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.
