Snapper Release This Saturday!
The release of the juvenile snapper grown out under the Snapper Guardians program from eggs recovered from Cockburn Sound late last year will take place this Saturday.
It will take place on the beach at Jervoise Bay, Woodman Point (adjacent to Cockburn Power Boat Club and to the west of it) on Saturday 6 February 10 am – 12 pm.
All anglers and Snapper Guardians are invited to come and help Recfishwest release thousands of juvenile snapper. More details can be found in our Snapper Guardians Project article. See you there!
Metro Catches
Pictured: Baldchin groper
Tailor have started to appear along the metropolitan coast in better numbers with some good catches reported by shore-based fishers early morning and on dusk this past week. South Beach groyne and South Mole have been fishing well for tailor in the evenings. Early morning anglers spinning lures at Leighton, Grant Street and Swanbourne have been getting among tailor to 55cm most mornings.
Floreat and Trigg Point are worth a visit in the mornings and evenings while the beaches north of Mindarie have been experiencing a late tailor run starting at about 8.30pm most nights. Herring have also started to show up along the coast and inshore waters in better numbers with Woodman Point, South Mole, North Mole and Hillarys Marina rock wall producing good catches of the bread and butter species. Mullet have commenced their annual run along the beaches. Expect big tailor to be in hot pursuit of the schooling mullet.
The seagrass meadows off Fremantle and Hillarys continue to produce squid and a few cuttlefish. There have been some nice hauls of reef species including dhufish to 22kg, baldchin groper and breaksea cod taken off Rockingham, between Five Fathom Bank and Rottnest Island and off Hillarys during the past week. The dolphin fish at the FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) are starting to be of better size. Flathead are worthwhile targeting along the shallower areas of the Swan and Canning Rivers.
COCKBURN SOUND
Reports from anglers fishing in the lower sections of the Sound indicate that there are fair to good sized King George whiting being taken. There are plenty of herring, skippy, whiting and garfish just inside of the Causeway. In the deeper waters of Cockburn Sound there are reports of some good snapper and herring. Anglers chasing a feed of squid have been doing quite well in the bays adjacent to Garden Island and in Mangles Bay as well. Since the snapper ban was lifted there have been some excellent fish taken by dinghy anglers and several kayak anglers have also reported good fish.
KWINANA / WOODMAN POINT
The Ammunition Jetty has been turning on a few tailor of an evening with herring, garfish and scaly mackerel during the day. Several species of stingray have been hooked along with a few mulloway. The platform has been a successful land based ballooning spot this week with a couple of mackerel being taken by anglers ballooning from it.
Mandurah and Surrounds
Pictured: Yellowfin whiting
MANDURAH
Beaches around Golden Bay have been producing some good tailor, herring and whiting. There have been some larger mulloway taken from the beaches north of Mandurah with several reported from San Remo, Singleton, Golden Bay and Madora. The estuary is still producing good sized crabs, but be aware of size and bag limits because there are large amounts of smaller crabs currently in the estuary. Anglers fishing from the Old Traffic Bridge are catching some very good skippy. Dinghy anglers in the estuary have been locating tailor by looking out for birds working over the bait schools. Tailor, and often larger predators, are working from beneath.
Bream anglers have reported that most of the action is further upstream with some good fish well up. Kayak anglers quietly sneaking in and out of spots are accounting for some good fish. The beaches to the south are still producing some good tailor. South of Mandurah a few larger tailor are being caught around dusk and after dark. Tim’s Thicket, White Hills and beaches to the south are all producing good fishing with tailor and mulloway. The Dawesville Cut is always a place worth dropping a line as there are herring, tarwhine, skippy and whiting being taken, along with some good tailor.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Warnbro, Kwinana, Long Point, Port Kennedy and Secret Harbour beaches have all been producing good tailor during the last week, particularly after dusk when there is a good sea breeze. There has been some excellent fishing for yellow-fin whiting, with good reports of herring and plenty of crabs out in the deep water. The jetties are turning on herring early in the morning, along with squid and blue and scaly mackerel. The beaches between Port Kennedy and Warnbro have been producing tailor of an evening, with herring and whiting during the day.
South West Catches
Pictured: Dhufish
Damien Lane, of Dunsborough Outdoor Sportz, said local divers had speared at least two Spanish mackerel over the 20kg mark during the past week. Southern bluefin tuna to 10kg have been caught off the west coast and in Geographe Bay.
Crews targeting reef species have been doing reasonably well on dhufish, pink snapper and breaksea cod in 20 to 40m of water off Cowaramup Bay and Canal Rocks. More pinkies have been found along the Four Mile and Eight Mile. Big schools of baitfish that are residing through the inshore and coastal waters of Geographe Bay are attracting tailor, juvenile salmon and herring. A few squid continue to be caught along the seagrass beds while blue manna crab numbers are increasing.
Albany Catches
Pictured: Queen snapper
Herring have started to turn up along the coast in healthy numbers with good catches reported by shore-based fishers at Bluff Creek, Cheyne Beach, Nanarup, Mutton Bird and Sand Patch during the past week. Tarwhine are another species which have appeared along the coast and, judging by a couple of recent captures, some have been good fish getting close to the 40cm mark. Sand Patch, Nanarup and Bluff Creek were among the spots to produce tarwhine during the past few days.
