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

At Dunns and Rossiter beaches mulloway and gummy sharks have been caught at the high and low tide changes, while good numbers of salmon have shown up at Wylie Bay and big sand whiting and flathead have been caught at the western end of the bay. Roses and 14-Mile beaches have held salmon to 6kg and skippy to 4kg, while Lovers Cove has produced skippy to 2kg. The Jetty has fished well for herring and squid, while Taylor Street Jetty has been a hotspot for big garfish at night. Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has offered King George whiting and bream.

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. 

With the beaches carved up by big swells, shore fishing options have been limited. Once again squid seem the best bet and modest hauls have come from sheltered locations such as the town marina, Emu Point and Frenchman Bay. It’s worthwhile keeping an eye on the tides because water movement often produces clear patches making targeting squid much easier. Frenchman Bay and Emu Point have offered reasonable numbers of small King George whiting, along with herring, while more herring have been caught at the town marina among the many pickers. Small skippy have shown up at the marina from time to time as well. Bream chasers can head to King and Kalgan rivers and fish the snags but numbers there have been down, although there have been whispers of mulloway in the Kalgan River. The mouths of these rivers also produce herring and juvenile salmon at times. Otherwise, Wilson Inlet could offer sheltered fishing for a range of species, including herring, King George whiting, flathead and bream. Before the huge swells lashed the coast there had been reports of salmon at Bremer Bay and a couple have been landed near Bluff Creek this week.

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 beaches with a fair amount of reef such as Cottesloe, Trigg and Ocean Reef produced good catches of tailor this week after the swell dropped off, with surface lures having the best results. Image courtesy of @compleatanglernedlands. 

Anglers braving the cold fronts caught good numbers of pink snapper at North Mole and a couple were landed from northern rockwalls and by drone fishers on far-northern metro beaches, which have also produced 15-20kg mulloway, good tailor and herring. The leeward side of North Mole, South Mole and the rockwalls around the Fremantle Sailing Club have offered a few herring and garfish. Dirty water has slowed squid catches in these areas but one or two good ones have been taken. Late August can be an excellent time to target big skippy from the moles, with blue sardines or whitebait fished on a small gang with a burley cage or light sinker the preferred method. This should be worth a try at Cottesloe Groyne where decent skippy have shown up along with a few herring. In the Swan River some decent bream have been taken on hard-bodied lures around Claremont and Crawley, while baits and soft plastics have worked well on bream at times around the Narrows and Canning Bridge. It will be wet and windy land-based fishing conditions this weekend but snapper are a good chance again off the Moles.