Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 03 November 2023 🎣

It’s been pretty quiet offshore unfortunately and while plenty of baitfish schools have been frequently sighted along with a few bust-ups, the pelagics are yet to come out to play. On the bright side, crayfish catches have improved over this past week across a range of depths and whiting catches have also been plentiful in Jakes Bay, with small strips of squid working nicely. The very early mornings on both Saturday and Sunday should hold some calmer conditions during the low swell and wind periods so this could bode well for the boaties. 

Mulloway to a metre and good gummy sharks have been landed at Thomas River, while solid skippy to 4kg have been caught at Kennedy Beach. Alexander Bay held big schools of salmon and the odd gummy shark, while Stockyards produced small salmon, tarwhine and school mulloway. A big school of salmon estimated to have been brimming with 1.5 tonnes of fish was lurking behind the reef at the first carpark at Fourth Beach this week, while an enormous football field-sized school of salmon was spotted at Roses Beach. West of town also saw huge numbers of salmon, which have almost ruled out fishing for other species. In town, the foreshore produced thumping flathead to 60cm, while Bandy Creek Boat Harbour produced King George whiting and small skippy. The Town Jetty offered herring all day long and bigger herring at night and it has also fished well for squid early in the mornings.  Big herring were caught at the Taylor Street Jetty when the grain ships were being loaded, brought in by the free burley! Big bream to 45cm have been caught at Woody Creek on small minnow-style lures, while Stokes produced good numbers of bream to 35cm. There should be plenty of land-based spots where you can use that raging easterly wind over the coming days to your advantage. Big thanks to Southern Sport & Tackle for their report as always! 

Squid have been the main game in town with good catches from the town marina, Middleton, Frenchman Bay and especially at Emu Point. All of these spots have also held herring and small skippy along with a few King George whiting that were caught in Frenchman Bay. In other good news bream activity in the King and Kalgan river system has really picked up with solid fish over 40cm taking soft plastics and vibes, while a few reasonable-sized mulloway have been caught on bigger soft plastics. Given the strong easterly winds hanging around this weekend, it might be best to position yourself on the eastern side of the King or Kalgan if you decide to have a flick. Big thanks to the crew from Trailblazers in Albany for their tips!

Yellowtail kingfish have been making appearances recently around exposed reefs such as Stragglers and Mewstones, along with the artificial Perth Fish Towers located south of Rottnest (coordinates here). Given these hard-fighting and great-tasting species reach legal size of 60cm by about 18 months, many of the 37,000 yellowtail kingfish Recfishwest helped stock into Metro waters over the past year will soon be making your reels sing in the not too distant future. 

Trolling for tuna was rewarding around Rottnest Island and also south of the island near the Recfishwest fish towers, with a few yellowtail kingfish and Samson fish thrown in the mix as well via jigging. King George whiting were widespread from 8-11m depths around Windmills to north of Rottnest off Thomson Bay in 20-25m depths. Plump sand whiting averaging a beefy 32cm have been in huge numbers off Cottesloe in 15m depths, with some very decent 45-50cm skippy among them. Along with the skippy in these areas were some chunky tarwhine around the 35cm mark, which seem to have made a bit of a comeback this year off the coast. Anton Pope and Jayson Spencer ventured out from Mindarie to target Samson fish on jigs and after bringing the fish around they switched to saltwater fly gear and had an absolute ball battling Sambos up to 30kg. Squid have been in good numbers from Windmills right down to South Fremantle with the 8m depths fishing best. In the Swan River trolling for tailor continued its red-hot streak with fish between 40-50cm turning up in great numbers, while big mulloway have been encountered in the deep waters of Mosman Bay. Saturday arvo through to Sunday evening should see relatively calm conditions out on the water and tomorrow morning is expecting some stronger easterlies.