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Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 19 August 2022 🎣

| By Seamus on 8/19/2022 2:03:11 AM | Views (479)

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Recfishwest
Fishing Report

19/08/22

@cooperrwatsonn snagged this beauty of a snap of Curtis and Jasmine both ticking a billfish off their bucket lists and releasing it back into the waters off Exmouth! Kudos to you Jasmine as we heard your black marlin was bigger than Curtis's, make sure you continuously remind him of that.

Our contributors

Sam Russell

John Dempsey

Peter Fullarton

John Curtis

G'day <>,

On the whole, most anglers across the state opted to stay inside rather than head out, while those that did head out from Geraldton right down to Esperance ended up with umbrellas inside out. It wasn't all doom and gloom though, as some reports of nice catches rolled through when the weather decided to brighten up.

Thankfully, the weather is looking much better across WA, especially this weekend. Remember to keep sending us your catches by tagging #recfishwest in your online posts! You can also follow and 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!

Jayson Spencer @jspencer_fishing along with a few of his mates came across 'Coro City' this week up near Exmouth, pulling in multiple Coronation trout, each showing off completely different colours that shows why they are one of the most sought after species off the WA coast. Arguably the best eating trout species!

Your fishing photos

If you want to be included in our weekly State-wide Fishing Reports, send your best fishing photos and a description to jarrad@recfishwest.org.au to potentially be featured.

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Breaking news for West Coast Demersal species

Our West Coast Demersal species are incredibly important to the fishing community off the WA coast and help contribute half a billion dollars each year across WA.

Recfishwest rejects Government's proposals to ban fishing for dhufish and pink snapper for up to nine months.

Recfishwest is bitterly disappointed by the recent paper released by the Government on the future of WA's dhufish and snapper fishery.

Click here to read our response to the Government's proposals

Broome catches

Lani Pigram landed this solid bluebone in Exmouth over the weekend in conditions that every angler dreams of! Photo courtesy of @reefchiefaustralia

Boats

The creepy fog that stuck around this week made a lot of anglers feel like Jack Sparrow was about to come sailing past on the Black Pearl, although plenty of boats managed to get out deep. Demersal species slowed down considerably this week, but we heard reports of cobia and Spanish mackerel being popular on the troll in close around that 10-20m depth mark. Boats are still out chasing sailfish after the recent competition a few weeks ago, although their numbers have dropped off lately. We've also seen lots of whales hanging about on the surface, so make sure you stay alert and give them a wide berth when punching it out from the shore. For those anglers who reported seeing sailfish looking sluggish on the surface, they are apparently eating the jellyfish which can make them 'stoned' according to the crew at Tackle World in Broome! Barramundi were sporadic up the Fitzroy River but most were reported caught in that 70-80cm range. The weekend and early next week isn't looking too bad for boats, so good luck if you decide to head out!

Shore-based

Shore-based was a little bit quiet this week, with the mackerel drying up off the jetty. The barramundi around town have been AWOL, although queenies and trevally were still seen around town with the new jetty that opened up around four months ago producing the goods when the water tides come in and the depth increases. A few bluebone are being caught off the big jetty, mostly on the high tide. The next few days will be quite windy, mainly from the east, but the dry weather will be around longer before the wet season starts to arrive in a few weeks. At least it’s great for mango season!

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

Exmouth catches

Gotta love ticking a new species off the list! Nice work @_purelyfishing_ for getting jack-attacked on the Razor Edge lure near Exmouth! Your South West freshwater catches of trout and redfin perch on your Instagram page aren't too shabby either!

Boats

While the weather was ordinary again this week, there were a couple of good windows of swell and wind that allowed boats to go exploring a fair way off shore. Marlin have been very busy this week, mainly on the western side ranging in depths from about 40m right up to 150m. There was only one fisher we heard from who said he landed a few red emperor out deep, but reports of goldband snapper numbers took a giant spike upwards, with most caught around the 100m mark. In close to the shore and around the bombies we had our regular tales of coral trout and bluebone, although the catch of the week surely goes to one gentlemen who unknowingly caught a marlin on a paternoster bottom rig! According to Josh Cheong from Exmouth Tackle and Camping Supplies, he was shown a photo of the brute with the line noosed around the gills with the angler not knowing what he had caught. Thankfully, it was released safely to fight another day. Eightbar grouper, Rankin cod and rubies were quiet, but picked up earlier this week when the weather windows were decent and the wind was a bit calmer.

