Metro Catches
(Picture: Nick Drummond was caught off guard when this healthy looking pinky chomped down on his bream gear – “tough work!”)
Small boat and kayak fishers have reported good catches of pink snapper to 10kg from Cockburn Sound. The boat and ‘yak fishers who have been regularly picking up the pinks have been putting in considerable time and effort and locating the schools. Interestingly, many of the snapper caught during the past fortnight have come from within a couple of hundred metres of the coast or rock walls. Pink snapper schools have also frequented the 10m to 20m depths west of Stragglers and there have also been some nice dhufish caught from this area. King George whiting to a thumping 50cm have been caught in 20m to 30m of water south of Rottnest.
The 5m to 10m depths south of Garden Island have been producing fair catches of smaller king george. Shore-based fishers at Woodman Point, North Mole and Hillarys Marina rock wall have been picking up the odd pink snapper. Good catches of herring have been coming from the rock walls, but it has been important to use burley. Early morning lure fishers have been picking up tailor between 40cm and 50cm along the Cottesloe to Swanbourne Drain stretch. I managed to catch five 45cm tailor while fishing weighted mulies at Yanchep on Sunday. Squid continue to be caught in excellent numbers along the seagrass beds off Fremantle and within Cockburn Sound.
The rock platforms between Fremantle and Rockingham have also been producing a few squid, especially in the evenings. Chopper tailor are starting to turn up in the lower reaches of the Swan River. Flathead have been a little scarce this past week, but that could be due to the cooler weather.
Jetty, Set, Go! – Gazebo Jetty, Riverside Gardens
Today we’ll shine the spotlight on Gazebo Jetty, Riverside Gardens. A very accessible jetty with playgrounds, public toilets and great fishing! Read more about the Gazebo Jetty and near by facilities here.
In case you missed last weeks jetty, Garvey Park Jetty, click here.
Mandurah & Surrounds
(Picture: Popular local crabbing and fishing spot – The old Mandurah Bridge. Building is underway for a new Mandurah bridge which will include custom fishing platforms – stay tuned!).
MANDURAH
Swells have made beach fishing conditions along the beaches to the south of Mandurah an little hit and miss during this last week. The seas and swells have deposited a lot of weed and have also shifted the beaches around. Often this is not a bad thing as it opens up gutters and holes in some locations and closes them up in others. All it needs is for the fisher to be able to read the beach where they are going to fish to find the fish.
Herring and tailor are providing the main catches in the Dawesville Cut. There are reports of good yellowfin whiting being taken there as well. In the lower estuary, reports indicate that the fishing has been reasonable with catches of herring, tarwhine and yellowfin whiting. Mulloway action from the beaches either side of Mandurah will start to improve with the size of mulloway caught increasing over the next few months.
Most of the beaches around Mandurah are producing plenty of tailor, although the size of the fish is average. The beaches at White Hills and Tim’s Thicket to the south are turning on some good tailor and herring fishing. People fishing this area are also taking whiting, tarwhine and garfish. People fishing the beaches to the north of Mandurah report occasional catches of big tailor along with plenty of choppers, whiting, tarwhine and garfish.
People fishing outside of the Five Fathom Bank are finding plenty of snapper and other demersal fish in 25 – 45 m of water. Bream fishing has slowed down a little with not a lot of activity in the upper estuary. Downstream it has been a different story with some good fish being caught. Fishers in the know are finding fish up to 750g or better.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
The Rockingham Jetty is producing herring, garfish and a few chopper tailor. Palm Beach is a good spot to try for most species and is also worth a try for squid. Sand whiting and tailor are being taken from Warnbro Beach and Long Point. Warnbro Sound is producing some good snapper fishing for boat fishers.
South West Catches
Picture: Nice hood taken by Ophet Phimsipasom after some hard work on Busselton Jetty last weekend Photo: Courtesy of Ophet Phimsipasom of Squid Hunters WA).
The boats that took advantage of the pleasant conditions at the weekend found plenty of dhufish, pink snapper and breaksea cod off Cowaramup Bay and Canal Rocks. Expect dhufish to turn up in big schools in 20m to 40m of water off Yallingup during the coming weeks, as the prized fish tend to do during this part of the season. Good numbers of pink snapper were caught along the Eight Mile and Four Mile reefs.
The boats trolling bibbed minnows in Geographe Bay have been catching quite a few salmon. Shore-based fishers have been getting among salmon at Injidup, Smiths Beach and Bunker Bay. Squid catches have been improving along the seagrass beds in Geographe Bay. Yellowfin and sand whiting should start to appear in the better numbers along the sand flats off Quindalup considering the water temperatures are increasing.
Albany Catches
(Picture: Young fisher Harry Tropiano sent in a great snap of his first ever fish – On ya Harry keep ’em coming! Photo: Courtesy of Harry Tropiano).
A 45cm black bream was landed in one of the local rivers this past week and there were reports of several more fish between 40cm and 43cm caught on soft plastic and hard-bodied lures in the systems between Walpole and Bremer Bay. Black bream in the Great Southern region are known to spawn during September and October each year, which may explain why several bigger fish have been caught recently. Shore-based fishers continue to encounter salmon along the coast stretching from Bluff Creek to Bremer Bay. Cables and Sand Patch are worth a visit with an assortment of bread and butter species including sand whiting, skippy, tarwhine and herring being consistently picked up there. The harbour has been producing a few squid, especially early morning and in the evenings.
King George whiting are occasionally being caught from the shore at Frenchmans Bay. The inshore fishers have been coming home with bag limits of king george of varying sizes from the sound and both harbours. Sand whiting have been common through the inshore parts and there are a few skippy and flathead also about. A few squid have been coming from the local seagrass areas, however better catches have been reported from the waters east and west of town. The boats that ventured out to the shelf scored big red snapper, hapuka and blue eye trevalla. The coral in depths leading up to 85m produced all the usual suspects including breaksea cod, dhufish, pink, queen and red snapper.
