Metro Catches
Pictured: Salmon (photo courtesy of Charlie Fuller)
Amazing scenes were observed in the Swan River at the weekend when dozens of fishers were lined shoulder-to-shoulder between the Old Traffic Bridge and the Leeuwin Boat Ramp targeting big schools of salmon that entered the lower reaches of the metropolitan river system. Salmon were also spotted by a group of stand-up paddle boarders at Bicton Baths last week and there were fishers reportedly catching up to two dozen 3 to 6kg salmon off Point Walter during single sessions.
It is hard to tell how far the salmon will travel up the river, however there was an unconfirmed report of fish schooling between Deep Water Point and the Mount Henry Bridge in the Canning River. Both the South Mole and the North Mole have been producing hundreds, if not thousands, of salmon catches each week. Big schools have remained within Cockburn Sound with many boat and shore-based fishers getting among the healthy fish. Land based fishers have also been lucky enough to catch large numbers of big pink snapper lately due to the weather. If you target these species in stormy weather, please be careful and mindful of your safety. For more on safety click here.
The metropolitan beaches have also been producing quite a few salmon with Sand Tracks, Port Beach, Peters Pool, Grant Street, Swanbourne Drain and Scarborough among spots where the popular sport fish have been caught. Apparently salmon were encountered as far north as Yanchep Lagoon earlier this week. Herring have also been in pretty good numbers along the coast and inshore waters. Tailor to 2kg have been picked up by those targeting salmon, especially early morning and evening. The seagrass beds off Fremantle and within Cockburn Sound are producing increasing numbers of squid and small cuttlefish. Some nice catches of pink snapper and dhufish have been picked up along Five Fathom Bank. Divers have been spearing Spanish mackerel to 25kg off West End.
Big shout out to Michael Hill for his Salmon catch. All please be aware Michael often can’t access the disabled fishing platform at North Mole due to people not realising it’s a specialised platform for disabled fishers! If you see Michael around, say G’day, give him a hand and have a chat about fishing.
Mandurah and Surrounds
Pictured: King George whiting (photo courtesy of @robbieleck_fishing)
MANDURAH
The estuary is fishing well for smaller species with good catches of tailor, herring, garfish, skippy, and tarwhine being caught. The estuary has also been producing some good fishing for squid. Crabs are still around but you will need to work a little harder as numbers are starting to dwindle, and smaller crabs are in large amounts. There are still a few bream being taken in the Murray and Serpentine rivers and fishers putting in the time are reaping the rewards with some big fish in the last week.
Garfish have been abundant in and around the Dawesville Cut. Size has been good and along with the garfish there are plenty of herring. Several large salmon have been taken from the ocean end of The Cut. They have not been huge, but fish of 4 kg have been the norm. They have also been taken from the southern beaches of White Hills and Tim’s Thicket. Fishers fishing from these beaches have also reported taking a few tailor, herring and good sized whiting. An occasional larger mulloway has also been taken. The beaches to the north have also been producing herring, whiting and tailor with the evening being the better time to fish for tailor.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Several fishers have reported salmon up to 6 kg or better from several locations in this area. The fish seem to be wide spread and many fishers are taking their bag limit of 4. There have been good catches of herring and garfish from around Long Point, Penguin Island, Point Peron and Rockingham Beach. Whiting and squid are also being taken from these locations with an odd tailor of an evening. Fishers fishing out from Safety Bay have reported catching some good King George whiting. In and around Rockingham, the jetties are producing plenty of herring, garfish and squid.
South West Catches
Pictured: Dhufish & Pink snapper on the artificial reef
Salmon and herring are thick along the beaches between the capes and throughout Geographe Bay. Before the bigger swells hit, there were still plenty of big schools passing between Hamelin Bay and Boranup Beach, smaller schools appearing at Injidup and Mitchells and groups of a dozen or so fish gracing the coast at Smiths and Yallingup. Expect the recent stormy weather to break the bigger schools up and send a few of the fish hanging out wide to move into shallower waters. The Geographe beaches including Bunker Bay, Eagle Bay and Meelup provided calmer conditions for salmon enthusiasts when the storm hit.
Squid are abundant along the seagrass beds while the sand holes within a couple of miles from the Quindalup boat ramp are producing some nice King George whiting. The Four Mile and Eight Mile reefs are fishing well for pink snapper between 4 and 8kg while slightly smaller fish of legal size have been found at the artificial reefs, mixing with dhufish and skippy, however, samson fish can be hard to get through at times!
For more on artificial reefs click here.
Albany Catches
Pictured: Queen snapper (photo courtesy of Albany Boating & Offshore Fishing Club)
Good numbers of 4 to 8kg salmon continue to be caught along the local beaches and the coastal stretches east and west of town. Big schools have frequented Bremer Bay, Bluff Creek and Cheynes Beach. Closer to town, Sand Patch, Cables, Shelleys and Normans have been among the better performing salmon haunts. The occasional school has also been showing up at West Cape Howe, Lowlands and Mutton Bird while a few boats have been encountering schools off Bald Head and Limestone Head as well as getting stuck into bonito and, occasionally, small southern bluefin tuna. Salmon were a little and miss along the Denmark beaches during the long weekend.
