Recfishwest FREE Fishing APP Available Now!
Recfishwest yesterday launched the first Smartphone App for fishing in WA, conveniently delivering the fishing rules to you at the touch of a button.
The Recfishwest App is free to download and will give all WA fishers the latest fishing rules in their pocket, even when they find themselves well outside of phone and internet reception.
On Google Play or Apple iTunes, search ‘Recfishwest’ to find the App.
Available on iPhone & Android.
Read more about the new App here.
Metro Catches
Pictured: Chris Barnacle with a healthy Pink Snapper
Several pink snapper and mulloway were caught from the northern and southern rock walls including Mindarie, Hillarys and Coogee Marina and North and South Mole during, and just following, the recent storms. Richard Pappas picked up his second pink snapper from Scarborough Beach in the past four weeks last Friday night. His recent effort weighed an estimated 7.5kg. More snapper have been coming from along Five Fathom Bank and Three Mile Reef.
Salmon have continued to turn up at shore-based locations within Cockburn Sound such as Woodman Point as well as along then metropolitan coastal stretch. Dave Thomson managed to land a salmon on fly near Cottesloe last Friday. The Garden Island to Stragglers stretch remains a hot spot for salmon with plenty of boat fishers getting among the action during the week.
Emilio Orifici, of Anglers Fishing World in Fremantle, has been doing well on squid and cuttlefish along the seagrass meadows out from the Fremantle Sailing Club. Emilio also reports there to be heaps of big sand whiting south of The Windmills. Dab netters have been picking up some nice buckets of prawns in the lower reaches of the Swan River in the evenings following the recent rain.
Mandurah and Surrounds
Pictured: A random Blue Swimmer Crab caught on fishing line
MANDURAH
Herring and some very large salmon have been taken from the southern beaches along with a few small to medium sized mulloway. Closer to Mandurah there are a few tarwhine and skippy around the ocean end of The Cut. On the incoming tide there have been several larger salmon taken from the ocean end of the channel. There are also a few tailor being caught in the same area. At the estuary end of The Cut there are still herring, whiting and an occasional salmon being taken. Earlier in the week dolphins in the estuary had a ball rounding up a mixed school of salmon and mullet and it was interesting to see them decimate it.
In both the Murray and Serpentine rivers bream are a little more active. There have been a few bream taken from some of the more popular locations throughout the lower end of the river system. Prawn movement is also on the increase. Anglers chasing prawns are starting to read the tide tables and are putting in some late hours on the outgoing tide at places such as the Old Traffic Bridge and from dinghies moored upstream from it. There have been some good catches taken and also a few trips that have turned into duds. When chasing prawns on the upstream side of the bridge it would pay to also have a line drifting out on the downstream side. Mulloway don’t mind a feed of prawns and will readily take a fresh live prawn rigged on a line. During the day there have been a few herring, yellowtail and tailor being taken from the estuary.
Beaches to the north of the town continue to produce herring, garfish and whiting, generally of a morning. There have been a few small mulloway taken by anglers fishing well into the night. Tailor have been spasmodic and are being caught during the late afternoon and evening.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Anglers fishing throughout this area report good catches of herring and some big garfish. Squid are also being taken throughout the area. Small boat anglers fishing out in front of the jetties at Rockingham have been catching some King George whiting, squid and snook along the edges of the weed banks. Beach anglers fishing Becher Point and the Point Peron beaches have been taking salmon and tailor. There have been some very big salmon taken from beaches in the area, with fish to 7 kg.
COCKBURN SOUND
Salmon have been reported form most areas in the Sound , with some big fish reported. There are reports of occasional snapper being taken from the upper end of the Sound. Size is not all that big and numbers are improving. There are good King George whiting being caught along with some skippy. It is interesting to note that the skippy have gone quiet along most of the beaches but are being caught in reasonable sizes and numbers in the Sound. There are still a lot of squid around in the Sound, and both beach and boat anglers are catching them. In the bottom of the Sound there have been a few tailor and skippy being taken from areas adjacent to the bridge. Further up the Sound, squid have been quite active and several good catches have been made.
KWINANA / WOODMAN POINT
The groynes and jetties in this area have been producing some very big garfish and if you’re planning a trip north in the near future, now is the time to stock up on your baits for the trip. If you are pre-rigging your baits, wrap them in a piece of paper towel and place them inside an aluminium foil pouch. This prevents transit damage as they stack neatly, and also saves a lot of time rigging up.
There have been a few medium sized snapper taken from this area. Unfortunately there are also many small snapper that are well undersize. The upside of this is that it would appear that with the numbers of small snapper around at this time we should have a great season next year as they mature.
Herring, garfish and whiting are making up the bulk of the catch during the morning along with a few snook.
After dark the situation changes with an odd tailor and small mulloway coming in, along with the snapper. There are still a few King George whiting around and these make a welcome addition to the catch. Several good mulloway were caught from the Ammunition Jetty last week and there are a lot of big yellow-finned whiting around.
South West
Pictured: Morris Wilkinson with a lovely West Australian Dhufish
Many are calling this year’s salmon run to be the biggest in decades. That’s not surprising because there are still tonnes of the 3 to 7kg torpedoes turning up between the capes and along the Geographe Bay coast.
Herring have also been plentiful along the beaches and there are starting to be more and more skippy around. Squid are starting to be caught in better numbers along the seagrass beds off Quindalup.
The 10 to 20m depths within Geographe Bay are fishing well for pink snapper while several dhufish in the 16 to 20kg range were picked up off the west coast last week. Small southern bluefin tuna have been encountered off Castle Rock and Eagle Bay.
