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Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 12 August 2022 🎣

| By Seamus on 8/12/2022 1:51:07 AM | Views (607)

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Recfishwest
Fishing Report

12/08/22

Honking pink snapper seen from a different perspective - Credit: Fishin Wishin Life

Our contributors

Sam Russell

John Dempsey

Peter Fullarton

John Curtis

G'day <>,

Thankfully the weather improved significantly this past week across most of the midwest to northern areas of Western Australia, but unfortunately the southern regions are still being battered by high swell and rainfall. There was however still plenty of action report on!

Remember to keep sending us your catches by tagging #recfishwest in your online posts! You can also private message your catches to our Instagram page @recfishwest and make sure you let us know where and how you caught it!

For your photos to appear in the weekly fishing report, please make sure they reflect Recfishwest's responsible fish handling practices, just like the images below.

If you're planning to head out this week, stay safe, take plenty of photos and have fun!

Jarrad Lawford

RECFISHWEST FISHING REPORT EDITOR

Pic of the Week!

Looks like Papa Smurf sneezed all over this good golly of a dolly! This young fella caught the by-catch of his life with @peak_sportfishing off Exmouth while they were chasing black marlin and sailfish on the inshore grounds. Special shout out to Tav Ra and his son Luca, who caught a 65cm beauty of a King George whiting in 50m off water off Dunsborough, your fish was a close second!

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Broome catches

At least let the trout go to a movie together first lads! Great work by the guys @primal_instinct_fishing catching these tasty specimens on the Ocean's Legacy Hybrid Contact jigs!

Boats

While there were plenty of ideal glassy conditions in the mornings throughout this week, the early afternoon sea breeze prevented most boats from venturing out deep. For those that did, plenty of red emperor were still reportedly caught. The Spanish mackerel and tuna remained popular in the Bay and north of town, with cobia also in the mix. Stickbaits and small metals remain the best way of catching all three species, providing great fun for anglers. Plenty of blue bone, snapper and coral trout have also been caught around the reefs, most commonly around the 15-25m mark off shore from Willie and Barred Creek. For those venturing up the Fitzroy River, 70-80cm barramundi were reportedly caught although less of the 1m giants made an appearance this week.

Shore-based

The shore-based fishing has been red hot again this week as the glassy conditions combined with the tides saw numbers of Spanish mackerel landed off the Broome Jetty. Trevally have remained common off the Port Jetty and Gantheaume Point and larger queenfish were also caught in close. Willie Creek is still a solid spot for cod, bream and flathead with the clearer water this week aiding the strikes. Anglers also reported that Cobia and tuna frequently featured together as a duo from shore, with stickbaits and metals launched as far as possible around Willie and Barred Creek having some good success.

Big thanks to Gino Chambers from Tackle World in Broome for his latest insight into what's biting! Make sure you pay their store a visit for the best fishing gear and tips before heading out this week!

Exmouth catches

'Big red!' Kudos to this lucky angler who caught this beaut red emperor with @evolutionfishing off Exmouth!

Boats

While the weather has recently been blowing a gale, earlier this week around four days were ideal, allowing boats to punch out wide. A lot of yellowfin tuna and big eye trevally were hooked, although marlin, blacks and sailfish off the back off the reef have slowed down this week. For those that were caught, they were caught in a decent range of depths from about 30-100m. Eightbar grouper, Rankin cod and rubies were picked up earlier this week when the weather windows were wide open, although sharks were a nuisance for many boats. For those heading out deeper, eightbar and goldies featured at about 110m while rubies were common between 300-400m. Stripey's and yellowfin have been appearing with mackies along the west side off the coast all the way up to the islands. If sharks are becoming too much of a problem, make sure you move spots rather than persisting against the tax man. Longtail tuna schools and plenty of spangled emperor remain popular in the gulf and lagoon, so make sure you give stickbaits and small metals a go.

Shore-based

If you're wanting to catch a spangled emperor on a stickbait, the last few weeks have been pretty favourable off the coast! Whiting and flathead are still popular on the inside of the Gulf, with a mix of smaller stickbaits and soft plastics working nicely. The odd queenfish has also appeared as a by-catch for plenty of anglers this week targeting flatties and whiting. The afternoons worked well earlier this week for squid within the marina and also off Learmonth Jetty. The bottom of the gulf still remains your best bet for both blue swimmer and mud crabs.

