To the east is the Exmouth Gulf, a massive expanse of water that sustains a significant amount of baitfish and crustacean life.

Down the shallow end of the gulf are mangrove lined tidal creeks and shallow sand bars that are just far enough above the tropic of Capricorn to hold northern species like jacks, queenfish, giant herring, tarpon and even a few barra!

Around the middle of the gulf and onwards the water is significantly deeper, and species like sailfish, GT’s, cobia, mack tuna, red emperor and others come out to play.

And as if that isn’t good enough to the west of Exmouth is the northern tip of Ningaloo, Australia’s Largest Fringing Coral Reef.

Ningaloo is like a mini Great Barrier Reef measuring just 250 kilometres long, the main difference is that this reef comes right in close to the shore with coral bommies well within casting or snorkelling range.

For game anglers things get even more exciting; the Ningaloo outer edge or ‘drop off’ comes within a couple of hundred metres of the shoreline in places.

You can even see the breakers while fishing along the beach!

Just five miles out it can be 1000 metres deep in some spots, so you can just imagine the type of game species that patrol the area.

We caught some mammoth bonefish up around 85 cm not far from Exmouth.

Extremely exciting stuff, but I can’t say too much about that until next week.

What I can tell you about is the fishing I did with guests Michael Thompson and Ed Phillips.

In WA everyone knows Thommo; he’s been the sports anchor for Channel 9 for eons, is a real character, and is a great angler to boot.

Ed is also a seasoned presenter and sports reporter who works for Channel 9.

He is well-known for his role as host of TV game show ‘Temptation’ and recently hosted the Cirque de Soleil special on Channel 9.

Ed got a sniff the trip was going to be a ripper and locked it in quick smart causing a lot of envy among his colleagues.

Ed the quintessential fun Aussie TV host, always smiling, never short of one liners, and as cool as a cucumber.

You couldn’t ruffle him in a cyclone.

From the moment Ed and Thommo turned up it was ‘game on’ in Exmouth.

We boarded ‘In Deep’ skippered by Matt Gates and headed out to the Murion Islands around nine miles north of the Exmouth Marina.

Matt spotted a manta ray with a cobia underneath it and Thommo let me have the first cast.

The white slam bait on a one ounce jig head was instantly inhaled, I missed the first bite, but the Cobia came back and re scoffed the lure.

What a start, I was onto my PB Cobia; a 10 kilo specimen that gave a great account of itself on 10 kilo spin tackle.

I was actually keen to try the Cobia on the barbecue, but Matt assured me that we would catch much better quality table fish so we released it quickly.

Thommo then got stuck into some small to middle sized GT’s, while Ed got a nice spangled emperor on the same lure that tempted my cobia.

The stirring and sledging was constant and will make for entertaining Telly.

Among the hordes of GT’s up to seven kilos we caught XL coral trout, Spanish mackerel on popper and other prize species.

During the shootout between the three blokes our female guest Heidi Williams snuck in a bait and caught a 7kg plus red emperor.

One for the girls yes, but when she added ‘and one for the British’ I just about gagged.

As if having a girl beat the boys on the siren wasn’t enough!

There were a stack of other experiences that made for a memorable afternoon. Thommo caught a superb rankin cod around 12 kilos and Ed got a nice 4kg red emperor while a big hammerhead circled the boat. To top it off some humpback whales put on a sunset display just 20 metres from the transom.

It was Exmouth at its piscatorial best.

The next morning we met at the marina at 8:30am for another splendid day on the water.

Thommo had his first marlin by 9:30, while we were on route to the billfish grounds off Tantabiddi.

When we arrived at the grounds (with the beach still in sight) we hooked another marlin and Ed snaffled his first sailfish.

All before lunchtime; amazing stuff!

Just goes to show how amazing the fishing is up here.

Ed’s show Temptation used to be called Sale of the Century so we were quick to dub Ed’s billfish the ‘Sail of the Century!’

His grin has grown even bigger. Top effort Ed!

For more info check out australiascoralcoast.com and novotelningaloo.com.au Special thanks to Sky West, Tourism Western Australia and Matt and Ben from Bluewater Tackle Exmouth.

You can catch more details on my amazing trip on WIN Television’s Fishing Australia, tomorrow, Saturday at 5:30 pm WIN.

See you on the water, Rob Paxevanos

Rob’s column proudly sponsored by the Hellenic Club of Canberra.