Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 3 May 2024 🎣

Bottom fishing has been excellent, especially in the afternoons when the wind has dropped. Plenty of good dhufish were caught along the cliffs in 15-20m depths along with coral trout, baldchin groper and pink snapper. A decent coral trout was even landed just 100m from the river mouth. At Sand Patch big baldchin groper and pink snapper have been the main fare. Things have been good on the pelagic front too, with reasonable-sized Spanish mackerel picked up south of town past Red Bluff and also along the cliffs with a few tuna keeping them company. Most crews have targeted these pelagic species on trolled Halco Laser Pros but garfish baits fished on ganged hooks have also been effective. Crayfishing has also been rewarding, especially north of town. The mornings from Sunday to Wednesday look better for the boats and the swell should steadily drop down during that time. 

Big skippy and mulloway have been caught at Thomas River, while Tagon Beach has been a hotspot for gummy sharks to 15kg. Dunns Beach has been great for skippy and salmon, while Stockyards held plump sand whiting, nice flathead and good skippy. Bigger skippy to 5kg have been landed at Roses Beach. Just about all the region’s beaches have been thick with salmon, but closer to town 10-Mile Lagoon and Fourth Beach have been the stand-outs. Garfish have been active at Taylor Street Jetty, while the foreshore fished well for King George whiting. The Town Jetty has been rewarding for herring and squid. Bandy Creek Boat Harbour held skippy and King George whiting, while big sand whiting have come from Blue Haven Beach. Stokes Inlet was the pick of the bream spots, producing good numbers of fish up to 35cm.

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. 

The salmon action has been steady with some saying the major schools have already passed through. Nevertheless, Sand Patch, Nanarup, Lowlands, Ledge Beach, Cheynes Beach, Shelleys Beach and Denmark’s Ocean Beach have all produced good numbers and sizes of fish. Oceans Legacy Slingshots in 70g and 85g Surecatch Knights have worked nicely. Loads of herring have been about and the usual haunts including the town marina, Frenchman Bay and Emu Point have produced plenty of them, with whiting caught at these locations as well. Squid catches have also improved at these locations along with Whalers Cove, Middleton and near the Peace Park. Small bream have been caught around the mouth of the Kalgan River but bigger models have been showing up further up river. Nice mixed bags of herring, whiting, skippy and juvenile salmon have been caught at Gull Rock. Denmark’s Wilson Inlet held small pink snapper and bream have been active further up.

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. 

North Mole has fired for pink snapper both before and after the cold front passed through and it has also held loads of herring and some decent skippy. Squid fishing was also good there when the water was clear, as it was from the rock walls south of Fremantle. North Mole held a few chopper tailor, mainly at night, while a surprise catch there this week was a big fork-tail catfish, a species rarely encountered south of Geraldton. The rocks around the Freo Fishing Boat Harbour have produced a range of species, including herring, chopper tailor, skippy, tarwhine, whiting and bream. Reefy beaches such as Leighton and Cottesloe have started to produce bigger winter tailor, while northern metro beaches such as Quinns and Two Rocks have been consistent for smaller models. Pinaroo Point held a variety of bread and butter species including herring, whiting and yellow-eyed mullet, while Hillarys rock walls have offered herring and a few garfish. North metro beaches have also produced pink snapper and there have been reports of Samsonfish and amberjack landed up that way as well from drone fishers, who also landed a few dhufish. Beaches with less swell such as Floreat, Swanbourne and City Beach have produced herring, garfish, whiting, and the odd chopper tailor and flathead. In the Swan River many of the summer staples have started to taper off. A few flathead have been caught at East Fremantle, Point Walter and Mosman Bay and chopper tailor have been around from the Narrows headed downstream, but not in as many numbers. Mulloway and bream fishing picked up though with solid bream being landed around structure at Canning Bridge, the Narrows, the Causeway, Garratt Road Bridge and at Mt Henry Bridge in the Canning River. Smaller bream have been active around Maylands and Guildford and in these places they’ve had a few flathead for company. As for mulloway, soapy numbers have eased, but more school-sized fish have shown up, and a much bigger model was landed at Belmont. The Narrows, the Old Brewery, Canning Bridge, the Causeway and Claremont Jetty should be worth a crack for mulloway hunters given the new moon period.