We’re nearly halfway through Exmouth’s King of the Reef competition, and we’ve already seen a fantastic variety of species caught and released at the artificial reef and surrounds.
To celebrate the spectacular fishing on offer at Exmouth’s King Reef, Recfishwest teamed up with Woodside Energy and the Exmouth Game Fishing Club to deliver the ’King of the Reef’ competition, inviting fishers to wet a line around the reef and contribute to marine science by entering their catches via the Track My Fish App (more info here).
In June alone, 74 fish were measured and logged by competitors, with many being released. Some of the species bending rods around the artificial reef included spangled emperor, golden trevally, blue-lined emperor, Charlie Court and Spanish mackerel – just to name a few!
The four-month-long competition runs to the end of September, so if you haven’t entered yet there is still plenty of time to have a crack at the $15,000 worth of prizes on offer!
Given the abundance of species that are known to make reels sing around King Reef, the ‘Most Species Caught on King Reef’ major prize category has certainly got anglers buzzing to get out there! The fisher who catches the most species in this category (a minimum of 10 different species must be logged) will claim the top prize of an awesome $2,000 Surge Orion fishing kayak!
It’s not just adults getting in on the action either, there is a competition category for young fishers aged 16/under for whoever catches the longest and mystery length Charlie Court each month. The longest overall eligible Charlie Court entry will take home a $400 Tackle World Exmouth gear pack!
“The longest Charlie category for the kids has surprisingly been the most popular category so far!” said Recfishwest’s Artificial Reefs Officer Eligh Quigley. “It is great to see young anglers targeting an alternative species which is plentiful in the region.”
“The catch data from the community is helping us not only better understand the species diversity around King Reef, but is also strengthening the case for more artificial reefs to be deployed around WA in the future, so get out there and have a crack!”
Click here to see the competition’s prize categories!
For more info on the competition and to see updates on catches, make sure you follow the Exmouth Game Fishing Club Facebook page and for the best advice on how to fish King Reef, check out the top tips from Exmouth Tackle & Camping’s Steve Riley in the video below!
In 2018, a collaboration between Recfishwest, the Exmouth community and other stakeholders resulted in King Reef – the first integrated artificial reef to be deployed in the southern hemisphere. King Reef involved repurposing decommissioned steel buoys from BHP’s Griffin Field augmented with purpose-built concrete modules.
With ongoing support from Woodside, King Reef has become a biodiversity hotspot, offering new fishing opportunities for locals and visitors to Exmouth while providing major ecological benefits.
