Well just got back from 3 weeks fishing and getting married in sunny Exmouth.....

What a trip it had its up and down in the 3 weeks we was there the fishing was good at times and sometimes really bad and only catching sharks this is the most sharks i seen in exmouth in years even coral bay was bad.....

we arrived in exmouth wih lovely light winds and the sun shining at 34degress how nice we unpack the boat and car moved in then got all fishing gear ready for next day fishing... But bad luck struck me with my gps not wanting to load up so qucik trip to bluewater exmouth ( i Have to say the service i got there was amazing and they help out as much as they could)...new gps paid for then to auto pro for few bits and pieces then back to the house to install new gps....once we done that is was 12noon and i had a mate coming up from perth that i thought i would wait for then go fishing..He arrived quick hello and unacked his gear then off we go had nice arvo out 2 nice spangos and a shark....

Morning rise off we got to launch at tantas nice ramp they have made there very easy to launch now...We decided to troll see if we could pick up any billfish or wahoo or mackies but had no luck so first spot dropped baits down and came up with sharks so we had to move as they got very annoying....
found some new ground which me mate ended up getting a nice sharp tooth job fish and the misses got a nice robo sea perch and aldo got some more spangos....

We had a lay day as me mates misses arrived in exmouth quick trip to the airport to pick her up then back to get some beer then off to bundigi for a swim......

Went out off tantas agian with another mate gaz from benbows and we was on the troll again with bait balls and i mean alot off bait balls we decided to troll around them to see if we could raise anything only to get a few mack tuna off to next bait ball around we went then my new stella 20000 was singing with a massive run everyone was at the front of boat with left me to drive the boat and also grab the reel glad i did as we got it in and it ended up being my first ever wahoo around 15kg was happy took a richter dorado 506 luv that lure.....after few happy snaps it was in the esky and i was back on the whell driving around decided to drop few baits down for some bottom fish but with no wind and no current we didnt move far and fishing was very slow only few small coral cod and it was time to come home...

Oh and it started with the wedding date getting closer fishing was not on the mind as guest started to rock up and catching up the familys and friends thursday there was no fishing friday was a quick fish out with friends not many fish landed 1 golden treva and a nive robo sea perch then home to do a quick meet u with the bridal party and celabrent then home to be told that my good mates was taking me out for dinner great night not alot off sleep but still got enuf.....

Saturday the big day arrived up early and it started with (ARE YOU NERVES) well i never been asked that so many time but i was fine more excited than anything day went on 2:00pm arrived there i was with me grooms and family and friends at the novatel and she arrived 15mins late and she was even staying at the novatel haha i seen her for first time and i was what ya can say WOW its happening and tell ya what my wife looked awesome arfternoon and night went awesome......

few days after wedding not much fish as it had blown abit and was in honeymoon mode so went snorkeling and just drank beer....

we did do a boys arvo to the muroins island to find some gts and we ended up with 2 small but still gts and a follow from a monster which my mate ash pulled the lure out of its mouth......wade landed a nice 6 to 8 kg gt and ash landed a 4 to 5kg gt and sam had fun on light gear chasing little golden trevas on twisties was fun to watch as i was on the wheel driving and making sure no waves broke on the boat nice arvo out but that was the only fish we got that day...................

our last week up here ended up being the best as the weather had gone to awesome no wing and sunny days still it never got under 30 degress for the hole 3 weeks

the fishing on the last week was great found new ground to fish with reds,coral trout,robos,spangos,sweet lip and few othe speicies......with everyone gone home it was only me the wife and 2 great friends ash and his wife kat......

we headed out of tantas to go and find wade and sam fishing south so we trolled the back of the reef to try get mackies we had not luck few strikes but no hook ups we found the guys and they had got some nice fish as we rocked up wade had just landed a mackie on a floater was very nice they also told us they had a nice coranation trout and it was on i want one....set the drift up and after few runs and me hopping my plastic off the bottom had a nice hit and up came a small but pretty corantaion trout few photos and back it went to grow bigger another few runs with a few nice fish estuary cod and honey comb cods and the misses was snags onto a rock off reef told her to hold the spool but she told me no back up there is a fish on here yer right ok i back up right on top of the line i grab the rod and pull and pull get it off the reef wind it up and i could have just jupped over board she had a very nice coranation trout could not belive it lucky i went back for it we decided to troll home for some bills and nothing was happening then just outside south passage we had a strike then we had it first jump nice black marlin my misses grabs the rod and we tell her to wind like crazy and get it in unlucky we didnt we just got the hand on the leader and it jumped and threw the hooks we did get it all on the go pro that was the last fish for the day as we headed for home....

We headed out of tantas again with only 3 on board day goals was troll try get bills and anything else.............well it happen i was on strike and not long before we had a strike on my tld 50 we in to a nice black marlin few jumps quick fight and it was landed few happy snaps and off she went back to swim another day....... would not have been 5 minutes just set the lines again bang were on ash grabbed the rod he offered it to my wife she said no so ash was in to a nice solid black marlin got it on my go pro but will have to do some edit to it and ill have up soon with a very nice fight we had it boat side grab it and we had it in few photos and again on it way to fight another day............
Back on the troll again nothing happened for a good half hour we was all in la la land and wack we had a strike from a sailfish but never hooked up oh well keep going then 20 minutes later Bang we was on but it never jump but it went deep had us thinking till it came boat side and the misses had got a nice solid wahoo gaff went in few shots then into the esky.....We decided to have a bottom bounce found a very nice lump and i was throwing the plastic around but not much luck while the other 2 dropped baits the new wife had a solid hook up and it came up half a red shark got the tail bugger few spangos and few sweet lip and we was done for the day so we decided to troll home we trolled for 10nm with nothing but coming into the heads had to massive hiys one bit threw the lure the other took the tld50 and told the misses to grab it cleared the lines and this thing was still running it finally stop turned its head and the wife wound for home got it 3 meters from the boat and the tail got sharked but we still got 20kg off solid wahoo its was a massive fish.....we decided to have few runs around same spot few strikes no hook ups so i called it as it was like 5 in the arvo on the water 10 hours....

head out again looking to go south of tantas order of the day was to catch more fish and that we did few drifts and i was throwing the plastic around hooked up but got drilled into the reef oh well re tie back out there the wam hook up got off the bottom and up it came and i was jumping for joy as i just landed my first coral trout 62cm few happy snaps the to turn around to the girls hooked up nice big spangos and few sweet lip few more spangos and that was our day done great day out and i was happy to go home...........

last few days of our trip we did not get anymore bills except one strike and never seen it before but it took a red head lazer pro funny that was and 2 more wahoo and 1 mackie

no gts only 1 follow its was a big one tho around 40kgs few more bottom fish like goldban,spngos,sweetlip,robos,and pan snapper and also honey comb cod

we had a trip that i will never forget got married and got a few new speicies under the belt and we had some great weather while we was there......

but so many sharks it could not belive how many sharks that are there now compared to couple years ago but ya still can get nice fish just wind like crazy.................

Thanks for reading

Hayden O'Keefe