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
Metro Catches
Picture: ”This whopper of a King George was caught off the back of Garden Island by 5yr old Giacomo. He had been pestering me for weeks to go out fishing, should have listened to him earlier.” Thanks for sharing Giulio! (Photo courtesy of Giulio Montini).
Mulloway to 20kg and the odd bigger fish continue to be caught from Fremantle Harbour. Tailor continue to appear in bigger numbers along the metropolitan beaches with Cottesloe, Grant Street, Floreat, Brighton and Trigg Point among the spots producing fish up to 55cm this past week. Herring are being caught most mornings at the South Beach groyne. Scaly and slimy mackerel can be caught at the Ammo Jetty and South and North Mole. A few mulloway have also been caught from Singleton and the beaches south of there.
Boat fishers continue to find big King George whiting along the western edge of Five Fathom Bank. Schools of small southern bluefin tuna have been encountered in depths starting at 20m. Spotted and shark mackerel have been caught on floated whole and strip baits near Three Mile Reef off Mindarie. Expect spanish mackerel to start showing up in metro waters as the water temperatures continue to increase.
Dhufish to 20kg were picked up in approximately 40m of water northwest of Rottnest and between the 30m to 50m depths off Rockingham. Samson fish can be found at The Barges in 90m to 110m off West End and pink snapper are responding to burley trails near Garden Island. Good catches of flathead were picked up near the Stirling Bridge, Chidley Point and Dalkeith. Chopper tailor have been appearing most afternoons at Applecross Jetty and Point Walter.
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: Unreal under water shot of squid caught over seagrass beds using Shimano Sephia Jig in size 2.5 (Photo courtesy of Squid Hunters Western Australia).
MANDURAH
The northern Mandurah beaches are producing herring and tailor early morning and evening. Mulloway are moving along the beaches around San Remo, Madora and Singleton. Further north, people fishing Golden Bay and Secret Harbour have taken several mulloway during the week, with the larger fish taken from Singleton and Madora. It is a similar story south of Mandurah at Tim’s Thicket and White Hills, with plenty of tailor around. The occasional larger tailor is being caught around dusk and after dark, along with a few mulloway. There are plenty of herring and garfish around for people fishing through the day.
In the estuary crabs are widespread and dabbers and drop netters are doing reasonably well. Make sure you are aware of minimum legal sizes and gauge all smaller crabs before putting them in the keeper basket. Tailor catches in the estuary are on the rise with several fishers reporting some good catches. There are also plenty of herring and skippy being taken. The Dawesville Cut is still producing tailor, herring and skippy along with an occasional King George whiting. There have also been reports of some mulloway taken after dark. A few bream are still active in the Murray and Serpentine with an occasional larger fish keeping fishers interested. Kayakers are also finding plenty of fish taking both hard and soft body lures.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Long Point, Kwinana and Warnbro beaches have all been producing good tailor during the last week. The jetties are turning on herring early in the morning, along with squid and blue mackerel.
South West Catches
Picture: Good size pink snapper have been coming from the reefs offshore in the Geographe region (Photo courtesy of @pjgringo).
The boats trolling small bibbed minnows and skirted lures have been catching small southern bluefin tuna averaging 7kg off the west coast and within Geographe Bay. Big pink snapper continue to be caught along the Four Mile and Eight Mile reefs while the bigger dhufish have mostly been coming from Canal Rocks, Gracetown and Hamelin Bay areas. Surf fishers have been picking up modest catches of herring and whiting. Squid and blue swimmer crabs are still being found in the bay.
If you’re in Busselton next week, make sure you come down to see us and enter in the Mandalay Family Fishing Competition!
Albany Catches
Picture: Some healthy herring proudly presented by kids attending the recent Recfishwest SunSmart Fishing Clinic held in Bremer Bay.
Schools of salmon have been regularly appearing along the Bremer Bay coast and have occasionally appearing at some of the beaches to the east and west. Surf fishers have been enjoying some entertaining sessions catching up to half a dozen salmon ranging from 2kg to 6kg. Herring are starting to be caught in bigger numbers along the coast with Cable Beach and Shelley Beach among the better performing spots for the important bread and butter species.
Nanarup has been producing mixed catches of herring, sand whiting, tarwhine, small skippy and the odd tailor. Some nice King George whiting are occasionally being caught from beaches close to town. There are still samson fish lurking off Emu Point and small pink snapper have recently shown up in the area. King George whiting have been picked up through the inshore areas together with odd catches of sand whiting, flathead and herring.