Shout out to James Fitzgerald from Tackle World Exmouth for his update! Make sure you swing by their store for quality gear and tips before wetting a line!

Fishing Extras - Rod and Reel Cleaning and Maintenance

Shimano Stella reel

Cleaning and maintaining your rod and reel after every use will ensure you get the most life and enjoyment out of your fishing equipment.

Click here to check out a few tips and tricks we have!

Kalbarri catches

Boats

Kalbarri water temperatures have dropped quite a bit recently with the fronts and weather causing pelagic action to slow right down. Charter boats have still had success with Spanish mackerel however numbers have been quite low. Pink snapper have been plentiful with some solid models being caught adjacent to the cliffs, south of Red Bluff. A few fishers have also reported breaksea cod, red throat snapper and surprising a few spangled emperor as well!

Shore-based

A few of the locals have been hitting up spots along the Cliffs to chase pink snapper after the storm with reasonable success. Those who were running fresh baits and had access to a drone had better results. The odd mulloway is still being caught from the Sand Spit along with a few greenbacks, mostly on baits as the swell has made lure fishing quite difficult. Farther up river, javelin fish and bream have been keeping fishers consistently entertained. The shallower waters have been holding some stonking whiting providing great fun for families and a delicious feed. Another interesting report from Kalbarri was that big flounder have been caught from Red Bluff as well.

Geraldton catches

Boats

A few boaties managed to get out over the week when the weather permitted. Pink snapper have been caught in the 10-20m depths south of town. One fisher went out north of Cape Burney near Tarcoola beach and had success landing some solid tailor. Farther offshore, pink snapper, cobia and dhufish have been quite good. Similar to Kalbarri, the pelagic fishing has quietened down quite a bit as well.

Shore-based

Geraldton in the past few days (mainly Wednesday and Thursday) have been great for shore based fishers. Flat Rocks was the spot to try with the lower swell and nice easterlies with a few fishers catching some epic tailor reaching past the 65cm mark on stickbaits. The gap in the weather also allowed a few fishers to soak some baits and land mulloway. The beaches north of Dongara and around Lucy's Beach have been very productive when you find a clear bit of ground, however, make sure to be careful with the 4x4 as some of the beaches have been hammered from the past storms. Drummonds Cove has been quite productive with tailor being hidden in amongst the reef, floating stickbaits on a low tide with some good reef walker boots is the go here.

Lancelin catches

Local recreational fishing identity Scott McDonald landed this beefy Sambo off the jetty on soft plastics!

Boats

Unfortunately there wasn't too much success reported this week from the boats. For those who were able to make the most of limited opportunities to leave Lancelin bay, they were mostly reporting slow fishing offshore for demersal species such as dhuies and snapper. Most of the fish caught were usually around the 40m depth mark. For boats who decided to stay within the bay, fishers had mixed catches of herring, tailor, skippy, snook and squid.

Shore-based

Land-based anglers have been largely limited to fishing the sheltered waters of the bay for sand whiting, herring and tailor with decent results. Off the jetty the best catches for bread and butter species was mostly reported into the late afternoon and evening. Among the tailor caught, we heard of frequent raids from Samson fish chasing the bait under the jetty and they have provided some great entertainment as by-catches. Kudos to Scott McDonald (pictured above) who landed his on the soft plastics!

Scott's Species - Broadbill swordfish, iconic globally, elusive locally

You can’t mistake a broadbill swordfish for anything else. Gavin Cameron with what was at the time a record fish, caught off Exmouth.

Have a read on what Scott Coghlan has to say about broadbill swordfish, we never hear much about them along Western Australia but if you want to learn more about these epic species, click here to read more!

Esperance catches

Tyson TNT Tietjens was quickly taking over from Jeremy Wade for catching river monsters in Esperance until he managed to land some solid nannies and queenies off the coast over the weekend!

