Metro Catches
Picture: This fish came from the Murray River and was caught pitching light plastics hard up against fallen trees to entice feeding fish sitting underneath them for cover (Photo courtesy of @massamone)
The most encouraging news offshore is the number of pink snapper around. The pink snapper regulars have been consistently catching 5kg to 10kg fish near Stragglers and in Cockburn Sound. The back of Garden Island and off Carnac Island have also been producing good numbers of pinks. King George whiting, breaksea cod, samson fish and skippy have been caught along Five Fathom Bank. Swarms of small dhufish have been encountered between Five Fathom Bank and the southern side of Rottnest Island.
Reports of yellowtail kingfish near Rottnest have prompted a few crews to try for these backbreaking speedsters. Squid are still about in excellent numbers along the seagrass meadows in Cockburn Sound, out from Fremantle and off Cottesloe. The sandy holes off Leighton, Cottesloe and City Beach are good for plump sand whiting. Black bream are widespread in the river with fish to 40cm caught between Freshwater Bay and Ascot this past week. Early mornings and evenings are seeing a few tailor caught along the Cottesloe to Floreat Beach stretch.
Jetty, Set, Go! – Deepwater Point Jetty
Fishing in the Swan this weekend and not sure where to fish or what facilities are close by? Check out our new ‘Jetty, Set, Go!’ Series: A snapshot of popular fishing locations to make your family fishing days more enjoyable!
Today we’ll shine the spotlight on Deepwater Point Jetty Mt Pleasant. A very accessible jetty with playgrounds, public toilets and great fishing! Read more about the Deepwater Point Jetty Mt Pleasant and near by facilities here.
Last week we looked at Keane Street Jetty, in case you missed it click here.
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: When unweighted baits get to the bottom they can turn up great surprises like this kidney slapper of a King George. This guy took an unweighted mulie meant for pink snapper while fishing on the Five Fathom Bank. (Photo courtesy of Ed Davidson)
MANDURAH
The Dawesville Cut is still producing plenty of herring, King George whiting near the Jolly Frog and a few whiting for those fishing from the rock walls. Fishers chasing black bream are generally not going home empty handed. There are plenty of fish in the lower reaches of the rivers. Bream can be found scattered throughout the estuary and better fishing is upstream in the Ravenswood area. Also fishers fishing in the canals are reporting some good fish to 38 cm. Most success seems to be coming from fishers using soft plastic lures. Give it a try – If it improves your catch all well and good, if not, nothing ventured – nothing gained.
People fishing the beaches both north and south of Mandurah are finding a bit of weed on most beaches but also report occasional catches of big tailor along with plenty of choppers. They are also taking plenty of whiting, tarwhine, herring and garfish. Nobody has told the salmon that they are supposed to have moved back east as winter is now over, so there are still a few of them around and several smaller specimens have been reported along the southern beaches.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Warnbro Sound has been producing some good catches with some very big sand whiting, skippy, tarwhine and some good pink snapper. There are still plenty of squid being taken in and around the Sound. Most beaches in the area are producing a few tailor, plenty of herring, yellowfin whiting and sand whiting. People fishing from Kwinana Beach have found whiting, pilch and herring. Other locations in the region that have been turning on good whiting are the Penguin Island sand bar and Secret Harbour.
Safety Bay Yacht Club and Rockingham Beach Jetty have been producing herring and squid. There are a few herring along most of the beaches, but not in any great number. Squid are still being caught from the jetties as well as off-shore. Palm Beach Jetty is producing a few herring and skippy and there are a lot of squid also in the area. fishers braving the cold evenings and mornings have been catching a few mulloway from these structures.
South West Catches
Picture: Ben Court with his pink snapper. Pinkies are fished most often on baits such as mulies, slimy mackerel, pilchard, squid and octopus (Photo courtesy of Marco Orifici).
The Geographe Bay waters have been rather murky as of late thanks to the recent rain and while this has not assisted squid enthusiasts it has certainly aided those who have been targeting pink snapper. Good catches of snapper were picked up along the Eight Mile, Four Mile and artificial reef during the past week and there were even a few caught shore-based at Monaghans together with a few mulloway.
A couple of boats that searched for promising ground off Cape Naturaliste and the west coast scored some nice dhufish. Salmon are still about with Bunker Bay, Castle Rock and Point Picquet among the spots to produce catches of the 3 to 7kg fish. Baits have reportedly been out performing lures on the salmon while the water remains discoloured. Herring have been plentiful along the west coast and in the bay and expect yellowfin and sand whiting to turn up along the sand flats in front of Quindalup soon.
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Geraldton Catches
Picture: Sandy’s ripper of a coral trout caught on a leadhead jig (Photo courtesy Sandy Daniele).
A group of customers of customers of Geraldton Sports caught three mulloway of about a metre in length near West Bank at the weekend. Tailor have been turning up some mornings and evenings at the first and second points at Greenough. Chopper tailor are evident in the river itself together with small mulloway, of which most have just been more than legal size. The rocks in front of the Sail Inn are worth visiting with skippy to a kilo and, in the evenings, herring on offer.
Graham Maunder and a couple of friends caught yellowfin and school whiting to 30cm at Coronation Bay on Saturday afternoon. School mackerel around 60cm have also been turning up along the beaches there. Boat fishers had to work hard for their catches at the weekend. Schools of 6 to 8kg dhufish were found along the shipping channel together with some big slimy cod. Catches of dhufish, pink snapper and baldchin groper were picked up at African Reef, South West Bank, the coral strips out from Drummonds and near the Abrolhos Islands.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Red throat emperor are just one of the many emperors you can catch in WA. There is no mistaking these guys due to their bright red colouring inside their mouth.
Wayne Dewar, of Kalbarri Sports and Dive, has been catching some nice black bream in the upper reaches of the Murchison and being busted off by what he suspects to be estuary cod or mangrove jack. Yellowfin whiting are starting to show in better numbers along the lower reaches of the river and there seems to be more blue swimmer crabs being caught just inside the river mouth.
Several pink snapper were caught from the cliffs and Red Bluff during the week. Plenty of mulloway to a metre and the occasional bigger fish are being caught at Wittecarra, Frustrations and the beaches north of town. Better catches of pink snapper, baldchin groper, sweetlip, emperor and coral trout have been coming from the southern waters while the ground north of town has been producing bigger numbers of red emperor and dhufish.