Shore-based

Yet again, the spangled emperor on stickbaits and soft plastics are going rampant even with the inconsistent weather, although other land-based success stories were quiet this week. A few queenfish were caught around the tip of the cape mostly over the clearer sand patches. Whiting slowed down with the cooler weather, although if you're wanting a tasty feed, plenty of squid have still been caught in close. If you have a kayak or small dinghy (or know someone who does), drifting on both has been the most dominant way of getting higher numbers of squid rings in the pan. Flathead on the inside of the Gulf also slowed down, although we're pleased to see the weather on Sunday is looking nice for a fish and winds should ease off in the afternoon.

Shout out to Exmouth Tackle and Camping Supplies for their update! Make sure you swing by their store for quality gear and tips before wetting a line over the weekend!

Kalbarri catches

Boats

Unfortunately the weather was atrocious this week, but thankfully the forecast on Saturday and Monday is looking a little better. The four-metre swell rolling through has been chaotic and no one ventured out deep (wise decision). For the boats that decided to stay in close and head up river, we still had good numbers of bream and mulloway being caught, while tailor were quite common around the river mouth. As the high amount of rainfall is pushing a lot of the water from the river out to sea, we expect to have more mulloway start to venture up and hunt through the dirtier water. With that extra downpour comes a drop in the water temperature, so the mackies have completely dried up and aren't expected back until the temperatures start to increase in a few months time.

Shore-based

Very slim pickings this week. Pinkies were caught off the cliff last week, but it was so rough over the past seven days that anglers wisely decided to avoid the rocks altogether. Hopefully Saturday and Monday produces the goods, but make sure you avoid the rocks if the swell remains high and the wind or wave directions are changing.

Huge thanks to Kalbarri Sports and Dive for their update, make sure you pay them a visit for the best tips and gear if you decide to take full advantage of the better weather hopefully coming your way!

Geraldton catches

Boats

Let's have a moment of silence for our poor boaties still waiting for a good pocket of weather, with virtually no one bothering to head out this week. Even though it's been dismal, the water actually cleared up a little bit yesterday morning and a few boats managed to head out close to shore and land a few nice squid in cleaner waters. Saturday around midday isn't looking too bad, but early forecasts show the wind and swell is dropping off from Wednesday afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Shore-based

Most anglers opted for beach fishing this week, although it was still hit and miss. The huge amounts of weed that has washed up on the shore is playing havoc to get a line out cleanly. There were some tailor caught at Drummond's, along with decent numbers of herring in the clearer patches. Separation Point also had tailor and herring making frequent appearances, along with skippy around the rock walls where access is still available. Most of the tailor featured mainly around that 35-40cm mark, with anything above 45cm rare. The beach erosion has been a bit hectic and water has been approaching within 10m of driveways. Access to 4WD’s on the beaches has also dried right up because of this, although keep an eye out for the drop off in swell mid next week as this should hopefully retract the water levels and make it easier for beach access.

Lancelin catches

Chris Hartanto @lost.in.wa crushed it off the beach in Lancelin over the weekend, landing this solid pinkie via a drone off the shore! If you're an old-school angler and aren't on the drone wagon, pinkies are still being caught yeeting a line off the Lancelin beaches into the gutters!

Boats

Unfortunately the boats have been largely limited to fishing within the bay, due to a constant swell making the beach launch difficult for the larger boats. On the bright side, the bay has crystal clear waters at the moment and dinghy fishers have had good catches of squid along with skippy, herring and snook. Pots dropped inside the bay have been producing a few good lobster too along the ridges and smaller shelfs in close.

Shore-based

Anglers lucky enough to find schools of yellowfin whiting along the bays, beaches and jetty have had some great catches and gone home with some tasty fillets. Night time off the jetty seems to be the best time for catching nice feeds of herring and skippy. Samson fish have continued to lurk around the jetty, harassing bait schools and taking the lures meant for tailor. The surf beaches have suffered from the storms, so there is not a lot of clear deep water in casting range, let alone beach that can easily allow car access. Low tide allowed some access along the beach and we heard good reports of anglers taking advantage of this, with tailor, small sharks and pink snapper being reported off the beach via casting and drone drops.

