18 March 2016 - Full Report

Metro Catches

Pictured: Pink snapper

Spanish mackerel continue to be caught within Cockburn Sound, along the back of Five Fathom Bank, near Rottnest Island and behind Three Mile Reef. The 8 to 20kg mackerel have been responding well to trolled minnows in the 2m and 8m varieties. Bonito are still about the inshore areas in good numbers. Hon-Su Chin, of Bluewater Tackle World in Myaree, caught four bonito during a morning session at North Mole last week. The boats that have been heading out wide have encountered schools of striped and small southern bluefin tuna. Dolphin fish are at the FAD’s (fish aggregating devices) off Rottnest, but have been fussy at times. Some nice dhufish and baldchin groper have been coming from the 20 to 40m depths off Fremantle.

Pink snapper seem to prefer the shallower grounds of less than 15m of water at the moment. Sean Mulcock and Liam Aslett have been doing well on pinkies near Seaward Reef on sunset. Tony Saitta caught a dozen squid and an estimated 5kg cuttlefish just out from Bathers Beach last week. Shore-based fishers have also been doing well on squid at North Mole in the evenings. Nearby Leighton Beach has experienced a soapie mulloway run with surf fishers catching up to four 55 to 70cm a session. Tailor around the 40cm mark have been turning up at Leighton and the beaches north of there in the mornings and evenings. Good catches of yellowfin whiting have been coming from near Como Jetty.

Mandurah Catches

Pictured: Samson fish

MANDURAH

There are some good tailor and mulloway still coming in from the beaches north of the town. Locations such as San Remo, Singleton and Madora are producing herring, skippy, garfish and whiting early to mid morning and late afternoon. Using one of these as a bait after dark, may work wonders for an fishers prepared to try his luck for a mulloway. It is also a similar story from fishers fishing the southern beaches. The beaches are producing herring and whiting during the day with tailor early morning and evening. Larger tailor are being caught around dusk and after dark. Tim’s Thicket and White Hills are the areas that have been producing some excellent catches.

If you are looking to wet a line to catch a feed, try the Dawesville Cut. It’s not very often that fishers go home empty handed. Reports indicate that there have been some big tailor taken from either end of The Cut during the last week. There has also been some good herring and very big garfish taken here. Whiting and skippy have also been caught over the last couple of weeks. In the estuary, fishers have been catching some good tailor around 45 – 50 cm. There are a few crabs being taken by scoopers and drop netters. You may have to work a bit harder for them but the reward is worth the effort.

SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY

Fishers ballooning from the beaches and structures in Warnbro have taken a few spanish mackerel in the last couple of weeks. It requires a little effort and some good winds to get the balloons moving but once out a couple of hundred metres, it could be anything that takes the bait. A surprise catch for a couple of fishers fishing from the jetties around Rockingham were a couple of samson fish late last week.

Beaches around Port Kennedy and Secret Harbour are still producing tailor, skippy and tarwhine. Several big tailor were taken from a few locations during the week with fish well over 2 kg reported. Small mulloway are being taken on a regular basis and there are reports of several larger fish to 12 kg being taken from the beaches in this area.

South West Catches

Pictured: Pink snapper (photo courtesy of The Reef Vision Research Team)

Judging by the state of affairs along the south coast, the annual salmon run is probably still a good two to three weeks’ away, however there were reports of what appear to be resident schools turning up along the coast this past week at spots that included Bunker Bay, Point Picquet and Castle Rock. Herring require some effort and a few handfuls of burley along the west coast and in the bay.

Squid catches are improving along the seagrass meadows off Quindalup and blue manna crabs stocks are starting to build up. Boat fishers at the artificial reef have been picking up some nice pink snapper on sunset. There are still plenty of bonito and small southern bluefin tuna off Cape Naturaliste. Reef fishing for dhufish, breaksea cod and snapper has been better off the west coast.

For more information on fishing the artificial reefs, click here.

Albany Catches

Pictured: Dhufish (photo courtesy of @dan.coughlan)

The Great Southern’s fraternity of seasoned fishers are hesitant to label the recent spate of salmon catches along the coast to be those associated with the annual migration. Jim Allan, of Albany Rods and Tackle, was still of the view the salmon schools that showed up during the past week were resident fish despite the big volumes of fish evident in some of the schools. That’s even after hearing from a couple of his customers about how they caught and released 38 fish during a single session at an undisclosed location.

Two big salmon schools were frustratingly just out of casting distance at Sand Patch on Monday. Fosters produced a few salmon, however Bremer Bay was reportedly quiet. Bigger skippy are starting to show up, as they tend to do at the start of autumn each year. Bluff Creek and Lowlands were among the spots to produce skippy to 40cm this past week. Herring stocks have also continued to increase along the coast. Tailor have been turning up some mornings and evenings at Shelleys and West Cape Howe. Cosy Corner is worth trying for King George and sand whiting from the shore.

Frenchman’s and the marina have been providing mixed catches of King George, herring, skippy and squid. The local rivers and even those east and west of town have really started to fire up for the black bream enthusiasts. The boats that managed to head offshore in search of quality reef fish picked up fair catches of pink snapper, queen snapper, harlequin fish, red snapper and dhufish in 65 to 85m of water. Bonito and small southern bluefin tuna have been encountered off the headlands and near the islands. King George whiting require some effort through the inshore parts, however those who have been putting in the time have been doing well and catching their bag limits of fish in the 30 to 45cm range.

