Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 9 June 2023 🎣

This week’s wild weather has slammed the brakes on what had been an excellent spell of offshore fishing. King George whiting and squid had been plentiful in King George Sound and on the coral ground there were the usual suspects of dhufish, red snapper, queen snapper and pink snapper. Out at the FADs a few dolphinfish had been about and a couple of boats went out to the Continental Shelf and caught hapuka. Boaties in need of a fishing fix will be hoping for a weather window late next week, where there may be a chance of getting out in the sound or around the islands if the swells settle down.

Big swells have carved up the beaches, fishing from the stones has been far too dangerous and conditions are way too murky for squidding. However, the sheltered waters of the Town Jetty and Emu Point could be worth a crack for herring and the odd whiting or small skippy, and the channel at Emu Point could possibly hold decent pink snapper. Otherwise targeting bream in the King, Kalgan or Hay rivers could be a good bet and there’s always a chance of mulloway, herring or juvenile salmon as bycatches. Before the storms, some good Samson fish were caught around Nanarup and Shelley beaches. Out of town, Wilson Inlet is a possibility for bream, pink snapper, flathead, herring and whiting. Big thanks to the crew from Trailblazers in Albany for their tips!

The few boats that got out his week mainly targeted the area between Garden Island and Five-Fathom Bank and burleyed for pink snapper which were about in big numbers. Pink snapper were in close around Coventry Reef and Mewstones as well as on the shoreside of the shipping channel. Plenty of chunky skippy were among the snapper bycatches and a few small tuna were caught around the Five-Fathom Bank on trolled Halco Crazy Deep Laser Pros. It was a similar story at the Three-Mile Reef before the storms punched in, with King George whiting complementing the bags of pink snapper and skippy. There were heaps of squid around before the blow, especially in 3-6m depths off Bathers Beach, South Beach and either side of the Freo Moles, with bigger squid on the north side but in fewer numbers. Hillarys and Garden Island also fished well for squid. Herring were plentiful just about everywhere and storm garfish were caught inside of Garden island. A few blue swimmer crabs were caught in the lower reaches of the Swan River last weekend but they may have been flushed out to sea by now. King prawns have been passing through the river in good numbers however and could be worth targeting. Trolling for tailor in the river could also prove fruitful as they do love hunting through the murky waters with a bit of chop. Very early on Saturday could be worth a crack, but it's not looking comfortable again for the boaties until late Monday or early Tuesday at this stage.