Competition Winners!
Recfishwest and Perth & WA Fishing Reports recently ran a competition on Facebook. All you had to do was tell us your fishing safety story, where you and/or your mates found yourselves in a sticky situation where some fishing safety equipment could have come in very handy, it was that easy! We’re thrilled with the response on a topic that is not always easy to talk about, but needs much more exposure to change behaviour toward safety, the responses were great from you all. We decided to pick 2 winners, 1 land based and 1 boat, considering WA’s recent boating tragedies. Congratualtions to our winners Stephen Bxaxa and Conrad Dalais, we hope you continue to be safe on the water and enjoy your new Fisher Safety Vest: Crewsaver 165N Sport.
Make sure you read their stories, click HERE.
Metro Catches
Picture: It’s a boy! Dhufish gender can be told apart by a longer filament trailing from the end of a male fish’s dorsal fin (photo courtesy of @therealtravisdaivs)
Asen Bolstad caught a superb 14kg samson fish on a live bait near Mindan Reef on Friday. Plenty of skippy to a kilo and small pink snapper, which have mostly been under size, have also been coming from the Mindan Reef area. The boats travelling out to Rottnest Island have been picking up fair catches of dhufish and pink snapper off West End.
Squid continue to be caught in good numbers together with the odd cuttlefish off Fremantle Sailing Club and within Cockburn Sound. Shore-based fishers have also been picking up some nice hauls of squid at Woodman Point, along Capo D’Orlando Drive and South and North Mole. Herring have also been coming from these areas as well as at Cottesloe Groyne and South Beach Groyne, with the latter also producing good catches of whiting. Salmon have been turning up along many of the metropolitan beaches this past week with the better catches appearing to come from the Kwinana area. Dozens of the 3 to 7kg fish were caught at Rockingham Jetty on Wednesday afternoon. Dab netters have been picking up some nice hauls of prawns in the lower reaches of the Swan River, especially following a period of rain.
Jetty, Set, Go! – Mount Henry Bridge Jetty
Today we’ll shine the spotlight on Mt Henry Bridge Jetty. Very accessible, playgrounds, public toilets, open parks and great fishing!
Read more about Henry Bridge Jetty and near by facilities here.
Mandurah and Surrounds
Picture: Herring are WA’s favourite bread and butter species and actually live longer than its larger relative, the Australian salmon.
MANDURAH
Beaches to the south of Mandurah such as Tim’s Thicket, White Hills and Preston Beach have all been fishing quite well with some good herring catches reported, along with a few tailor and whiting. There have been some isolated reports of salmon around 4 kg being taken from these southern beaches and around the reef sections adjacent to the ocean end of the Cut. The Cut is one location where you can hide from the breeze and still have a reasonable chance of taking home a feed of quality fish. It is regularly producing good catches of herring, skippy, King George and sand whiting and some tailor. The area around the Jolly Frog is the preferred spot for anglers seeking King George whiting. At the ocean end, tailor are being caught of an evening.
The beaches to the north of Mandurah have been producing some good skippy, big King George whiting and plenty of sand whiting, small tarwhine and herring. The estuary bridges are starting to turn on a few prawns. The Murray River is still producing some bream as well as some good sized tailor. However the tailor seem to prefer being a bit further downstream and are being taken from locations closer to the traffic bridges.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY / WARNBRO SOUND
Coventry Reef has been fishing well. It has produced small samson fish, tailor and skippy. Big King George whiting have been caught out on the Five Fathom Bank along with plenty of snapper of varying size. The snapper sizes have ranged from well undersized fish, the length of your palm, through to fish of 70 cm plus. Point Peron is worth a try for herring, tarwhine and some tailor. Penguin Island has produced good numbers of sand whiting and a few flathead and flounder on the flats adjacent to the sand bar.
South West Catches
Picture: Salmon are still around, but in smaller numbers (photo courtesy of @fishing_hard)
Boat fishers working the waters inside Geographe Bay have been picking up some nice pink snapper between 4 and 8kg at areas that have included the Artificial Reef and Four and Eight Mile reefs. While the odd dhufish has been found within Geographe waters, better catches have been coming from the 20 to 40m depths off Gracetown and Canal Rocks where breaksea cod and queen snapper have also been caught.
Squid continue to be caught in good numbers along the seagrass meadows off Quindalup. Better catches of the popular cephalopod have been achieved when the water has been clearer. Salmon are still turning up along the west coast and Geographe beaches with Hamelin Bay, Injidup and Bunker Bay among the hot spots. Shore-based and boat fishers are having little difficulty picking up a feed of herring, especially when burley is introduced.
