A rare catch at Quobba to blue groper in the South West there's plenty to read in Recfishwest's first State-wide Fishing Report 15 January of 2021 🎣

Reef fishing has been reasonably productive in 20m to 40m of water, with mixed catches of saddletail seaperch, red emperor and blue lined emperor. Spanish and broad barred mackerel have also been caught offshore, together with mack and longtail tuna. There have been quite a few sailfish encountered off Barred Creek and Middle Lagoon during recent weeks. Roebuck Bay has been producing a variety of species including threadfin and bluenose salmon, northern mulloway, fingermark bream and barramundi.

Barramundi enthusiasts have been using a variety of lures to catch barra, mostly in the 60cm to 80cm range, at Dampier Creek. Barra have also been caught, but in smaller numbers, in Crab and Willie creeks and there are a few also being picked in the Fitzroy River. Baitfish residing near the jetty are attracting predators including queenfish, trevally and barramundi. Whiting can be targeted along Cable Beach, where threadfin and bluenose salmon are sometimes turning up.

Big numbers of blue marlin continue to be encountered out wide together with striped marlin, wahoo and yellowfin tuna. There are small black marlin in close and still quite a few sailfish around. Spanish mackerel can be caught on bibbed minnows trolled along the back of the west coast reef in 15m to 30m of water. Reef fishers have been finding red emperor and Robinson seabream in 60m, while goldband snapper are in 120m and ruby snapper are being caught in 200m and deeper. James Thomson caught a beautiful golden trevally on fly on the eastern side of the Exmouth Gulf and his brother, Sam, used a white soft plastic to catch a similar size golden. Sport fishers drifting through the lower areas of the gulf have caught queenfish, giant herring and permit.

After a quick swim, nine-year-old Alex Sedov caught this 84cm queenie at Bundegi. Well done, Alex!

Spangled emperor can be caught between Tantabiddi and the lighthouse, but require some work. There are also bluebone being caught along this stretch as well as the ever-present queenfish and small GTs, brassy trevally and golden trevally. Bigger GTs can be caught on big poppers and stickbaits at Oysters and VLF Bay. There are queenfish and small trevally turning up at Old Bundegi during an incoming tide. The marina has mangrove jack, estuary cod, trevally and queenies on offer. The incoming tide is also a good time to target squid at Learmonth Jetty.

Spanish mackerel catches have continued north and south of the river mouth. Rigged whole baits, including garfish and slimy mackerel, have been outperforming lures on the mackerel at times. Schools of yellowfin and striped tuna have been appearing just out from the river mouth. Reef fishers have been catching red emperor to an impressive 10kg as well as dhufish, Rankin cod and pink snapper in about 50m of water north-west of town. Several coral trout were caught in relatively shallow waters near Sand Patch this week.

Tailor in the 40cm to 50cm have been regularly turning up at Wittecarra Creek, while bigger tailor have been caught at the Back Beach and Chinaman's. Oyster Reef and Red Bluff were among the locations where mulloway were landed this week. Cliff fishers have been catching a variety of species including baldchin groper, pink snapper, spangled emperor and tailor. Balloon fishers have been doing well on Spanish mackerel at Wagoe Beach. Black bream and estuary cod are common within the lower reaches of the Murchison River. Blue swimmer crabs and mud crabs are also being caught in the system.

Water temperatures have been recorded as high as 25C off Geraldton. However, there are not as many pelagic species around considering these are ideal temperatures for mackerel and tuna. There have been a few Spanish mackerel caught near African Reef, but these fish were reluctant to strike at anything other than garfish. The western edge of Pensioner Bank has also been producing a few mackerel. Reef fishing has generally been good with many picking up their bag limits in depths of 40m to 50m of water. Dhufish seem to be in bigger numbers and sizes south-west of town. Baits, jigs and soft plastics have all been working on the dhuies. Coral trout, baldchin groper and pink snapper were also caught near Africans, as well as the lumps off Horrocks and Coronation. Dinghy and small boat fishers have continued to catch squid inshore.


Kim Bunt cast a stickbait at floating weed in 23m of water off the Abrolhos Islands and caught this pinkie!

A typical summer run of chopper tailor is being experienced along Geraldton's northern and southern beaches. Flat Rocks, Greenough, Tarcoola, Southgates, Drummond's Cove and Coronation were among the spots where the 30cm to 40cm tailor have been caught. Mulloway in the 10kg to 20kg range have been landed north of Drummond's, while smaller school-size fish have been common along the Headbutts to Greenough River mouth stretch. School and yellowfin whiting can be targeted at most of the sandy areas void of seaweed. School mackerel are occasionally turning up within casting distance of the marina.

Jon Flannelly fished the gutters along a stretch of coast near Lancelin and caught a few nice tailor while with Peter Fullarton, of Tailored Treks. We bet you had a great time wetting a line, Jon!

Kayaks and small boats have been catching plenty of large herring over the sand holes at the southern end of the bay, while a few flathead can be found there as well. The weed beds at the northern part of the bay have been good to find a few squid and snook. Lancelin Angling and Acquatic Club held a competition last Saturday, with competitors catching baldchin groper, dhufish, pink snapper and breaksea cod. Tuna have been flighty and boats have been finding it very difficult to get close enough to present lures to the schools. Several mackerel were seen free jumping a few hundred meters from shore one morning north of town this week.

Jetty fishers have caught bags of herring and tailor during the evenings and squid in the early morning. The northern beach gutters near the Lancelin Defence Training Area have fishing well during the evening high tide, offering large tailor and herring. South of town, there has been chopper size tailor and herring both morning and evenings.