Black bream enthusiasts have reported connecting to fish speculated to be in excess of 40cm before being busted off in the snags. Those who hit the coral in 65m to 90m of water mostly caught breaksea cod, queen snapper, and samson fish. Hapuka, blue eye trevalla and big pink and red snapper were found at the edge of the shelf and beyond.
Esperance Catches
Picture: Check out this gummy shark recorded from one of the SW artificial reefs by Reef Vision Volunteers. Did you know? Funding has recently been approved to bring an artificial reef to Esperance.
Good mixed catches of herring, garfish, squid and small skippy have been coming from the Taylor Street Jetty while Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has held mostly herring and skippy. Stockyards has been fishing reasonably well for tailor, juvenile salmon, herring, flathead and mulloway in the 3kg to 5kg range.
Salmon schools have been randomly appearing along the Salmon Beach to Eleven Mile stretch, while Thomas produced mulloway to 10kg. Israelite Bay is worth checking out with mulloway, gummy shark, tailor and salmon on offer. The small boats have continued to do well on sand whiting and squid. The bigger crafts picked up nannygai to a delightful 60cm, samson fish to 30kg and other reef species.
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Geraldton Catches
Picture: A few coral trout have been appearing amongst the bags of reef fish caught around Geraldton and its offshore reefs (Photo courtesy of @benleeson21).
Geraldton and District Offshore Fishing Club members found tailor to 60cm, but mostly around 40cm, and mulloway at a recent meet at Port Denison. Seven Mile fished well for yellowfin whiting and herring to 30cm as well as pike and tailor. Wind and weed has made fishing challenging along the beaches close to town.
Big schools of small baitfish as well as slimy mackerel, yellowtail and pike have been residing near the buoys. Reef fishing enthusiasts have been doing fairly well on dhufish, baldchin groper and coral trout along the edge of the drop off extending from African Reef to north of Coronation. Blue swimmer crabs can be sought at the harbour, in the marina and along the local beaches for those with access to dinghies, kayaks and small boats.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Black bream are amongst the fish caught inside the Murchison river this week with many different species bringing the estuary to life (Photo courtesy of Harry Tropiano).
Tailor have been appearing most mornings and evenings along the beaches with Wagoe, Red Bluff, Wittecarra, Siphons and Frustrations among the spots producing fish to 60cm. A few mulloway were also picked up, especially at Frustrations and the beaches to the north.
More mulloway have been caught and a few big fish spotted in the middle and upper reaches of the Murchison. Giant herring are also being caught in these parts while the lower reaches have mangrove jack to a solid 54cm, black bream and yellowfin whiting. Good catches of blue swimmer and mud crabs have also been coming from the river. Spanish mackerel have started to be caught in better numbers in the 10m to 30m depths north and south of the river mouth.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: Exmouth has been once again producing offshore with game fish firing and mixed bags of reef species coming in such as ruby snapper (Photo courtesy of Keith Ballard).
Peak Sportfishing skipper Eddie Lawler and his clients had an action-packed session last Thursday raising 26 blue marlin, of which 16 were hooked and 10 landed, as well as landing a striped marlin. Other boats have also been doing well on the blues and stripes out wide and blacks in closer. Giant trevally to 30kg have been responding to big poppers and stick baits at the back of the reef line and reef fishers have been producing all of the usual targets including some ruby snapper.
Good size golden trevally have been encountered in the gulf together with queenfish and giant herring. Shore-based fishers are catching plenty of whiting along the town beach and squid at the Learmonth Jetty and marina.
Broome Catches
Picture: The creeks, river mouths and surrounding waters have been supporting some good barramundi fishing for Broome (Photo courtesy of Dewa Dinata).
The local creeks and the waters adjacent to their entrances are fishing reasonably well for barramundi and bluenose salmon to 85cm. Queenfish and trevally have been performing raids on schools of hapless baitfish in Roebuck Bay, Cable Beach and James Price Point.
Bigger golden trevally and queenfish can be caught at the jetty together with a few barra. The local charter operators have been putting their clients onto plenty of black snapper, rankin cod and chinaman cod offshore.
Kununurra Catches
Picture: First time barramundi fisher Shirley with one of six fish she and a friend caught with Northbound Charters in a cracking session.
It’s officially the wet season in the East Kimberley, which means flooded rivers and lots of fish movement.
Best reports have come from people fishing the local tidal rivers and creeks around Wyndham. Some fishers have been lucky enough to come across some nice colour change in the water where they’ve found fishing with hard bodies and soft plastic’s more productive.
Lake Kununurra has been tough with the dirty water really making fishing challenging, with most boaters chasing waterfalls and not fish. Best results are once again around creek mouths looking for that colour change.
