Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 16 February 2024 🎣

Spanish mackerel activity has picked up both sides of town and big tuna have also been smashing baitfish schools. Most of the Spanish mackerel and tuna action was around Sand Patch and Bald Face this week, with Halco Laser Pros, Rapala's and garfish baits working well on both species. The 25-35m depths seemed to be the sweet spot for both species and bust-ups were spotted off Frustrations with the 20m depths along the cliffs also producing plenty of pelagic action. Both mornings are looking decent at this stage for the boaties but the mornings between Monday-Wednesday are looking even calmer. 

Low wind and swell at the weekend proved ideal for beach fishing, especially for those chasing gummy sharks. Bigger specimens up to 18kg were landed at Stockyard Beach, while other gummy's around 8kg came from Thomas River. Poison Creek also held gummy sharks along with mulloway around the 70cm mark, while at Roses Beach the gummy sharks were mixed in with mulloway and big skippy. In town the excellent summer squid season shows no sign of slowing down with green or white jigs doing most of the damage, while Observatory Beach and the surf club carpark at Fourth Beach have been reliable for salmon. Good numbers of garfish have been caught at night from Taylor Street Jetty, while Bandy Creek Boat harbour has offered decent-sized King George whiting and skippy. Bream up to 45cm are hitting hard-bodied lures at Woody Lake, and in the afternoons they have shown a liking for surface 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. 

There have been plenty of crabs for scoopers in Princess Royal Harbour and a few in Oyster Harbour. Both harbours have also held King George whiting and Oyster Harbour has also offered squid, yellowfin whiting and bream. Most of them have been just undersized but those that have been size have been very big. In the town marina herring and squid have been the main catches but a couple of just-sized pink snapper were landed there last weekend. Middleton Beach has offered plump sand whiting along with decent-sized King George whiting and squid are also worth a crack there. Emu Point offered squid along with skippy and a few bream. King George whiting, herring and skippy have been worth targeting at Gull Rock, which also produced some nice flathead. The King and Kalgan rivers yielded bream and mulloway. Scattered schools of salmon have been haunting the beaches on both sides of town. Sand Patch held schools of 2kg fish, while they have been plentiful at Bremer Bay where plenty of sharks have been keeping them company. Salmon, tailor and tarwhine have also been reported from Fosters Beach, Shelley Beach and Salmon Holes. Good tailor have also been caught at Bornholm Beach. A few blue groper have come from the rock platforms either side of town when the swells have been down but make sure you are always wearing a lifejacket when attempting this. At Madfish Bay good King George whiting, herring, juvenile salmon and tarwhine have been caught, while the Wilson Inlet offered pink snapper, flathead and King George 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. 

Get in while it's hot! The 2024 FADs competition has kicked off and there's already good catches rolling in! 

✅ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟏 – Grab a 2024 Mahi Mahi Tournament Brag Mat & Entry Name Card from one of the four sponsor stores included above. 
✅ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟐 – Get out there and start fishing from 1 Feb through until the 31 March near the FADs between Rockingham and Jurien Bay.
✅ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟑 – Catch a dolphinfish or mystery fish (mackerel, wahoo or tuna) and take a photo of your catch on your 2024 FADs Tournament Brag Mat with your name tag, rod & reel visible in the photo.
✅ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟒 – Take a second photo of the GPS coordinates of where your fish was caught (for judges verification purposes only – will not be published). 
✅ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟓 – Email your photo to mahitournament24@gmail.com no later than 5pm on Monday, 1 April!