Boats

Most boats stayed in close this week, but King George whiting were caught in the bay around 40cm in length along with good numbers of squid. We also received reports of solid snook taking floated baits and small metals close to the surface. For those targeting squid and whiting, the Port rock wall is working best. A few boats also reported good numbers of sand whiting offshore off the back of the island at Twilight. This Sunday is looking really good if you own a boat, so good luck if you decide to lick the stamp and send it out wide in the flatter conditions.

Shore-based

On the plus side to more rain, it's certainly fired up the bream, with 45-48cm beasts frequently landed in the river. Oli from Southern Sports and Tackle in Esperance managed to catch a 45cm bream from just his third cast into the nearby lakes. A few nice days over the weekend saw a couple of gummy sharks up to 12kg off Roses, along with skippy up to 3kg and salmon up to 5kg. Squid have performed really well this week, with 45cm hoods caught off the rocks in Rocky Bay over the weed patches. The Esperance Jetty and Taylor Street Jetty have been producing good squid as well. The rocks at Wylie Bay saw decent sand whiting and flathead as well, both on paternoster rigs and soft plastics.

Great Southern catches

A lot of rainfall over the past week or so has seen the big blacks go whack throughout the southern rivers. @matthewdeboer94 had a solid session on the bream, landing multiple 40cm+ beauts on the Zombie Sticky!

Boats

Unfortunately the weather gods didn't play ball again this week. The shelf did provide a few fish for those who were brave enough, although getting out there in good pockets of wind and swell was tedious work. Here's hoping the next week or so produces the goods!

Shore-based

Not many people headed out this week to wet a line due to the weather and the reports of success were slim, although anglers who stayed in close to shore and off the jetties reported decent numbers of herring. Squid were also caught in good numbers, but only when the water was calmer with better visibility. According to our main man Brody Hart from Trailblazers in Albany, the best bet for catching squid in close over the past week or so is fishing the weed patches on the other side of the main headland towards Mutton Bird where it's more sheltered without fresh water running in from the rivers and messing up the visibility. It's still not safe enough to fish from the rocks as the swell direction and wind can change very quickly, so make sure you stick it out until the conditions are calmer in spring.

South West catches

Trudy Morehouse @squidqueen.wa landed multiple prehistoric-looking pinkies and kraken earlier this week while galavanting off Busselton!

Boats

All you patient boaties were rewarded with some peachy days this week! This time of year always delivers well for squid and snapper, with the southern regions near Busselton producing vast amounts of solid catches. The squid are mostly being caught on the drift, but the pinkies are mostly caught when anchored up into the late afternoon and early evening. The frozen berley logs containing mulies and scalies work brilliantly, while floating herring strips is the best reported bait. Because the water is generally dirty, you can cover more of the water column with floating rigs, rather than a paternoster on the bottom. A few dhuies were caught out wide towards the reefs usually around the 70-90cm range. Yesterday was a fantastic day out on the boats as there was no wind and clear skies, so plenty of people headed out and hooked up to a wide range of demersal species. A few bluefin tuna are still being caught throughout Geographe Bay via trolling or by casting metals and stickbaits into the bust ups.

Shore-based

Casting and droning off the beach has picked up nicely in the last week for pinkies, with 70-80cm beauts landed frequently. Off the Busso jetty this week the water was a bit dirty, but the squid still stuck around despite even though a fair bit of floating weed causing havoc. Bread and butter species such as herring and whiting were relatively quiet this week, although larger greenback tailor around 50-60cm were still prominent albeit in lower numbers off the beaches near the gutters and among the whitewash. In Bunbury, bread and butter species such as herring and whiting were seen once again around the Cut and the Floodgates, while the inlet in Augusta has seen some decent King George whiting around that 35-40cm mark caught.

Freshwater

There were reports of decent catches of perch along with rainbow and brown trout throughout the South West dam systems. Drakesbrook Weir had some nice sized redfin landed off the shore and via kayaks, while a few fishers did manage to land some nice brown trout from Drakesbrook Weir where the water levels started to spill onto the banks, providing some new ground for fish exploring the shallows. I managed to have a flick along the Capel River near Busselton this week, however the river resembled choccie milk after large quantities of rain and faster currents, so the fish were hard to come by.

