From dhufish off Mandurah to coronation trout off Exmouth there's plenty to read in Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 11 June 2021 🎣

Sailfish continue to be encountered in waters off Barred Creek and Willie Creek, as well as farther north towards the Dampier Peninsula. Wade Clark, pictured below, was among fishers to target sailfish with success off Broome over the long-weekend. Spanish mackerel remain in  good numbers offshore, especially off Entrance Point and Gantheaume Point


Broome fisher Wade Clark was buzzing after getting a couple of sailfish last weekend.

Schools of mack tuna have been turning up inshore and offshore. Reef fishers have been doing well on coral trout, bluebone and fingermark bream between the 20m and 30m lines. Tripletail are sometimes being found near the moorings and flotsam within Roebuck Bay. Entertaining sessions are being had on threadfin salmon near The Fingers.


Enjoying the public holiday off Broome, Ellen Stapleton was more than happy with her first saddletail.

Billfish enthusiasts have been landing marlin not too far out from the back of the reef near Tantabiddi. Sailfish are sometimes being encountered in similar areas together with lots of wahoo and the odd dolphinfish. Spanish mackerel have been responding to rigged whole baits and minnows trolled along the back of the reef line. Poppers and stickbaits have been working well on spangled emperor within the west coast lagoon.

😲😲 Riley Watts battled this BIG land-based GT and won. What a great catch! 📸 Tackle World Exmouth

Spangled emperor have been caught on bait and lure along the west coast accesses located between Tantabiddi and the lighthouse. Queenfish and small golden trevally have been common along the west coast. Oyster Reef would be worth trying for bigger giant trevally, as well as queenfish. Squid can be targeted at Bundegi Jetty, the marina and Learmonth Jetty. There are still plenty of yellowfin whiting at the town beaches and towards the lower areas of Exmouth Gulf.

Spanish mackerel have been caught in waters north and south of the river mouth together with yellowfin tuna and the odd wahoo. Bag limits of pink snapper are being achieved sometimes in close, while dhufish, Rankin cod, spangled emperor and red emperor have been caught farther offshore. Baldchin groper and coral trout can be targeted on soft plastic and metal jigs not too far from the cliffs south of town. Mulloway in the 10kg to 15kg range have been caught on anchor at the Sand Spit in the evening. Storm garfish and herring are sometimes appearing at Red Bluff. Black bream and estuary cod have been caught at the jetties and pens as well as near structure farther up river.

Freshwater flowing through the Murchison River, following recent rainfall around the inland catchment areas, has resulted in spectacular mulloway fishing in the lower reaches of the system. Dozens of mulloway between 8kg and 15kg were landed at Chinaman's Beach and the marina jetty this week. More mulloway have been caught at Wittecarra Creek and Red Bluff together with tailor and dart. A local surf fisher caught and released a dozen tailor about noon one day last week.

Dinghy and kayak fishers have been doing well on skippy, herring, pike and squid within the inshore reefs. Pink snapper have been found around the ground in close as well as farther wide. Reef fishers who managed to get to African Reef and South West Bank, when the weather permitted, scored baldchin groper, dhufish and red throat emperor. Spanish mackerel seem to be about in bigger numbers in waters north-west of Coronation.

Greenough River mouth has been open for more than a fortnight and the occurrence has resulted in lots of mulloway along the adjacent beaches. The mulloway have not been overly large fish, mostly between 50cm to 1m, however the numbers of fish have made up for their modest size. Tailor have been turning up most mornings and evenings at West Bank and Flat Rocks. Drones have been used to catch pink snapper, dhufish and sharks at Lucys. Skippy can be targeted at the rock walls in front of the Sail Inn and at Dongara marina.

With great conditions last long-weekend, plenty of boat fishers enjoyed wetting a line off Lancelin. On the Saturday, Lancelin Angling and Aquatic Club held its WA Day competition and a good number of boats participated. Dhufish to 10kg, baldchin groper, breaksea cod and pink snapper were caught. This week, the depths less than 30m continued to fish well while 20m to 22m has produced plenty of plump sand whiting to 25cm. Inside White Bank, pink snapper have been caught in the early mornings. Various species of mackerel — shark, school and Spanish — have all been encountered this week. The bay is fishing great for bread-and-butter species, including herring and skippy.

