Metro Catches
Picture: Pinkies may be off limits in the Sounds, however that’s not to say they can’t be found out wider in metro waters, as Warrick Upton was pleased to find after launching from Palm Beach last week in quite average conditions – “Decided to head back to shore but not before doing a quick pass of some ground that can hold fish. Getting close I flicked out a soft plastic to have my line tighten up quickly. The result, a nice sized 65cm pinkie.” (Photo: Courtesy of Warrick Upton).
The boats that managed to head offshore when the weather allowed did reasonably well on a variety of species. Pink snapper have been encountered in big numbers along Five Fathom Bank as well as near Garden and Carnac islands and Stragglers. Bigger pink snapper have been coming from the 90m to 110m depths off Rockingham and Hillarys. Some nice dhufish have been picked up in 40m to 60m of water off Rottnest Island together with plenty of breaksea cod. There are loads of whiting being found in the 15m to 30m sandy areas between Fremantle and Rottnest.
King George whiting to 45cm are about Cockburn Sound, however some work is required in finding the concentrations. Squid are in an abundance along the seagrass beds off Fremantle and within the sound. A couple of nice size longtail tuna were caught inside Cockburn Sound recently and it should not be long now for southern bluefin and yellowfin tuna to start turning up in numbers offshore.
While early mornings and evenings are producing some tailor along the metropolitan beaches extending from Leighton to Trigg Point, better catches have been coming from the coast north of Mindarie. There are still tailor around the 50cm mark being caught in the middle reaches of the Swan River and near Canning Bridge. There is still no word of giant herring being caught in either of the metropolitan river systems.
Jetty, Set, Go!
Browse the many diverse and unique fishing experiences awaiting you at our Swan River Jetties here.
Fishing in the Swan or Canning this weekend? Not sure where to fish or what facilities are close by? We will give you a snapshot of popular fishing locations to make your family fishing days more enjoyable!
Today, we’ll be looking at Wilber Street Jetty in Rossmoyne. With Easy parking and access, read more about how to maximise your experience fishing the Jetty and check out the near by facilities here.
In case you missed last weeks jetty, Redcliffe Jetty in Bicton – click here
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: Squid Hunters WA welcomes Sarah Archer to their admin team this week, and here she is displaying her prowess with a nice hood caught off Parmelia Bank. (Photo: Courtesy of Squid Hunters WA)
Evening anglers fishing the southern beaches have found a few herring and some tailor and there have been reports of a few small mulloway turning up. Preston Beach, White Hills and Tim’s Thicket have all been producing some fish during the last week. Closer to Mandurah, the Dawesville Cut has been producing herring, skippy and some tailor. These are generally being caught at dawn and dusk. Tarwhine are also being caught in good numbers but they are a little on the small side. The Old Traffic Bridge has been a little quiet and closer to the river mouth, anglers have been taking mixed bags of tarwhine, herring and whiting. The Murray and Serpentine continue to produce good numbers of black bream. Beaches to the north of the town at San Remo, Singleton, Madora and Golden Bay have been producing tailor and some small mulloway, along with herring, whiting and garfish.
Beaches around this area have been producing a few whiting, herring and small skippy and an occasional tailor and small mulloway. Locations to fish are the beaches around Warnbro Sound and the beaches around Long Point. Secret Harbour is also worth a try for big tailor. An occasional small mulloway has been taken however larger fish are yet to be taken from the area. Don’t forget that the seasonal closure on the taking of snapper from both Cockburn and Warnbro Sounds is now in force and is being monitored.
In the Sound, squid are still being taken and numbers are good. Now is the time to start diversifying your fishing since snapper are off limits. My recommendation is to consider trying for larger mulloway, particularly at night. As an alternative, tailor have been active throughout the Sound and some good fish have been taken from the rock walls and from dinghies. King George Whiting are also an alternative and when fresh squid is fished on the sand patches adjacent to the weed beds some good fish can be taken.