Mandurah and surrounds

Mandurah

While the weather wasn't crash hot this week, plenty of anglers had great success in close off boats and the shore. Five Fathom about 3.5km out from Dawesville reported HUGE pinkies with plenty caught around 85-90cm. The dirty water coming out of the Murray and Serpentine rivers combined with the storms has created ideal feeding conditions under cover for snapper, so they’ve come in close. We even heard reports of 40-60cm pinkies caught in 1.5m of water on the inside of the estuary and bigger specimens caught off the northern beaches. Dhuies were reported past Five Fathom in about 23-32m of water about 8km off shore. In close on the boats the squid have turned off around Mandurah due to the poor visibility, although heaps of juvenile salmon from 30-56cm are going nuts in the clearer sections within the estuary. Four-pound gear is all you need if you want to have a great time tackling these beauts according to Tim from Tackle World Miami! King George whiting are starting to venture up into the estuary and will make their way further up over the coming weeks, although casting over the sand patches within 100m of the mouth is where most of them are currently lurking.

SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY / WARNBRO SOUND

Point Peron remains a great spot if you want to take advantage of casting with the changing wind direction for tarwhine, herring and the occasional tailor. The sheltered waters within Cockburn Sound have also seen large numbers of cracking kraken caught over the past week. Clear visibility is still key and drifting/jigging over 4-5m weed beds with a few colour variations has been productive. Becher Point beaches have been quite swelly this week, although plenty of herring as well as some good sand whiting were caught mostly on paternoster rigs. Land-based anglers fishing from the Palm Beach jetty are still catching squid as the water is still relatively clear. Most of the snapper caught off Secret Harbour, Safety Bay and Warnbro Sound were in quite close in only 10m of water, with the occasional dhuie by-catch.

Perth catches

Recfishwest's Sedin Hasanovic and his mate landed a few shored-based pink snapper ranging from 60-72cm in length off one of Perth's northern beaches this week. The long-walk to his spot was definitely worth it although his legs are definitely not happy!

Boats

The weather might have been below average for most of this week but it certainly didn't have a negative effect to the number of snapper being pulled in! The weather yesterday was so peachy that every man and his dog rushed into tackle stores to purchase bait and get out on the water. The recent rain and storms has brought the pinkies in close and we heard multiple reports of anglers catching 60-70cm specimens anchored in 10-11m of water right along the metro coastline from Woodman Point jetty up to Two Rocks. Burley cubes that contain mulies or scalies works best as it's quite oily and brings in the pinkies within 10-15 minutes. We've also heard tales of anglers drilling holes into cans of dog food and drifting this off the back of boats with good luck! Not many boats headed out deep this week, although plenty of pinkies, dhuies and breaksea were caught yesterday in the flatter conditions between 20-50m. The squid have dried up, unless you can find a nice sheltered patch closer to shore.

Shore-based

The swell, wind and rain has been rather inconsistent for land-based anglers but those who found good windows earlier this week were rewarded with just as many pinkies as those cleaning up on boats. Sedin Hasanovic managed to catch three solid pinkies ranging from 60-70cm off the beach one evening around 45-minutes north of Perth. Off the rocks from Woodman's and the North Mole all have produced snapper. The gate near the North Mole rock wall on the river side once again has seen 70cm+ snapper landed around the 6-7kg mark, with herring reported as the best bait. Bizarrely, decent tailor around the 30-40cm mark are still being caught in the river around East Fremantle, going against their regular routine of heading out to sea once the winter rains arrive. Bread and butter species continue to be common inside the marinas at Mindarie, Ocean Reef and Hillarys if you want to take your kids out for a great time wetting a line!

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Catch Information

Species:
Australasian Snapper

Barramundi

Breaksea Cod

Coral Trout

Dhufish

Dusky Flathead

Flathead Catfish

Grey Banded Rockcod

Gummy Shark

Mulloway

Queenfish

Red Emperor

Samson Fish

Spangled Emperor

Swordfish

Whiting

This Fishing Report was submitted on 8/12/2022 1:51:07 AM by Seamus and last updated on 8/12/2022 5:52:15 AM.

Location

3/45 Northside Drive
Hillarys, WA AU

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