Glass-Out Glory: Our Epic Liveaboard Fishing Trip off Exmouth

A Week to Remember on the Water — Written by Dylan

If there’s one thing better than heading up to Exmouth, it’s doing it liveaboard style with good mates, big lures, and glass-out conditions. On this trip, we had the pleasure of bringing along our good friend Dylan — a die-hard fisho who also happens to work with Skull Island Prawns, home to Australia's biggest and best prawns (and trust me, I’ve eaten more prawns than most — these are hands down the best you'll find, and they even deliver straight to your door).

Dylan kindly pulled together this trip recap from our September 2024 liveaboard charter with the crew at On-Strike Charters. Over to him…

Prepping for a Liveaboard Adventure

Usually, when heading north to the Ningaloo coast, I am dragging my tinny on the back and a swag for a fishing trip. To get a call up for a 'live aboard charter' with the boys from Taco Tackle out with On-Strike Charters was too good an offer to refuse! Charter fishing trips can be amazing, but you still need to plan carefully to ensure you have connecting flights booked, luggage allowances checked, suitable clothing and enough lures to last a week! Luckily, the lures were provided by West Coast Poppers with bags and bags of poppers and stick baits!

The Boats – Built for Battle and Comfort

Our plan was to fish the remote islands out from Exmouth on On-strikes latest weapon; the 33 Invincible Cat with twin 400hp V10 Black Mercs! An absolute beast of a boat capable of handling Exmouth's notorious windy chop but we were absolutely treated with a week of glass out conditions. Comfortably fishing 6 of us out of the Invincible each day, we returned each afternoon to the mothership, a 65ft Innovation called Konkera - another beast of a boat but filled with opulence, air-conditioning, and comfort. A big step up from the swag!

The Fishing – Teeth, Power, and Mayhem

The fishing? Outstanding! The weather on this trip allowed us to Island hop every day targeting the bite times around tide and current. The sailfish were quiet but anything with teeth (big teeth!) were out to savage the all-star line-up of West Coast Poppers and Stick baits. Spanish mackerel were thick along the reef edges performing spectacular air-raids nailing lures off the top with lightning aggression. Reece Holwell managed Mackie and fish of the trip landing a 30kg+ critter which looked almost prehistoric which earned him the nickname 'Spaniard'. GT's were hiding in their usual spots and took a liking to the 60g Huay West Coast Popper for most of the week - get one of these in your box! Other species of Trevally, Queenfish, XXL Cobia, gold spot cod and the odd trout kept the West Coast Popper team busy!

Jake: "here's just a sample of some of the better captures from the trip":

Life on Board – Good Vibes & Even Better Food

The team at On-Strike Charters ran a very tight ship, guided us around effortlessly and knocked up some amazing meals including Josh's famous Spanish mackerel Thai green curry - superb after a long day casting. A fully cooked breakfast with bacon and eggs each morning gave us the fuel required to cast all day.

Final Thoughts – A Trip to Remember

If you are thinking about a live aboard charter off Exmouth, look no further than On-Strike Charters and make sure you pack a heap of West Coast poppers and stick baits. I put in a new order as soon as I returned home to replace the carnage!

Thanks to Jake, Dan, Spaniard, G-Money, In-depth angler, Capt Josh and Dirty Harry for a week to remember!

Cheers
Dylan

Wrap-Up & Links

Huge thanks to Dylan for writing this and joining us on an epic week. If you’re thinking of doing something similar, we can’t recommend the team at On-Strike Charters enough — they ran a tight ship and put us on some of the best fishing you’ll find in WA.

And if you're chasing fresh Aussie prawns, check out Skull Island Prawns — they’ll deliver the best tiger prawns in the country straight to your door.

Also a special thanks to Josh (insta: @indepthangler_josh) for his epic photography along the way, and of course the Devil aka Spaniard (insta: @devils_wraps) for making us look good with his epic captures and printing works.

Lastly, if you're keen to load up on the exact lures we used on this trip, head over to West Coast Poppers — you’ll find the full range there, along with a list of our trusted dealers if you prefer to shop local. Check out the dealer list here: West Coast Poppers Dealers.