Albany Catches
Picture: The large spots on harlequin are yellow in juveniles and adult females but turn to green then blue as males mature. Individual fish have different spot patterns like human thumb prints. (photo courtesy of Nicholas Drummond)
There are still salmon turning up along the local beaches as well as those east and west of town. The 3 to 7kg fish are not appearing in the same numbers they were a few weeks ago, however there have been many shore-based fishers who have been managing to pick up at least a couple of fish a session. Spots that have been producing the better salmon catches have included Bremer Bay, Bluff Creek, the rocks at Cheynes Beach, Nanarup, Lowlands, Perkins and Shelleys. Tailor have also been picked up among the salmon, especially at the traditional tailor haunts of Nanarup and Bornholm. Herring of mixed sizes can be sought from just about any of the beaches and headlands. There have also been some nice catches of the popular bread and butter species picked up at the marina and Frenchmans.
Skippy between 1 and 2kg have also started to show up in the surf gutters with the trickier-to-get-to locations tending to produce better numbers of the bigger trevally. When conditions have been suitable, the boats hitting up the lumps in 60 to 85m are decking reasonable numbers of queen snapper, breaksea cod, red snapper, harlequin fish and pink snapper. Schools of samson fish and yellowtail kingfish have also been encountered. Smaller boats working both harbours are getting among a few King George whiting as well squid and sand whiting. Baits have been outperforming hard-bodied and soft plastic lures on black bream in the King and Kalgan rivers.
Esperance Catches
Picture: This species of squid, the southern calamari lives for just under a year (photo courtesy @kirbyfishing)
Good catches of bread and butter species including herring, garfish, skippy and squid have been coming from the Taylor Street Jetty. Bandy Creek Boar Harbour has been producing mostly herring and a few black bream. Small schools of salmon have been appearing along the local beaches with Blue Haven, Salmon Beach and Fourth Beach among the better performing spots for the 2 to 7kg fish. Surf fishers have reported bigger salmon schools turning up at Roses Beach. Stockyards and Fourteen Mile are worth a visit with big skippy and plenty of herring on offer. Thomas River has produced its usual catches of school-size mulloway and skippy to 2kg. The small boat and dinghy fishers have generally been doing well on sand whiting and squid within a mile of the local beaches.
Geraldton Catches
Picture: Although the pictured fish is an awesome catch, spanish mackerel in Australia can grow to 2.4 m and more than 40 kg and live for over 20 years!
Anglers putting in the hours at the back of The Lives and along the marina have been rewarded with mulloway to 17kg. Tailor between 35 and 55cm and a few school-size mulloway have been caught along the Flat Rocks to Greenough River mouth stretch. Dhufish to 10kg have also been landed along that stretch, especially when conditions have been calm. Bigger tailor have been responding well to stick baits and poppers at Point Moore and Separation Point.
Small boat and kayak fishers working the waters within the reef line have been picked up some very big school whiting together with herring, skippy, squid and tailor. The boats that recently returned from the Abrolhos Islands reported there to be good numbers of spanish mackerel in the 10 to 17kg range and heaps of tuna around.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Tailor caught on popper (photo courtesy @westernanglernextgenfishing)
Holly Robins landed a superb mulloway that was conservatively estimated to weigh 15kg at a secret Murchison River location on Saturday night. Smaller mulloway between 50 and 70cm have been common in the lower and middle reaches of the system while black bream have been found hanging near structure including the jetty and pens. Wayne Dewar caught seven black bream around the 35cm mark at an undisclosed part of the river on Sunday.
Rob Tang has been doing well on big yellowfin whiting near Oyster Reef. Rob has also been venturing to the coastal areas well north of the river mouth to pick up some nice mulloway and tailor. A customer of Kalbarri Sports and Dive has been picking up at least one spanish mackerel each time he heads offshore. Most of his mackerel have been caught on trolled lures within a few miles of the river mouth. Ash McLintock reports there to be plenty of mulloway turning up along the beaches at Wagoe.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: Two beautiful sailfish being tagged at once. Great to see fishers assisting in research (photo courtesy of @kessisfishing)
Spanish mackerel are being picked up in good numbers along the back of the reef north and south of Tantabiddi. Several black marlin and some big sailfish have been hooked in 100 to 200m of water. A few crews working the waters out wider have been landing the odd striped marlin as well as encountering some nice yellowfin tuna and wahoo. The areas inside of the reef on the west side have been good for spangled emperor and squid.
Some nice catches of red emperor, rankin cod and spangled emperor have been had by a few boats hitting the outer lumps. The bait schools on the west side are attracting queenfish and assortments of trevally. The marina is loaded with yellowfin bream while whiting are starting to show in better numbers along the gulf beaches.
Broome Catches
Picture: Barramundi, a classic Broome catch (photo courtesy Broome Fishing Club)
Billfish enthusiasts have continued to encounter reasonable numbers of sailfish and small black marlin in waters straight out from town and wide of Barred Creek. Spanish mackerel and varieties of tuna have been caught on trolled lures in a range of depths and areas. A good mix of reef fish, including blue lined emperor, fingermark bream and coral trout have been coming from the 20 to 30m depths.
Good catches of bluebone have been caught in close. Shore-based and small boat fishers working the Roebuck Bay area have been doing well on threadfin and bluenose salmon. Mixed reports on barramundi have come from the Fitzroy River, which waters are hovering around 25C.
