Your Fishing Photos
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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.
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.