The weather was almost too good this week with heaps of bait around but not as much action. The FADs have been a lot quieter but offered a few small dolphinfish and tuna. Also quite a few blue marlin have been raised and lost at the FADs. The wrecks behind Rottnest have held big Samsonfish and tuna. The odd yellowtail kingfish has kept crews interested around Parker Point. Tuna have been caught right along the metro coast on the 40m depth line. Inshore from Rottnest has produced decent King George whiting. They have also been in reasonable numbers on the Three-Mile Reef and the odd yellowtail kingfish and Samsonfish has been caught there as well. Samsonfish, tuna and a couple of Spanish mackerel have been caught out from Ocean Reef. Sand whiting activity out from Cottesloe and City Beach has slowed down a little but tailor fishing on exposed reefs such as Mewstones and Stragglers has been productive. A few squid have been caught out from South Beach and Bathers Beach, where kayakers and even stand-up paddleboarders have been dropping nets for blue swimmer crabs and doing well. In the Swan River good numbers of crabs have come from the 11m depths with some of the better spots being the old brewery, the Narrows, Claremont and Blackwall Reach. Trolling for chopper tailor in the river has also been rewarding with good hauls taken from East Fremantle all the way to the Narrows. The weather is looking pretty bliss again this week for the boaties, especially across the mornings this weekend. Just brace yourself for the heat on Sunday and Monday as it's tipped to hit 43 degrees. 

The Swan River mulloway have been firing recently and another beast was landed close to the city this week by Mathew Di Carlo @ourtribefishing. It certainly didn't come as a fluke though, this was landed after a solid effort of 29 hours of fishing over three days which saw two other solid fish dropped on the first two days. That's commitment! 

There has been excellent tailor activity in the Swan River with anglers wading out to the drop-offs in areas such as Matilda Bay, Point Walter, Claremont, Point Resolution, Applecross and the Narrows doing well in the late afternoons. They have been landing fish up to 50cm on lures such as CID Shiversticks, Ocean’s Legacy Keelings and Atomic Hardz K-9 Bulldogs. Flathead and flounder catches have been reasonable in the deeper sections of the Swan River’s lower reaches and one angler fishing around Mosman on Sunday was impressed with the variety of species he caught on a Nomad Squidtrex vibe. His haul included several 40cm-plus flathead, a decent flounder, a few yellowfin whiting and lots of small tarwhine. Flathead have also been caught in good numbers further up the Swan River, with the Causeway, Burswood, Maylands, Mt Henry Bridge and Shelley foreshore in the Canning River among the spots worth a crack. Bream were still widespread in the Swan River system. They have been caught in the lower and middle parts of the system around the yacht clubs at night with small unweighted mulie pieces and also around the structure at Canning Bridge. The bream fishing has generally been better after dark further upstream in snaggy areas around Shelley in the Canning River and at Maylands, Ascot and Guildford in the Swan. Soapy mulloway have been caught around the yacht clubs and bigger soapies nudging school size have been taken at the Narrows and Ascot. A few small giant herring have been hooked in the Maylands area. Yellowfin whiting are still being caught in the early mornings and at night around East Fremantle and Mosman. Scoopers in the evening have found blue swimmer crabs near the Perth Flying Squadron Yacht Club. In Fremantle Harbour, the E-Shed wharf has offered family-friendly fishing for herring, tarwhine and yellowtail. At North Mole, a few bonito have popped up at the end and tailor fishing has been reasonable at dusk for those baitcasting mulies. Herring were at South Mole and at North Mole closer in near Port Beach, but burley is recommended. South Mole had small squid and they have also been caught from the sailing club rock walls further south. Blue swimmer crabs have been taken off South Beach by snorkellers. Cottesloe, Swanbourne and Floreat beaches have offered mainly herring with the odd small tailor and sand whiting in the mornings, although Cottesloe has produced the odd bigger fish around structure in the evenings. Tailor have been taken in the mornings at Yanchep Lagoon and in the evenings from the northern rock walls around Quinns and Alkimos. A couple of solid pink snapper were also caught at Alkimos Beach. Both mornings this weekend are looking great for a land-based flick. Sunday looks better with the light easterly wind expected but get out there early before you melt in the heat. A reminder that the abalone day of fishing has been given the green light for tomorrow, 17 February between 7:00-8:00am from DPIRD and Surf Life Saving WA but make sure you take caution when prowling the reefs. You can find some great safe abalone fishing tips from SLSWA here.