The beaches around Woodman’s Point are producing some good fishing for smaller tailor, herring and whiting. In addition to these fish there are plenty of squid, and a few scaly mackerel around.
South West Catches
Picture: Young gun Troy shows off the haul to the pooch after he and dad Wayne headed south for some land based Salmon action. This years Salmon season seems to just keep producing the goods! (Photo: Courtesy of Wayne M).
Pink snapper were caught from the shore during, and following, the recent rough weather at spots that included Monaghans and the Busselton Jetty. Salmon are occasionally being caught at Curtis Bay, Bunker Bay and Mitchells. Herring are being picked up in good numbers by shore-based and boat fishers.
Squid fishing has been productive along the seagrass beds off Quindalup, however it may take a few days for the water clarity to improve for the cephalopods to be active once again. Blue Swimmer crabs can be sought between Dunsborough and Abbey Beach.
Albany Catches
Picture: A beautiful black bream caught in one of the local rive systems Photo Courtesy of WA Bream virtuoso Dan Coughlan (Photo: Courtesy of @Dan.Coughlan) (Instagram).
Boat fishing has mostly been limited to the inshore waters due to the inclement weather. Fortunately, there have been some nice catches coming from the protected parts. King George whiting continue to be caught in reasonably good numbers in King George Sound together with sand whiting and skippy. Squid stocks seem to be improving along the seagrass meadows close to Albany while catches of the popular cephalopod remain strong off Cheynes Beach and Denmark. When the weather allows for offshore areas to be reachable, expect there to still be fair numbers of red snapper, breaksea cod, pink snapper, big skippy and samson fish to be around the 60m to 80m depths.
The beaches east of town remain more productive than the local shore-based haunts. Schools of salmon have still been appearing along the Bremer Bay coast. Big skippy have been found in the deep gutters near Bluff Creek and the odd tailor run has been experienced early morning and dusk at Nanarup. King George whiting and squid are being caught occasionally from the shore at Frenchmans Bay.
A customer of Albany Rods and Tackle landed four big squid from the stones there last week. Plenty of juvenile salmon have been encountered along the beaches between Albany and Denmark. Black bream can be sought in both of the local river systems, however they have been very hard to tempt with hard-bodied and soft plastic lures.
Esperance Catches
Picture: Silver Trevally, fondly referred to in the West as “Skippy” has many pseudonyms: Araara, Blue Trevally, Blurter, Bruised-face Trevally, Jack, Ranger, Silver Bream, Skipjack Trevally,Trevally, White Trevally are some that come to mind. There feeding behaviour and presence is seemingly just as diverse, this one as you can see went for a soft plastic rigged for larger predators.
Surf fishers caught gummy shark and tailor at Israelite Bay’s back beach and mulloway and gummy shark at The Dunes. Thomas River has been fishing well for small mulloway, skippy to a kilo and salmon. The Taylor Street and Jane Street jetties are producing squid and loads of herring. Bandy Creek boat harbour has King George whiting, herring and black bream.
Stockyards is worth a visit with a variety of species including juvenile salmon, herring, flathead and skippy on offer. More juvenile salmon and the odd mature size fish have been coming from Salmon and Fourth Beach. The smaller boats continue to do well on sand whiting, skippy and squid inshore.
This week Recfishwest are excited to announce the launch of version 2 of the Recfishwest fishing app this weekend, available through the link below for FREE. It has been updated with new features to be the one stop shop for all WA fishing matters, rules, info and more!
Download iPhone or Android
Geraldton Catches
Picture: Dorado (a fabled city in South America, rich in treasure and sought by Spanish explorers in the 16th century), mahi mahi or dolphin fish, are an impressive thrashing pelagic fighter, pursued by all forms of fishers in many tropical waters around the globe (Photo: Courtesy of Michael Tropiano).
