Your Fishing Photos
If you want to see yourself or your kids feature in our weekly state-wide Fishing Reports, send your best fishing photos and a description to bronte@recfishwest.org.au
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Give the Gift of Life This Christmas
Stuck for present ideas?
If you have a special fisherperson in your life, why not give them a life jacket this Christmas?
The Crewfit jackets are designed to be worn at all times and won’t impede your fishing, whether you’re pulling cray pots, jigging for sambo’s or casting stick baits at tuna, making them the perfect gift this Christmas!
Metro Catches
Picture: Western rock lobster season is gaining momentum with many Perth boaters placing pots ready for the annual migration.
Yellowtail kingfish in the 7kg to 15kg category have been caught on trolled small skirted lures within Cockburn Sound. More kingfish have also been coming from behind Stragglers as well as off the southern and western parts of Rottnest Island. Samson fish continue to be caught on heavy metal jigs near the cluster of barges in 90m to 110m of water off Rottnest’s West End. Sambos are often found in dense schools in 30m to 40m of water north of Rottnest at this time of the year. Perth boaters are also gearing up for the rock lobster migration with numbers caught in pots starting to increase.
Schools of striped and small southern bluefin tuna have been encountered out wide. Sand whiting can be sought at just about any sandy area between the mainland and the 30m contour. Squid catches have been fewer during recent weeks, but sizes have been generally bigger. There are still a few squid being caught from the rocks in Fremantle and jetties within Cockburn Sound.
Tailor have mostly been caught after dark along the metropolitan beaches. Tailor have been striking at lures and baits in Freshwater Bay and Melville Waters during odd hours of the day. Giant herring were present in the river, however the locations of where the aerobatic speedsters have been caught were not disclosed. Try The Narrows and Mosman Bay for mulloway after dark.
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: Mandurah estuaries and river systems are fishing well including for black bream.
The Cut is still probably the most reliable place to get a feed, with herring and some tailor being caught. Several larger skippy have also been taken from the rock walls during the last week. The sandflats around the Bypass Bridge have been producing some reasonable catches of whiting and herring and there have also been reports of a few tailor, herring and whiting showing up under the Old Traffic Bridge. People fishing in the estuary have been taking some good tailor. A few black bream fish have been caught in the Murray and the Serpentine.
The beaches to the south of the town continue to produce some good fishing with tailor to 50 cm, a few herring and skippy and some not so small mulloway. Fish in the 4 – 5 kg class are being caught early morning and evening. Beaches to the north are producing some tailor, herring and whiting with an occasional skippy. Mulloway up to 6 kg have been reported from several of these beaches north of Mandurah. Catch rates for this fish should improve over the next few weeks but patience is a must in hooking, playing and landing them.
Crabbing in the estuary continues to improve in both size and numbers. As the crabs get ready to moult they take on water and start to soften their shell prior to shedding it. Once they have shed the old shell they lose this excess water and stay hidden in the weed until the shell toughens up a bit. If taken while they are in this soft shell state the flesh is a bit ‘mushy’ and they don’t taste all that good. Crabbing is a great family outing, one that can be enjoyed by all ages. It has a lot of positives in that it requires a bit of physical activity in the open air, is enjoyable and at the end of a session there is hopefully a good feed of crabs waiting.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Tailor are also being taken from the surf beaches of an afternoon when the breeze comes in and puts a chop on the water. There are still reports of herring and garfish being taken from the local beaches in the morning. People fishing on the sand flats between the mainland and Penguin Island report a few small whiting as well as occasional flathead along with some skippy.
At the jetties there are herring, squid and the odd small mulloway being taken late at night. The beaches around Port Kennedy and Secret Harbour have been producing yellowfin whiting on a regular basis. Tailor are becoming more regular in and around the Rockingham / Safety Bay area. Rather than using a customary beach tailor rig, some people fishing the beaches in this area are casting a bait with a small amount of strip lead wrapped around the shank of the hook and dispensing with the sinker. Fishing this way requires a bit more effort but the rewards of good sized tailor are worth it.
South West Catches
Picture: Brute of a samson fish caught landbased from the South-west stones. (Photo courtesy of Fab Fishing & Tours).
Tailor to 60cm and the odd bigger fish have been turning up early morning and evening along the west coast and Geographe Bay beaches. Areas where tailor appeared this past week included Contos Beach, Honeycombs, Injidup, Mitchells, Bunker Bay and Elmore Road.
A consistent stream of burley would likely bring, herring, skippy and tarwhine around any of the bays and headlands. Rock fishing tour guide and life jacket supporter Fabio Varrone had some good results on the southwest stones with some nice samson fish landed by his clients.
Boat fishers working the Geographe Bay waters have been doing well on King George whiting, sand whiting and squid. Rock lobster catches have been increasing as the warmer months progress.
Albany Catches
Picture: Demersal species such as pink snapper are still being caught in strong numbers around Albany both coastal and offshore (Photo Courtesy of Ash Hicks).
Shore-based fishing along the local and distant beaches has generally been quite challenging, however there have been a few who have been putting in the effort and picking some reasonable catches. Those catches have come from Bluff Creek and Cheynes Beach where some nice skippy of more than a kilo as well as salmon have been turning up.
Farther east along the Bremer Bay coast, smaller skippy have been common together with herring and the odd flathead. Cable Beach has been the better performing haunt near town with plenty of herring and plump sand whiting almost a guarantee most days. King George whiting are at Frenchmans Bay, however according to those who regularly chase the royal whiting along there, they require plenty of work at times.
