From eye-catching trout to threadies and barramundi there's plenty to read in Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 2 April 2021 🎣

Reef fishers who travelled to the ground in and around 40m of water did well on red emperor, saddletail seaperch and Rankin cod this week. More northern mulloway were caught in the evenings within Roebuck Bay, also. Bluebone and fingermark bream have also been caught in reasonable numbers within the inshore waters. Threadfin salmon can be targeted near the entrances of the creeks and there are tripletail near the moorings.


Wade Clark reeled in a couple of threadfin salmon during the weekend's Thready Shootout!

Lots of queenfish, small golden and giant trevally have been caught along the coast together with a few threadfin and bluenose salmon. Mangrove jack and estuary cod can be caught within the lower reaches of the local creeks, alongside barramundi and javelin fish. Whiting catches are slowly improving along the beaches.

Spanish mackerel catches have started to improve once again along the back of the reef line following a couple of months of decreased catches of the toothy species. Rigged whole baits, including garfish and slimy mackerel, and minnow-style lures trolled between 15m and 30m of water have been working well on the 10kg to 20kg mackerel. Small black marlin have been caught by those who have been prepared to put in some time and effort searching for the billfish. Reef fishers have been doing well on red emperor in about 40m of water near the Muiron Islands. Nice coral trout have been picked up on minnows trolled near the bombies within Exmouth Gulf.


Beautiful work, Barney! Barney Skeggs got stuck into a couple of solid spangos off Exmouth!

Schools of hardy heads gathering along both sides of North West Cape have been attracting a variety of predators including queenfish, golden trevally, giant trevally and giant herring. Spangled emperor and bluebone have also been caught along the west coast in areas that feature reef. Bigger GTs are a chance on poppers and stickbaits at VLF Bay and Oysters in the late afternoon and evening. Squid can be targeted at Bundegi Jetty, the marina and Learmonth Jetty.

Reef fishers have been doing very in waters north-west of the river mouth where red emperor to 9kg and dhufish to 11kg have been caught among lots of baldchin groper, pink snapper and a few Rankin cod. More baldies and snapper have been caught on soft plastic and knife jigs worked relatively close to the cliffs south of Kalbarri. Spanish mackerel catches were down on previous weeks, but there were still a few fish caught near Bald Face and south towards Wagoe. Schools of yellowfin and longtail tuna are still about while billfish, cobia and big trevally species are also likely to be lurking offshore considering the warm sea-surface temperatures.

Tailor appeared in bigger numbers this week with dozens of 40cm to 60cm fish caught at Red Bluff, Wittecarra Creek, Back Beach, The Siphon and Chinaman's Beach in the early morning and evening. Dart are sometimes being caught with the tailor, while there are lots of herring also around. Cliff fishers have been picking up pink snapper, baldchin groper and tailor from the southern platforms. Dart and threadfin salmon were among the species recently caught at Lucky Bay. Mulloway to 1m have been common in the lower reaches of the river extending to Castle Rock. Mud crabs have also been coming from the system, which has yellowfin whiting in numbers along its sand flats.

Spanish mackerel are certainly in bigger numbers and sizes near the Abrolhos Islands as compared to those that have been recently caught in waters closer to Geraldton. Interestingly, many of the Spaniards caught along the back of Pensioners Bank in recent weeks have been less than legal size. Reef fishers found most oft their dhufish, pink snapper, estuary cod and sweetlip near African Reef and South West Bank. Baldchin groper have been found in a range of depths of areas. Dinghy and kayak fishers are still managing to pick up a nice feed of squid inshore.

A 124cm mulloway landed at Little Bay on Friday evening was perhaps one of the bigger croakers to be caught along the coast this week. Smaller mulloway were caught near Flat Rocks, Lucy's and Secret Men’s Business as well as the beaches north of Drummond's Cove. Tailor in the 35cm to 55cm range can be targeted right along the coast, however, seaweed has been making things difficult. The northern side of the marina has squid after dark, as well as chopper tailor and pike.

Boats chasing demersal species have found depths from 30m to 45m productive this week, writes Tailored Treks' Peter Fullarton. Baldchin groper, breaksea cod, dhufish and pink snapper are among sought-after species to be caught in these depths. Keep an eye out for diving birds, indicating baitfish, as yellowfin tuna have been caught off Lancelin this past fortnight. Trolling for Spanish mackerel in 15m to 20m has been productive, with fish caught up to 20kg. The 20m to 22m depths have been reliable for a feed of plump sand whiting. Inside the bay, dinghy and kayak anglers have been doing well on skippy, snook, herring and squid. The Lancelin Angling and Aquatic Club is set to host its Easter Cup tomorrow, 3 April. Holidaying anglers are welcome to enter and visitors are welcome to attend the weigh-in at 3.30pm. 

Herring have been coming in under the lights each night at Lancelin jetty, with anglers also catching squid, tailor, skippy and tarwhine. Chopper tailor have been biting well at sunrise and sunset along the surf beaches, while herring to 30cm have been in good numbers too. Most of the northern beaches have a shallow bank close to shore, which is making fishing difficult. Didie Bay to Narrow Neck is providing the best access to cast baits into deeper water. To the south of Lancelin, pink snapper have been caught by beach casters. 

