Your Fishing Photos
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Metro Catches
Picture: Matt with his King George whiting caught off Hillarys (Photo courtesy of Jeff Thomas).
Tailor appeared along the metropolitan beaches in better numbers this past week with several surf fishers reporting bag limits of fish mostly in the 45cm to 55cm range. While there were some bag limits of tailor caught along the Leighton to Scarborough stretch, better catches seemed to have come from the beaches between Mindarie and Yanchep.
Mulloway continued to be caught from Trigg Point in the evenings and it would be to no surprise if the gutters south of there are holding fish given their presence at the nearby reefs. The proven mulloway spots in the Swan River including The Narrows, The Old Swan Brewery, Freshwater Bay and Mosman Bay are worth trying for spawning fish at this time of the year. Tailor to 60cm were caught in the lower and middle reaches of both river systems. Flathead have started to turn up along the sand flats in better numbers and there are still plenty of black bream being caught on baits and lures.
Giant herring ought to be lurking in the river at the moment. Try Claremont Bay and Shelley Bridge for the aerobatic speedsters. Boat fishers have been finding samson fish to 40kg at The Barges off West End and in 40m to 60m northwest of Rottnest. Yellowtail kingfish have been caught near Stragglers and Parker Point. King George whiting were caught in 15m to 20m of water off the southern end of Rottnest at the weekend. Squid remain in good numbers along the seagrass beds off Fremantle.
Abalone conditions are looking moderate for Sunday, check the conditions before you head out, look after each other and have fun getting some abalone on day one of the season. Remember to fish and survive!
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: Nice schooling size beach Mulloway (Photo courtesy of @jakesfishstagram).
MANDURAH
There has been a couple of good mulloway landed at Preston Beach and there are some good tailor reported from the area. Bigger tailor up to 2 kg have also been caught from the beaches to the north. The Dawesville Cut is still the best place to drop a line as it is producing regular catches of herring, tarwhine and skippy. Several fishers reported catches of average sized tailor with an occasional larger fish. King George whiting are also being taken reasonably regularly. Black bream are on the bite in both the Murray and the Serpentine Rivers and a number of good sized fish have also come from the canals closer to Halls Head. The beaches north of Mandurah have been producing some good fishing for tailor of an evening.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
An occasional larger mulloway has been taken late at night from the beaches around Rockingham, and Secret Harbour beaches have been producing a number of smaller mulloway to 4 kg. The beaches around Warnbro Sound have been producing tailor of an afternoon when the sea breeze kicks in along with herring, skippy, garfish and sand whiting. Point Peron has been producing garfish, tarwhine and herring, while the beaches around Port Kennedy and Secret Harbour have been producing some tailor.
South West Catches
Picture: Squid as usual are plentiful in the Geographe Bay region (Photo courtesy of Charlie Chan of Squid Hunters WA).
Surf fishers are catching tailor, occasional salmon, herring and skippy along both sides of Cape Naturaliste. Yellowfin and sand whiting are being caught in better numbers when the sun has been out. Boat fishers have been finding schools of samson fish and a few yellowtail kingfish out from Cape Naturaliste as well as off the west coast. King George whiting are about in numbers that make them worthwhile targeting within Geographe Bay. Squid can be sought along the seagrass beds between Eagle Bay and the Busselton Jetty.
Albany Catches
Picture: Cowan with a notable Yellowtail kingfish specimen. (Photo courtesy of Cowan Wise).
A couple of boats that managed to head out to the shelf reported there to be plenty of hapuka and red snapper about. The hapuka were not huge fish but were welcomed in the 5kg to 7kg range. The reds were located in dense schools mostly at the edge of the canyons. In closer, a good mix of reef fish including dhufish, pink snapper, breaksea cod and queen snapper were picked up along the coral in depths leading up to 85m off Cheynes Beach, Two Peoples Bay and Albany. Packs of samson fish were also encountered offshore together with yellowtail kingfish. King George whiting fishing has generally been productive through the inshore areas.
