Exmouth fishing report

Wahoo have been rampant off Helby Bank this last week as anglers chase mackerel and billfish in the area.

Wahoo will take to surface lures or sub-surface lures both in soft and hard lure forms.

They can shred soft-bodied or skirted lures with their razor-sharp teeth, but generally they hook up well because of their fierce attack on prey.

Green jobfish can be great eating and lots of these have been responding well to softplastic lures in depths around the 30m mark off the islands and west side. Their flesh is firm and they are easy to fillet.

As always, we recommend putting all fish into a slurry of ice and salt water to ensure optimal quality for later consumption. The shore fishing is productive at present, with many reports of activity in all areas.

It is obvious times are great for fishing when the bait schools show up in big numbers. You can see large schools around the boat ramps and Learmonth Jetty, as well as the marina and along the tip of the cape. Of course, where you find copious amounts of bait, you will also find larger predatory species, such as trevally and queenfish, cod and mackerel, even tuna and giant herring in places.

The boys in the shop have been using the new Strada 105 stick baits and getting great responses from queenfish between the northern end of the Bundegi Sanctuary and Bundnegi boat ramp.

Stick baits and poppers can be great fun to use because they are so visual. They are a great idea for kids with school holidays coming up, we would recommend this type of lure for kids to use from the shore.

You can remove both sets of trebles from these lures and replace then with a single barbless in-line hook if you are concerned about kids with trebles.

The single barbless hook is a much safer option, not to mention better for the fish too.