Albany Catches
Pictured: Skippy of good size are plentiful
Australian salmon have continued to turn up along the coast with Sand Patch, Shelleys, Lowlands, Nanarup, Cheynes Beach and Bluff Creek among the spots where good numbers of the popular sport fish have been caught.
Herring are plentiful along the coast and there have been some big skippy and tarwhine caught near the reefs and from the rock areas when the weather has allowed. Several pink snapper were caught from the local rock platforms during the past fortnight. One of the pinks landed was apparently nudging the one-metre mark. Yellowtail scad suspended under a float have been attracting the interest of marauding predators such as yellowtail kingfish, samson fish and queen snapper at a few of the rock spots.
Squid are starting to be caught in better numbers at the marina while the small boats working the waters within King George Sound and both harbours have been picking up plenty of the tasty cephalopods.
King George whiting catches have been mixed with some bagging out within a couple of hours and others struggling to catch a single fish. There were few who ventured out wide during the week, but when conditions permit, expect the snapper, dhufish and breaksea cod to be concentrated in certain as the reef fish tend to be following a spell of rough weather. Small black bream have dominated catches in the local river systems.
Esperance Catches
Pictured: Herring are everywhere at the moment
Herring and squid have been the main species on offer at the Taylor Street Jetty while King George whiting can be sought at the Bandy Creek boat harbour. Schools of two to three dozen salmon have been regularly turning up at Blue Haven and Salmon Beach.
Herring and the odd skippy have also been coming from the protected beaches while the swell has been up. Thomas River has small mulloway along with the usual herring, salmon and skippy. Squid and sand whiting continue to be caught by the boats that have been staying close to shore. There have been few who made it out wide due to the conditions. At least one black bream in the 40 to 45cm range was picked up at the lakes this past week.
Geraldton Catches
Pictured: A horse Pink Snapper – straight off our Instagram page
At least half a dozen dhufish were caught from the shore between Seven Mile Beach and Lucys during the past week. The dhuies ranged from 5 to 8kg and were picked up near the reefs. Tailor to 60cm and school-size mulloway have also been coming from along this stretch together with a few herring and small sharks.
The Southgates to Tarcoola stretch has tailor, mulloway and whiting. Bigger mulloway to 16kg have been fairly common behind The Lives and the rock walls. The Drummonds to Buller River mouth expanse has tailor, whiting, mulloway and herring on offer.
A 4.5kg Australian salmon was caught at Lucky Bay last week and there were unconfirmed reports of others caught north and south of town. Spanish mackerel and tuna have been showing up behind African Reef and in 20 to 30m of water between Drummonds and Coronation.
Boat fishers targeting reef fish at the Abrolhos Islands have reportedly been working hard for their catches of baldchin groper, coral trout and pink snapper.
Kalbarri Catches
Pictured: Tim with a 10kg Spanish Mackerel, taken trolling a Laser Pro 190
Garfish and herring have started to turn up in good numbers at Red Bluff and Jakes Bay with early morning fishers picking up some nice bags of the bread and butter species on prawns and gents.
An estimated 70cm pink snapper was caught from the beach at Red Bluff last week and there have been similar size fish landed at the southern rock platforms during the past few weeks.
Tailor to 70cm and mulloway around the 8kg mark have been appearing at Chinamans and The Siphon. Better Spanish mackerel and longtail tuna catches have been coming from the waters out from Wagoe where boat fishers and balloon fishers have been getting stuck into mackerel in the 8 to 20kg range and tuna to 10kg.
Soft plastics have been working well on the black bream in the middle reaches of the Murchison. Giant herring between 40 and 50cm have been responding well to small metal slices. Estuary cod and the odd mangrove jack have been picked up near the jetties and pens.
Exmouth Catches
Pictured: Chuck Griffiths with a Golden Trevalley taken on an 80g metal – jigging in 50m
Perhaps the most surprising news this week were the two Australian salmon that were caught at the Learmonth Jetty and at least one other salmon encountered at Bundegi boat ramp. Salmon are rarely caught north of the metropolitan area and these recent encounters may possibly be the most northern captures for the species.
Queenfish and small giant trevally are the most common species being caught from the west coast beaches. Yellowfin whiting and bream have been coming from the town beaches. The lower areas of the gulf are worth a visit with some nice queenfish, giant herring, javelin fish and brassy trevally caught there recently.
Fly fishing enthusiasts have been picking up bonefish and permit in the lagoon. Spanish mackerel have been responding well to bibbed minnows trolled along the back of the west coast reef and near the Muiron Islands. There are still quite a few sailfish and small black marlin being caught in depths starting at 100m.
Broome Catches
Pictured: Local fisher Steve Chambers with a fairly hefty Queenfish taken on stick bait
Sport fishing enthusiasts are a little apprehensive at what the open ocean will be offering during this weekend’s tournament following slim catches of sailfish and black marlin so far this season. Big schools of baitfish located near Grey Shoals should give the competitors some hope. If the water temperatures drop quickly enough, it is expected that things will come together through the waters out from Barred Creek, which traditionally produces the better billfish captures each season. While the billfish are yet to be encountered in big numbers, there seems to be plenty of giant and golden trevally about and quite a few Spanish mackerel in certain areas.
Bait shoals sitting out the front of the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park have been attracting big queenfish and medium size trevally. Good numbers of threadfin salmon between 60 and 80cm and the odd fish of more than a metre continue to be caught in Roebuck Bay. Bluenose salmon can be sought at the local creeks.
