Keep your eyes peeled for Recfishwest’s Tip of the week, see below!
Your Fishing Photos
If you want to see yourself or your kids feature in our weekly state-wide Fishing Reports, send your best fishing photos and a description to bronte@recfishwest.org.au
Esperance Catches
Picture: Big mulloway are not uncommon from the beaches east of Esperance, with magnificent stretches of beach providing hideouts for the beach beasts amongst the waves.
Boats
A customer of Southern Sports and Tackle landed six southern bluefin tuna to 11kg while trolling within a few miles of the coast last week. Dinghy and small boat fishers working the ground within a mile or so have been picking up good catches of whiting, snook and squid. The bigger boats that have been venturing out wide have been finding plenty of nannygai to 2.5kg, queen snapper and samson fish between 10kg and 15kg.
Shore-based
Big schools of salmon have been turning up at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach and Roses. Salmon have also been consistently appearing at Fourteen Mile, Thomas River and Alexander. Mulloway in the 6kg to 8kg range were caught at Fourteen Mile, Stockyards and Thomas River last week. The Taylor Street Jetty is fishing well for herring, skippy and squid. Bandy Creek boat harbour has King George whiting between 25cm and 35cm and herring on offer.
Recfishwest’s Forecast
A bit of swell over the weekend dropping right down for Monday might limit some people to fishing into next week. Salmon are still moving through in big schools but migrating fish will start to dwindle in a few weeks. Yellowtail kingfish are expected to turn up in good numbers around the islands and rocky headlands coming into cooler weather.
Albany Catches
Picture: April is the month for salmon in WA so if you get the chance to hit the south coast the time is now. Keep the sand between your toes and fish from the beach for a safe and enjoyable experience (Photo courtesy of Fab Fishing & Tours)
Boats
Reef fishing enthusiasts who worked the coral country in 50m to 80m off Cheynes Beach, Two Peoples Bay and Albany scored good catches of breaksea cod, dhufish and queen snapper. Schools of samson fish were encountered in similar depths as well as at the edge of the shelf. Crews in bigger boats, who ventured beyond the shelf, managed to land some nice red snapper, hapuka and blue eye trevalla. King George whiting catches are improving through the inshore parts. A group of four fishers caught 20 King George and some nice herring and skippy during a single session last week. Squid are still a little hard to come by with catches of half a dozen of the popular cephalopods considered a good haul at the moment. Bibbed minnows trolled off the headlands and inshore areas are producing catches of salmon and small southern bluefin tuna.
Shore-based
Very big schools of salmon have started to show up along the Bluff Creek to Nanarup stretch. Cables, Sand Patch and Lowlands have also been fishing well for salmon while there have been consistent catches at Shelley Beach. The odd tailor has also been mixed in with the salmon and there are plenty of herring and skippy at the harder to access areas. Black bream in the 25cm to 35cm range are common in the King and Kalgan rivers. Small mulloway have been responding to baits and lures in both systems.
Recfishwest’s Forecast
Weather is mostly sunny with a few possible showers over the week. Moderately low, easterly winds for the start of the week and big swell over the weekend will limit shore based and small boat fisher. Beach fishers time will be better spent after the weekend when the swell has dropped. Salmon will continue to move through Albany in the coming weeks with the migrating schools starting to slow in a few weeks’ time. Resident fish and stragglers will be around over much of the cooler months and yellowtail kingfish will appear in bigger and better numbers too.
Recfishwest’s tip of the week
Sustainable Seafood Recipe Competition
Have any good recipes for less commonly used seafood? Keen to win a 10 course degustation dining experience in a farm setting inspired by camp oven and bush spices?
We can confirm our first entry that will go into the Sustainable Seafood Cookbook by Fervor is Jimmy’s Fish Ribs! Keen fisher James Warren uses a special filleting technique to save these juicy fish ribs that would otherwise be thrown away with the frame. They are perfect for camping and we think they are as good if not better than the fillets.
Don’t forget to get your entries in for the chance to go into the book and win great prizes: For more information, click here.
