Tackleworld Exmouth fishing report

The amazing weather has continued. Whether fishing from the shore or a boat, reports have been positive.

Spangled emperor have been common along the beaches on the west side and early morning before sunrise is the preferred option.

Changes in tides are always good too, and if you can combine the turn from low to high with sunrise, you should be onto a winner.

Using squid for bait works best. Keep it as lightly weighted with a sinker as possible, or no weight at all.

The larger fish tend to roam the higher waters.

If you prefer to use lures, poppers work well for spangos.

A gentle bloop with a small popper rigged up with strong split rings and sharp hooks is our recommendation.

It is wise to crush the barbs on your hooks, especially in this remote area. A barbless hook is far easier to retrieve for the fish and crushed barbs or barbless hooks are a much safer option and help avoid a lot of pain or a trip to the hospital.

There were some fantastic results from the Heavy Tackle Tournament at the weekend.

The tournament targets mainly billfish and pelagic species on 37kg and 60kg line class in depths of more than 250m.

There were 22 boats fishing which raised 190 billfish, hooked 139 and tagged 67.

The majority were blue marlin.

We also had a few other horse yellowfin at 70kg and 61kg and there was a great effort by 13-year-old Darcy Bryce with a 60.3kg model.

Darcy also tagged three blue marlin.

Team Waverider managed a grand slam on the third day and took out the top prize.

Sadly on day one, team Game On didn't make it to the grounds after a fire on their vessel. Several teams raced to their aid, but the 50ft Keywest was engulfed and destroyed in a matter of minutes.

The quick-thinking of the crew aboard had them all safe in a life raft.

The crew would like to remind everyone of the importance of having a grab bag and life jackets easily accessible, because this fire was uncontrollable and there was very little time to rummage through hatches to find safety gear.

The remnants are on the ocean floor and owner Graeme Heel has named the (now) FAD location as Game Over.