A customer of Geraldton Sports landed a 22kg mulloway from a beach near Dongara about 7am last Friday. Smaller mulloway, 8kg to 10kg fish, have been caught at West Bank and Flat Rocks. Tailor have been appearing most mornings and evenings along the coast stretching from Head Butts to the Greenough River mouth.
The reefs close to town have been producing bigger tailor, but in smaller numbers, together with a few small coral trout. Whiting between 20cm and 31cm can be found along the Southgates to Drummonds stretch. The boats continue to pick up dhufish, pink snapper, baldchin groper and coral trout along the coral strips at West Bank, off the northern end of Drummonds and near African Reef. Pelagic species including Spanish mackeral and shark mackerel, yellowfin tuna and dolphin fish have been encountered near the Abrolhos Islands.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Dhufish can react to all forms of rigs approaching the bottom, paternosta for bait is a common choice for bottom bouncing, but in shallower depths where you can control the movement of the lure, even soft plastics on mono will often be picked up and ran with by some of the unruly teenage specimens (Photo: Courtesy of Reuben Simcock).
Tailor catches have been improving along the beaches with Wittecarra and Red Bluff producing fair numbers of fish to 60cm most mornings and evenings. Bigger tailor have been turning up at the river mouth, Chinamans and Oyster Reef. A customer of Kalbarri Sports and Dive landed a superb 82cm tailor at Chinamans about 3pm last Thursday.
Several pink snapper were caught from the coastal gorges and the river mouth during the past fortnight. Herring and dart can be found at Red Bluff most mornings. The boats have been doing reasonably well on dhufish, baldchin groper, coral trout and breaksea cod. Yellowfin whiting can be found along the sand flats just past the jetty. Divers have spotted a few bronze whaler sharks to 2m at the entrance of the river.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: All six Australian billfish species (blue, black and striped marlin, sailfish, broadbill swordfish and shortbill spearfish) are encountered here, along with yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi (dolphinfish), wahoo, cobia, Spanish mackerel, giant trevally and many others (Photo: Courtesy of @castaways_fishing).
Billfish enthusiasts have been encountering plenty of small black marlin and big sailfish in depths starting at 50m off the west coast reef. One crew achieved a grand slam comprising two sailfish, a blue and black marlin during a single outing last week. Wahoo and some nice size yellowfin tuna are inadvertently being caught on skirted lures intended for billfish.
A solid longtail tuna, weighing approximately 18kg, was taken on a stick bait cast at the back of the reef recently. Afternoons have been productive off the northern end of the cape and around Norwest reef to Lighthouse Bay with plenty of Spanish mackeral and shark mackerel turning up around the bait balls.
A group of four customers of Bluewater Tackle World had a memorable session casting poppers and stickbaits near agitated baitfish, which resulted in multiple mackerel catches.
Yellowfin whiting have been showing up along the beaches in the gulf and responding well to small pieces of prawn presented on a lightly weighted small long-shank hook. Blue swimmer crabs are in abundance south of town with good hauls coming from Learmonth Jetty and the Bay of Rest.
Broome Catches
Picture: Roebuck bay – named after explorer William Dampier’s vessel by the crew of the HMS Beagle who visited the bay in 1840. Read Recfishwest’s media release here for more info on how fishing will be included in the proposed marine park, after Recfishwest was able to help provide research and advice to demonstrate the tourism, conservation & social value it provides the state.
Tackle World Broome’s Steve Chambers encountered good numbers of sailfish and plenty of mack tuna at Grey Shoal last week. Varieties of mackerel including shark, grey and broadbar have been turning up relatively close to shore off Cable Beach while Spanish mackerel have been responding to trolled bibbed minnows and rigged garfish off Entrance Point and Gantheaume Point.
Some nice catches of mulloway have been coming from Roebuck Bay. Barramundi, mostly between 55cm and 80cm, are starting to be caught in Dampier Creek while fish to a metre have been landed in the Fitzroy River.
