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Dear <<First Name>>,
You are receiving this because you are a Recfishwest Member! As a member, you'll receive fishing updates and info from WA's peak fishing body, Recfishwest. We're here to help make your fishing better and one of the ways we do that is by sending out WA's biggest and best weekly fishing reports! If you know someone who would love to receive these and needs some help on the fishing front, forward this onto them! Join us here.
Welcome to Recfishwest's weekly fishing report, brought to you by Joachim Azzopardi, John Curtis for the Mandurah section and Recfishwest safety ambassador Peter Fullarton from Tailored Treks for what's happening in Lancelin.
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Catch of the Week!
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Brodie Sciberras (bskkibz) and Adam Ryan with a epic FADs session up at Two Rocks, got to love a day like that. Great work, guys!
Check out our awesome FADs photo comp and win a Shimano Stella 4000! Click here to check out the rules and what to do! |
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Email info@recfishwest.org.au and let Ruth, our Membership Officer, know your new details - mention your name, old email and new email address, and we'll update your details.
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| Reef Chief Australia with a nice black jewfish, slightly under the meter mark. Still a great catch and awesome photo, good job, mate! |
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| When the fresh winds have backed off enough to entice some of the boats to head out, crews have been finding fingermark bream, bluebone and Spanish flag within Roebuck Bay. Threadfin and bluenose salmon have also been found in these waters together with the odd mulloway. Very few managed to head out wide this past week, however the 30m to 40m depths are likely to be where the concentrations of saddletail seaperch, red emperor and blue lined emperor are likely to be. |
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Threadfin salmon in the 60cm to 80cm range, as well as the odd fish of about a metre, have been found in reasonable numbers at the mouths of the local creeks. Dampier and Willie creeks have also been producing mangrove jack, estuary cod and a few small barramundi. Bigger barra have been coming from the relatively fast flowing Fitzroy River at spots that included The Cuttings. The run of cherabin is also starting to pick up some pace.
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| On Strike Charters putting people on the goods as usual. Check out this photogenic amberjack! |
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| A flotilla of boats that ventured beyond the 1000m contour one day last week encountered large schools of baitfish with plenty of big yellowfin tuna around them. Bluewater Tackle World’s Mat Gates landed an 84.85kg yellowfin on 60kg gear, which the achievement is a pending national record. Several other yellowfin in the 50kg to 70kg range were landed during the session. Blue marlin have also been encountered out wide together with plenty of dolphin fish. Spanish and shark mackerel have been responding well to rigged baits and minnows trolled along the back of the reef line. |
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| Spangled emperor have been caught in bigger numbers near the lighthouse beaches and Mildura Wreck. Surface lures, including poppers and stick baits, work well on spanglies during these events. Bluebone are being caught in similar areas early morning and evening. There are lots of small trevally and queenfish appearing during the incoming tide at the west coast accesses, as well as along the other side of the cape at spots including Bundegi and Old Bundegi. Yellowfin whiting can be targeted along the gulf beaches. |
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Spanish mackerel have been caught in bigger numbers north of the river mouth rather than in waters extending towards Lucky Bay. The mackerel, which have mostly been caught in the 6kg to 10kg range, together with the odd fish around the 15kg mark, have been more inclined to strike rigged whole baits, rather than minnow-style lures. Yellowfin tuna to an impressive 25kg have also been encountered offshore together with smaller longtail and mack tuna. Red emperor to 10kg and dhufish were picked up in waters west of town. Reef fishers, who worked the 20m to 30m depths off Lucky Bay, scored baldchin groper, dhufish and pink snapper.
