Welcome to Recfishwest’s weekly fishing report, brought to you by Recfishwest’s fishing expert Joachim Azzopardi, John Curtis for his Mandurah and Surrounds report and Matt Cox for the latest in Kununurra.
Keep your eyes peeled for Recfishwest’s Tip of the week, see below!
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
Tip of the week banner images courtesy of Shutterstock Ruggiero Scardigno, Smiltena & Garry L.
Kununurra Catches
Picture: “Another great day on the water with perfect weather conditions, great tides and some excellent fishing!! Congratulations Lindsey on your first ever Barramundi” (Photo courtesy of Northbound Charters) If you are looking to head up to Kununurra for some barra, give these guys a call!
Lower Ord River
The fishing down the Lower Ord has been quite productive when fishing it at the right time with only small windows of opportunity, especially on the spring tides. The most productive method has been trolling 3.5-5m Classic Barra Lures into the submerged snags. The best report we’ve heard over the last week involved myself and a mate when we boated over 40 barra for the day. Lots of small fish but at least 15 fish over the 65cm mark. Pretty good fishing for July.
Shore-based
The Pentecost River has been a bit slow which is surprising as there is an unusual amount of mullet and boney herring getting around. A few barra have been caught around the 60-70cm mark.
Broome Catches
Picture: Sail season is a cracker this year, with consistent catches at James Price Point and The Peanut!
Boats:
Billfish enthusiasts have mostly been encountering small sailfish – fish of about 12kg – during their outings offshore. While a few schools of the small sails have been found in waters out from town, most of the fish raised during the past fortnight were wide of James Price Point and near The Peanut.
A few small marlin have also been found among the sails as have spanish mackerel and longtail and yellowfin tuna. More mackerel have been caught on trolled bibbed minnows and rigged garfish off Entrance Point and Gantheaume Point. Reef fishing has been reasonably productive with blue lined and spangled emperor being caught within Roebuck Bay and red emperor and saddletail seaperch wider.
Shore-based:
Bluenose salmon were around in fairly good numbers at the local creeks and adjacent shorelines during the recent run of spring tides. Threadfin salmon have been coming and going near the creeks and are a little hard to pin down at the moment. The lower reaches of the Fitzroy River continue to produce barramundi in the 60cm to 80cm category. The beaches north of town are fishing well for whiting.
Exmouth Catches
Picture: The shore based options in Exmouth are endless with plenty of fringing coral reefs allowing for encounters with big queenfish, GT’s, spangled emperor and even mackerel! (Photo courtesy Andrea_Izzotti_Shutterstock).
Boats:
A few crews who dropped baits in very deep waters this past week were rewarded with some beautiful ruby snapper. Spanish mackerel have been coming from the back of the reef north and south of Tantabiddi as well as west of the Muiron Islands. There are still a few black marlin and sailfish being caught off the west coast with billfish expected to show up in the gulf in numbers during the coming weeks.
Shore-based:
Poppers and stick baits are accounting for some nice queenfish and trevally at Jansz and Jacobz and there is heaps of bait near Bundegi. The marina is producing queenfish, trevally and the odd estuary cod. Squid are thick along both sides of the cape. There are a few whiting along Town Beach and the coast extending from south of the marina to Learmonth.
Missed Last Week’s Report? Click Below to Check it Out!
Esperance Catches
Picture: Still some salmon around for the beach fishers and as the picture suggests, they release really well making them a great catch and release fish for the whole community (Photo courtesy of Tony Tropiano).
Boats:
Crews who ventured to the islands and beyond scored mixed bags of queen snapper, harlequin fish, breaksea cod and nannygai. Schools of samson fish were encountered in a range of depths and areas. Dinghy and small boat fishers have continued to pick up their usual catches of herring, squid, sand whiting and skippy within a mile or so of the coast.
Shore-based:
The Taylor Street Jetty has been producing herring and squid most days while the Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has plenty of herring and the odd King George whiting. Salmon are being regularly caught at Salmon Beach and Fourth Beach together with herring, skippy and flathead. Alexander Bay has mulloway, herring and skippy. Bigger mulloway have been landed at Thomas River.
Albany Catches
Picture: The jetty at Middleton Beach is a great place to take the kids fishing. You can catch squid, herring and plenty of whiting. If there’s squid ink on the jetty, you know someone has caught squid there recently!
