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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Metro Catches
Picture: Samson fish are a worthy target if you dare, with these powerful sport fish schooling up and hitting jigs out from Rottnest through the warmer months (Photo courtesy of @seeland_argh).
Samson fish have dominated catches offshore with most fish between 10kg and 20kg and the odd fish above 30kg responding well to assortments of jigs at The Barges off West End. Small southern bluefin tuna are being encountered beyond the 30m contour with small bibbed minnows and skirted lures working well on the 3kg to 6kg fish. Small yellowtail kingfish were caught in numbers near Rottnest while a few bigger fish have been picked up near Stragglers and inside Cockburn Sound.
King George whiting can be sought in depths leading up to 30m south of Rottnest, near The Windmills and within Cockburn and Warnbro Sounds while sand whiting are thick in the sandy stretches in 10 to 20m of water out from Garden Island and west of Cottesloe and Swanbourne. Tailor around the 40cm mark have been turning up after dark along metropolitan beaches. Tailor sizes in the Swan and Canning Rivers seem to have dropped somewhat. Flathead are starting to appear in better numbers along the flats in both rivers. There are still fair catches of squid coming from the seagrass out from Fremantle.
Boat ramps are starting to be pushed to capacity in the mornings during the week as people are baiting up pots to get amongst the rock lobster ‘whites’ run. Catches have been quite sporadic along the metro coast but with moulted crays now appearing in some numbers it wont be long before pots are full all along the coast.
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: King George Whiting are a great family fishing target close to shore for all ages and small boats alike.
MANDURAH
The beaches to the north of Mandurah are starting to produce a few good tailor and mulloway early morning with Golden Bay being the pick of the spots. Golden Bay, San Remo, Singleton and Madora are all worth a closer check. The Golden Bay area has been producing some good catches of herring and whiting as well. Beaches south of Mandurah are starting to produce consistently with a few tailor and occasional mulloway being taken. Most of the mulloway are around 5 – 6 kg with an occasional larger fish being caught early morning and late evening.
Tim’s Thicket and Preston have seen a few tailor taken with some fish up to 50 cm reported. The Dawesville Cut is still producing some good fishing for tailor, herring, skippy and whiting. With some kids out of school now they are fishing to fill in time, the area will come under a bit of pressure over the next few weeks but with the extra baits and activity, catch rates should improve.
The estuary has gone a little quiet for fishers chasing bream, however there are a few good fish up in the Serpentine around the traffic bridges after dark. Other areas worth looking at are Mandurah Quays and up around Murray Bend. Kayakers are having some success casting lures at and around structures. For those who are prepared to do a little wading along the sand flats in the estuary there are some excellent whiting being taken on small surface lures. It requires a little skill but the results are worth the effort. If you are crabbing in the estuary use a size gauge on your crabs. There are reports of larger crabs coming from areas further up the estuary.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Many of the local jetties have been producing good catches of herring and tailor. Shoalwater Bay has been the standout this week with some good catches of both yellowfin whiting and an occasional King George whiting. Sizes have been excellent. There have also been some good catches of tarwhine and skippy taken on the incoming tide.
Whiting and occasional flathead have been reported on the sand flats between the mainland and Penguin Island. Herring and garfish are being taken from the local beaches in the morning and a few sized tailor are being caught of an evening. Long Point, Kwinana and Warnbro beaches have all been producing good tailor during the last week. There has been some excellent fishing for yellowfin whiting, with good reports of herring and tailor.
South West Catches
Picture: Squid caught at the Busselton Jetty by Benjamin Lawless. If you think you have a better catch why not enter your photo into Squid Hunters Western Australia’s 2016 Christmas Photo Comp? Prizes for adults and children, click here for more.
Surf fishers have been catching nice tailor at Mitchells and Honeycombs when the swell has been moderate. Smaller tailor have been caught from Geographe Bay at spots including Bunker Bay, Castle Rock and Elmore Road.
Squid catches have tapered off around the weed beds off Quindalup, however blue swimmer crab catches are increasing. Some nice King George whiting are being caught around the broken ground between Quindalup and Busselton Jetty along with sand whiting and skippy. Yellowfin and big sand whiting are starting to show up in better numbers along the sand flats.
Albany Catches
Picture: Skippy are an ever reliable target from southern inshore reefs providing a strong fight for their size.
Reef fishing enthusiasts in search of prized eating fish to bring home for their Christmas tables have been picking up lots of small to medium size pink snapper and some good dhufish. Skippy in 3kg to 4kg range were also encountered together with a few queen snapper and breaksea cod. Out wider, red snapper seem to be in abundance in some places and there are quite a few samson fish also about.
King George whiting fishing through the inshore areas has been a little less productive than usual. Good sand whiting catches have made up for the limited King George on offer and there are a few skippy and squid also in these parts. Juvenile salmon are reportedly present in Oyster Harbour with small metal slices and soft plastics working well on the 30cm to 50cm fish. Surf fishers have been doing well on big herring along the coast west of Denmark. Locally, Sand Patch has been producing the better of the herring catches.
