Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 27 October 2023 🎣

Despite little to report catch wise there was plenty of intrigue offshore, with boats starting to target pelagics after tuna bust-ups around the Three-Mile Reef and reports from Wagoe of Spanish mackerel jumping. Trolling at 5-6 knot speeds seems to be the sweet spot for hookups, with deeper diving vibe lures tending to entice the mackerel strikes and skirts or smaller vibes working nicely on the tuna. Halco Twisty's flicked next to the bust-ups also produced plenty of strikes. A few boats have been chasing sand whiting in Jakes Bay with good results reported and cray fishing activity also picked up. The stronger winds and swell of around 2m will make it tough this weekend but it should start to calm down a bit from Tuesday onwards. 

Gummy sharks have been plentiful at Thomas River, Kennedy Beach and Poison Creek, while big flathead and school mulloway have come from Rossiters Beach. At Dunns Beach salmon and skippy have been swimming together, while gummy sharks, mid-sized salmon and tarwhine have been the fare at Stockyards. The corner of Wylie Bay has been productive for sand whiting early in the mornings, while Chapman Point and West Beach have fished well for salmon. Even better salmon catches have come from 10-Mile Lagoon. Roses Beach was a hotspot for very big tailor up to 80cm and Bandy Creek Boat Harbour and the town foreshore have produced decent King George whiting. Garfish and squid were the main catches at the Town Jetty, while the Taylor Street rock wall produced big herring. There have been plenty of bream to 40cm in Woody Lake and Stokes Inlet. Big thanks to Southern Sport & Tackle for their report as always! 

Before the weather turned foul a few boats managed good hauls of nannygai, along with pink and queen snapper from the coral grounds. King George Sound also continued its trend and produced reasonable numbers of squid and King George whiting. For most boaties the Sound looks the most viable option tomorrow morning, which looks decent at this stage until about 11am. If it's rough though, it's always worth playing it safe by choosing to head out when it's calmer or sticking to the more sheltered areas. 

Once again before the poor weather rolled through good catches of Samson fish and blue groper came from the rock platforms either side of town, but big swells have ruled that option out for the time being. The swells haven’t done beach fishos many favours either, so most of the land-based activity was focused on sheltered waters. Juvenile salmon turned up at Emu Point which also held a few whiting, herring and some squid, while better squid have also come from the town marina along with a few herring. Frenchman Bay could be worth a crack for squid and King George whiting tomorrow morning, while bream activity in the King and Kalgan rivers slowly picked up especially on the warmer days, but mulloway have been harder to find. Salmon have been caught at Bremer Bay and Wilson Inlet produced pink snapper in the deeper channels. Big thanks to the crew from Trailblazers in Albany for their tips!

Sand whiting catches outshone the King George whiting this week, with big chunky sandies coming from Windmills, the inshore waters off Mindarie and the 7-10m depths off Ocean Reef. The whiting chasers had little difficulty finding fresh squid for bait with good hauls coming from Fremantle, in Thomson Bay at Rottnest and in north metro waters where the sizes tended to be better. Tuna have been lurking around the Three-Mile Reef and at the back of Stragglers, while at Rottnest in the 40m depths Samson fish and amberjack have been caught. Tailor were causing havoc on the exposed reefs around Stragglers, Mewstones and Rowboat Reef and some of the fish were pushing 60cm. Trolling for chopper tailor in Swan River was also extremely productive anywhere from the Narrows downstream. The choppers have been hitting deep-diving lures, but they have also shown a liking for slow-trolled metal slices, shallow divers and stickbaits. About 2-3 knots has been a good trolling speed and if you decide to take tailor home for a feed, make sure you bleed them immediately and put them straight into an ice slurry as this helps preserve the flesh. As for the forecast, both Saturday and Sunday morning look okay for both boat and land-based fishers until about 11am with the calmer winds and swell of about 1.5m, but Tuesday and Thursday morning should see the easterly winds and calmer conditions on the water return.