Bait fishers did well at Ocean Beach, however lure fishers mostly picked up bull herring. Aside from the salmon and herring, sand whiting and skippy of varying sizes are also being picked up along the coast. Some nice King George whiting and squid are being caught in King George Sound, both harbours and along the inshore waters. The boats that worked the 60 to 85m depths did fairly well on red, pink and queen snapper. Reasonable numbers of breaksea cod, small dhufish and samson fish were also caught. Most of the rivers are fishing well for black bream with mulloway also a chance at the Kalgan.
Esperance Catches
Pictured: Skippy
The Taylor Street Jetty has been producing mixed catches of herring, garfish, King George whiting and small barracouta. Good numbers of King George have been caught at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour on dusk together with black bream and herring. Stockyards has been good for skippy to 1.5kg, salmon and herring. More salmon have been appearing at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach, Eleven Mile, Fourteen Mile and Roses. Big skippy have frequently been caught at Roses too.
Thomas River is worth the drive with plenty of mulloway, gummy sharks, big skippy and salmon on offer. Poison Creek has tailor to 65cm and salmon. Smaller mulloway and gummy sharks have been coming from Israelite Bay. The bream lakes appear to be loaded with black bream around the 35cm mark. The boats targeting bread and butter species around the near shore parts have been picking up squid to 2kg and sand whiting. Plenty of nannygai to 2.5kg have been caught from the ground out wide along with fair numbers of queen snapper, breaksea cod and samson fish.
Geraldton Catches
Pictured: Dhufish (photo courtesy of Geraldton and Districts Offshore Fishing Club)
Inconsistent catches of tailor have been coming from the Head Butts to Flat Rocks stretch. Herring and whiting have been about in good numbers along there. The weed movement has been making surf fishing difficult behind the S-Bend, however some nice tailor have been caught there in the mornings and evenings. Good numbers of tailor between 35 and 45cm have been turning up at West Bank. The reefs at Southgates have been producing the occasional bigger tailor. Choppers are the main fare at Glendenning Road, which has also been good for mulloway between 60 and 90cm in the evenings. Choppers to 35cm, small whiting, and the odd mulloway have been common behind The Lives.
The northern side of the Batavia Marina still has mulloway between 90cm and 1.2m turning up together with tailor and herring late in the evenings. Kayak and small dinghy fishers have been doing well on squid and whiting out from St Georges and Separation Point. The boats fishing the waters in close have been picking up plenty of dhufish in the 5 to 8kg range, a few baldchin groper, pink snapper and 55 to 75cm coral trout. Bigger pink snapper and lots of sweetlip have been coming from the Mid Reef area and wide of South West Bank. African Reef in the evenings has pink snapper between 5 and 8kg turning up. Live baits have been working better on the few spanish mackerel that appear to be lurking off the local waters.
Kalbarri Catches
Pictured: Pink snapper (photo courtesy of Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Inc.)
An estimated 20kg mulloway was landed at Wittecarra Creek on Sunday morning while smaller fish between 6 and 12kg have been common at Frustrations and the beaches north of there in the evenings. Tailor have been a little hit and miss along the coast. Surf fishers did well on tailor to 55cm at Wittecarra on Saturday evening, however mostly choppers in the 30 to 45cm range have been showing up in the mornings at Red Bluff, Siphons and Chinamans.
Black bream were somewhat hard to locate in the Murchison, which especially frustrated fishers competing in the recent tournament. There are yellowfin whiting along the sand flats and estuary cod and soapies in the middle reaches of the river. The upper areas are still producing giant herring catches while there are a few mangrove jack being caught near the jetties and pens at night. Spanish mackerel catches have been slowly improving in the northern and southern waters. Ted McClintock landed a superb 14kg spaniard from the shore at Wagoe last week. A big school of cobia was located in 27m of water off Sand Patch on Saturday. Pink snapper and baldchin groper can be sought near the cliffs.
Exmouth Catches
Pictured: Queenfish (photo courtesy of Exmouth Game Fishing Club)
There still seems to be quite a few black marlin and sailfish lurking off the west coast. Spanish mackerel are being caught in 15 to 25m of water at the back of the reef north and south of Tantabiddi. A few spaniards are also coming from the back of the Muiron Islands. Queenfish are being caught on an incoming tide at Old Bundegi along with small golden and giant trevally.
Bigger giant trevally are expected to start running soon, so it could pay to try blooping big poppers and swimming large stick baits at the back of the west coast reefs and in the channel between the two Murion Islands. The town beaches have heaps of yellowfin whiting while the weed beds in the Gulf are holding some good squid.
Broome Catches
Pictured: Spanish mackerel (photo courtesy of Broome Fishing Club)
Threadfin salmon between 70 and 80cm are being caught in fair numbers in Roebuck Bay. Bigger threadies, fish to 1.2m, have been found through in the inshore areas a little farther away from the town. A customer of Broome Tackle World caught a permit while targeting threadfin salmon on prawn baits last week.
A good mix of reef fish including bluebone, snapper and fingermark bream have been coming from the 15 to 30m depths. Dinghy and small boat fishers have been encountering longtail tuna to 10kg within 200m of the launching ramp. Spanish mackerel to 1.3m have been appearing within casting range of shore-based fishers at Gantheaume Point, Entrance Point and the jetty at times. Garfish and stick baits have been working well on the spaniards land based. Cable Beach is worth of try for yellowfin whiting, small trevally and bluenose salmon. Barramundi continue to be caught in the Fitzroy River and the local creeks.
