Record catches kick off the third year of the King of the Reef Competition

Exmouth’s King of the Reef competition has kicked off in record-breaking fashion, with anglers raising the bar after only one month of the four-month event.

Now in its third consecutive year, the app-based competition runs from 1 June to 30 September and is open to fishers from Exmouth and beyond.

There’s a wide range of prizes on offer with entrants able to enter catches on or around King Reef via the Track My Fish app.

Using comp-branded brag mats, fishers quickly measure and photograph their captures, turning family-friendly fishing into valuable scientific data collection.

This year’s competition has already well surpassed previous years’ efforts, recording 132 catches in its opening month, surpassing the event’s first year’s opening month catches by 53 fish!

Of the catches, 56 were landed on the King Reef artificial reef, the data from which will help increase our understanding of the reef’s ongoing ecological development.

Check out some great tips for fishing King Reef in the video below

Run by Exmouth Game Fishing Club (EGFC) in partnership with Recfishwest and Woodside Energy, the competition encourages anglers of all ages and abilities to join at any stage throughout the season, with plenty of opportunities to win prizes and cast a line for Exmouth’s favourite reef species, including red emperor, Spanish mackerel, spangled emperor and golden trevally.

EGFC Events Manager Ben Knaggs said the competition continues to grow in popularity with 23 species already logged by competitors fishing from the artificial reef complex.

“We’ve had a great start to the third running of the competition, with 132 catches submitted so far across 32 different species,” Ben said.

“Quite a few of these catches have had us reaching for the fish reference books to correctly identify which goes to show the diversity of fish species that call these artificial reefs home.”

If you’re visiting Exmouth, be sure to get your entry in for just $30/person or $60/family for the chance to snag some great prizes.

To find out more and to enter the competition click here