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Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
Following Government fishery management changes, 78 charter operators are facing the prospect of losing their businesses in the coming months with fishers aboard their vessels no longer able to fish for demersal fish like dhufish and pink snapper in the West Coast Bioregion (WCB – from Kalbarri down to Augusta) from 1 July.
This will significantly reduce opportunities for people with no boats or small boats to safely experience the joy of fishing for quality bottom fish in the WCB on board a charter boat or on “live-aboard” charter trips to locations like the Abrolhos.
William Bennett
RECFISHWEST FISHING REPORT WRITER
As is the case with recreational fishers, the charter sector has been told to slash their catches and to do this they are moving to a tag system due to take effect on 1 July. This week, 78 the 99 charter fishing licence holders in the west coast bioregion were dealt a bitter blow after being told they will receive zero tags, destroying the value of their licence and meaning that in less than four weeks, they face the real prospect of going out of business. The 21 licence holders who did receive tags are also looking at a 70% reduction in their catches, which exceeds the 59% and 12% respectively that recreational and commercial fishers have been asked to reduce their demersal catches by. With family-friendly and family-run businesses on the line, Recfishwest is calling for the Government to rethink these changes that are threatening the livelihoods of many along with these great fishing experiences off our coastline. READ MORE ABOUT THIS DEVELOPMENT HERE
King George whiting have been plentiful from the islands inwards to King George Sound and among the KGs are hordes of small (mostly undersized) pink snapper. Squid have also been in good numbers throughout the sound with 8-15m depths fishing well when boats are drifting or anchoring on the sand next to weed patches and having a flick. A few salmon have been around the island, but catches have tapered off. Elsewhere in the Sound, fishing has been decent for sand whiting and herring. Boats that were able to get to the coral ground earlier this week when the conditions allowed it found pink snapper, queen snapper, nannygai and dhufish. Saturday is looking okay for the boaties, but the wind and swell spike from Sunday through to at least Thursday will make it impossible for fishing unfortunately.
Salmon catches have been inconsistent, but on the right day the better spots have been Nanarup, Shelley Beach, Muttonbird Beach, Little Beach, Lowlands and Cheynes. Herring are plentiful right along the coast and the Princess Royal Sailing Club has been a good spot for solid skippy. Squid fishing has been productive with the better spots being Middleton Beach jetty at night, the rocks at Frenchman Bay and Emu Point. Feeds of herring, skippy and sand whiting have come from the Marina Jetty, Emu Point and Gull Rock. Bream around the 30-35cm mark have been taking prawn baits, soft plastics and hard-bodied lures in the King, Kalgan and Hay rivers. In the Wilson Inlet pink snapper and bream have been turning up in welcome numbers and sizes. Big thanks to the crew from Trailblazers in Albany for their tips!
Dhufish, pink snapper and baldchin groper catches have been widespread in 30-50m depths throughout the metro area and in 80-100m depths out the back of Rottnest. The western end of Rottnest has also been holding yellowtail kingfish and out deep, tuna and Spanish mackerel. Direction Bank has produced pink snapper and dhufish and Three-Mile Reef has fished well for pink snapper, along with good King George whiting and a few breaksea cod. Boaties trolling the inshore reefs north of Hillarys have been rewarded with big tailor and last weekend a boatie reported seeing a marlin jumping in 90m depths out from Two Rocks. Elsewhere, Windmills has been a standout for King George whiting and the Five Fathom Bank has fished well for KG's and skippy. Squidding has been excellent in Cockburn Sound and south of Fremantle, where good numbers of sand whiting, skippy and herring have also been caught. The weed beds off Hillarys have also fished well for squid. Boats trolling in the lower reaches of the Swan River have been catching chopper tailor and with baitfish schooling in Mosman Bay, it could be worth having a crack for mulloway. It's looking glorious on Saturday for the boaties but don't bother even thinking about it between Sunday and Thursday this week! More proof that Perth was a pelagic paradise this week. Tim and Sam also got on to some solid yellowfin tuna in the metro area, with this specimen (and even bigger) pulled in during the ideal fishing conditions last weekend. Photo courtesy of @anglersfishingworld.
This Fishing Report was submitted on 2/6/2023 3:29:00 AM by Seamus and last updated on 6/7/2023 2:46:12 PM.
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