From rainbow trout near Waroona to mulloway at Lancelin there's plenty to read in Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 30 April 2021 🎣

Sailfish have started to be encountered in bigger numbers offshore, especially in waters out from Barred Creek and farther north off the peninsula. Spanish mackerel catches have been improving in waters off Gantheaume Point, Entrance Point and Port Smith. There are also lots of longtail tuna and mack tuna off Broome. Reef fishers have been doing well on red emperor, saddletail seaperch and cods in 30m to 50m of water. Tripletail can be found near the moorings and flotsam inshore.

Billfish enthusiasts have been encountering plenty of small black marlin, as well as sailfish, within the 200m line. Bigger blue marlin are still being caught out wide and there are lots of wahoo and dolphinfish offshore. Spanish mackerel have been responding to bibbed minnows and rigged garfish trolled along the edge of the west coast reef line. Red emperor and Rankin cod have been caught in reasonable numbers in depths leading up to 90m. Goldand jobfish are being found in 100m to 150m, while ruby snapper have mostly been caught beyond the 200m line. Stickbaits and poppers have been working well on spangled emperor and golden trevally inside the west coast reef.

Bo Davies speared this Spanish mackerel off Exmouth at the weekend! We love your work, Bo. 👌👏

A variety of lures have produced queenfish, trevally species and spangled emperor at the west coast accesses this week. Bluebone can be targeted near the lighthouse and Mildura Wreck. There have been lots of 1m-plus queenfish caught near the tip of the cape and along the Exmouth Gulf beaches. Exmouth Marina has been producing plenty of big mangrove jack. Squid can also be caught at the marina as well as Learmonth Jetty, especially during an incoming tide.

Dinghy and small boat fishers have continued to catch squid, herring, whiting and pike inshore. Bigger squid – some featuring tubes to 50cm – have been common at the Abrolhos Islands. Spanish mackerel have appeared in bigger numbers at the islands with dozens caught at Mid Reef this week. Reef fishing has been productive around Southern Group, with baldchin groper, dhufish and pink snapper on offer. More baldies, dhuies and snapper have been caught at South West Bank. Schools of small striped tuna and bonito are evident offshore.

Surf fishers have been catching tailor to 60cm, as well as school-size mulloway and dart at Horrocks, Little Bay and Hutt River. Smaller tailor in the 30cm to 40cm range and dart to 45cm have been caught along the shallows at Tarcoola Beach. The Lucys to Seven Mile stretch has been producing mulloway between 80cm and 1m. Squid continue to be caught in excellent numbers at the marina. Farther north, Wagoe Beach has been providing mixed catches of Spanish mackerel, tailor and mulloway.

Peter Fullarton, of Tailored Treks, reports red snapper and grey-banded cod were caught from depths up to 250m last weekend. Dhufish, some weighing more than 15kg, and pink snapper have been caught across a range of depths. Baldchin groper to 3kg have dominated most demersal catches. The calm weather made it easy for boat fishers to spot feeding pelagics from a distance, including skipjack tuna and bonito. Small boats and kayaks fishing the bay found herring, skippy squid, snook and tasty King George whiting.

One-metre mulloway! Alex Franklin scored this 122cm 'silver ghost' near Lancelin recently. 👌👍

Beach anglers have caught several mulloway measuring more than 1m, in addition to pink snapper near 80cm, from beaches near Lancelin lately. Alex Franklin, pictured above, is among fishers who caught both mulloway and pink snapper from the beach. Tarwhine have made an appearance around the near shore reefs this week, with great size fish among them. Sand whiting, as usual for this time of year, are plentiful near shore. Herring have been more likely to be caught when using burley. 

Dinghy and small boat fishers have been catching squid, herring and King George whiting within 1.5km off the coast. There are still lots tuna vatieties around. Queen snapper, harlequin fish and breaksea cod were among the species caught near the islands. Those who travelled beyond the islands scored big nannygai, Samson fish and yellowtail kingfish.

The Esperance Tanker Jetty and Taylor Street Jetty have both continued to fish well for herring and squid. Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has flathead, King George whiting and skippy on offer. Bigger numbers of salmon appeared along the coast this week with good catches experienced at Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach, Roses, Poison Creek and Thomas River. There have been lots of mulloway to about 1m caught at Poison Creek, Cape Arid and Thomas River. Gummy sharks were also landed at Poison, Cape Arid and Thomas as well as at Israelite Bay.

Fishing alongside Recfishwest Safety Ambassador and experienced rock fisher Chris Dixon near Albany recently, Ryan Trenaman got stuck into plenty of hard-fighting species including salmon. 

Masses of baitfish have moved into King George Sound and are being predated upon by a variety of species including salmon, bonito and tuna. All three species have been responding to bibbed minnows trolled within these waters. King George whiting are in good numbers within the sound whereby the deeper waters have been producing bigger numbers of larger fish. Squid numbers have been increasing inshore and there are lots of sand whiting also around. Lots of dhufish in the 5kg to 7kg range have been caught off Parrys and Peaceful Bay. The ground in 60m to 90m of water off Albany has been producing mixed catches of snapper, breaksea cod and skippy. However, the waters to east and west of Albany have been fishing better for most reef species. Deepwater enthusiasts had to travel wider than usual to pick up hapuka, blue-eye trevalla and grey-banded cod.

Salmon that appeared along the beaches this week seemed to prefer baits over lures. Little Beach, Normans, Lowlands and Sand Patch were among the Great Southern spots where salmon passed through in good numbers. Fisher Pat Allan scored three salmon from three casts then went on to catch one more after 12pm on baits from the sand at a beach near Albany last Friday. Herring are still about in excellent numbers and there are plenty of tarwhine at Sand Patch and Ocean Beach. Frenchman Bay is worth a try for King George whiting. Some effort is required to find the bigger bream in the King and Kalgan rivers, which systems continue to be plagued with small bream of less than 30cm. Mulloway in the 60cm to 70cm range have been caught in both systems, but catches have been infrequent.

Mandurah Estuary is producing tailor, herring, skippy and tarwhine in addition to squid. Blue swimmer crabs are still around, but fishers have had to work harder for their catch. Bream are still being caught in the Murray and Serpentine rivers, with impressive fish caught this past week. Dawesville Cut has produced salmon this week, while White Hills and Tim’s Thicket have also had the southern sportfish on offer. Anglers fishing from these beaches have reported tailor, herring and good sized whiting in addition to the odd mulloway. Drone anglers have also caught pink snapper from the region's beaches this week. From the boat, dhufish have been found out wide alongside skippy.

Before Perth went into a three-day lockdown last weekend, Simon, of Fishin' Wishin' Life, went out in the boat off Hillarys and pulled this tailor in off the reef. Measuring 60cm, Simon was more than happy!

Mulloway in the 12kg to 25kg range have been caught in good numbers in 90m to 110m of water behind Rottnest Island. The metro fish aggregating devices (FADs) are continuing to produce dolphinfish and tuna this week. Reef fishers have been doing well on pink snapper and baldchin groper south-west of Rottnest. More baldies have also been coming from the 30m to 50m depths off Hillarys, Ocean Reef and Mindarie. There have been some nice mulloway caught within Cockburn Sound, which still may also be worth trying for Spanish mackerel considering the masses on baitfish in the protected waters. King George whiting have been successfully targeted in 10m to 18m of water off Cottesloe. Squid catches are improving along the seagrass beds off Fremantle.