Esperance Catches
(Picture: Gummies are often a great by-catch when fishing for snapper, as they can come up the berley trail).
A group of customers of Southern Sports and Tackle caught several King George whiting averaging 45cm from the shore at the Bandy Creek boat harbour last Friday. The small boats working the waters near Bandy Creek have also been scoring some nice King George. The Taylor Street Jetty has been good for herring and squid.
Sand whiting and squid are the main bread and butter species being caught in the bay. Shore-based fishers are still catching plenty of salmon at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach and Alexander Bay. Stockyards is worth a visit following catches of big skippy and flathead coming there recently. Try Thomas River for mulloway, gummy shark, bigger skippy and salmon.
Geraldton Catches
(Picture: The awesome tasting Baldy are caught all the way up to Coral Bay and have been extending their distribution south over the years as waters have slowly warmed, meaning fishers in the South West are increasingly seeing fish turn up. Photo: Courtesy of Nick Drummond).
Geraldton & District Offshore Fishing Club members caught mulloway to 8kg, tailor to 1kg, school mackerel and a 5.5kg pink snapper while surf fishing at Coronation. Early mornings and evenings have been good for tailor and school-size mulloway along the Flat Rocks to Greenough River mouth stretch. The reefs closer to town have been producing the odd bigger tailor around the 60cm mark while the sand areas nearby have been good for yellowfin and school whiting.
Dhufish between 6kg and 9kg, estuary cod to 10kg and skippy were the main species picked up along the lumps off Point Moore and Drummonds at the weekend. Schools of dhufish continue to be found near the shipping channel while pink snapper, baldchin groper and red throat emperor have been common at African Reef.
Kalbarri Catches
(Picture: Curtis Moss was stoked to score this whopper 6kg Tailor off Syphons. Note the epic tailor conditions pictured in background (Photo courtesy of Curtis Moss).
Kalbarri Sports and Dive’s Wayne Dewar spotted dozens of big tuna in a wave during a quad bike tour at Wagoe last week. Unfortunately for Wayne, he was not carrying a rod with him at the time of the tuna sighting. Several good size pink snapper were caught from the cliffs at Wagoe recently and it should not be long now for spanish mackerel to start appearing within the range of shore-based balloon fishers. Mulloway around the 10kg mark have been caught at Frustrations. Tailor have been more inclined to strike at poppers and stick baits during the day at Chinamans rather than the regular feeding times of dawn and dusk.
Early mornings seem to be the preferred time for tailor at Wittecarra, which has also been frequented by small bluenose salmon. Yellowfin whiting are starting to return to the sand flats of the Murchison in numbers. The shallows in front of the supermarket are a popular spot to target the wonderful whiting species. Black bream around the 30cm mark can be sought at the jetties and pens while bigger fish, nudging 40cm, have been more common up river.
Exmouth Catches
(Picture: A fish that is not often seen being worthy of attention, Charlie Court AKA Chinamen cod are not usually a fish you hear being bragged about. With little attention and two names, handy to know the Recfishwest App can end the confusion – either use the fish ID function or type in one of the two names to find your match).
Riley Smith took out the Champion Junior Angler during the Exmouth Classic Reef fishing tournament held by the Exmouth Game Fishing Club recently. Budda Damien won the spangled emperor section with a 2.6kg fish. Gary Mounsey caught the biggest ruby snapper while John Prince caught the largest rankin cod. John also caught the largest charlie court that weighed a whopping 400gm. He also managed to land the largest red emperor that came in at 5.2kg. Ian Huxter caught a ripper Spanish mackerel that weighed 23.6kg and Chin Prince caught an 11.8kg tuna.
Champion Boat went to Awesome with 2000 points while Jakel was not far behind at 1800 points. The Ultralight Champion Boat Section was taken out by Hindsight, crewed by Murray Lewin and Brian Snook, but the highlight of the event was the reaction of four-year-old old Harvey Mitchell, who fished the event with his Dad. Harvey weighed in a 3.1kg morwong he caught on 2kg line that took him about 15 minutes to land, although technically not a game fish species, he was awarded Champion Junior Angler for the competition by the EGFC because there were no other fish weighed in by any juniors. The next fishing event is the Fly Fishing Festival, which is being coordinated by local guide Allan Donald.
Broome Catches
Picture: Awesome close up here of the fiesty bluenose, often encountered up North but have been found much further south).
A customer of Broome Tackle World caught a longtail tuna on fly from the shore at the mouth of Willie Creek last week. He then went on to catch a second longtail on a soft plastic lure. While the exact size of the tuna were not disclosed, they were good solid fish of around the metre mark and turned up close to shore at the peak of high tide.
Billfish enthusiasts continue to encounter sailfish and a few small black marlin off Middle Lagoon and wide of Gantheaume Point. The boats targeting reef fish in Roebuck Bay have been doing well on bluebone, coral trout and snapper. Quite a few chinaman cod have been picked up off Minarie, Cables and Gantheaume recently. Big schools of bluenose salmon have been appearing in Roebuck Bay together with a few threadfin. Barramundi are yet to be caught in huge numbers, but a few have started to show up at Crab Creek.
Willie Creek Pearl farm is a great location for a day out with the family. Go on the famous pearl tour, jump in the chopper for a scenic flight, learn about the Kimberley’s iconic barramundi and spend some time browsing the pearls in the show room. Imagine this plus celebrity chefs, cooking demonstrations and kids activities plus heaps more. For more information on the upcoming event click here.
