From big bluebone to the Awesome Autumn of Salmon there's plenty to read in Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 26 March 2021 🎣

Crews generally had to travel far before they started finding red emperor, saddlelatil seaperch and blue lined emperor in good numbers. The reef fishing within Roebuck Bay, and other inshore areas, has been reasonably productive with some nice fingermark bream, bluebone and northern mulloway being caught. Threadfin and bluenose salmon have been caught on baits and lures in front of the creek mouths, while tripletail have been found near the moorings. Also, good luck to fishers taking part in the Broome Fishing Club's two-day Thready Shootout this weekend!


Mulloway madness! Gino Chambers caught this night-time northern mulloway off Broome on Tuesday. 

Heavy rains around the catchment areas have created elevated water levels in the local creeks and the Fitzroy River. The extreme lower reaches of all systems are generally where barramundi, mangrove jack, estuary cod and salmon have been caught from shore. Cherabin have been caught in very good numbers along the river. Barra are sometimes being picked up at Entrance Point alongside queenfish and varieties of small trevally.

This year's anticipated GAMEX, hosted by the Exmouth Game Fishing Club, again boasted plenty of terrific sportfishing and game fishing. One-hundred and sixty-four tag-and-released billfish, including 110 black marlin and 13 blue marlin, 5.85kg queenfish on 1kg line and much, much more. Read more about what was caught a the 53rd annual GAMEX here. Spanish mackerel have been responding well to lures trolled along the back of the reef line and near the Muiron Islands. Reef fishers have been catching the usual mix of red emperor, Rankin cod and spangled emperor in 60m to 90m of water. The shoals located in the upper areas of Exmouth Gulf are worth visiting for cobia, golden trevally, brassy trevally and mackerel.

The town and gulf beaches have been producing mixed catches of yellowfin whiting, flathead and yellowfin bream. Mangrove jack have been caught at Exmouth Marina in the evenings while queenfish, trevally and school mackerel can be targeted from the outer rock walls during the day. Spangled emperor have been caught from the west coast beaches, while bluebone are a chance along Mildura Wreck Road. Try Learmonth Jetty, the marina and Tantabiddi boat launching facility for squid.

There were reports of sailfish appearing in waters north of the river mouth this week. Spanish mackerel have been responding to rigged garfish and minnow lures trolled north and south of the river mouth. Yellowfin tuna are also evident offshore along with smaller longtail, mack and striped tuna. Reef fishers who travelled to the lumps in 40m to 50m north-west of town scored red emperor, Rankin cod, dhufish and lots of sweetlip. Pink snapper to an impressive 90cm have been caught out from the Blue Holes. 

Surf fishers have generally been doing well on tailor, dart and small trevally in the morning along the beaches. Bigger tailor can be targeted at The Siphon, Chinaman's and Frustrations. Mulloway have continued to be caught in the lower reaches of the Murchison River. Black bream and estuary cod were among the species caught at the jetties and pens. Rock fishers have been picking up baldchin groper, pink snapper and tailor from the coastal gorges.

Bluewater enthusiasts have been encountering dozens of marlin and big tuna wide of the Abrolhos Islands. Among the billfish and tuna catches this week, was a yellowfin tuna that weighed an estimated 80kg. Spanish mackerel have been caught on lures and rigged whole baits trolled in waters close to the Abrolhos Islands. Smaller mackerel have been picked up along the western edge of Five Fathom Bank. Reef fishers have been doing well on dhufish near African Reef and South West Bank. Schools of pink snapper and sweetlip have been found in a range of depths and areas.

Tailor have been appearing most mornings and evenings along the Flat Rocks to Greenough River mouth stretch together, with the odd mulloway. Dhufish are sometimes caught along this area of coast during autumn each year. The first and second points at Greenough have also been producing herring, whiting and pike. Bigger tailor have been caught early in the morning at Southgates and Separation Point. Squid can be picked up at the northern end of the marina, especially early in the morning and after sundown. Drummond's Cove, and the beaches to the north, have been producing mixed catches of tailor, mulloway, whiting, dart and herring.

Mack attack! Michael Parker tempted this shark mackerel with a Halco Tackle paddle prawn off Lancelin last Saturday during a scintillating session on the water. Great stuff! 📸 Curtis Waterman

Fishers chasing demersal species found the fish had little interest in baits last weekend, writes Tailored Treks' Peter Fullarton. The weather was great, however, the bottom fish weren't interested for the most part. Mackerel have been difficult to troll up, with lots of floating weed along the best depth range of 15m to 20m. Michael Parker, pictured above, scored a shark mackerel while fishing soft plastics last Saturday. Boats trolling large lures at Direction Bank resulted in yellowfin tuna, with one fish estimated at 35kg. The depths between 17m to 22m have been great to gather sand whiting and blue-spotted flathead. Inside the bay, there are better numbers of squid and skippy.

