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Metro Catches
(Picture: Young Josh with his Dhufish caught on a Halco Mad Eye in his favourite colour)
Australian salmon were reportedly beaching themselves along one of the beaches at Rockingham on Tuesday with some observers managing to catch fish of around 5kg with their bare hands. It is thought the salmon were being chased close to shore by whaler sharks. More salmon appeared at Palm Beach Jetty during the week and there were also some good sessions had on the 3 to 7kg fish at Woodman Point, South and North Mole and the metropolitan beaches.
Herring numbers seem to be improving along the coast and there have been a few garfish turning up at the rock walls during early to mid-morning. Some mornings and evenings are seeing a few tailor show up at Cottesloe Groyne, Grant Street Reef, Swanbourne Drain, Floreat Groyne, Trigg Point and in front of Club Capricorn.
The boats that managed to head out when conditions permitted picked up some nice pink snapper within Cockburn Sound and along the western parts of Garden and Carnac islands. Good pinks have also been coming from along Five Fathom Bank where the anchor and burley method has been proving to be effective on the 3 to 8kg fish. Jake Crisp, of Anglers Fishing World in Fremantle, has been doing well on pink snapper, tarwhine to 30cm and small samson fish at Mindan Reef.
Good catches of prawns continue to be picked up through the lower reaches of the Swan River. Expect black bream to be making their way to the middle and lower reaches of both systems following the recent rain.
Mandurah and Surrounds
(Picture: Herring seem to be everywhere at the moment and will take baits and lures)
MANDURAH:
When fishers have gone out to fish there have been a few salmon taken from the southern beaches between Tim’s Thicket and White Hills. The heavy seas and swells have prevented many anglers from fishing the beaches.
The recent heavy weather has created some interesting beach formations with some good holes and gutters providing shelter for fish. This has meant that the beaches have been producing a number of small mulloway, a few big tailor and large herring during the day. The reef area south of White Hills has been consistently producing tailor of a morning when fishable. Beaches in the area appear to be very steep with sandbars offshore, leaving a few holes and gutters and a lot of shallow water.
The Dawesville Cut is at its winter best and continues to produce some excellent fishing, especially for herring and garfish. There have also been quite a few good sized King George whiting taken. There are some reports of several big tailor being taken late last week. Whiting are also being taken in numbers around the Jolly Frog jetty on the northern side of the Cut.
In the estuary, the bridges and rock walls continue to produce herring, tarwhine and an odd skippy or two. There are also reasonable numbers of yellow-finned whiting around particularly near the marina and the estuary entrance. Salmon are also being taken on a regular basis throughout the channel.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY:
Anglers chasing tailor have found a few good fish from the southern beaches especially when the breeze dropped down. The local jetties also produced a few fish later in the week along with some good squid. Salmon, herring and skippy are also being taken around the area.
KWINANA / WOODMAN POINT:
The groynes and rock walls have been producing a few smaller mulloway and some good fishing for salmon and snapper. Tailor have been quiet but there are still odd ones around. Anglers fishing the area during daylight hours have also reported catching a few herring and garfish with an occasional skippy. Squid are still plentiful and anglers specifically fishing for them using Japanese made jigs are doing well.
COCKBURN SOUND:
In Cockburn Sound squid numbers are still good with some excellent catches during the week after the water cleared a little. There are reports of good size skippy, small samson fish and lots of juvenile pink snapper being taken. Several good snapper over 70 cm have been taken from the northern end of the Sound. Mulloway have also been taken from the various groynes and rock walls along with some good snapper.
South West Catches
(Picture: Pink Snapper on the South West Artificial Reefs have been popular over the past couple of weeks. Check them out here.)
Shore-based anglers who braved the wet conditions were rewarded with good catches of pink snapper along the Geographe Bay coast. Busselton Jetty, Abbey Beach and Bunker Bay were among the spots where the 3 to 8kg snapper were caught. Snapper and samson fish have been coming from the artificial reefs with plenty of boats making their way out over the long weekend to try their luck.
Boat fishers also picked their fair share of pink snapper with fish ranging from 50cm to 13kg landed in waters of less than 7m and between the 20 to 30m contours.
Squid are being caught in excellent numbers along the seagrass beds off Quindalup. Herring are also about in good numbers with both boat and shore-based fishers picking up their limit of a dozen fish in a matter of minutes at times. Surf fishers have continued to catch salmon along the west coast and the Geographe Bay beaches.
The deep gutters formed following the recent weather would be worth soaking whole fish baits for mulloway, big tailor, pink snapper and gummy shark.
Albany Catches
(Picture: The Shire of Denmark have recently installed 5 new Angel rings to make your fishing safer. Read more about them here.)
Sunday turned out to be quite good weather-wise and there were a few who made the most of the calm conditions and hit the 60 to 85m depths. Breaksea cod, queen snapper, a few pinks, skippy and samson fish were picked up along the coral leading up to the 85m mark while red snapper were more prevalent in the deeper waters. The smaller boats have been doing relatively well on King George whiting, sand whiting, snook and squid at areas that included King George Sound, both harbours, Frenchmans, Gull Rock and Goode Beach.
