but when the wind abated, anglers were able to get into some good bottom fishing for gold band snapper, rankin cod, reds and so on. 2-hook paternoster rigs or jigs have been doing the damage (e.g. Vex Dhu Drops between 150-300g, Vex Bottom Meat baited with mullet fillet or squid).

E: admin@edencraftmarine.com.au

W: www.edencraftmarine.com.au

Good numbers of queenfish have been playing the game up around the tip of the Cape and Norwest Reef.

Chasing queenfish is a good option on those windy days when you want to escape the southerlies. There’s some good fishing to be had, both land based and from the boat, for queenies and spangled emperor, and that’s where

E: info@nauticalmarine.com.au

W: nauticalmarine.com.au

• For all the latest news on what’s biting and where, drop in to Tackle World Exmouth at 3 Maley St, Exmouth or give them a call on (08) 9949 1315. You can also view the range at www.tackleworldexmouth.com.

TOORADIN

Another option for windy days is to head to the creeks to target the likes of mangrove jack, Spanish flag, flathead and bream. You can get good results using plastics (e.g. Bait Junkie 2.5-3.2” Minnows), and small hardbodies (e.g. Berkley Twitchers). Alternatively, if you want to use bait, you can just send out a bit of mulie down a down a berley trail.

P&J MARINE SERVICE CENTRE P/L

101 Tooradin Station Road Tooradin

P: (03) 5998 3107

E: pjmarine services@bigpond.com au, and see the latest catch photos on their Facebook page. This family business stocks a large range of tackle, from light spin to big game. The staff have a wealth of local knowledge and expertise, and are always happy to help.

MELBOURNE

Josh Cheong has been getting good results fishing the coral flats with the Daiwa Saltiga Rough Ride 160. He said watching big bass eat the lure in 5m of water was one of the highlights. Image courtesy of @indepthanglerjosh.

P: (08) 9842 1022

E: rustysmarine@bigpond.com

W: www.rustysmarine.com.au

WANGARA HI TECH MARINE

12 Uppill Place WANGARA

P: (08) 9309 2888

F: (08) 9309 2397

E: sales@hitechmarine.com.au

W: hitechmarine.com.au