Sand whiting and flathead were also caught inshore along with squid, which appear to be in better numbers through the cleaner waters located off Limestone Head and the whaling station. Sand Patch has consistently been fishing well for herring, skippy, sand whiting and occasional salmon. Samson fish estimated between 20kg and 40kg continue to be hooked from the shore at Emu Point. Big skippy can be found at the gutters along Bluff Creek. Tarwhine have also been showing up at Bluff. A 61cm mulloway was among plenty of smaller fish caught in the Kalgan River this past fortnight. Black bream fishing has been improving in the local systems and those to the east and west of town.
Esperance Catches
Picture: An attractive looking Queen snapper (Photo courtesy of Aron Dixon).
The Taylor Street Jetty has been fishing well for small skippy of about half a kilo and herring as well as the odd King George whiting and squid. Stockyards is worth a visit with juvenile salmon, herring and gummy shark caught there recently. Fourth Beach and Roses Beach are mostly producing salmon and herring. Surf fishers at Rossiters experienced a nice run of 3kg to 5kg mulloway this past week. Dunns has been good for skippy to 1.5kg and salmon. The boats fishing the inshore waters have continued to come home with catches of sand whiting and squid. Nannygai, queen snapper and yellowtail kingfish dominated catches offshore.
Geraldlton Catches
Picture: Steam train of a Samson fish, a worthy jigging target (Photo courtesy of @seeland_argh).
A 22kg mulloway was landed at The Slips about 10am on Saturday together with a few tailor and wobbegong shark. Tailor have been turning up some mornings and evenings at West Bank. Mulloway were also caught at West Bank this past week, however not in the same numbers that the prized fish were caught during the past month or so.
Tailor have been consistently caught from the coast north of Drummonds Cove. Herring catches seem to have eased off along the coast with Point Moore perhaps the most reliable spot to target the popular bread and butter species. Yellowfin and school whiting can be found at Point Moore, Separation Point and Pages Beach. Squid have been picked up inside the marina in evenings. Kayak and dinghy fishers have been averaging between six and eight squid a session along the seagrass beds located between Southgates and St Georges with Samson fish turning up around offshore reefs for boat fishers.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Beautiful estuary black bream on a vib lure (Photo courtesy of @massamone).
A customer of Kalbarri Sports and Dive has been averaging one mulloway around the metre mark a night at Wittecarra together with a few tailor. Mulloway have also been regularly caught at Red Bluff and Frustrations while bigger tailor seem to be consistently turning up at Oyster Reef.
Yellowfin whiting can be sought at Wittecarra during the calmer days and there are still plenty around the sand flats in the Murchison. Black bream continue to be caught near the jetty and pens along with estuary cod and chopper tailor. Surf fishers caught mulloway to 15kg, tailor around 50cm and whiting at Lucky Bay recently.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: Exmouth is renowned as a beach fishing Giant trevally hotspot.
Big schools of mulies and yellowtail have appeared in the gulf and their presence has brought about pods of marauding sailfish. Billfish enthusiasts reportedly encountered sailfish within a few hundred metres of Bundegi boat ramp recently. Longtail tuna and spanish mackerel have also been found feasting on the big supply of food in the gulf. Blue marlin continue to be raised wide of the west coast while black and striped marlin have been located in depths starting at 100m.
Spanish and shark mackerel are responding well to trolled bibbed minnows along the back of the reef line. Giant trevally are being caught on big poppers and stick baits retrieved from the white water. There are still big queenfish lurking off VLF Bay while some have also been caught at Jansz together with trevally. A guest at Wilderness Island caught a barramundi not far from the camp earlier this week. Some nice catches of squid have been coming from Learmonth.
Broome Catches
Picture: Stonker of a coral trout (Photo courtesy of @castaways_fishing).
Makaira Game Fishing Charters has been putting its clients onto some big threadfin salmon including recent fish of 1.24m and a 1.22m that were caught in Roebuck Bay. Smaller threadfin and some nice bluenose salmon have been coming from Crab Creek. Barramundi action is starting to increase in the Fitzroy with baits the better performing method at the moment at the popular spots of Telegraph Pool, The Cuttings and Snags.
The boats that have been hitting the ground within Roebuck Bay and out wider have been picking up some nice blue lined emperor and coral trout. Spanish mackerel and varieties of tuna have been responding well to trolled bibbed minnows. Tripletail are being found near the moorings and flotsam in the bay.
