Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 19 January 2024 🎣

As the water clarity improves so does the pelagic fishing with reports of Spanish mackerel landed at the Sand Patch in 30m depths along with plenty of tuna jumping around the Three-Mile Reef. Bottom fishing has been steady on both sides of town, mainly for pink snapper and baldchin groper in 20m depths, while boats going out deeper around Bald Face have added dhufish to the mix. The southerly winds will stick around this week along with the 1.5-2m swell but if you're thinking of heading out, early in the mornings should see the preferred windows. 

What an epic turnout for our SunSmart Southern Tour of fishing clinics with 350 kids turning up to 10 fully booked out clinics! It just highlights that fishing and the land-based access to do so is so crucially important for the mental, physical and social wellbeing of our south coast community. If you want to see some of the action on GWN7's recent news piece and see some of the great snaps taken from the Duke of Orleans, Esperance and Hopetoun clinics, click here! 

The Town Jetty was firing for squid with holidaymakers having no trouble getting 10 in a single session. White or red squid jigs have worked best. At sunset, garfish and herring have been the jetty’s main fare. At the town foreshore flathead have been taking soft plastic lures and King George whiting have been in good numbers, while Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has offered King George whiting and skippy. The first carpark at Fourth Beach has been a salmon hotspot and 10-Mile Lagoon has been good for salmon and skippy. Out east, Thomas River and Dunns Beach have produced gummy sharks, salmon and mulloway. The mulloway have shown a liking for shallow gutters rather than deep holes. In the Young River and at Stokes Inlet bream to 40cm have been caught on lures. 

Hats off to the very knowledgeable team at Southern Sports & Tackle for their tips! These guys love their fishing as well, so make sure you swing by their store for the best gear and advice before wetting a line around Esperance. 

Click on the image above to watch GWN7's news piece covering our 10 booked out fishing clinics between east of Esperance and Augusta! 

350 kids all enjoyed wetting a line across 10 fully booked fishing clinics on the south coast - what an epic turnout! 

Our Southern Tour of Sunsmart fishing clinics were jam-packed between 6-17 January. It once again highlights how crucially important fishing and land-based access is to the social, physical and mental wellbeing of our south coast community.

A big thanks to Healthway, Shimano and our volunteers for their tremendous support for these great community events. Check out the clinic highlights in the 7NEWS Regional WA news piece above!

Read more about the clinics and check out some of the best images here!

Shore fishers too have been limited by wind, weed and water clarity. A few squid, herring and whiting may be possible from the town marina or Emu Point and sheltered bays and beaches such as Fosters and Ledge have at times offered small resident salmon and herring. A few yellowtail kingfish and small breaksea cod have been taken from the rocks in areas sheltered from the wind when the swells have been down, just make sure you wear a lifejacket, fish with a mate, avoid the wet rocks and analyse the conditions before deciding to fish off the rocks. At Cheynes Beach herring and sand whiting have been caught and skippy are always a chance there. The King and Kalgan rivers, although dirty, are an option for bream fishers and mulloway could also be a chance. In the Wilson Inlet pink snapper, King George whiting, bream and tarwhine have been caught, while Nornalup Inlet has held yellowfin whiting.

Cheers to the Trailblazers Albany crew for their tips this week! Swing by their store if you're after some top gear and advice ahead of your next fishing trip. Remember, you'll also catch just as many fish off the beaches than the rocks and it is always much safer to go with this option on the south coast. 

The metro FADs have continued to produce dolphinfish in varying sizes but at times the fishing has been slow and it’s been worth using live baits with a small running sinker to bring them around when they’ve turned their noses up at lures. Plenty of tuna have been mixed in with the dollies. Baitfish have been plentiful with birds working schools from 40m depths with activity increasing closer to the FADs. A blue marlin was hooked and lost at the FADs last weekend but a couple of great wahoo were landed. Demersal fishing has also been firing with plenty of dhufish and pink snapper caught. Pink snapper have been in as close as 10m depths but they have been on the smaller side. The bigger pinkies have come from 60-100m depths with some stonkers being caught at the back of Rottnest. The back of Stragglers and Rottnest in general have been the hotspots for dhufish and baldchin groper. The West End of Rottnest has fished well for yellowtail kingfish with Samson fish among them as well as a few tuna. Rottnest has produced King George whiting in 9-10m depths with one crew fishing off Bathurst Point hoping to catch wrasse for cray bait instead cleaning up on kidney slapping KG's. Good King George whiting have also been caught from Three-Mile Reef and on the broken ground in 10m-plus depths out from South Fremantle, Cottesloe and City Beach along with the Windmills. Plenty of plump sand whiting were mixed in with them at all locations. Big sand whiting have also been caught on the edge of the shipping channels. Squid have been harder to find, but bigger jigs fished in 8-10m depths have been productive. Kayak fishers off South Fremantle have had to work even harder and the shallow water squid have been quite small. Mewstones has been overrun with big bull herring, while tailor have been caught around Stragglers. A squid bait fished under a balloon also accounted for a decent yellowtail kingfish at Stragglers this week. At the Three-Mile Reef pink snapper and skippy have been keeping the King George whiting company, while out from Ocean Reef, dhufish, pink snapper and baldchin groper have been caught. In the Swan River trolling for chopper tailor in the lower and middle reaches has been worthwhile and a few big mulloway have been pulled up in Mosman Bay. Some drop netters have found blue swimmer crabs preferring the shallower parts of the Swan this week, with good catches coming from Rocky Bay, Claremont, Applecross, Como, Mounts Bay Road and Canning Bridge in 1.5-3m depths. Blue swimmer crabs have also been caught from boats moored in northern marinas. Saturday should hold the calmest conditions over the coming days so there should be a lot of boats heading out. Make sure you're courteous and patient at the ramps and switch up your fishing to get the most of out your trips. 

With a lack of sea breezes lately most of the good tailor have been caught from rock walls rather than the beaches. Both Freo moles have fished well for tailor and the small groynes from Fremantle down to O’Connor have also produced plenty of choppers. A few herring have come from the moles and both moles have also produced squid, with the deeper water at the ends fishing best. Reasonable tailor have come from Floreat, Quinns and Two Rocks and when there is chop on the water beaches near structure around Cottesloe have fired with good bags caught on mulies and also stickbaits such as Ocean’s Legacy Keelings, Bassday Bungy Casts and Nomad Riptides. Floreat and City Beach have also been good for whiting and a few herring and decent whiting have been caught in the mornings from beaches north of Hillarys. Scaly mackerel have been hanging around Fremantle Harbour in big numbers but have been reluctant to take small baits or sabiki rigs. Several big mulloway have been hooked at the E-Shed and lost. In the Swan River, good tailor to 47cm have been caught on lures around Blackwall Reach and Point Walter, while chopper tailor have been plentiful at Canning Bridge, the Narrows and the Causeway. A few tailor have pushed up further on to the Burswood flats where they’ve had the odd giant herring for company. Most bream have been well up river in the Swan and Canning, although Canning Bridge has produced some big fish at night. The upper reaches’ bream chasers have also landed a few soapy mulloway. Flathead have become harder to catch in the Swan’s lower and middle reaches with numbers down and fish tending to be on the drop-offs rather than the flats, but decent-sized flounder have been a consolation. Flathead fishers using TT SwitchPrawns or Eco Gear ZX Vibes have had good sessions on yellowfin whiting but the most consistent whiting catches have been achieved late at night or very early in the mornings by anglers using fresh or live baits.