Sailfish
Pelagic / OffshoreIndo-Pacific sailfish are the headline gamefish of Exmouth and WA's tropical north, not Perth — the continental shelf runs unusually close to shore at Tantabiddi, putting sailfish (and the bigger marlin) within reach of small boats. Catch and release is the standard.
Overview
Sailfish are the gamefishing showpiece of the WA tropical coast. Exmouth's geography — the continental shelf within easy reach of Tantabiddi boat ramp — has built one of Australia's most accessible billfish fisheries, with sailfish raised on bait schools in 50–200m of water often within sight of the coast. The Exmouth Game Fishing Club runs an active tag-and-release programme and most boats are tagging multiple fish per trip in season. Sailfish are caught from Tantabiddi north through the Pilbara and into Kimberley waters, but Exmouth is the reliable starting point.
Identification
Sailie, sails, Indo-Pacific sailfish, bills
Unmistakable once you see the fin — a huge sail-like dorsal that runs most of the length of the back and stands taller than the body is deep, over a slim, laterally compressed cobalt body with rows of pale spots and vertical bars. Long bill, long thin pelvic fins, deeply forked tail. The confusion is with juvenile marlin: a marlin dorsal is a pointed front lobe that drops away to a low ridge, never a full sail, and a black marlin has rigid pectoral fins that will not fold flat against the body. Striped marlin also show bars but carry a much shorter fin. Anglers just call them sailies.
How to Catch
Rigged garfish, swimming pilchards, live yakkas or slimy mackerel — typically pitched to a raised fish
Skirted trolling lures (small to medium), Halco Laser Pro 190, switch-baiting with hookless teasers and a pitched live bait
Light gamefishing tackle — 15–24kg overhead or heavy spin, 80–130lb fluorocarbon or mono leader, 8/0–9/0 circle hook for bait (mandatory for tagging programmes). Teasers to raise the fish, then pitch a circle-hook bait or stickbait as the fish lights up.
Troll skirted lures or rigged baits at 6–8 knots along the shelf edge and current lines, watching for tailing fish and frigate birds. When a sailfish lights up behind the spread, drop a bait back or pitch a live bait — the strike is visual and dramatic. Set with a slow lift on circle hooks; let the fish turn before locking up. Release boat-side without lifting the fish out of the water — billfish handling rules apply.
September through January is the peak Exmouth window, with November and December the most consistent. Sailfish are caught at Tantabiddi outside this window too — there are usually some fish around year-round. Run-out tides over the shelf concentrate bait. Mornings tend to outproduce afternoons.
Up to 60kg, commonly 20–40kg
Sep–Jan (Exmouth peak)
Size & Growth
Most Exmouth fish are 15–35kg and around 2–2.5m including the bill, with 40kg-plus fish a genuinely good one and the biggest well past that. Billfish are among the fastest-growing fish in the ocean — a sailfish puts on most of its length in its first couple of years and is not a long-lived animal, which is part of why the fishery holds up under heavy release-based pressure. Size varies far more with the season than with any spot; a run of small, aggressive fish through November is normal and does not mean the grounds are off.
Diet & Habitat
Sailfish work bait — pilchards, hardyheads, scad, small mackerel and squid — herding balls to the surface and using the bill and the raised sail to panic and stun them. They hold along the continental shelf edge, current lines, temperature breaks and bait aggregations in roughly 50–200m, which at Exmouth sits unusually close to shore. WA range runs from around Exmouth and Tantabiddi north through the Pilbara and into Kimberley waters, with strays picked up south towards Shark Bay and Kalbarri in warm summers. They are not a Perth fish and never have been.
WA Size & Bag Limits
| Bag limit | 1 (retention strongly discouraged) |
|---|---|
| Counts toward | Counts within the large pelagic mixed daily limit. Catch and release is the recreational and tournament standard for billfish in WA. |
Catch and release is the recreational and tournament standard for billfish in WA. Bag limit: 1 (within the large pelagic mixed daily limit) if retained, but retention is strongly discouraged. Tag-and-release programmes operate through the Exmouth Game Fishing Club.
Eating Quality
No — sailfish are not an eating fish in WA, and nobody serious treats them as one. The flesh is dark, coarse and dry, it loses what little it has the moment it is cooked past rare, and the conservation ethic on billfish here is strong enough that a retained sailfish reads as a wasted one. Every charter and club boat out of Exmouth runs tag-and-release, most with circle hooks, and the fish is not lifted from the water for photos. If you want a feed off the same grounds, drop back to the bait schools and take a Spanish mackerel, a trevally or a mahi mahi — all three are better on the plate than a billfish will ever be, and all three are legal to keep within their own limits. Bleed and ice whatever you do keep; the tropical heat is unforgiving.
Perth Tips
Tantabiddi boat ramp puts you within thirty minutes of billfish water — exceptional access for any gamefishing destination. Most charters out of Exmouth offer dedicated billfish trips Sep–Jan. Use circle hooks, fish single-strand fluorocarbon leader, and don't lift the fish out of the water for photos — keep it in or beside the boat for release.