14 October 2016 – South Coast Fishing Report

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Dhufish

DEMERSAL CLOSURE STARTS MIDNIGHT SUNDAY 17th OCTOBER IN WEST COAST BIO REGION

ROCK LOBSTER SEASON STARTS SATURDAY 16th OCTOBER – STATEWIDE

This year, the annual demersal closure for the West Coast Bio Region will begin midnight on the 17th and run until the usual time of midnight 15th of December (inclusive) meaning you can resume fishing for demersals on the 16th. The 48hr difference to previous years is to allow for National Gone Fishing Day this Sunday, which is also WA’s first ever licence free day.

Albany Catches

Albany Samson fish

Picture: Martin Noordewier gives a great description of his land based fight to snap this awesome shot from last friday:

“Took a mulie as the sun was setting and bolted for the horizon. Took at least 100m of 30lb braid on that run with the drag down hard and my arms abnormally stretched. Slogged it out back to the beach with two runs up & down before my son, Zac, grabbed it in the surf for photos and release (not weighed or measured). A great team effort & I’m very thankful Zac was there. The shore break would have made a successful solo landing very difficult.” (Photo: Courtesy of Martin Noordewier)

Fishing enthusiasts were delighted to finally experience some truer spring weather during the week. Those who managed to head out to the 60m to 80m depths were rewarded with mixed catches of queen, pink snapper and red snapper, breaksea cod and small dhufish. Harlequin fish were found in shallower areas together with more pink snapper while samson fish and yellowtail kingfish were encountered in a range of depth and places. King George whiting are being caught in reasonably good numbers through the inshore areas despite the water in these parts being rather murky following the recent rough conditions.

Gull Rock, Michaelmas and Breaksea islands were among the spots to produce King George to 45cm. Geordies mostly between 30cm and 40cm were picked up in the sound and both harbours along with better catches of squid, herring and small skippy. Shore-based fishers at Emu Point have been busted off by what are suspected to be big samson fish.

Catches of three and four squid have been picked up from the shore at Emu Point and the marina. Sand Patch has consistently been producing herring, skippy and sand whiting as well as the odd salmon. More salmon have been coming from Bremer Bay and Bluff Creek with the latter location also having some big skippy turn up. Herring, whiting and black bream were caught at the mouth of the Kalgan River last week. Black bream in the middle and upper reaches of both of the local systems have been hard to tempt as a result of the murky water. Black bream enthusiasts have reported it to be a similar situation in the rivers close to Walpole and Denmark.

Esperance Catches

Esperance queen snapper

Picture: The iridescent Queen snapper makes for a great night time snap (Photo: Courtesy of Travis Grundmann).

King George whiting to 40cm, herring and a few squid can be caught at the Taylor Street Jetty while the Bandy Creek boat harbour has herring, skippy and the odd King George. Salmon have been appearing in mixed sizes and numbers at Fourth Beach and Salmon Beach.

Bigger salmon schools are turning up at Roses together with a few tailor and bronze whaler sharks. Thomas River is worth the trek with mulloway, skippy and salmon on offer. Gummy sharks were picked up at Israelite Bay last week along with small mulloway and salmon.

The boats are catching plenty of sand whiting and squid within a mile or so of the coast. Beyond the islands, queen snapper to 9kg, breaksea cod and average size nannygai have been common.

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2017-01-13T14:02:53+08:00