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| Tailor between 40cm and 50cm have been turning up most mornings and evenings at Red Bluff, Wittecarra Creek and the river mouth. Bigger tailor have been caught at Wagoe together with a few mulloway and the odd pink snapper. Chopper tailor are evident in the lower reaches of the Murchison River while the upper parts of the system have been producing black bream, estuary cod and mangrove jack. |
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| Ben Svenson with a quality tailor off the beach. Looks good, nice fish! |
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| Reef fishers are pleased with the abundance of estuary cod around at the moment. The 60cm to 85cm cod, which to some fare better on the table than dhufish and other sought after demersals, have been caught in waters ranging from a mile or so from the coast right out to the Abrolhos Islands. Baldchin groper have also been picked up in good numbers and in many different depths and areas. Spanish mackerel catches this past week mostly came from near Southern Group, where sharks have unfortunately been a problem. |
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| A very impressive 32kg mulloway was landed at Lucky Bay a few weeks ago and there were apparently a few fish, thought to have been in excess of 20kg, caught near where the big croaker was caught during the following weeks. Tailor catches were a little down compared to recent weeks, however there was still a run experienced most mornings and evenings at the northern beaches including Drummonds, Buller River mouth and Coronation as well as along the Greenough to Flat Rocks stretch. Varieties of whiting to 25cm can be picked up behind The Lives along with herring and undersize tailor. |
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| Steven Toothill landed this magnificent samson fish solo out on his first venture from Lancelin. Along-side two nice breaksea cod, that sounds like good fishing. Good stuff, mate! |
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| Boats fishing 35-40m depths have been doing well on demersal fish with some good size dhufish and mainly a mix of baldchin and breaksea cod, though strong northerly currents have made offshore bottom fishing difficult at times during the week. We have been seeing more dhufish and snapper along the inshore lumps and there are plenty of samson fish also schooling on these shallow areas. Baldchin have been wide spread, they can be found drifting along pretty much anywhere deeper than 24m seems to find them. Schools of skippy have been encountered along the outside edge of the White bank. There are some great size sand whiting available at the moment along the 20-22m contours. Water temperatures have been around 23.5C, mackerel starting to be encountered a bit more frequently. The bay itself has some water quality issues from rotting weed, but there are still plenty of herring being caught. |
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Tailor and herring have been plentiful along the beaches, with plenty of people reporting fish being caught during sunset. Reports of mulloway catches are indicating increasing numbers along the beaches, though sharks continue to be a problem in some locations. At least two QLD school mackerel were caught north of the Moore river mouth during the week by tailor fishers. Lancelin northwards, the beach gutters are holding good numbers of dart. The jetty has been fishing well for herring, though a pool of dirty smelly water can move in around the jetty from the southern end of the bay depending on the conditions.
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| Dinghy and small boat fishers have been picking up snook, herring, sand whiting and squid within the bay while bluefin tuna to 10kg have been encountered in close as well as out wide. Small samson fish, queen snapper and blue groper can be found near the islands. Nannygai to 50cm have been found in dense schools beyond the islands, which are also holding samson fish and yellowtail kingfish. |
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The Taylor Street Jetty has herring, garfish, skippy, King George whiting and a few squid on offer while Bandy Creek boat harbour has mostly been producing herring as well as the odd King George and, in the evenings, squid. Surf fishers at Salmon Beach and Fourth Beach have mostly been catching herring and juvenile salmon. Roses has plenty of skippy to 1.5kg turning up in the channels and gutters at times as well as salmon to 3kg and bronze whaler sharks. A big school of salmon turned up at Stockyards last Friday and mulloway have been appearing there at high tide. Alexander Bay and Thomas River have been fishing well for a mix of species including salmon, herring, skippy and bronze whaler shark.
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| Very few boats worked the waters out wide due to unfavourable winds. Those who managed to head out found some red, pink and queen snapper around the coral together with skippy, breaksea cod and small dhufish. Samson fish and small pink snapper have been found near the islands and there are packs of yellowtail kingfish appearing in parts. King George whiting enthusiasts seem to be doing reasonably well on fish to 45cm near Gull Rock, Caseys and Frenchman Bay. Squid numbers appear to be improving while there are still plenty of herring, sand whiting and small skippy around. |
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Surf fishers have been getting among plenty of herring, skippy and sand whiting at spots including Salmon Holes, Sand Patch, Nanarup and Lowlands. More sand whiting, and the odd King George whiting, have been coming from Frenchman Bay while yellowfin whiting have been turning up along the flats at Emu Point. Yellowtail kingfish have been landed at the Blow Holes and there have been a few blue groper recently caught at West Cape Howe. Most of the local and nearby rivers are providing reasonable fishing on black bream.