Dinghy and small boat fishers have been doing well on bread-and-butter species — including herring, sand whiting, small skippy and snook — within a mile or so of the coast. There are schools of small southern bluefin tuna inshore as well as out wide. The ground near the islands seem to be producing lots of queen snapper along with reasonable numbers of breaksea cod, harlequin fish and the occasional dhufish. Bag limits of nannygai are being achieved in relatively short timeframes out wide.

Taylor Street Jetty has herring, skippy and squid on offer, while King George whiting and flathead can be caught at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour. There are small schools of salmon turning up between Four Mile Beach and Roses, as well as the beaches within Cape Le Grand National Park. Herring are widespread along the coast and there are some big skippy, fish to 1.5kg, coming from Dunns and Fourteen Mile. Mulloway have mostly been landed at Thomas and Israelite Bay.

Jamie Thompson found a gap in the weather over the festive break to catch a dhufish off Denmark.

Crews who ventured to the 60m to 90m depths were rewarded with good catches of queen snapper and pink snapper, as well as breaksea cod and dhufish. Hapuka, grey-banded cod and blue eye trevalla have been caught out deeper of the shelf. King George whiting are being caught in good numbers inshore for those willing to put in the time and effort in moving from spot to spot to find the small schools of 30cm to 45cm fish. Squid have generally been hard to track down inshore.

Surprisingly, there are still schools of salmon passing along Reef Beach and Foster Beach and the odd fish is being caught from some of the beaches closer to Albany. Expect bigger numbers of salmon to start turning up in the coming weeks as the migratory fish engage in their annual autumn run. Schools of juvenile salmon have also been appearing at some of the surf beaches, as well as the lower reaches of the rivers and inlets. King George whiting can be found in the somewhat protected waters of Frenchman Bay and Cosy Corner. Black bream enthusiasts reported there to be lots of small black bream in the King and Kalgan rivers. Although rarely being caught bigger than 35cm, the bream have been willing to strike at a variety of hard-bodied and soft plastic lures.


Connor Blackburn, of Luckless Fisherman, with a 1m yellowtail kingfish from the rocks near Albany!

Most of the quality reef fish — including dhufish, pink snapper and breaksea cod — caught off the west coast were found in depths of 25m and greater. More pink snapper were caught along the Four Mile Reef and Eight Mile Reef off Dunsborough. Offshore sea-surface temperatures are relatively warm, however, as yet the west coast and Geographe Bay waters are yet to yield any pelagic species in numbers other than small southern bluefin tuna. King George whiting are being picked up in 10m to 18m of water off Eagle Bay, Quindalup and Siesta Park. There are still quite a few squid being caught along the seagrass beds despite the warm water temperatures, which ordinarily cause a decline in catches of the tasty cephalopods. The 30m depths off Bunbury are producing dhuies and pinkies, while Samson fish are also present in these areas. Bunbury Artificial Reef is holding skippy.

Surf fishers are pleased with the number of tailor and small schools of salmon appearing along the west coast beaches. Spots where both species were caught this week included Hamelin Bay, Moses Rock, Honeycombs, Injidup, Smiths Beach and Yallingup. There are plenty of bread-and-butter species — including tarwhine, herring and skippy — along the coast on both sides of Cape Naturaliste. Yellowfin whiting are still present along the Leschenault Estuary sand flats, near Australind.

Ben Russell pulled this redfin perch from the Warren River, near Pemberton. Cracking fish, mate.

Fishing south of Mandurah, Simon Mangini had an epic day on the water with plenty of fish including this 9kg dhufish! If you've been fishing off Mandurah, be sure to tag #recfishwest in your photos!

It shouldn’t be too long before big mulloway start to appear more regularly on the beaches south of Mandurah. Two good mulloway, each weighing more than 15kg, were caught last week from the beaches north of Mandurah. The beaches at Golden Bay, San Remo, Singleton and Madora are all worth a closer look if you are seeking these larger fish. The Golden Bay area has been producing tailor, herring and whiting. South of Mandurah, Tims Thicket and White Hills have been consistently producing good tailor earlier in the week with some fish better than 50cm being caught. Dawesville Cut has yellowfin whiting, tailor and herring biting freely during the day and tailor and herring after dark.

AJ Scrafe was stoked with this dolphinfish from the Mangles Bay Fishing Club FADs off Rockingham.

Boat fishers who travelled to the new Mangles Bay Fishing Club's fish aggregating devices (FADs)  off Rockingham caught dolphinfish this week, while yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna and southern bluefin tuna have also been caught at the two devices recently. The surf beaches at Long Point, Kwinana and Warnbro have been producing reasonable tailor. The region's jetties are producing herring early in the morning, along with squid and tailor. Shoalwater has yellowfin whiting and the occasional King George whiting on offer. 


Yewwww! Clay Lewis with a little yellowfin tuna from MBFC's Compleat Angler FAD off Rockingham.

Many scaly mackerel have turned up at Fremantle Harbour and the presence has brought mulloway to the extreme lower reaches of the Swan River. Several mulloway have been landed from the harbour this week and, to no surprise, they were all caught on scaly mackerel. More mulloway are likely to be passing nearby South Mole and North Mole, as well as the deeper waters of the Swan River including Blackwall Reach and Mosman Bay. Chopper tailor are evident in the Swan and Canning rivers and there seems to be a good summer run of tailor along most of the metropolitan coast. Herring are still about and can be gathered with the help of a little burley. Some nice flathead have been caught along the flats at Applecross and Como on lure and fly. Blue swimmer crabs are being caught in good numbers by scoop and drop netting in both rivers.


A tailor for Tilly! Tilly Booth caught her PB tailor while fishing from a Perth beach during a great session.