King George are starting to appear in bigger numbers along the protected beaches. Schools of salmon turned up at Cheynes Beach at the weekend and there has still been the odd fish caught at some of the local spots. Black bream to 40cm and bigger can be targeted in most of the southern rivers, including the King and Kalgan, on a variety of hard-bodied and soft plastic lures as well as baits. Several mulloway around then metre mark were caught in the Kalgan this past fortnight.
Esperance Catches
Picture: Bluespotted flathead blending perfectly with the sandy substrate.
Big schools of salmon have been appearing at Hellfire Bay while smaller schools were present at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach, Fourteen Mile, Roses and Alexander Bay. The Taylor Street Jetty has been fishing well for herring, squid and leatherjackets, while Bandy Creek Boat Harbour is holding mostly herring.
Big sand whiting can be sought at Lucky Bay together with a few skippy, flathead and tarwhine. The dinghy and small boats continue to do well on plump sand whiting and squid in close. Several southern bluefin tuna to 8kg were caught last Wednesday and there were reports of fish estimated to be around the 20kg mark to be hooked and lost. Nannygai to 60cm are being caught in good numbers out wide.
Geraldton Catches
Picture: Beach mulloway have been common catches from around the Greenough-Geraldton region (Photo courtesy of Geraldton & Districts Offshore Club).
Tailor in the 35cm to 45cm range have been caught mornings and evenings at the first and second points at Greenough. Bigger tailor have been mixed in with the smaller fish along the Head Butts to Greenough stretch, which also produced mulloway to a metre during the past fortnight. The reefs near Southgates and Separation Point are worth trying for tailor on poppers and stick baits early morning when the tide has been low.
The tailor fishing at Drummonds and the coast north of there has generally been hit and miss. School size mulloway in the 4kg to 8kg category were picked up along there a fortnight ago and there has been the odd bigger fish above 15kg also landed.
Dinghy and small boat fishers working the inshore waters between the lighthouse and Pages Beach have mostly been picking up herring, pike and squid along the seagrass. Expect school and other varieties of small mackerel to start turning up inshore during the coming weeks.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Black bream from the Murchison river are always a reliable option (Photo courtesy of @massamone).
Good catches of mulloway came from several locations during the week including the river mouth, Frustrations, Wittecarra and Wagoe. Tailor were also caught by the surf fishers, however the typical summer run of big numbers of 40cm to 60cm fish is yet to begin. Smaller mulloway, 30cm to 60cm fish, were caught in the middle and lower reaches of the Murchison.
There are some nice black bream being caught near the snags and structure located in the river while yellowfin whiting can be sought along the sand flats around the lower reaches. Blue swimmer and mud crab catches have been increasing as the warmer months progress.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: Recfishwest Habitat Officer Michael Tropiano reporting that the shallow coastal waters around Exmouth were fishing well the past week pictured with a nice spangled emperor.
Big blue marlin and smaller black and striped marlin continue to be raised off the west coast while increasing numbers of sailfish are starting to appear in the upper regions of the gulf. Spanish mackerel around the 15kg mark have been caught on bibbed minnows at the back of the reef north and south of Tantabiddi and fish of similar size have been encountered along Bundegi Reef.
Queenfish and trevally have been eager to strike at an assortment of lures at Old Bundegi during a changing tide and the accesses are worth a look for bluebone and spangled emperor. Yellowfin whiting can be sought along the town beaches while bream can be caught at the marina.
Recfishwest habitat officer Michael Tropiano recently returned from a trip to Exmouth this week reporting that despite the windy weather making small boat fishing difficult he was still able to get amongst nice fish. Spanish mackeral were taken on lures trolled out wide on the west side and Spangled emperor on stickbaits in close. Nice golden trevally were taken inside the gulf along with estuary cod and coral trout on spear.
Broome Catches
Picture: Mangrove jack have been reportedly in good numbers around Willie Creek providing sport in good numbers and size.
Customers of Tackle World Broome caught barramundi of 1m and 93cm on live baits at Dampier Creek this past week. Smaller barra were caught in Crab Creek on baits as well as lures while the river has been a little quieter than usual on the barra front for this part of the season.
Fishers who visited Willie Creek at the weekend were pleased with the sizes and numbers of the mangrove jack in the system. Reef fishers have been doing well on bluelined emperor and coral trout offshore. Some nice mulloway were caught from the deeper areas of Roebuck Bay during the week. Good size trevally have been turning up near the jetty.
Additional reports coming from Port Hedland indicate reef fishing is going well with saddletail snapper and longnose emperor caught, broad barred mackerel have specifically been prevalent in close near the 30-34 channel markers but be weary to avoid the shipping channel.
Picture: Beautiful light colouration on this Port Hedland saddletail snapper sent in by Robbie Peck.
