30 September 2016 – South Coast Fishing Report

Albany Catches

Cheynes Beach Albany

Picture: Cheynes Beach in Albany – view from the national park (Photo courtesy of facebook.com/cheynesbeach).

When conditions have permitted, the boats have been picking up fair catches of red snapper, breaksea cod, queen snapper and the odd dhufish along the coral in depths leading up to 85m of water. Pink snapper and some nice harlequin fish have been coming from 30m to 40m of water while samson fish and yellowtail kingfish were encountered in a range of depths and areas. King George Sound continues to fish well for King George whiting.

Good catches of King George were also picked up from the inshore waters off Cheynes Beach and near Denmark. Bigger KG, fish around the 45cm mark, have been found near the islands when the boats have been able to head out to them.

Squid catches have again been better from the seagrass meadows east and west of town. Pink snapper to 70cm have been caught in the lower reaches of Wilson Inlet. The pinkies caught in this waterway are generally not very good eating due to the quality of the water and it is recommended that fishers return all snapper promptly following capture.

Mostly herring and whiting have been caught from the local beaches together with the odd salmon. Big schools of salmon continue to turn up along Bremer Bay. Black bream have been hard to tempt in most of the river systems along the South Coast, including the King and Kalgan, while the local populations engage in spawning.

Esperance Catches

Esperance Queenfish

Picture: Some heavy tackle and some furious winding required for landing a Queeny from the land, as Lachie Mc Sevich found out last week (Photo: Courtesy of Lachie Mc Sevich).

Small boat and dinghy fishers continue to do well on whiting and squid within a mile or so from the coast while then bigger boats have been returning to shore with mix catches of nannygai, queen snapper and breaksea cod. Salmon have been caught in their ones and twos at the local beaches including Salmon Beach and Fourth Beach.

Fourteen Mile has consistently been producing skippy to a kilo. Stockyards is worth a visit with herring, flathead, juvenile salmon and skippy on offer. Small skippy and herring can be sought at the Jane Street Jetty. Bandy Creek boat harbour has herring, King George whiting and black bream.

2017-01-13T14:02:54+08:00