Boats:
Most of the reef fishing performed this past week was along the coral clusters in 50m to 80m where fair catches of pink, red and queen snapper as well as the odd dhufish, breaksea cod and harlequin fish were achieved. There were a few crews who made it to the edge of the shelf and beyond, which depths mostly produced hapuka and grey-banded cod.
Schools of yellowtail kingfish, samson fish and pink snapper have been regularly turning up at Maude Reef and Vancouver Reef. The inshore areas have been a little hit and miss and this is largely due to the discoloured water in these parts. Some boats managed to bag a feed of King George whiting and squid while others have had very little to show for their efforts. Sand whiting and small skippy have been a tad easier to come by inshore than the previous mentioned species. Small-bibbed minnows trolled along the seagrass areas are likely to produce snook. Pink snapper, mostly a touch under 50cm, are evident within King George Sound.
Shore-based:
Surf fishers were able to hook onto a few salmon at Nanarup, Bornholm, Shelleys and Cosy Corner during the week. Bremer Bay has been producing perhaps the biggest numbers of salmon, Bornholm has tailor some mornings and evenings and herring have been thick at Sand Patch some days.
If the Bremer River has not opened by the time this is distributed, then it is very close to bursting its bank. Mulloway and pink snapper are always a chance at the adjacent shoreline during this event. Black bream enthusiasts have been catching dozens of fish in the King and Kalgan during single sessions, however most the fish have rarely been bigger than 25cm. The King is worth trying for mulloway.
Kalbarri Catches
Picture: Harry Tropiano with this cracking 80cm Tailor caught at the river mouth just on sunrise this week.
Boats:
Mulloway raging from 5kg to 15kg have been caught along the known mulloway lumps in good numbers while pink snapper have been responding well to an assortment of baits and jigs near the cliffs. Big schools of baitfish that are being located in waters starting at a mile out are attracting a variety of predators including Spanish mackerel, school mackerel, longtail tuna, yellowfin tuna and cobia.
Shore-based:
Surf fishers were delighted with the run of bigger tailor that was experienced along the coast during the past week. Tailor in the 50cm to 60cm range together with the odd bigger fish were caught in good numbers right along the coast including Oyster Reef, Frustrations, Back Beach, Chinamans and Red Bluff. A few dart were caught with the tailor while the garfish that are showing up at Red Bluff are increasing in size and number. Kalbarri Land Based Fishing Tours’ Rob Tang has been putting his clients onto some superb mulloway including a very impressive 27kg fish that was caught north of the river mouth. Black bream to 40cm have mostly been caught from the lower reaches of the Murchison while mulloway are being picked up in the upper areas.
Geraldton Catches
Picture: When spearing for baldchin groper, ideally you should be looking for low relief structure compared to dhufish that prefer high relief structure and caves (Photo courtesy Ben_Leeson).
Boats:
Crews who have been venturing to the Abrolhos Islands, when the conditions have allowed, have been doing well on a range of species such as shark mackerel to 10kg, Spanish mackerel to 15kg, pink snapper, baldchin groper and dhufish. Pink snapper have also been found in fair numbers along the lumps north of Coronation while dhufish seem to be in reasonable concentrations near African Reef. Dinghy and small boat fishers have continued to do well on squid, herring, skippy and pike along the seagrass beds off Point Moore, Pages and Southgates.
Shore-based:
A few school-size mulloway have been turning up along the beaches south of Greenough at spots that include Flat Rocks, Lucy’s and West Bank. Dhufish are a chance at the reef holes along the Flat Rocks to Greenough River mouth stretch as well as at the holes north of Drummonds Cove. Yellowfin whiting averaging 25cm can be found at Separation Point and at the back of The Lives.
South West Catches
Picture: An old photo, but we love it. This is a serious pink snapper and the prime time to catch them is now. Pick the break in the weather, burley hard and put the effort in and you too can catch fish like this! Photo courtesy of Dylan Picken.
