Recfishwest's State-Wide Fishing Report 21 February 2025 🎣

Ideally situated between Busselton and Dunsborough, Mandalay Holiday Resort is a perfect destination if you're wanting to duck away, relax, or wet a line off some great beaches. 

With a unique beach resort with high quality, self-contained chalets, cabins, luxury two storey villas, glamping tents, powered caravan and camping sites and ensuite powered sites suitable for every family and every budget.

They also have three swimming pools, a famous waterslide, four adventure playgrounds, jump pad, large playing field, fireplace, heated games room with TV, BBQs, camp kitchen, bike hire and more to ensure all your activity holiday needs are met. 

Gummy sharks, small bronze whalers and mulloway have been on the chew at Israelite Bay, while Poison Creek has held gummy sharks and big skippy. Gummy sharks and lots of salmon have been caught at Alexander Bay, while Warrenup has yielded salmon and tailor. The 10-Mile Lagoon and Salmon Beach have fished well early in the morning for salmon on most days, while the start of Wylie Bay and the foreshore have been King George whiting hotspots. Big sand whiting have been caught at Blue Haven Beach, while the Town and Taylor Street jetties have offered squid and herring at night. King George whiting and skippy have been the main catches at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour. Stick to the beaches if having a land-based fish this weekend, that big south-westerly swell looks way too risky to even consider fishing off the rocks.
    
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. 

Herring and sand whiting have been plentiful at most beaches, while King George whiting and yellowfin whiting have been caught on the flats around Emu Point on vibe lures. Emu Point has also held a few squid, as has the town marina, while Gull Rock has offered herring, skippy and whiting. Ledge Beach has held small salmon and herring. The flats in Oyster Harbour have yielded flounder, herring and bream, while in Princess Royal Harbour scoopers have had to work a bit harder for a feed of crabs. At the Sand Patch a few salmon have been landed and tarwhine have been in good numbers. Frenchman Bay has produced squid, along with herring and small King George whiting, while the Kalgan River has held bream and mulloway and the King River has held bream. Cheynes Beach has fished well for herring and tarwhine. Fosters Beach and Bremer Bay have been producing salmon at times, while a couple of weeks ago a big school of salmon was reportedly chasing herring on to the sand at Narrikup, suggesting things are starting to heat up for an early salmon run. In Wilson Inlet juvenile salmon, herring and bream have been the main catches. Samsonfish have come from the stones around Lowlands when the swells have been down. If you’re going to fish off the coast this weekend, keep the sand between your toes and do not fish off the rocks given the swell warning along the south coast this weekend.

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 Harbour has been full of scaly mackerel and yellowtail, along with the odd herring and lots of mainly small tarwhine. At North Mole bonito have been landed in the early mornings, often brought in by the burley being used to catch herring and garfish. South Mole has held herring and garfish too, but no reports of bonito have come from there. The rock walls around South Fremantle have held a few chopper tailor and herring in the afternoons but the blowies have been a nuisance. An angler fishing from the shore at Rottnest this week picked up a Samsonfish and a yellowtail kingfish in the one session, with both fish decent-sized. A few people have been swimming out from Bathers Beach and were picking up blue swimmer crabs. Beach fishers around Cottesloe have found reasonable numbers of tailor, but sizes have been down. At Floreat and City Beach there have been plenty of herring in the mornings and just the odd tailor. The northern beaches have held some good tailor in the afternoons and smaller tailor have been caught inside the Hillarys marina at night along with herring. Tailor have been active around Quinns and Yanchep, where droners and casters have also caught school mulloway and just-sized pink snapper. Towards Wilbinga a small Spanish mackerel was landed by a drone fisher from the shore. In the Swan River, East Fremantle has been one of the better areas this week and has offered yellowfin whiting late at night, along with river prawns for dab netters, while scoop netters after blue swimmer crabs have done well on the run-out tide at night. Land-based tailor fishing in the Swan has been a lot slower, but most jetties in the lower and middle reaches have produced a couple. Flathead and flounder fishing has been very slow, but a couple of small giant herring have been landed, one by a tailor fisher at Applecross Jetty and the other taken on a small hard-bodied lure on bream gear in the Canning River. Bream have been in average numbers around structure from the Causeway right up to Guildford, but sizes have been small and they have been more interested in bait than lures. Soapy mulloway have been swimming with them and they too have been small. Sunday morning looks best for a land-based fish.

A big thanks to Anglers Fishing World in Fremantle for their great tips! These guys love their fishing just as much as we all do, so make sure you ask their super friendly team for advice and stock up before wetting a line off the land or boat!