See what's biting across WA in Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report - 1 April 2022 🎣

Get the most out of your fish when filleting with this instructional video, showing filleting tips and tricks.

There's plenty of talk in town at the moment, as threadfin salmon start to fire up again across the bay. The triple-tail have begun to quiet down, however there's been a few great sessions chasing queenies up to a metre long in the bay. Spanish and grey mackerel have been caught as well. At the usual inshore haunts, there's still barramundi being caught on account of the water still being warm. Out further into the blue water, bluebone and northern mulloway are a regular sight.


Tim Mitchell with a great Spanish mackerel off Broome.

Shore-based fishing has quietened down recently, however, golden trevally have still been caught around Entrance Point using metals and stickbaits. There have been reports of land-based threadfin near some creek mouths, however people in the know have been very secretive about their spots. Bluebone have been on the end of fishing lines recently around Gantheaume point.

The river system in town has to be the highlight for shore-based fishers this week with plenty of bream being caught. Estuary cod are being encountered on a regular basis, particularly around structures and underneath jetties. Plenty of whiting have also been caught by kids fishing the river alongside a few other bread-and-butter species. Fishers throwing poppers around Red Bluff beach have been doing reasonably well on tailor.

Shore-based catches have been relatively similar to last week, however, the squid have been much more prolific and bigger. One fisher managed to land a 3kg squid off the marina rock wall! Tailor have been turning up at Point Moore to Pages beach. Mulloway fishers are still having moderate success along the stretch of coast from Headbutts to the Greenough River mouth. Southgates has been patchy this week, with those persisting being rewarded with herring and tailor.

Fosters has been a great location to target salmon over the past fortnight, with many fishers taking part in the 2022 Salmon Slam achieving their entries here. Reef Beach near Bremer has also been fishing well for salmon, with a school passing in and out over the past week. Farther west, Blue Holes has held quite a few schools of salmon. The Kalgan River in Albany is fishing reasonably well, with bream being the main targeted species. Mermaids Beach and Back Beach near Cheynes has been producing plenty of salmon and herring for families and those staying at the caravan park. 


A quick trip down south to Back Beach resulted in a few salmon for myself and others last weekend. The Moonsoon Breaker seemed to be lure of choice that weekend!
 

With the salmon run starting to take off and with competition hotting up in our free, three-month long Salmon Slam competition, we know how passionate many of you are about salmon fishing. Now we’re giving you the opportunity to wear your passion on your sleeve literally with these supercool, limited edition Salmon Slam 2022 tournament fishing shirts – available exclusively to you as a Recfishwest members until Friday. But hurry, they’re going to run faster and harder than a big hooked-up WA salmon when they go on general release!  
 

In the 25-30m depths off Bunbury, good catches of pinkies and dhufish have been reported. Burleying up in close has resulted in herring being caught. A few squid have been taking jigs around town however, most of the action has been happening off Busselton in 8-10 metres of water if you want your feed of cephalopods. Pink snapper have also been reported at the 4 mile mark off Busselton alongside skippy and herring.

Buffaloo and Belvedere Beach have been producing tailor in the late afternoons and a few of the elusive mulloway late into the night. Interestingly, the floodgates have had a few salmon trout being spotted and landed alongside the normal bread-and-butter species such as herring and skippy. Stacks of herring have been caught off Forrest Beach, Dalyellup Beach and Stirling Beach. Photos of salmon being caught around Smith's Beach have surfaced, however, they're most likely residential fish. Salmon schools have been reported west of Walpole, so expect to see a few schools starting make their way around the South West.

An unweighted scaly mackerel on a two-hook snell rig proved to be the winning formula for Ben Jarlett when he was fishing off Two Rocks recently... but it wasn't for the species he was chasing! While targeting pink snapper at one of his spots, line started peeling off Ben's reel at a rate of knots. "The fish gave a couple of blistering runs," Ben told Recfishwest. "It took me about 25 minutes to eventually land and we were very lucky to land it. "The bottom hook had been snipped off in the fish's mouth and the top hook promptly fell out once the fish was landed. "We were targeting pinkies, but were very happy with the Spanish mackerel bycatch."

Folks from Tackle West have reported that squid fishing has been quite productive when the water has been clear, especially on the Southern side of the safe-and-accessible Cockburn Sound. Near the inshore reefs tailor have been taking metals and stickbait's in their usual aggressive fashion. Dolphinfish have been turning up around the FADs #5 and the Compleat Angler FAD. To find out more about the FADs program click here.


The nearshore waters off Fremantle resulted in this surprise harlequin fish for young gun Tom Corrie.