9 September 2016 – South Coast Fishing Report

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Albany Catches

Albany

(Picture: Young fisher Harry Tropiano sent in a great snap of his first ever fish – On ya Harry keep ’em coming! Photo: Courtesy of Harry Tropiano).

A 45cm black bream was landed in one of the local rivers this past week and there were reports of several more fish between 40cm and 43cm caught on soft plastic and hard-bodied lures in the systems between Walpole and Bremer Bay. Black bream in the Great Southern region are known to spawn during September and October each year, which may explain why several bigger fish have been caught recently. Shore-based fishers continue to encounter salmon along the coast stretching from Bluff Creek to Bremer Bay. Cables and Sand Patch are worth a visit with an assortment of bread and butter species including sand whiting, skippy, tarwhine and herring being consistently picked up there. The harbour has been producing a few squid, especially early morning and in the evenings.

King George whiting are occasionally being caught from the shore at Frenchmans Bay. The inshore fishers have been coming home with bag limits of king george of varying sizes from the sound and both harbours. Sand whiting have been common through the inshore parts and there are a few skippy and flathead also about. A few squid have been coming from the local seagrass areas, however better catches have been reported from the waters east and west of town. The boats that ventured out to the shelf scored big red snapper, hapuka and blue eye trevalla. The coral in depths leading up to 85m produced all the usual suspects including breaksea cod, dhufish, pink, queen and red snapper.

Esperance Catches

esperance gummy shark

(Picture: Gummies are often a great by-catch when fishing for snapper, as they can come up the berley trail).

A group of customers of Southern Sports and Tackle caught several King George whiting averaging 45cm from the shore at the Bandy Creek boat harbour last Friday. The small boats working the waters near Bandy Creek have also been scoring some nice King George. The Taylor Street Jetty has been good for herring and squid.

Sand whiting and squid are the main bread and butter species being caught in the bay. Shore-based fishers are still catching plenty of salmon at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach and Alexander Bay. Stockyards is worth a visit following catches of big skippy and flathead coming there recently. Try Thomas River for mulloway, gummy shark, bigger skippy and salmon.

2017-01-13T14:02:56+08:00