Salmon are occasionally showing up along the coast and there are quite a few small skippy and sand whiting being caught by those using bottom rigs to target bread and butter species. Tailor catches have been down on previous weeks. Most of the inshore waterways are rather murky following the recent rain. The better catches of King George whiting have been coming from the wider inshore areas close to Michaelmas and Breaksea Islands and off Limestone.
Squid seem to have turned up along the inshore parts in good numbers again, which is surprising considering the colour of the water in these parts and their tendency to inhabit areas that feature clean water. Even shore-based fishers are experiencing good sessions on squid. A customer of Albany Rods and Tackle caught 15 of the tasty cephalopods from the marina rock wall last week. Boat fishers are picking up plenty of red snapper during their ventures to the 80m contour and beyond. Queen snapper are also about in numbers and there seems to be a heap of samson fish around. Black bream enthusiasts recommend bait fishing in the local river systems until the water clarity improves.
Esperance Catches
Picture: Squid
The Taylor Street jetty is fishing well for herring, squid and big garfish while the James Street structure has squid, herring and whiting. Similar species are being caught at the Bandy Creek boat harbour together with black bream. Big black bream – fish to 40cm – are being caught at the local lakes in good numbers. Apparently some black bream fishers have been catching up to a dozen fish in a session.
Salmon are turning up every now and then at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach and Roses. Dunns and Rossiters are fishing well for school size mulloway. A group of surf fishers caught 10 mulloway to 70cm near one of these beaches recently. Pink snapper have been found in a range of depths and areas by the boats. Yellowtail kingfish to 25kg were landed and bigger fish lost during the weekend. Squid and sand whiting can be sought along the waters in close. Small southern bluefin tuna, rarely bigger than 10kg, are still about offshore.
Geraldton Catches
Pictured: Blue manna crab
Boat fishers have mostly had to work hard for their catches and, on top of that, the conditions have been somewhat hard to pick. Watson’s leaping bonito and longtail tuna between 50cm and 1.2m have been turning up near the shipping channel and have also been coming within approximately 100m of the shore at times. Mixed catches of sweetlip, baldchin groper and dhufish have been picked up at South West Bank and the lumps north of Coronation.
Crews who ventured to the Abrolhos Islands did well on pink snapper, sweetlip and coral trout. Plenty of shark mackerel seem to be occupying the waters near Wreck Point and Half Moon Reef. Chopper tailor between 30 and 45cm are appearing most mornings and evenings along the beaches north of Coronation. Herring are also about in fair numbers along this part of the coast as well as at Southgates. Tarcoola has some herring and tailor with the latter species mostly turning up after dark.
Two customers of Geraldton Sports, who recently fished the waters off Seal Rock from their dinghy, managed to catch some nice tailor to 45cm, pike and herring. The anglers reported that most of the fish were caught between 8pm and 11pm. Mulloway are occasionally turning up at the marina in the evenings. Drummonds has also featured some nice mulloway while the nearby Buller River has been a hot spot for plump yellowfin whiting. Black bream and blue manna crabs can be sought at the Greenough River. The Chapman River has been providing some entertaining sessions on giant herring around the 50cm mark.
Kalbarri Catches
Pictured: Pink snapper
Local young gun, Robbie Leck, landed two mangrove jack of 53cm and 46cm at the pens last Tuesday evening. Black bream and chopper tailor have also been caught in the lower reaches of the Murchison while the middle reaches are producing school-size mulloway and giant herring. Tailor have been quiet for this time of the season along the beaches. Bait fishers have been scoring a few tailor to 55cm some mornings and evenings at Wittecarra and Frustrations.
Poppers have accounted for the odd bigger tailor at Chinamans. Spanish mackerel are yet to turn up in numbers similar to that of last year. The lack of mackies could be attributable to the cooler water temperatures offshore. Cobia are around in good numbers and a couple of boats that went out wide last week picked up red emperor, pink snapper and spangled emperor.
Exmouth Catches
Pictured: Coral trout
Lisa Wantuch caught a superb 10kg cobia from her 4.4m dinghy near Norwest Reef recently. Those taking advantage of the calm afternoons in the gulf have been rewarded with good catches of coral trout, longtail tuna and squid. Big golden trevally, giant herring and queenfish are frequenting the lower areas of the gulf.
Sailfish are occasionally turning up near Cooper Shoals and Exmouth Reef. Sails and small black marlin are being encountered in depths leading up to 200m off the west coast while the 400 to 600m contours are where most of the blue marlin, striped marlin and big dolphin fish are being caught.
Broome Catches
Pictured: Mulloway/ Black jewfish
Broome Tackle World’s Pete Nielsen reported dozens of metre-plus barra were caught in the middle reaches of the Fitzroy River before the recent rainfall. Threadfin salmon to 1.2m have been snared on live baits and lures at Crab Creek.
Dampier and Willie Creeks are loaded with bluenose salmon and both systems are also producing the usual small trevally and the odd mangrove jack. More trevally are being caught at the jetty together with queenfish and mangrove jack. When the boats have managed to head out, the crews have been picking up mulloway along the drop offs in Roebuck Bay and bluebone and coral trout near the reef patches.