Salmon continue to be caught along the local beaches as well as those east and west of town. The bigger salmon schools have not been appearing as regularly though. I spent the weekend at Shelley Beach where mulies accounted for most of the 3 to 8kg fish. I was not geared for bait fishing and managed to pick up several fish by sight casting bibbed minnows along the reef. One of the salmon would have been close to my biggest to date and would have given 8kg a good nudge.
I was very impressed with some of the herring that were about – fish around 30cm. Rock fishers at West Cape Howe and Cheynes have been landing queen snapper, pink snapper and samson fish. A few bonito have also been caught from the rocks and headlands. Black bream enthusiasts have been using soft plastics and baits to catch fish to 40cm in the King and Kalgan rivers. Hard-bodied lures are also enticing a few bream, but require some effort. Herring and juvenile salmon are still being encountered in the Kalgan.
Esperance Catches
(Photo: The cold water Coral Trout, the Harlequin fish, matches it’s tropical look-a-like in the taste department)
Salmon turned up in huge numbers near the river mouth at Munglinup during the long weekend. Roses Beach has also been fishing well for salmon. Early mornings and late afternoons have been the best time to target salmon at Salmon Beach.
Eleven Mile is producing some very good skippy as well as herring, juvenile and adult salmon. The big swells limited the amount of fishing performed along the coast east of town, however there were some who put up with the difficult conditions presented at Poison Creek and Cape Arid and picked up gummy shark to 10kg and salmon. Herring and squid can be sought at the Jane Street Jetty. The boats that worked the ground 20 to 25 miles offshore scored nannygai to 70cm and pink snapper to 8kg. Big sand whiting and squid continued to be caught in the bay.
Geraldton Catches
(Picture: Winter Skippy are a great catch on lures and go harder than their size would suggest)
A customer of Geraldton Sports enjoyed a memorable shore-based session north of Drummonds last week landing a 7.5kg dhufish and a similar size pink snapper. More dhuies and pinkies were caught by boat fishers who hit up the ground near African Reef and the lumps off Coronation. When the small boats have managed to hit up the inshore areas off Pages and St Georges, fair catches of herring, skippy and squid have been picked up.
Surf fishing for tailor has been better south of town where tailor to 4kg have been caught at the Greenough River mouth, West Bank, Lucys and Flat Rocks. Good catches of tailor averaging 1.5kg have been coming from Dongara. Some nice catches of whiting have been picked up along the southern and northern beaches. Try the back of the breakwater for mulloway to 15kg, especially an hour either side of the change in tide.
Kalbarri Catches
(Picture: Flounder are a fantastic bycatch when fishers target flathead)
Anthony Caporale caught a superb bonefish that looked to be around the 50cm mark at Red Bluff last Friday. Several pink snapper between 6 and 7kg were landed at Red Bluff on Monday and there have been lots of garfish turning up there most mornings.
Tailor and the odd mulloway have been caught at Wittecarra, Chinamans and Frustrations, however big swells limited the amount of fishing at these locations.
Expect pink snapper and baldchin groper to be lurking close to shore following the recent rough conditions. Soft plastic and metal jigs worked within a few hundred metres of the cliffs usually do well enticing both species after a decent storm.
Black bream and small estuary cod have been common in the Murchison. There were no sightings of milkfish in the river this past week.
Exmouth Catches
(Picture: Exmouth’s shore based Trevally are a hit with visitors chasing some pelagic action on light gear)
Giant trevally have started to appear close to shore with heavily-geared shore-based anglers having some luck hooking and stopping the 15 to 30kg freight trains during the past week. Spots that regularly fish well for big giant trevally include VLF Bay, Oysters and Jansz Access.
In saying that though, giant trevally can show up at any time along the west coast and gulf beaches, especially when big schools of mullet and other baitfish are around. Winter is generally the time when the big trevally turn up in close so it’s prudent to be well equipped and prepared if wanting to land one of shore-based game fishing’s greatest challenges.
Reef fishing enthusiasts have been picking up gold band snapper and red emperor in depths ranging from 40 to 120m. Sharks have unfortunately been snatching hooked fish at times. Young Zac and Jake Owens, of Perth, managed to pick up some nice mud crabs in the gulf and along with bream at marina recently.
Broome Catches
(Picture: Michael with a Crab Creek Threadfin Salmon taken on a diving minnow)
Billfish enthusiasts have reported there to be good numbers of sailfish and a few black marlin in the usual areas, including the waters off Barred Creek, however both species have been reluctant to strike at trolled skirted lures and rigged garfish while they feed on the masses of small baitfish. Spanish mackerel and longtail tuna have been caught on minnow lures off Entrance Point and Gantheaume Point.
The crews targeting reef fish have been picking up reasonable catches of bluebone and snapper within Roebuck Bay. Threadfin and bluenose salmon have been responding well to baits and lures along Cable Beach, Roebuck Bay and the local creeks. A couple of customers of Tackle World Broome caught barramundi of more than a metre while on the Fitzroy on Monday.