Esperance catches

Boats

Alas, another very average week of weather unfortunately. For those that did head out, most boats stayed in close and reported a few good squid in 3-5m clean water over the weekend but that was the only real highlight. Thankfully, Saturday is looking like a great day along with Sunday morning, so we expect a few boats to punch out and hopefully provide us with a beefier boat section for next week's report!

Shore-based

The shore-based fishing this week seemed to be a lot more productive. A few boys went beach fishing and got gummies up to 10kg off the beach out from Munglingup out west. We also heard reports of some big flathead up to 60cm off the beaches out in the same areas as the aftermath of the big swells has washed a few holes away, so all the flathead have ventured in close. There has been a great run for solid King George whiting along the foreshore and good numbers in Bandy Creek boat harbour. While they have been small and mostly around that 28-30cm size, there were good numbers. For your larger KG catches of around 45cm, casting off the Wylie Bay rocks with smaller smaller circle hooks and paternoster's has worked nicely. According to the pro's at Southern Sports and Tackle, the black magic whiting rig is the go. The higher amounts of rain still continues to help the performance of bream, with 45-48cm beasts landed in the river in slightly lower numbers this week. Due to the dirtier water, squid have dried up, although still appeared when anglers could find cleaner patches of water over broken weed and sand patches.

Great Southern catches

Chris Dixon @dixonsfishing decided to chase King George whiting for the first time in a long time off Albany this week and was reminded of how tasty these slippery gems are, not to mention they put up a great fight on the light line once they pass that 40cm kidney-slapping size.

Boats

If you've just planted citrus trees, on the bright side this rain will be great for your lemons to drizzle over your fish in the future. This week however (apart from a small window on Sunday), the weather didn't play ball yet again if you wanted to head out deep. Boaties who cruised close to shore still reported great numbers of squid and whiting, with decent numbers of 40cm+ hoods reported. For those that did manage to catch larger demersal species, we were told that sharks were a pain in the butt in water passing the 30m mark. The brown water washing out from the harbours has ventured out around two kilometres offshore, so hopefully this clears up in the coming days. Thankfully the weather this weekend looks to be improving although the swell will remain quite high. If you're wanting to head out regardless of the forecast, make sure you stay safe.

Shore-based

Sadly there wasn't much at all to report on for land-based fishing this week, although a big school of salmon rolled through Salmon Holes over the past few days which was a pleasure to see. Hopefully they'll stick around for when the weather improves over the weekend, but make sure you avoid the rocks if the swell and wind direction is changing.

South West catches

wadefennell_fishing was one of many who landed cracking pinkies of 90cm+ this week off Busso! Most are still being caught relatively close to shore, but for those punching out wide just remember Tuesday's are your cheapest fuel days at the pump!

Boats

While this week has been dismal for boaties with the weather, this weekend across Saturday and most of Sunday morning is looking absolutely glorious so I'm sure we'll get some great reports for next week. For those that didn't manage to brave the weather over the past few days when it was a little more approachable, the only decent reports rolling through were of good pinkies between 60-80cm being caught mostly about 2km offshore in depths of 20m or less. A lot of these were caught after the hail storm, which saw the water become pristine and glassy for a brief amount of time.

Shore-based

Shore-based fishing this week also decided to take a serious nose dive unfortunately. Drone fishing off the beach came to a halt due to the wind conditions but we're expecting a lot more lines being cast off shore thanks to the great Saturday and Sunday forecast headed our way.

Freshwater

A lot of trout and redfin perch have been venturing into shallower ground due to the water levels rising up onto the banks. Make sure you get trout and about this weekend and pay a visit to our South West dam and river systems, weather is looking peachy!

With the rain hitting most of our South West regions across the past few weeks, the water levels have increased and have brought in a lot of trout and perch into the shallower ground. We heard a few reports of people sight casting small action lures such as the RMG Scorpion for rainbow trout with some good success through the dam systems and up the rivers near Dwellingup. Drakesbrook Weir once again had good numbers of redfin landed off the shore and via small boats and kayaks, mostly on the smaller side, but still good enough to produce delicious fillets. Casting soft plastics into the deeper pockets of Wellington and Harvey Dam produced the odd rainbow and brown, although this is where the larger redfin perch seem to be lingering.

