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: Esperance beaches are amongst the best in the world with some awesome fishing opportunities for species such as mulloway, salmon and skippy (Photo courtesy of @tylerhewson26).
Boats:
Nannygai to 2kg and big breaksea cod have been common out wide. Schools of samson fish in the 15kg to 30kg range have been found near the islands and beyond. The squid were bigger for the dinghy and small boat fishers this week. Plenty of sand whiting have also been coming from the inshore waters.
Shore-based:
Skippy to 45cm, King George whiting, black bream to 35cm and loads of herring are among the species being caught at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour. The Taylor Street Jetty also has plenty of herring on offer as well as King George, skippy and squid. The bigger schools of salmon that were still about as of a few weeks ago seem to have scattered with fish of less than a dozen at a time appearing at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach and Stockyards. Gummy sharks, skippy and mulloway were picked up at Thomas last week while Poison Creek had salmon, tailor and mulloway.
Hook size and gauge
Technical Rating: Expert
Some of the most obvious features of a hook are both its size (gape) and thickness (gauge) and when used appropriately in combination can make all the difference in effectively hooking and landing fish. It sounds fairly straight forward but can get very technical and start to be applied with a great deal of precision.
When fishing with strip baits it is fairly obvious how large you want your hook to be as it needs to match the thickness of the bait (slightly larger). The same can be said for choosing a jig head to use with a soft plastic lure, the length and gape of the hook need to suit the size of the lure.
Picture: Various hook sizes and gauges can be chosen to suit the size of bait or lure as well as hook strength and penetration required for different line classes.
Once the size of hook has been chosen the technical part is choosing hook gauge or thickness. Many jig heads come with a hook size in standard or heavy gauge, usually denoted by a H next to the sizing. The heavy refers to a thick hook gauge for heavier fishing applications.
A good rule of thumb is that you should use the finest gauge hook you can get away with, meaning use the thinnest possible hook that won’t bend or break under the breaking strain of line you are using. This means that the hook point is as thin as possible and will have the greatest penetration and hook up rate. If you fish a heavy gauge hook you need to use more force to penetrate the hook and if you are fishing light line, you might not be able to drive the hook through.
In some instances you might be fishing a large bait or lure with light tackle so the hook gape will be large but the gauge will be fine. Alternatively you might be fishing heavier tackle for something feeding on small bait and lures or using a bridle rigging technique where the whole hook is exposed from the bait so you would use a small hook with a thick gauge for strength.
Picture: Small, thick hooks are used for bridle rigging whole fish baits (like the dead mullet pictured above) where the full hook is exposed but strength is needed. Hooks on topwater lures sometimes look excessive but the weight of the hook along with the strength needed to muscle powerful fish is needed to fish the lure effectively.
Going deeper, topwater lure fishing is the pinnacle of tactical and technical fishing often pushing gear to the limits with ultimate precision. Topwater lures such as stickbaits and poppers are often carefully balanced to draw the line between positive, neutral and negative buoyancy. The total weight of a hook will affect how the lure swims and how it balances overall, if it sits horizontal or vertical in the water column or anything in between. Hook size needs to be matched to the size of lure for hook exposure but size and gauge both add to the weight of the hook and ultimately how the lure balances at rest. To be most effective in this style of fishing, a combination of the size and buoyancy of the lure along with hook size and gauge need to be accounted for and matched appropriately with the line class for good penetration. Many lures of various sizes and weights may be required to tailor to each situation.
Visit Tackle HQ for in-store advice on all your hook sizing needs and specialist technical advice on jigging and topwater lure fishing with WA’s most comprehensive range of lures and tackle in store and online.
Albany Catches
Picture: An excellent landbased harlequin capture, Cowan wears his Crewsaver PFD to fish the unpredictable rocks on the WA south coast (Photo courtesy of Cowan Wise).
Boats:
King George Sound was reportedly full of salmon at the weekend and the early part of the week. Small boat and kayak fishers enjoyed some entertaining sessions trolling and retrieving an assortment of lures including bibbed minnows, stick baits and metals. King George whiting enthusiasts have been achieving bag and boat limits in the sound and both harbours at times. Reef fishers found plenty of pink snapper at the edge of the shelf. Red snapper were a little harder to come by while the ground in excess of 300m produced hapuka and blue eye trevalla for some. Dhufish ranging from 40cm to 60cm were found in good schools to the point that the normally sought after species were an annoyance. The Kalgan River fished well for mulloway at dusk while both of the local systems have been producing black bream in fair numbers for bait and lures fishers.
Shore-based:
Salmon seemed to have turned up along the beaches in better numbers this past week, however, most of the schools have again stayed out wide. Surf fishers at Shelley Beach caught and released dozens of 3kg to 8kg fish last Thursday and schools of two to three dozen fish have been regularly showing up within reach of a reasonable cast at Peaceful Bay. Cheyne Beach had salmon schools pass and there have been plenty of fish caught from nearby Tourist Rock during the past fortnight. Herring to 30cm are along the coast, and inshore waters, and there have been some nice catches of skippy and sand whiting from the local beaches as well as those east and west of town.