King George catches have been improving along the inshore areas with this past fortnight seeing better numbers of 30cm to 45cm fish picked up near Gull Rock, Caseys, Michaelmas, Breaksea and off Middleton Beach. The crews who dropped in excess of 120m at the weekend scored big red snapper and small to medium size hapuka. The coral in 60m to 85m is producing the usual breaksea cod, pink snapper, dhufish and queen snapper. Black bream enthusiasts have been thrilled by some of the sessions recently experienced in the local rivers. Bream to 45cm, but mostly 25cm to 30cm, have been responding to a variety of hard-bodied lures as well as soft plastics and baits. Small mulloway are present in both systems.
Esperance Catches
Picture: Beautiful nannygai are still still turning up in the cool offshore southern waters of Esperance (Photo courtesy of Cowan Wise).
King George whiting and herring continue to be caught right along the Taylor Street Jetty while garfish have been coming mostly from the end of the structure. Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has been producing catches of herring and black bream, which latter species are also being caught to a kilo at the local bream lakes.
Big schools of 3kg to 6.5kg salmon appeared at Salmon and Fourth Beach during the week. Salmon were also at Roses, but in fewer numbers, while Alexander Bay had skippy and the odd salmon. The boats that stayed in close caught lots of big sand whiting and fair numbers of squid. Nannygai to 3kg, yellowtail kingfish to 15kg and queen snapper were the main species caught out wide.
Geraldton Catches
Picture: As the western rock lobster are beginning their moult, excitement is growing for the annual march when craypots return full.
Tailor catches are starting to increase along the local beaches as well as those to the north and south of town, however strong winds have really limited shore-based efforts this past week. Mornings have been producing better numbers of tailor at Separation Point while the evenings seem to be the preferred time along the coast between Point Moore and the breakwater where herring and lots of pike have also been turning up.
Tailor have been caught at Southgates, which is beginning to produce better catches of whiting. The first point at Greenough has plenty of small tailor, many of which have been undersize, along with school mulloway between 70cm and 1m. Estuary cod to 60cm and Western wirrah have been caught in numbers at the marina. Dinghy and small boat fishers continue to do well on squid along the seagrass off Explosives and Point Moore. Rock lobster will be on the move next week with the new moon. Get your pots in the water this weekend as catches are set to improve.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Plenty of mulloway are caught around the beaches and coastal rocks of Kalbarri (Photo courtesy of @jakesfishstagram).
The beaches north and south of the river mouth have been producing some tailor as well as school size mulloway. Bigger tailor have been turning up at Chinamans, especially at first light or after dark. A couple of young customers of Kalbarri Sports and Dive caught several black bream to 1.1kg last Friday and Saturday.
Wayne Dewar has been catching some solid giant herring, mulloway to 70cm and bream between 35cm and 38cm in the upper parts of the Murchison. Yellowfin whiting can be sought along the sand flats located in the lower reaches. Blue swimmer and mud crab catches have increased.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: A lit-up dolphin fish specimen making for sporting light tackle game fishing (Photo courtesy of @smalls313).
Billfish enthusiasts have been raising good numbers of big blue marlin beyond the 400m contour as well as smaller black and striped marlin within a few miles. Dolphin fish and yellowfin tuna have also been encountered offshore together with a few wahoo and other varieties of tuna. Big giant trevally have been responding well to stick baits and poppers retrieved from the back of the reef. Queenfish to a metre and the odd GT have been found in the lower areas of the gulf. Squid have been turning up in good numbers at Bundegi during the incoming tide.
Meanwhile, this year’s Billfish Bonanza was one of the quietest on record. In 2015 on day one there were 48 billfish tagged by the 14 teams. This year on day one, the same number of teams tagged just four billfish. Despite the lack of action the 49 adults and seven juniors who hit the water managed to raise 24 marlin, hook 21 and tag 10. There were only 10 sailfish raised during the entire event resulting in four hooked and four tagged.
The 2016 Billfish Bonanza results were:
Champion Boat Sailfish was won by On Strike with two tags and 800 points.
Champion Boat Marlin was taken out by Inn Keeper with three tags and 1500 points
Champion Boat Combined was won by Winora with 700 points.
Champion Boat Overall (HPS) was taken out by Inn Keeper.
Congratulations to all competitors.
Broome Catches
Picture: Saddletail seaperch on a glass-off day in the North West (Photo courtesy of Wade Kelly).
The local charter operators have been putting clients onto good catches of saddletail seaperch, blue lined emperor and coral trout beyond the 30m contour. Sailfish are still being found wide of Barred Creek together with a few small black marlin while spanish mackerel have been encountered off Gantheaume Point and Entrance Point.
Threadfin salmon to a metre and the odd bigger fish have been responding to lures and baits within Roebuck Bay. Shore-based fishers have been picking up bluenose salmon, queenfish and assortments of trevally along Roebuck and Cable Beach. Barramundi are being caught in better numbers in the local creeks during the neap tide periods. Langis Crossing seems to be among the more productive areas of the Fitzroy River for barra at the moment.
In case you missed it:
Gillnet Fishing for Barramundi on the doorstep of Derby
It is disappointing to learn that gillnet fishing for Barramundi has recently started on the doorstep of Derby. Local recreational fishers have noticed a decline in fishing quality over recent months, creating conflict in Derby.
For more information, click here.