James Hopewell scored this yellowfin tuna on a Halco Laser Pro 190 off Lancelin! 📸 Curtis Waterman

Surf beaches have produced sand whiting and herring this past week, while tailor have only been on the bite after the sun passes the horizon in the evening. Drone fishers are continuing to enjoy a great run of pink snapper from the nearshore reefs both north and south of Lancelin. Jetty fishers caught sand whiting during the day this week, with skippy, tailor, pike and herring making bulk of the catches in the afternoon and evening.

Dinghy and small boat fishers have been catching King George whiting, skippy, herring and snook inshore. Samson fish and yellowtail kingfish in the 10kg to 20kg range have been caught on soft plastic and metal jigs. Nannyagi between 35cm to 65cm, sweep, harlequin fish, dhufish and queen snapper were among the species caught out wide.

Taylor Street Jetty has lots of herring, increasing numbers of squid, skippy and King George whiting on offer. More King George have been caught at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour together with flathead, flounder and black bream. Salmon have been appearing in schools at Alexander Bay, Poison Creek and Thomas River, while salmon in their ones and twos have been landed along the beaches close to town. Skippy to an impressive 4kg have been picked up at Stockyards, Thomas and Roses together with mulloway. 

You've got to be joking?! After featuring in last week's report with a lovely land-based dhufish, experienced south coast rock fisher and Recfishwest Safety Ambassador Gideon Mettam is back - this time with his personal best land-based pink snapper! Measuring 103cm, that is a fish of a lifetime!

Reef fishers have had to work hard for pink snapper, red snapper, queen snapper, breaksea cod and dhufish along the 60m to 90m depths this week. Crews who ventured to the shelf, and beyond, attributed a series of slow days out wide to fast drifts and warmer water temperatures. King George whiting require some effort through the inshore waters of both harbours and the sound. Sand whiting and squid catches are slowly increasing inshore and a troll in these waters should produce bonito, herring and juvenile salmon.

Surf fishers enjoyed good salmon sessions at Bluff Creek, Cheynes Beach, Nanarup, Salmon Holes and Cables this week. Herring are in very good numbers right along the coast and skippy up to 1kg have been plucked from beaches that feature rock and reef. Bonito can be targeted on surface lures near Cheynes and West Cape Howe. Black bream enthusiasts have reported that the rivers and systems to the west of Albany have been producing bigger black bream than the King and Kalgan rivers.

Surf fishers have been catching salmon from what are thought to be resident schools along Cape Naturaliste's west coast beaches. Tailor have also been caught along the coast alongside lots of herring, a few skippy. Several pink snapper were landed at Smiths Beach this week. There are yellowfin whiting along the Quindalup sand flats and a few squid starting to be caught from the Busselton Jetty. Bunbury's beaches have herring on offer, while the Australind stretch of the Collie River has produced tailor this week.

Sunday fun-day! Clay Lewis ventured to the Mangles Bay Fishing Club's 'Compleat Angler' FAD off Rockingham last Sunday and had an epic sportfishing session, catching a few dolphinfish.

Dawesville Cut is producing herring, with plump whiting catches also reported in addition to the occasional larger tailor. Skippy and tarwhine have been caught from the Cut's middle sections, as have juvenile salmon. San Remo, Singleton and Madora are among beaches producing good fishing at dawn and dusk, with mulloway and tailor on offer. The southern beaches are producing herring and whiting during the day, with tailor caught in the early morning and evening. In the Mandurah Estuary, anglers are catching tailor while there are also reports of good blue swimmer crabs catches. 


Jordann Mangini caught her first dhufish off Dawesville on Saturday and then collected a feed of blue swimmer crabs in the Peel-Harvey Estuary on Sunday with her father, Simon. What a great weekend!

With near-perfect conditions off Rockingham last weekend, many boats travelled wide last weekend. The Mangles Bay Fishing Club 'Compleat Angler' fish aggregating device (FAD) again had dolphinfish and tuna species on offer, with Clay Lewis among fishers making the most of the sportfishing action. If you're planning to fish the FADs off Rockingham soon, remember to check Recfishwest's website for coordinates before you head out. Shore-based anglers fishing the Port Kennedy and Secret Harbour beaches are still catching tailor, particularly during the late afternoon. Herring have also been present. 

The metro fish aggregating devices (FADs) continue to produce dolphinfish, alongside striped tuna in waters nearby. Wahoo are a chance at the FADs, while billfish are likely lurking wide of the devices considering the high sea surface temperatures. Reef fishers did well on dhufish and pink snapper in 30m to 60m of water south-west of Rottnest Island last weekend. Baldchin groper have been caught in bigger numbers off Hillarys and Ocean Reef than the southern parts. Spanish mackerel have been caught along the western edge of Three Mile Reef and within Cockburn Sound. Squid catches are improving along the seagrass beds off Fremantle.


This fun-sized metro yellowtail kingfish kept Tom Corrie entertained amid stellar conditions last weekend.