Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 05 July 2024 🎣

The Town Jetty has produced good numbers of squid, while the town foreshore has offered nice King George whiting and flathead. Taylor Street Jetty has fished well for garfish. Bandy Creek Boat Harbour has yielded big flathead, flounder and skippy, while Wheatfields Lake has been the pick of the bream spots. Mulloway up to a metre have been caught at Israelite Bay, while Poison Creek has produced gummy sharks to 15kg. Dunns and Roses beaches have held big skippy and salmon, while Wylie Bay has offered smaller salmon and big sand whiting.



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. 

Squid seem the best bet for shore fishers and they have been in reasonable numbers at the town marina, Whalers Cove and Frenchman Bay. Emu Point has been rather quiet for squid and bread-and-butter species, attributed to a lack of baitfish in the area. Herring have however been plentiful at most locations around town and Frenchman Bay should offer small King George whiting and skippy as well. The King and Kalgan rivers are dirty and flowing strongly, but small bream should be about.  Resident salmon have been taken from Salmon Holes and Sand Patch and herring and skippy have been among the salmon at Cheynes Beach. Salmon have been active at Bremer Bay where tailor pushing 80cm have also been caught, while a Samsonfish estimated at 30kg was caught at Anvil Beach near Denmark.

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 winter squidding action around Fremantle, Rockingham and within Cockburn Sound is starting to skyrocket and it should only get better, especially on days with clear water. Youngsters Jasper Murphy and Levi Sadowski helped fill the esky up with loads of these delicious critters and given they are such an easy-to-catch and sustainable species, make sure you get out there and catch some for yourself. Great work lads! 

Pink snapper catches have been well down at most metro rock walls, although a 73cm pinkie was caught at North Mole on Wednesday on a half-herring bait. Despite the often-dirty water, North Mole has been fishing very well for squid and has also held herring, garfish and blue mackerel, and a stray salmon was picked up there last weekend. South Mole and the sailing club rockwalls in South Fremantle have been much quieter for squid, possibly because the weed banks seemed to have shifted or been covered over with sand, but the South Fremantle marinas have offered bream, herring and the odd tarwhine. Some nice tailor have been caught around Cottesloe but weed has made City Beach and Floreat harder to fish. Good tailor have come from the north metro beaches and drone fishers have landed pink snapper and the odd mulloway. In the Swan River the lower reaches around East and North Fremantle have been producing big flounder, while flathead have been in hanging out further up river, from Burswood to the Causeway. Garratt Road Bridge has been a hotspot for bigger sized soapy mulloway with plenty of 60-85cm fish being picked up in the channel and around the pylons. Zman Minnowz soft plastics in white, motor oil and chartreuse colours have worked well. Bream around 25-30cm have been active at Garratt Road as well and they have taken Zman Grubz and strips of mullet. Bream have also been caught between the Causeway and the Narrows but they are yet to be caught in big numbers in their usual haunts this time of year, such as yacht clubs in the lower reaches. Bony herring schools have been in the middle to lower reaches of the Swan but they have yet to be harassed by big mulloway. Canning Bridge also fished well this week with big bream caught around the pylons and a few soapy mulloway along with tailor around the 40cm mark landed. Try use those strong northerly winds to your casting advantage if fishing off the land this weekend.