Download the mobile app!
Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
William Bennett
RECFISHWEST FISHING REPORT WRITER
If you want a perfect example of why land-based fishing access and experiences need to be protected on the south coast – then the recent Esperance Land Based Fishing Club's Open Classic competition rang the bell loud and clear.
With 130 avid fishers competing, their hopes of snagging some impressive competition prizes rested on their cherished land-based fishing spots producing the goods for solid catches of fish species that thrive along the south coast – and it was another cracking year. Given many of the spots fished during the competition were in areas where the DBCA has flagged sanctuary zones for the proposed south coast marine park, Recfishwest also attended the event and strongly encouraged the friendly attendees to have a look at the plans and have their say once they are released in the coming weeks. Make sure you keep checking our channels to keep up to speed with developments and information on how to make a submission to DBCA through its public consultation portal. Click here to read our Esperance Open Classic recap!
With the swells dropping, boaties have been out targeting demersals mainly in the 15-20m depths with a few going out to the 30m mark. All these depths have fished well for pink snapper and baldchin groper. Dhufish have been harder to find, but a big one was caught close in near the cliffs south of town. Pelagic activity has remained quiet, but a crayfisherman found a big school of bonito smashing into bait schools north of town earlier this week. Both Saturday and Sunday morning could hold some promising boating weather for a punch out to target demersals, with low winds and a swell of about 1.8m expected until about 10am.
The town has been enjoying a golden run of big gummy sharks averaging 15kg, with some over 20kg. The better spots for them have been Dunns and Tagon beaches, Thomas River and Kennedy’s Beach, where fishers should exercise caution as the track is wet there. Lots of the gummy sharks are about to pup, so care needs to be taken if releasing them. Among the gummy sharks have been quite a few 3-4kg mulloway, while at Thomas River skippy up to 4kg have been hanging about. Visitors have been having a ball on salmon, especially from the beaches on the west side of town. Most salmon have been caught on bait, but the 26g Ocean’s Legacy Sling Shot has been the go-to lure. Good mixed bags of herring, King George whiting and flathead have come from the foreshore at James Street, while Taylor Street and the Town jetties have held plenty of squid and big garfish at night. Bandy Creek Boat Harbour had plenty of herring, smaller King George whiting and just-size skippy. The first stretch of beach at Wylie Bay was good for sand whiting. Bream up to 40cm have been snaffling baits near the boat ramp at Woody Lake, while bream chasers who prefer to use lures have done well at Young River, although they need to keep an eye out for tiger snakes. Big thanks to Southern Sport & Tackle for their report as always!
Excellent conditions have allowed boats out to the coral ground where nannygai, pink snapper, queen snapper and breaksea cod have been caught. Out from Cheynes Beach pink snapper, breaksea cod and Samson fish have dominated catches. Squidding was great in King George Sound and King George whiting catches have been reasonable there too, with most fish around the 40cm mark. This morning was pleasant until the wind returned from 2pm and unfortunately it's sticking around until at least Wednesday afternoon with grumpy swells.
The better land-based catches this week have come from beaches with structure, such as Cables, Lowlands and Sand Patch which offered herring, whiting and skippy. At the Tourist Rocks at Cheynes Beach herring, skippy and Samson fish were caught. With the swells down, the stones around West Cape Howe have produced some good catches, mainly Samson fish, but also queen snapper, pink snapper and breaksea cod, while a couple of big dhufish were lost at the base of the cliffs. Squid fishing has been hit or miss, but Middleton and Frenchman Bay were among the better spots for them as well as for sand and King George whiting, skippy and herring. Similar species have come from the Town Marina, but small pickers have been out in force there. Emu Point was good for squid and whiting as well, while Gull Rock held herring, skippy and King George whiting. A few resident salmon have been caught at the Sand Patch, Salmon Holes and Bornholm. Bream fishing in the King and Kalgan rivers is expected to pick up as the water becomes cleaner and grand final day is usually the time for mulloway chasers to dust off their gear and target them in the system. In the upper parts of the Wilson Inlet and the Denmark River bream have been caught. Big thanks to the crew from Trailblazers in Albany for their tips!
Boats that have stayed local have done well on demersal species but not so much on the dhufish, although a few have been taken out from Two Rocks and Hillarys. Pink snapper have been the main catch at the back of Three Mile Reef and in 50-80m depths on the northern side of Rottnest Island. The pinkies have been taken at anchor on unweighted mulies and also on the drift, with plenty of breaksea cod and a few skippy among the bycatch. Quite a few of the pinkies have been in the low 50cm range but bigger models in the high 70cm range have also come over the side. On the south side of Rottnest off Salmon Bay pink snapper, breaksea cod and baldchin groper have been in good numbers in 30m depths. Smaller Samson fish have been in high numbers around Rottnest, but a 20kg yellowtail kingfish was caught off Parker Point by a crew drifting for demersals. North of Windmills very big King George whiting, one measuring 62cm and another whopper at 71cm were taken by snapper chasers drifting big squid baits. Right on Windmills there have been smaller KG's, sand whiting and some big squid. Stragglers also held good numbers of King George whiting, sand whiting and squid on the weed beds but weighted jigs have been needed in the deeper water. Boats trolling lures such as Halco Laser Pros near the exposed reefs at Mewstones, Stragglers and Rowboat Reef have been doing well on tailor in the 38-45cm range, while chopper tailor have been caught in the Swan River around Crawley by anglers trolling whitebait gangs. Saturday should be bearable on the water with light to moderate south-westerly winds with a touch of rain but Sunday and Monday are looking a bit tedious. If you're ducking out for a bottom fish for demersals tomorrow, the northern side of Rotto should keep you nicely sheltered from the wind.
This Fishing Report was submitted on 9/29/2023 2:42:09 AM by Seamus and last updated on 10/1/2023 6:01:23 PM.
Including GPX (Universal GPS Format), KML (Google Earth), and XLS (Excel) files.
Gives You Access To:
Download GPS files of fishing spots. Create Custom Maps of fishing spots. Fishing predictions w/ future date & location. Featured Listings for your fishing business.
$7 month or $49 year