Metro Catches
Picture: This pinky went 97cm and 11.3kg. Caught off Fremantle, one of Brandon’s more memorable catches. (Photo courtesy of Mitch Parkes) Read Brandon and Mitch’s story below!
The past weekend’s weather was wild enough to keep even the keenest fishers indoors, however there were a few eager souls who embraced the 6m swells and 30 knot-plus winds and took to the metropolitan rock walls in search of pink snapper and mulloway. Pink snapper were caught in the better numbers out of the two species. Among the spots to produce snapper were Coogee Marina, Woodman Point, North and South Mole and Hillarys Marina. A customer of Anglers Fishing World in Fremantle managed to land a nice size pink snapper about 11am Monday when conditions were quite calm. Good catches of bread and butter species, including herring, garfish and sand whiting, have been coming from Woodman Point and South Beach. A group of fishers at Woodman Point have also been picking up bigger skippy with the assistance of burley.
Dutch Inn Groyne may be worth trying for tailor and herring following reports of good catches of both species at the limestone rock groyne last week. Early morning lure casters along the Cottesloe to Swanbourne Drain stretch have also been scoring some nice tailor to 60cm as well as the odd salmon. The beaches near Two Rocks and Wilbinga fished well for tailor between 50 and 70cm last week. There were reports of a couple of good size mulloway caught along the northern beaches recently. Boat fishers working the 20 to 40m depths off Fremantle and Rottnest Island have been doing reasonably well on dhufish and pink snapper. Better catches of dhuies, pinkies and baldchin groper have consistently been coming from the ground off Lancelin. Squid have been a little harder to find, which is probably due to the murky inshore waters. Black bream enthusiasts recommend soft plastics at Aquinas Bay and Fifth Avenue.
Read Brandon and Mitch’s story:
”It’s his first big pink and bloody thing went 97cm and 11.3kg. We were fishing roughly 1km off Fremantle last night 2/8/2016. We tried our usual spot and got nothing so decided to head over to another spot we’d recently found and high hopes for. We ended up landing our first fish at 8:30pm and our last at 10pm, putting 6 on deck in total and losing a few to spat hooks. All fish were over 80cm, and from the first drop it was all on for young and old. His monster was caught on 3/0 hooks with 40lb leader and a light outfit.”
If you want to see your fish in our fishing reports and want your fishing adventure told, please email bronte@recfishwest.org.au we would love to hear from you!
Jetty, Set, Go! – Bicton Baths
Last week we looked at Point Walter Jetty, in case you missed it click here.
Mandurah and Surrounds
Picture: Skippy are commonly referred to as a ‘bread and butter’ species but don’t let that fool you, these guys can put up a good fight, providing fun fishing for everyone.
MANDURAH
Like most metropolitan beaches, weed has caused some concern for beach fishers. Most fishing activity has taken place from jetty platforms. Herring, skippy. sand whiting and garfish have formed the bulk of the catch. The Cut is a great spot to try for sand whiting, herring, skippy and tailor. Good sized King George whiting have been caught as well, generally around the jetty near the Jolly Frog. Earlier in the week there were several smaller snapper taken from the ocean end of The Cut. There are also reports of some good mulloway along this stretch of beach between The Cut and Preston Beach.
In the river there has been some very good bream fishing with good numbers taken in both the Murray and Serpentine Rivers. There are still a few smaller tailor along the northern beaches along with tarwhine, skippy, whiting and herring.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY / WARNBRO SOUND
Point Peron has been producing plenty of tarwhine, herring and some nice sized tailor. Most spots around this region are producing herring, yellow-eye mullet (pilch), whiting and skippy. Becher Point beaches are producing herring as well as some good sand whiting. Land based fishers fishing from the Palm Beach Jetty report good catches of herring and skippy and plenty of squid.
South West Catches
Picture: Catch of the day for Brian, a beautiful dhuie (Photo courtesy of Brian K Norton)
The boats that have been fishing the Geographe Bay waters in the evenings have been scoring pink snapper to 9kg and samson fish to 20kg in depths mostly between 10 and 16m. Dave Cole, of Dunsborough Outdoor Sportz, caught a couple of nice pinks and a dhufish off the west coast last Thursday. Squid have been picked up in better numbers along the seagrass meadows off Quindalup when the water has been clear. Some nice hauls of blue swimmer crabs were caught between Old Dunsborough and the Busselton Jetty during the past couple of weeks. Salmon have been turning up at some strange places including the dirty water hanging around the Old Dunsborough Jetty.
Albany Catches
Picture: Check this King George out- it went 60cm! Caught by one of our Albany fishing clinic instructors and our passionate Albany rock fishing safety spokesman, Andrew Jarvis. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Jarvis)
The reef fishing grounds due south of town appear to be full of potential – it’s just a matter of finding a day suitable to make it out to the marks. The boats that hit up the 60m to 80m depths during the past week found schools of small to medium size pink snapper. Plenty of skippy were also mixed in with the snapper schools. Queen snapper, breaksea cod and red snapper were mostly found along the coral while the few who ventured out to the edge of the shelf and beyond were rewarded with bigger red snapper as well as hapuka and blue eye trevalla.
