Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 30 June 2023 🎣

Big swells ruled out a lot of boating activity earlier in the week, but King George Sound has offered plenty of squid where patches of clean water can be found which isn’t always easy as the rivers are discharging plenty of fresh water. Squid have mostly been targeted on the cleaner sides of any run-off but King George whiting have been favouring the nutrient-rich dirty water. The KG's have been quite a reasonable size too, with many nudging 40cm. Clearer parts of the sound have also offered sand whiting, herring and lots of little skippy. Later this week conditions eased and several boats got out to the coral ground where pink snapper were plentiful over structure, along with a few dhufish and breaksea cod. From now until early Sunday the northerly winds and slightly lower swell should provide decent boating conditions but it will become tough from Monday onwards as both the swell and wind starts to get cranky. 

Plenty of big bull herring have been caught right along the coast from Albany to Denmark. Lowlands, Cable Beach and Sand Patch have been among the better spots and they have also produced gummy sharks, Samson fish and pink snapper. Tackle stores are selling plenty of salmon rigs but few reports of fish have come in. For land-based squidding, weed patches on the western side of town including Lowlands have been more productive, rather than the often-favoured Frenchman Bay. The Town Jetty at the marina has also produced good numbers of squid on the cleaner waters of the incoming tide, and also herring and small skippy, but there have been plenty of less-desirable species such as trumpeter and leatherjacket among them. Skippy around the one kilo mark have been caught out at Cheynes Beach near Bluff Creek. Mulloway are said to have been feeding on baitfish in the King and Kalgan rivers but there have been no reports of captures. Bream fishing is both these rivers has been hard work, with the water quite dirty. Squid have also been in good numbers at Emu Point, while patches of dirty water at Emu Point and Gull Rock have been attracting King George whiting. The sandbar at Denmark’s Wilson Inlet has been opened which should bring in pink snapper to the entrance of the system. The next few days up until Sunday midday are looking great for land-based fishers before it turns sour from Monday onwards. Big thanks to the crew from Trailblazers in Albany for their tips!

Pink snapper have been active in a range of depths, from 15-20m marks right out to 80m around all sides of Rottnest. Once again, burley has been the key to a good session and burley trails have also attracted solid skippy in shallower waters and Samson fish in the deeper areas. Rotto has also fished well for dhufish and baldchin groper and tuna are plentiful there too, with the southern and western sides working best for tuna on the troll with skirted lures and deeper diving vibe lures working around the 4-8m depth mark doing the trick. At the Three-Mile Reef good catches of pink snapper have been complemented by King George whiting and the odd breaksea cod. King George whiting have also been in good numbers at Stragglers and Windmills, while for sand whiting the 15-30m depths out from City Beach have fished reasonably well. Squid catches have also been good off Hillarys and further south out from Bathers Beach and South Beach, where kayak anglers have been doing very well. Tailor could be worth targeting in the white-water at offshore reefs, such as Coventry and Stragglers, while in the deeper sections of the lower Swan River drop netters prepared to work hard have caught a few blue swimmer crabs, but the crabs are mostly female and the males that are being caught are barely size. This evening and Saturday are looking decent for the boaties but the wind and swell will start to spike from Sunday as the storm front rolls through.