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| Peter from pjfishingwa with a mint baldchin groper caught off the boat. Great fish, mate! |
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| Reef fishers have been satisfied with their catches of dhufish, queen snapper and breaksea cod along the 30m to 50m depths off Hamelin Bay, Cowaramup Bay and Canal Rocks. Yellowtail kingfish and samson fish are being found out from Cape Naturaliste where small bluefin tuna seem to be in their biggest concentrations. Squid catches are improving along the seagrass meadows within Geographe Bay. |
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| Yellowfin and school whiting can be targeted along the Quindalup and Busselton sand flats. Tailor are a chance in the morning and night at Elmore Road, Bunker Bay and Injidup. There are plenty of herring along the both sides of the cape. |
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In the estuary, prawn and crab catches have continued with good feeds of these tasty crustaceans being caught in most regular spots. Crabbers using drop nets along the channels seem to be doing better than those wading the shallows. Waders are finding better results just on dark. The Dawesville Cut has been producing a few smaller tailor and skippy and there are plenty of herring and whiting around. Anglers fishing for whiting are finding the fishing a little patchy with some good captures one day and very quiet the next. A few anglers have reported fish to around 25 to 30 cm, but numbers are down and most are released. There are good fish to be had from areas on and around the bridges with herring, tailor, tarwhine and whiting being caught in numbers.
The beaches are the places to be if you want to tangle with some good mulloway. There have been numerous reports of good fish coming from most beaches. A fresh fillet of tailor seems to be the preferred bait and they are around in good numbers late in the afternoon. Tailor were on the bite last weekend along the beaches at Tim’s Thicket, White Hills and Preston Beach and these fish averaged out at around 60 cm. This area has been generally producing good tailor fishing with fish averaging 45 - 50 cm being caught. When the sea breeze comes, fish activity picks up. A little further north around the Falcon area, mulloway have been caught along with several small sharks. Herring and whiting catches have also been consistent. The Serpentine and Murray Rivers continue to fish well for black bream and with regular break offs occurring, indicating that there are probably a few mulloway venturing upstream as well. In the Murray River, bream activity is concentrated upstream of Murray Bend.
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SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / WARNBRO / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY
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Tailor activity has been consistent with a few good fish being caught each evening along the southern surf beaches. Better spots seem to be from Port Kennedy south. Anglers fishing the stretch of beach from Rockingham through to the north of Mandurah are reporting regular catches of mulloway from most popular spots.
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| Shaun Wieffering with a great queen snapper caught 20km west of Hillarys on a nice Bomby. Good stuff, mate! |
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| The Recfishwest and Perth Game Fishing Club Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) are reported to be holding very good numbers of dolphin fish to a metre as well as southern bluefin and striped tuna. Considering the activity at the devices, it would be of little surprise if blue and striped marlin are patrolling these waters. Spanish mackerel have been caught near Rottnest Island and Five Fathom Bank. Yellowtail kingfish have been a little hit and miss at West End and the inshore rocks and bombies. A red emperor was reportedly caught off Rottnest last week and there are some big dhufish being found in 50m to 60m of water. Pink snapper have been caught early morning near Stragglers and along the back of Three Mile Reef. Baldchin groper and breaksea can be targeted in 20m to 30m of water. |
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| The metropolitan beaches are experiencing a typical summer of run of tailor with fish in 35cm to 45cm range turning up at the popular surf spots morning and night. Mornings have been the better time to target tailor at Trigg Point, Floreat Drain and the two nearby groynes. Swanbourne Drain has been seeing bigger tailor caught in the evenings while Cottesloe Groyne, North Mole and Woodman Point have all been seeing larger numbers of fish after 8pm most nights. Herring have also been at most of the popular beach spots as have a few tarwhine, some small skippy, sand whiting and pike. Chopper tailor are evident in the lower reaches of the Swan River. Mulloway have been caught at times at North Fremantle near the Water Police Headquarters. Yellowfin whiting have been a challenge to target along the shallower parts. |
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(Update) Swan River Algae Bloom
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| The algal bloom warning for the Swan + Canning river systems remain in place. |
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The Department of Health has updated its toxic algal bloom warning to include parts of the Canning River.
The update follows earlier health advice, warning people not to eat fish, crabs or shellfish collected from within the Swan River – from Pelican Point to Como Jetty and upstream to Tonkin Highway Bridge (this includes the commonly known areas of Matilda Bay, Perth Waters, Elizabeth Quay, Barrack Street Jetty, Claisebrook Cove, Maylands Yacht Club, Ascot Waters and Riverside Gardens).
Recent testing by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) has now identified elevated levels of the same, potentially toxic Alexandrium algae in the Canning River and the health warning has been extended to the area from the South of Perth Yacht Club to Como Jetty and upstream to Kent Street Weir.
This algal bloom warning was originally issued before Christmas and doesn't appear to be clearing as of yet. This continues to be alarming and there still remains little information around what caused the previous bloom.
Recfishwest will keep you updated on developments and we will continue to ask DBCA questions about the bloom and what is being done to tackle it.
Find out what we had to say about it here.
To see a map of the affected areas, click here
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