Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 18 October 2024 🎣

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Good mulloway and gummy sharks have been landed at Dunns Beach, with mulloway and big skippy being mainstays at Thomas River. Roses Beach has been a hotspot for big skippy, salmon and smaller gummy sharks. The first stretch of Wylie Bay has held big sand whiting, while Blue Haven offered large herring. On the jetties and breakwalls, squid and garfish have been caught at the Town Jetty early in the mornings, meanwhile, Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has held King George whiting and flathead. Bream fishers have done well at Woody Lake.
    
Hats off to the very knowledgeable team at Southern Sports & Tackle for their tips! These guys love their fishing as well, so make sure you swing by their store for the best gear and advice before wetting a line around Esperance. 

Around town it has been the usual fare of squid, herring and small King George whiting with the town marina, Frenchman Bay and Emu Point among the better spots. At Little Beach herring and skippy have been caught, while a few tailor have shown up at Sand Patch. Cheynes Beach has offered herring, flathead and tarwhine, while salmon have been caught at Bremer Bay. The King and Kalgan rivers have held bream and the odd mulloway has turned up in the Kalgan. Bream and tarwhine have been caught in Torbay Inlet, while rock platforms out of town have produced a few Samsonfish but make sure you analyse conditions on arrival, fish with a friend, wear a lifejacket along with the right footwear and let people know where you're going.

Cheers to the Trailblazers Albany crew for their tips this week! Swing by their store if you're after some top gear and advice ahead of your next fishing trip. Remember, you'll also catch just as many fish off the beaches than the rocks and it is always much safer to go with this option on the south coast. 

Fremantle’s North Mole has been throwing up the odd pink snapper since the midweek blow but not the numbers or sizes of last week. Pink snapper have also been taken from the north metro rock walls and beaches, especially around Mindarie. These locations have also held big tailor.  Both North and South moles have offered plenty of herring but dirty water has made squid fishing difficult. It’s a similar story from the rock walls and marinas further south. Very good tailor up to 70cm have been taken from Port Beach up to Floreat in the afternoons, with Cottesloe the pick of the spots. In the mornings these locations have produced smaller tailor when it has been cloudy and good numbers of herring. Most of the tailor have been taken on baits but a few have fallen to CID Shiversticks. The Swan River has offered excellent tailor fishing with a few around Burswood but most of the better fish were from the Narrows downstream, with Canning Bridge starting to produce a few. Wading out to the drop-offs and casting surface lures has worked well. The Narrows has also fished well for flathead, as did the Causeway, Heirisson Island and the Burswood flats. Plenty of flatties have been taken on soft plastics and artificial prawns. In the same areas soapy mulloway have shown a liking for paddletail soft plastics, while for bream fishers once again it has been a matter of targeting structure and deeper water. Heirisson Island, the Causeway, Canning Bridge, Mt Henry Bridge in the Canning River, Burswood, Maylands and Garratt Road Bridge have produced good fish at times. A few flounder have turned up in the Swan’s lower reaches and perhaps the flats there are starting to fire up – with a fly-fisher using a worm pattern hooking a few flathead, along with mullet and a small giant herring. It should still be easy to cast off the beach given the gentle north-westerly winds on the foreacast and 1.4m swell.