Dinghy and small boat fishers have been catching lots of herring, sand whiting and squid inshore. Reef fishers have been picking up breaksea cod, nannygai in the 40cm to 50cm range and harlequin fish near the islands. Those who ventured out wide scored bigger nannygai to 60cm, breaksea cod, Samson fish and yellowtail kingfish. 

Sasha Campbell wasted no time getting on the new Esperance jetty to catch herring!

The new Esperance Jetty is officially open! Since the jetty opened last Sunday, fishers have been making the most of the land-based fishing access and caught bread-and-butter species including skippy, herring and squid. Read more about the new jetty here! Taylor Street Jetty has lots of big herring, skippy and squid on offer. Black bream, flathead to 50cm and flounder can be caught at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour. Salmon and herring are being caught right along the local and eastern beaches including Fourth Beach, Roses, Alexander Bay, Poison Creek and Israelite Bay. 

Experienced south coast rock fisher and Recfishwest Safety Ambassador Gideon Mettam caught this lovely harlequin fish somewhere near Albany recently. Find Gido's latest YouTube fishing video here.

Reef fishing for snapper, breaksea cod and dhufish has been more productive in waters to the east and west of Albany as opposed to the ground in the general south direction. Reports from those who ventured to shelf have been mixed with some managing to find red snapper, hapuka and grey-banded cod and others either not getting their drifts right or unable to locate the fish. Albany's fish aggregating devices (FADs) have also been producing dolphinfish this week. Boat limits of King George whiting have been achieved in relatively short timeframes inshore. Squid catches are improving along the seagrass and there are plenty of salmon and bonito near some of the headlands.

Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland with a south coast salmon from last weekend.

The annual salmon run appears to be pushing forward, with lots of schools passing along the coast from Bluff Creek right through to Walpole. If you're fishing for salmon this week, keep the sand between your toes and stay safe while fishing — no fish is worth your life. Read more about safe fishing here. In addition to these bookends, Normans, Little Beach, Cheynes Beach, Nanarup and Bornholm were also among the better performing spots for salmon. Taking part in the FREE two-day Salmon Spectacular this weekend? Click here to view the competition's terms and conditions. King George whiting can be targeted at Frenchman Bay, Cosy Corner and Ledge Beach. Herring are in very good numbers along the coast and there are some big skippy being caught near Cape Riche. Bonito have been caught from the rocks near Bremer Bay, Cheynes and West Cape Howe. Getting past the small black bream and trumpeter has been a challenge in the King and Kalgan rivers. The rivers to the west of town may be fishing better for bigger bream.

Schools of salmon turning up along the west coast of Cape Naturaliste, however, the numbers do not amount to a full-scale event of the annual autumn run just yet. Hamlin Bay, Injidup and Smiths Beach were among the spots where salmon showed this week. Rock fishers have been catching yellowtail kingfish from the platforms located on the west coast. Blue swimmer crab catches have been improving for scoop netters within Geographe Bay. Bunbury's beaches, to the north and south, are worth a try for mulloway after dark.

Hayden Michaels, of On The Bite Fishing, enjoyed an epic weekend with mates off Dawesville last weekend with many memorable catches including this 14kg dhufish. We love your work, Hayden!

Mandurah's southern beaches have seen several salmon caught, but it's unknown if this year's autumn migration will bring big schools as far north as Mandurah, as seen in previous seasons. Dawesville Cut is producing big sand whiting, herring, and skippy alongside small King George whiting and chopper tailor. Along the beaches to the north of Mandurah, there have been good catches of tailor and herring along. Whiting and tarwhine are also on offer. For those venturing wide off Mandurah and Dawesville, dhufish have been caught over the past week as shown by Hayden Michaels, picture above. Samson fish and skippy have also been caught, especially by boats drifting over structure. Black bream and small mulloway have been reported in both the Murray and Serpentine rivers. However, the Shire of Murray have reported an algae-related surface scum is currently present in sections of the Murray River and adjacent canals in the South Yunderup and Ravenswood areas.

Exmouth local Will Roche ventured to the State's south recently and wasted no time getting stuck into species he doesn't get to encounter in the Gascoyne, including this delightful dhufish. Well done!

Reef fishing has been productive in 30m to 50m of water off Rockingham for dhufish, snapper and breaksea cod. For land-based anglers, the beaches between Secret Harbour and Singleton have produced mulloway this week. Marvellous specimen, some estimated at more than 15kg, have been caught at sunset. The region's jetties have also been producing some big mulloway after dark and a host of bread-and-butter species during the day.

The ground off Hillarys and Mindarie seem to be producing more baldchin groper, while breaksea cod have also been found by anglers. Samson fish seem to have been encountered in bigger numbers this past week and there are still lots of yellowtail kingfish around. Cockburn Sound and the western edge of Three Mile Reef are worth a troll for Spanish mackerel. There are still plenty of dolphinfish at the metro fish aggregating devices (FADs). Deep droppers can find grey-banded cod and pink snapper in 200m, while blue eye trevalla and hapuka are out deeper. If you're fishing for demersals this weekend and get snagged on lobster pot or line, please tie a Snag It, Tag It caution tag to the the pot's rope or float. Read more about the Snag It, Tag It safety initiative, a program Recfishwest coordinates in partnership with Western Rock Lobster, here.


Metro mackie! Josh Knight was buzzing with this Spanish mackerel from his jetski from Two Rocks. Yeww.