Boats:
Geographe Bay is perhaps experiencing one of its most incredible runs of pink snapper in recent years with dozens of fish caught in its waters most days during the past week. The snapper have ranged from 3kg to 10kg and have been caught in a variety of areas including Eight Mile Reef, Four Mile Reef, the Artificial Reef and many of the isolated lumps in between. Big swells have limited the amount of fishing performed off the west coast, however when the boats have managed to head out the crews have doing well on some rather large dhufish. Rhys O’dwyer and a couple of mates set out to target broadbill swordfish a fortnight ago and while they did not manage to bring up a broadie they did manage five bass groper and a blue eye trevalla in approximately 350m of water. Squid remain in excellent numbers right along the seagrass beds extending from Eagle Bay to the Busselton Jetty.
Shore-based:
Shore-based fishers have also managed to get among the flurry of pink snapper with some nice fish landed at Monaghan’s Corner, Rocky Point and Bunker Bay. Plenty of herring and a few skippy have also been coming from the rocky headlands and beach areas that feature reef. Tailor have been a little quieter, but there is still the odd successful session being had at Elmore Road, Bunker Bay, Mitchells and Honeycombs.
South West Freshwater
Picture: Freshwater trout (rainbow or brown) are currently hitting both flys and spinners. The freshwater guru’s are recommending Black Woolly Bugger fly pattern as their fly of choice at the moment.
A couple of members fished Logue Brook Dam over the weekend. This dam is open all year round and is just over an hours drive from Perth. They fished a lot of water without success.
Talking to other fishermen they met, fish are being caught, with one fisher reportedly landing twelve fish during his visits to the dam over the last three weeks, and another catching three fish, the weekend before last. These fish were all caught on fly, with the Black Woolly Bugger fly pattern being the most productive.
At Logue you can fish from an easy accessible shoreline by fly fishing, spinning or bait or you can fish from powered boats where trolling hard bodied lures is a favourite past time.
Mandurah & Surrounds
Picture: Tarwhine have been caught in the Dawesville Cut along with other species like herring and King George.
MANDURAH
The Dawesville Cut is producing herring, King George whiting, pilch, tarwhine and a few garfish on a regular basis. The northern beaches are starting to produce a few fish with tailor, herring, whiting, and pilch being taken along the San Remo to Golden Bay section. Most of the beaches both north and south of Mandurah have their fair share of weed, however, there are spots where it has cleared allowing anglers to fish. The beaches at Preston, White Hills and Tim’s Thicket are producing herring, a few small mulloway and tailor. Large pilch are also being taken in numbers at times and size is improving.
SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
Anglers fishing in Warnbro Sound are still catching snapper, some good-sized King George whiting and squid. Becher Point and Point Peron have been producing good catches of the smaller species during last week. Pilch have been featuring prominently in most bags of fish. Right along the southern metropolitan beaches, there are herring being taken on a variety of baits and lures. There are still reports of some reasonable tailor around Point Peron.
Metro Catches
Picture: Evan caught an impressive 80 cm pink snapper at North Mole on Tuesday. Now is the perfect time to target pinkies from the shore, just make sure you’re safe if the weather is rough (Photo courtesy of Steve Claudio).
Boats:
Recreational and charter boat fishers scored pink snapper in waters that were generally described as being off Rottnest Island’s West End, along Five Fathom Bank, between Carnac Island and Stragglers and along the Three Mile Reef between Trigg and Mindarie. Dhufish were also picked up in similar areas, however, most of the dhuies caught were modest fish of less than 10kg. Big skippy, 2kg to 3kg fish, were found along Five Fathom Bank and the Gage Roads shipping channel. Some nice sand whiting have been coming from the sandy areas off Fremantle and Hillarys while the broken ground east of Rottnest has King George whiting to a respectable 45cm. Tony Thwin was one of several squid enthusiasts who caught good numbers of the cephalopods off Fremantle and within Cockburn Sound at the weekend.
Shore-based:
Several pink snapper were caught from the southern and northern rock walls including Woodman Point, Coogee Marina, South Mole, North Mole and Hillarys Marina. Mulloway were also caught from the structures together with herring, a few robust garfish and some nice squid. More mulloway are being caught from the beaches south and north of the metropolitan coastal stretch and there are still a few pink snapper being landed onto the sand at spots that include Preston Beach, White Hills and Wilbinga. Some nice tailor have been showing up at Grant Street and Floreat Drain in the mornings and evenings. The lower reaches of the Swan River ordinarily provide some productive black bream sessions during this time of the year.
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