Mandurah and surrounds

Mandurah

Almost all of the beaches around Mandurah have had restricted access due to recent stormy weather. The Cut has been the most productive area however, with herring, skippy and yellowfin whiting. The King George whiting continue to head into the cut and more numbers are being caught usually between 28-35cm. Tailor have been turning up at dawn and dusk at either end of the channel, with most of the catches occurring earlier this week. Along the western end, the fish went mad for a good period of time on lures and baitcasting and one angler took home a bag limit of tailor around the 60cm mark. The estuary has been producing skippy, along with small yellowtail kingfish and Samson fish, along with frequent juvenile snapper. Fishing for black bream in the Murray and Serpentine Rivers has still been good even though the weather turned sour, particularly in the upper reaches of both rivers.

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

We're looking at much better weather this weekend, although we did hear scattered results for those who stayed in close this week. Warnbro Sound has been producing some good catches with some very big sand whiting, skippy, tarwhine and decent snapper of legal size. There are still plenty of squid being taken from both the shore and by anglers in smaller boats, generally on the drift in depths of 4-8m. Point Peron has been producing tarwhine, herring and some nice sized tailor, especially during the choppier conditions throughout this week. Most of the snapper reported caught were taken around Carnac Island. The popular spots around Rockingham and Point Peron are producing the usual run of herring, whiting and skippy, although we're expecting a lot more anglers to be punching out wide this weekend targeting demersals. Best of luck for those wetting a line off the boats and shore!

Perth catches

Rotto has tuned in again for tuna this week! Nice bluefin and yellowfin popped up, @franncois_fwlfrenchy cleaned up with the family, getting some tasty fillets out of this solid yellowfin in 3m+ swell, choppy wind and quick currents, all a great combo for tuna! Keep your eyes peeled for the bust ups and birds diving around Rotto!

Boats

The weather wasn't too bad this week in the Perth metro, handing anglers some brief opportunities to head out deep. This weekend across all of Saturday and Sunday morning should be glorious though, so those who get to the boat ramps at sparrow fart will likely deal with the least amount of traffic. Snapper were in great numbers over the past week and ventured in close with most bigger specimens pulled up from only about 10-15m depths right across the reef bank stretching from about Hillarys through to Two Rocks. Most of the catches ranged from about 60-75cm, although we saw plenty of anglers with beaming smiles after they had pulled in 85cm+ giants. They're not too far offshore either, so if you're taking advantage of the peachy weather this weekend they are still roaming within 5km from shore. There were also solid King George whiting caught this week, with many kidney slappers crossing over the 60cm mark and providing great fillets. The dhuies quietened down this week, mainly because the pinkies were so prolific and most stayed in close. Surprisingly, we are still seeing tailor being caught in the river around East Fremantle and further up towards Matilda Bay, mostly by trolling diving lures and Lazer Pro's to about 2-3m. Tuna were still running wild off the back of Rottnest this week, they seem to be loving the choppier conditions, so make sure you keep an eye out for bust ups and action on the surface.

Shore-based

The shore-based fishing was rather quiet this week. We did see the occasional solid pinkie landed off the beach but weed became a bit of an issue once again, preventing anglers from finding clean pockets to cast into. The water has been quite dirty in close, although the whiting have been performing well mostly off the northern beaches past Hillarys. The land-based squid have also dried up considerably, even within the marinas where they tend to come in close to find sheltered waters we didn't hear too much success. Thankfully there is no wind and a lower swell this weekend, so we're expecting to see plenty of lures and baits being flicked off the beaches and within the rivers. Make sure you send us your catches by tagging #recfishwest or messaging your catch to our Instagram page @recfishwest

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Recfishwest · 3/45 Northside Drive Hillarys · Perth, WA 6025 · Australia

Catch Information

Species:
Australasian Snapper

Barramundi

Black Bream

Black Marlin

Coral Trout

Dhufish

Dusky Flathead

Flathead Catfish

Gray Snapper

Grey Banded Rockcod

Gummy Shark

Mulloway

Queenfish

Red Emperor

Samson Fish

Snook

Spangled Emperor

Whiting

Yellowfin Whiting

This Fishing Report was submitted on 8/19/2022 2:03:11 AM by Seamus and last updated on 8/21/2022 3:51:58 PM.

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3/45 Northside Drive
Hillarys, WA AU

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