Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 01 December 2023 🎣

Most boaties are holding out for the demersal season to reopen but those dropping pots have noticed plenty of baitfish, despite the poor water clarity. Coupled with water temperatures around 23C, conditions should be ideal for pelagics but they have failed to come to the party so far. Tinnies in the Murchison can expect to see chopper tailor and sand whiting at the spit, as well as bream and cod around the marina jetty and further upstream. The rough conditions are forecast to continue into the weekend, but boaties will be relieved to see swells easing and consistent offshore winds from Sunday into early next week.

The Town Jetty has fished well for big herring and squid catches have improved there as well. Also in the mix are good numbers of small skippy and a few bonito. At Taylor Street Jetty there are good numbers of herring, small King George whiting and flathead. Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has held small King George whiting, bream to 40cm, skippy and small flathead and flounder. Salmon catches have tapered off at Fourth Beach and 11-Mile Beach but they are in better numbers at Roses Beach, mixed in with 1kg skippy and small mulloway. Alexander Bay has held salmon and chunky skippy and at Thomas River mulloway to 80cm, a few tailor, 2-3kg skippy and the odd salmon have been caught. 10-Mile Beach and Blue Haven have held good sand whiting. South-easterlies over the weekend and early next week will make it tough to find a location out of the wind, but those that endure the conditions should be rewarded with some quality fish.

Bream activity in the King and Kalgan rivers has picked up a bit and mulloway are starting to be caught on a more regular basis in the system as well.  Squid and herring have been the most common catches from the town marina and Emu Point has held herring, squid and small King George whiting. Herring have been in good numbers at Little Beach and Two People Bay. There have also been reports of the odd tailor, which are by no means common on the south coast, but usually bigger than their lower west coast counterparts. Strong easterlies over the weekend will limit shore-based fishers to protected areas and westerly-facing beaches, though the winds aren’t quite as strong to the west and east of Albany.

Crayfishers have been getting consistent catches of reds and whites, around four to a pot in the 12-18m depths around Rottnest, Garden Island and inside the Five-Fathom Bank. Between pulling pots, many crew have been trolling metal slices and deep-diving lures for tailor and doing well, while a crew around Stragglers burleyed around their craypots and landed decent skippy and loads of herring. Some big King George whiting have come from the 30-40m depths north of Rottnest and south of Parker Point big tuna have been encountered in 40m. King George whiting have also been caught from the Three-Mile Reef. Windmills has held lots of sand whiting and a few King George, while sand whiting have been plentiful in 9-12m close to shore off Leighton. Squid have taken a back seat to crayfish this week but kayak fishers have done well just off of South Fremantle with 2.5 size jigs the most effective.  In the Swan River, drop netters have been quick to make the most of the cabbing season opening and have found blue swimmer crabs at Mosman Bay and Blackwell Reach. Trolling for tailor from the Narrows down has been productive and a good way to kill time between pulling the drop nets. Sunday is probably the pick of the days on the weekend, with the swell subsiding and easterly winds returning after rougher conditions late this week.