Salmon Season Safety

Don’t put your life on the line! Better yet, keep the sand between your toes and stay off the rocks.

No fish is worth your life.

Make sure you follow these simple safety steps:

Know the conditions
Wear a life jacket
Wear the correct footwear
Wear suitable clothing
Know how to swim
Keep clear of the black rock
Tell someone your plans.

Recfishwest will be down in Albany over the Easter long weekend, come and say hello, hire a life jacket and learn more about fishing safety.

For more on safety please visit www.fishandsurvive.org.au

Esperance Catches

Pictured: Recfishwest supporter Graeme Evans with a West Australian salmon

Big herring, King George whiting, garfish and a few skippy can be sought from both Taylor Street Jetty and James Street Jetty. More King George have been coming from the port beach and Bandy Creek Boat Harbour, which the latter spot, also has small pink snapper and big herring on offer. Two customers of Southern Sports and Tackle caught and released 20 salmon at Salmon Beach last week. Salmon have also been regularly appearing at Fourth Beach, Fourteen Mile and Roses together with mulloway, gummy shark and skippy.

Thomas River, Rossiter and Dunns are worth a look for mulloway, skippy, salmon, juvenile salmon and herring. Southern bluefin tuna to a solid 20kg have been turning up in dense schools within a mile or two of the coast at times. Squid and sand whiting are worthwhile targeting in the bay. Big nannygai and samson fish were caught near the islands and beyond last weekend.

Geraldton Catches

Pictured: Coral trout

Boat fishers have been enjoying the unusually larger amount of bigger coral trout that are lurking off the coast. Coral trout in local waters are typically between 50 and 60cm, however during the past couple of months, dozens of trout in the 60 to 75cm range and the odd fish around 80cm have been picked up. The catches have not been concentrated in a particular area either, with the back of Pensioners, the lumps off Coronation, Mid Reef and King Reef among the areas to produce good catches of big trout.

Big pink snapper and breakea cod have also been coming from similar areas. Cody Burnett landed an impressive 130kg blue marlin wide of the Abrolhos Islands last Tuesday. Big patches of dolphin fish are also being encountered near the islands together with schools of yellowfin and longtail tuna. Spanish mackerel catches have been more consistent north of Geraldton with the back of Pensioners and out from Point Moore producing fish mostly between 10 and 15kg. School size mulloway and assortments of cod and wrasse have been coming from the reef at Lucky Bay. Tailor have been a little hit and miss along the coast with 40 to 60cm fish turning up some mornings and evenings along the Flat Rocks to Greenough River mouth stretch, Southgates, Separation Point and Drummonds.

Kalbarri Catches

Pictured: Mulloway

The murky water present along the local beaches seems be affecting the tailor catches with an unusually small number of fish caught along the Red Bluff to Wittecarra stretch and the beaches north of river mouth during the past week. Similarly, the water at Chinamans was a touch on the green side and tailor catches were quite slim at the popular location. Better catches of tailor were achieved at Pot Alley and nearby cliff platforms, which have featured cleaner water.

Mulloway have occasionally been caught at Frustrations and Oyster Reef and there were a few soapies taken in the middle and upper reaches of the Murchison. Black bream and mangrove jack have been coming from near the pens and jetties while giant herring are also about, just farther up river. Mud crab catches appear to be improving and there also seems to be better numbers of blue manna crabs around. Spanish mackerel between 8 and 15kg are being caught more regularly.

Exmouth Catches

Pictured: A Dolphin fish getting measured, caught in GAMEX. Tissue samples were taken for future research.

Brett Wolf, of True Blue Bonefish, put his client, Dean Rutherford, onto an impressive cobia, which needed to be landed on the gulf flats on Wednesday. Golden trevally around the 6kg mark and queenfish have also been caught in the gulf waters. Along the eastern gulf, barramundi are occasionally being caught. More queenfish and small trevally have been caught by shore-based fishers along the west coast. The boats trolling along the back of the west coast reef continue to pick up Spanish and shark mackerel. Small black marlin and sailfish are being encountered off the west side.

Fishing in GAMEX has been slower than the last tournament, however still above average with 164 hooked and 73 billfish tagged in the first four days. Plenty of dolphin fish, narrow-barred spanish mackerel, golden trevally and queenfish are being weighed in, being encountered by crews fishing inside Exmouth Gulf and around the Muiron Islands.

Recfishwest is attending the tournament along with world leading gamefish researcher Dr. Julian Pepperell, conducting important research on sport fish. For more information on this project click here.

Broome Catches

Pictured: Golden trevally

The boats that have been targeting reef fish offshore have been picking up fair catches of coral trout, spangled emperor and bluebone off Entrance Point and Gantheaume Point. Mulloway catches have been good in Roebuck Bay with fish to a metre being found along the structure and drop offs. Mulloway are also occasionally being caught from the jetty together with the usual assortments of trevally and queenfish. Threadfin salmon to a metre and the odd bigger fish have been caught at Crab Creek and Dampier Creek. The mouth of Dampier Creek is also producing quite a few barramundi.