Your Fishing Photos
Photo courtesy of Squid Hunters Western Australia
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Snapper Guardians Release Event Rescheduled
You may have seen us advertise our much-anticipated snapper release event over the past couple of weeks in our Broad Cast Newsletter and on Facebook.
Unfortunately, the event was postponed as the bad weather was not going provide keen rec fishing families the best opportunity to come down and enjoy boosting snapper stocks in Cockburn Sound.
We are holding the fish and keeping them in tip top condition until Saturday 18th February when you and your family will have the same opportunity to help release over three thousand snapper into the Sound.
We look forward to seeing you next Saturday. You can’t miss us, we are the ones with the huge grins from the knowledge that we are working together securing a fantastic fishing future for Perth waters.
Thanks for your support and we’ll see you soon.
Metro Catches
Picture: Stick bait lures provide a sporting and fun method to target the southern bluefin tuna around Perth waters at the moment. Locating birds diving on baitfish being cornered by the tuna is your best way to find the fish (Photo courtesy of Simon Marwick).
Spanish mackerel have officially turned up in metropolitan waters in numbers. Several mackerel were caught within Cockburn Sound during the past week. While it may be assumed that powerboats trolling bibbed minnows and baits caught most of the mackerel, kayak fishers floating whole baits and trolling lures have picked up most of the 8kg to 15kg fish.
It seems a stealthy approach has been effective in attracting mackerel strikes. Boat and kayak fishers employing a burley trail and floating baits have also picked up spaniards. More Spanish mackerel were also caught near Rottnest Island and along Three Mile Reef and there have also been a few fish landed near North Mole. Small southern bluefin tuna have been encountered in a range of depths and areas including the western edge of Five Fathom Bank.
Squid continue to be caught along the seagrass meadows off Fremantle Sailing Club and within Cockburn and Warnbro Sounds. Tailor have been inconsistent along the metropolitan beaches. Catches of 45cm to 60cm tailor have been better along the beaches north of Yanchep. Small samson fish have been caught in the lower reaches of the Swan River together with yellowfin whiting and mulloway. Blue swimmer crabs have been picked up in good numbers by divers and drop netters.
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: Flathead love to sit in the channels and around drop offs in our estuaries during summer, waiting for bait to pass by and suck into their large mouths (Photo courtesy of @brockleightonnn).
MANDURAH
A few larger tailor are being caught around dusk and after dark from Tim’s Thicket and White Hills. The beaches south of the city are generally all producing good fishing. The Dawesville Cut is always worth dropping a line as there are herring, tarwhine and skippy being taken, along with some good tailor and flathead in the estuary and around the cut. The beaches around Mandurah are producing herring during the day with tailor early morning and evening. Mulloway are active although not in large numbers along the San Remo, Madora and Singleton region.
Beaches to the north, around Golden Bay, have been producing some good tailor and herring. There have been some larger mulloway taken from these beaches with several reported from between San Remo, and Golden Bay. The estuary is still producing crabs, and people fishing from the Old Traffic Bridge are catching some very good skippy. Dinghy fishers in the estuary have been locating tailor by looking out for birds working over the bait schools. Tailor and other larger predators are often lurking under these bait schools. Bream fishers have reported that most of the action is further upstream with some good fish well up. Kayak fishers quietly sneaking in and out of spots are accounting for some very good fish.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Warnbro, Long Point, Port Kennedy and Secret Harbour beaches have all been producing good tailor during the last week. There has been good reports of herring and crabs out in the deep water. The jetties are turning on herring early in the morning, along with squid and both blue and scaly mackerel.
South West Catches
Picture: Dhufish are another demersal target available with the range of jigs on the market these days. The west coast of the Cape to Cape region is a good starting place (Photo courtesy of @dan.coughlan).
Surf fishers have continued to catch a few salmon from the west coast and Geographe Bay beaches. Most of the salmon caught have been individual fish and found near reef, which suggests that these have been injured, or fish that became solitary after losing their shoal during last season’s migration. Expect this season’s salmon to start turning up during the coming weeks following reports of big schools moving westwards off Esperance and Bremer Bay.
A few tailor have been turning up at Injidup at sunset. A consistent stream of burley should get herring on the bite at most of bays. Squid have been caught from the seagrass beds off Quindalup. The boats working the Four Mile and Eight Mile reefs have been catching pink snapper to an impressive 10kg, especially at first light and after sunset. Good catches of dhufish and other reef species have been coming from the ground out from Hamelin Bay.
Geraldton Catches
Picture: Some good yellowfin whiting have been caught around the place from Geraldton beaches including Explosives to Pages and the back of the breakwater (Photo courtesy of @nickihuntfishing).
At least two Spanish mackerel of about 10kg were caught from the first and second points at Greenough last week. Tailor and pike have been common catches at both points as well as along the beaches stretching to Flat Rocks.
Mornings at Southgates have been good for mixed size tailor, herring and pike. Tailor and herring have dominated catches at Tarcoola while the Explosives to Pages rock groyne stretch has tailor, herring, pike and whiting. The back of the breakwater is mostly producing small tailor and some whiting. The dinghy and small boat fishers working the seagrass near Seal Rock and out from the lighthouse have been doing well on herring, pike and squid.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: The Spanish mackerel have come on the bite in Kalbarri, with a lot of good sized specimens mixed up with the odd one upwards of 15kg (Photo courtesy of Murchison Boat Hire).
The boats trolling bibbed minnows have been picking up spanish mackerel. The mackerel have mostly been in the 8kg to 12kg range and have been encountered north and south of the river mouth. Those targeting mackerel have also caught longtail and yellowfin tuna. Some nice catches of dhufish, pink snapper, baldchin groper and coral trout have been picked up within a few miles of the cliffs and some of the deeper waters northwest of town.
Tailor have been turning up most mornings and evenings at Red Bluff, Wittecarra, Chinamans and Frustrations together with a few mulloway. Bigger mulloway have recently been landed at Wagoe. Blue swimmer and mud crabs continue to be caught in the Murchison. Several mangrove jack were caught from the jetty along with black bream, chopper tailor and trumpeter.
