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

Good-sized mulloway have been caught on the low-tide change at Dunns Beach, while big salmon have been taken at Stockyards Beach. Skippy to 4kg have been caught at 14-Mile Beach and at Roses Beach, where multiple schools of salmon have been passing through. At Taylor Street Jetty, 7pm is the best time to catch garfish, while the Town Jetty has offered big herring and squid. Castletown Quays has produced sand whiting and big herring in the mornings, while salmon have been at Salmon Beach in the afternoons. Bream, flathead and King George whiting have been caught at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour, which is a good option given the ugly weather heading into town this coming week.

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. 

Big swells made local beaches hard to fish but those that found sheltered locations caught the odd stray salmon (at Salmon Holes and Shelley Beach), herring, skippy (around Cheynes) and tarwhine. Squid have been caught in good numbers at the town marina, Frenchman Bay, Whalers Cove and Emu Point. Most of these locations have held herring and small King George whiting. In the King and Kalgan rivers the bream have been on the small side. When the sandbars broke at Torbay and Taylor inlets herring, King George whiting and flathead entered the systems.

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. 

During the sunny and flat conditions earlier this week it saw the water clarity clear up nicely, which meant squid numbers took a good spike off the jetties and rockwalls. Isabella Tan @castawaybell took full advantage on the tasty critters but you'd be lucky to find good numbers of squid in close this week given the high swells, rain and wind will make the water murky once again. 

Bream fishing in the Swan River has continued to be hit and miss but good catches have come from Bassendean and from behind Belmont racecourse. Other options for bream chasers are areas of heavy structure such as Canning Bridge, or very deep water such as Blackwall Reach, where they could be worth targeting on large soft plastics, mussel and crab imitation lures, or mussel baits. Some bream chasers have headed out of the metropolitan area and done well on bream in the Moore River. A few flathead to 50cm have continued to hole up between Optus Stadium and the Causeway, including Heirisson Island, while the odd big tailor has been caught between the Narrows and Canning Bridge. Fremantle Harbour has fished well at times, producing herring, skippy and squid, and with all the fresh water flowing out the Swan now, a visit to the E-Shed wharf could produce a big mulloway. North Mole was quieter than usual before the blow, producing just the odd snapper but good numbers of herring, garfish skippy and at times blue mackerel. It has thrown up some nice squid too. Good squid have also been taken from the Fremantle Sailing Club rockwalls and bream, skippy, tarwhine and herring could be holding up inside Fishing Boat Harbour and the marinas. Drone fishers at north metro beaches have picked up pink snapper and the odd dhufish. Nice winter tailor have been taken up there as well. Between the cold fronts it could be worth targeting reefy beaches such as Cottesloe and Leighton for big winter tailor and possibly pink snapper.