Most of the King George whiting caught from the inshore waters this past week were in the 33cm to 42cm category. There were also loads of sand whiting, skippy of mixed and the odd flathead caught in these parts. Squid have been hard to come by. Big schools of salmon were hanging around Bluff Creek and Cheynes Beach together with heaps of herring and big skippy. Surf fishing reports from the local beaches were a little thin with mostly herring and sand whiting being caught from the beaches that were accessible. An estimated 6kg salmon was caught in the Kalgan past Honeymoon Island last week. The salmon was apparently very silver in colour and in good condition, which suggests that it had only recently made its way up river. Vibe and blade style lures have been working well on black bream in both of the local systems. Mulloway have been rather scarce during the past couple months.
Esperance Catches
Picture: Yellowtail kingfish are a great sports fish, and one of the most internationally renowned white fleshed fish used in sashimi dishes.
Both the Taylor Street Jetty and Jane Street Jetty are fishing well for garfish, squid, small herring and the odd King George whiting while Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has mostly been producing the latter two species. Salmon were reportedly thick at Roses Beach, Fourteen Mile and Salmon Beach some days last week. A customer of Southern Sports and Tackle landed approximately 60 salmon during a single session at one of the local beaches recently.
Dunns has been good for skippy while Thomas River has mulloway and gummy shark. The small boats targeting bread and butter species within a mile or so of the coast have been coming home with some nice hauls of sand whiting, squid and snook. A couple of boats that fished several miles beyond the islands found big schools of 3kg to 4kg nannygai. Samson fish to 30kg and yellowtail kingfish in the 6kg to 8kg range have been encountered near the islands.
Download iPhone or Android
Geraldton Catches
Picture: A fun fact about pink snapper – it’s a relative to species such as tarwhine and black bream rather than species in the true snapper family (Photo courtesy of Rebecca French)
Wayne Dewar, of Kalbarri Sports and Dive, reports there to be mulloway between 60cm and 90cm, tailor to 55cm and heaps of plump sand whiting being between Bowes River and Coronation. The Flat Rocks to Greenough River mouth stretch has tailor early morning and evening and mulloway after dark. Big yellowfin whiting and mixed-size sand whiting have been picked up from the beaches south of the marina, however the weed movement has been making fishing difficult in these parts.
A good mix of bread and butter species including herring, whiting, small skippy and yellowtail can be sought at the marina. Pink snapper have been found in dense schools at times along the ledge located approximately 12 to 15 miles northwest of town. Dhufish, coral trout and baldchin groper were among the reef fish caught near African Reef and the ground off Coronation.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: The name ‘baldchin’ comes from the fish not having any scales on their chin! (Photo courtesy of Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club Inc.)
When conditions have allowed the boats to pass the sandbar, the crews have been managing to pick up a nice mix of quality reef fish along the ground north, south and west of the river mouth. Vaughn Ralph landed a superb 10kg red emperor northwest of town last Thursday. Ash McClintock picked up a 12kg dhufish, a couple of big samson fish, skippy and baldchin groper during a session last week.
Tailor to 65cm and school-size mulloway have been common at Red Bluff, Wittecarra and the northern end of the Blue Holes. Rob Tang has been doing well on tailor and mulloway at Frustrations and the beaches north of there. Garfish are being caught in good numbers at Red Bluff, especially early morning. There are still good black bream being caught at the jetties and pens. Mulloway catches have been few and far between in the Murchison and there seem to be fewer blue swimmer and mud crabs around.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: Shark mackerel (funnily enough, not a shark) can be distinguished by its colouration of green and yellow but also by the intense ammonia smell when you pull it on board. Do not assume the smell makes it a bad fish to eat, it is a must to bleed the fish immediately if you want to keep it, this will help reduce the ammonia scent and will be prime for the table. (Photo courtesy of @dan.coughlan)
Game fishing enthusiasts continue to encounter good numbers of black and striped marlin in depths starting at 100m. Out farther, the occasional blue marlin has been appearing in the spreads. Sailfish are starting to appear in better numbers offshore and it will not be long before pods of the majestic creatures turn up in the upper regions of the gulf. Fishers casting stick baits and poppers into the bait boils have been picking up some nice yellowfin and longtail tuna.
Spanish and shark mackerel are continuing to respond well to trolled bibbed minnows along the back of the reef line. Red emperor have been picked up in depths as shallow as 30m while even shallower waters are producing some big coral trout and spangled emperor. Queenfish and trevally are the main species being caught from the west coast accesses. Try Lighthouse Bay and Jansz for bluebone and spangled emperor.
Broome Catches
Picture: What a sight! Watching sailfish being athletic in the water is something to see.
Spanish mackerel are responding well to trolled bibbed minnows and rigged garfish off Gantheaume Point. The mackerel, which have ranged from 8 to 25kg, have been found in waters less than mile off the coast at times. Sailfish and the odd black marlin continue to be caught in waters off Barred Creek, however strong winds have made it difficult to get to the billfish grounds at times.
A nice mix of reef fish including coral trout, bluebone and chinaman cod have been coming from within Roebuck Bay and out from Manari. Threadfin salmon to a metre and the odd bigger fish are being caught quite regularly in Roebuck Bay together with a few bluenose salmon. There are still a few barramundi being picked up in the Fitzroy River. Shore-based fishers have been getting among queenfish and golden trevally at Coconut Wells.