Beach fishing locations are limited due to weed dislodged from stormy weather. Be cautious when driving on beaches near Lancelin, they can prove difficult to drive on at this time of year. Tailor have proved difficult to come by this week, but fishers who put in long hours were rewarded with mulloway, pink snapper and small whaler sharks. Sand whiting have been a good average size and plentiful. Next Friday, 18 June, beach access will be closed between Lancelin and Wedge Island at the Lancelin Defence Training Area from 6am to 8pm due to live firing. 

Dinghy and small boat fishers have been catching herring and squid in close during the day and lots of garfish at night. Breaksea cod, queen snapper and blue groper have been common near the islands. Crews who travelled beyond the islands scored nannygai to 55cm, breaksea cod, queen snapper and small yellowtail kingfish. Schools of Samson fish have been encountered in a range of depths and areas.

The Esperance Jetty has lots of herring, garfish and squid on offer, while the Taylor Street structure has been producing similar species in addition to King George whiting. King George can also be picked up at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour where flounder, flathead and herring are also in numbers. Salmon seem to be just about everywhere with Salmon Beach and Fourth Beach among the spots close to town to be providing good catches of 3kg to 6kg fish. Dunn Rock has been producing mulloway to 85cm and lots of salmon. A customer of Southern Sports and Tackle caught and released three dozen salmon during a single session last week. Roses has been fishing well for skippy to 4kg as well as tailor.

Top-water king! "It's not a big fish but the target species nonetheless," Brody Ogle said after catching this yellowtail kingfish while tackle testing Ocean Legacy's soon-to-be-released Keeling stickbait.

Reef fishers have generally been doing well on snapper, dhufish and breaksea cod along the coral in 60m to 80m. The coral in these depths located in waters off West Cape Howe and Denmark, as well as Cheyne Beach, seem to be providing better catches of the reef fish. There are lots of herring and skippy inshore while squid catches appear to be improving. Schools of bonito, salmon and tuna can be found off the headlands and near the islands.

Surf fishers are still finding salmon at many of the local beaches as well as those to the east and west of Albany. Cables, Sand Patch, Lowlands, Shelley Beach, Nanarup and Cheyne Beach have all been producing catches of the popular sportfish.

Herring can be picked up right along the coast with minimal effort, while skippy can be found in the deeper reef holes and gutters. Rock fishers have been landing southern bluefin tuna to 8kg, bonito and yellowtail kingfish at Little Beach. The King and Kalgan rivers continue to be produce lots of small black bream. There are bigger bream of more than 35cm being caught, but these larger models tend to require some time and effort.

Tom Howe tempted this rainbow while fly fishing near Pemberton last weekend. 📸 Angus Line

Recent high seas and swells have hampered many boat fishers' plans to head out off Mandurah this week. The conditions also prevented many land-based anglers from fishing the southern beaches. However, it has created interesting beach formations with some good holes and gutters forming to provide shelter for fish. In turn, the fishable beaches have been producing a number of small mulloway, big tailor and large herring during the day. The reef area south of White Hills has been consistently producing tailor of a morning. Dawesville Cut is at its winter best and continues to produce some excellent fishing, especially for herring. There have also been a few good sized King George whiting taken, too. There are some reports of several big tailor being taken late last week. Whiting are also being caught around the jetty on the northern side of the Cut.

There appears to be plenty of pink snapper being caught offshore as well as inshore. The 25m to 35m depths south of Rottnest Island seems to be where many of the snapper are coming from. Off Hillarys, pink snapper have been caught slightly deeper in 40m to 50m while the ground in 10m to 15m has been producing fish off Mindarie and Yanchep. Dinghy and small boat fishers have sometimes been catching pink snapper in depths of less than 5m of water off Fremantle and within Cockburn Sound. Are you new to fishing? Watch one of our How To videos on YouTube here:

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A day out off Mindarie produced this pink snapper for Alex Carter last week.

Dhufish and breaksea cod were found in 60m west of Five Fathom Bank and north-west of Rottnest at the weekend. There are packs of small yellowtail kingfish near West End and around the northern side of the island. Spanish mackerel are occasionally being caught near Rottnest and along the back of Three Mile Reef. Tuna varieties are still occupying the 30m to 40m depths off Fremantle and there are some nice longtail tuna also around. Squid catches are improving off Fremantle and along the seagrass beds.


Fishing the ground slightly north of Perth, Adrian Italiano hauled in this 19kg beast last weekend.