Recfishwest's State-wide Fishing Report 29 November 2024 🎣

The Town Jetty has been consistent for herring and squid, while Bandy Creek has held lots of King George whiting as well as flathead, flounder and skippy. The bream lakes have been producing, while the odd salmon has been taken at Salmon Beach, Wylie Bay, Fourth Beach and 11-Mile Beach.  Lots of big herring have been mixed in with the salmon at these beaches, along with small skippy and the odd mulloway. At Israelite Bay, mulloway to 85cm and gummy sharks have been landed, while the rocks there have produced King George whiting along with juvenile salmon to 1.5kg.
    
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. 

Big swells and strong southerlies have made beach fishing difficult but the Sand Patch has produced the odd resident salmon, while on the few occasions when the weather eased salmon were taken out towards Bremer Bay. Cheynes Beach fished well for herring, salmon and skippy when conditions allowed it and Shelley Beach has offered herring. In Albany, the marina has a held a few squid along with herring and small skippy. Squid chasers could also try there or in Frenchman Bay, which could also yield King George whiting and herring. Last weekend saw anglers at Emu Point catch yellowfin whiting, a few King George whiting and skippy on micro jigs. They also found reasonable numbers of squid near the old whaling station and fished the King and Kalgan rivers for bream, with better results reported from the King.

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 inshore reefs were firing on yellowtail kingfish this week and @saltfix had a memorable session on Sunday. He also managed to catch and safely release a solid dhufish on a popper in the shallows - something you don't see every day out on a boat!

Nick and his family wet a line off a beach north of Perth and managed to find a few tasty gummy sharks, which are arguably the best eating out of all shark species in WA waters. 

Tailor have become more active on metro beaches. At Floreat in the mornings nice mixed bags of sand whiting, chopper tailor and herring have been caught and big flathead have been underneath the herring and tailor schools feeding on the scraps. Big flathead are often found with small sand whiting in their stomachs as well. Anglers taking advantage of the easterly winds have been getting morning tailor at Trigg, Quinns, Two Rocks and Yanchep and most northern beaches have been holding sand whiting. At Cottesloe, tailor to 45cm have been taken in the late afternoons. Big squid have been caught at North Mole but not in great numbers. Smaller squid have been at South Mole and both Moles have held lots of herring. Herring and skippy have been the main catches from the rock walls south of Fremantle where small tarwhine have been a pest. At night, Fremantle Harbour’s E-Shed wharf has held good numbers of big yellowtail scad, which have been taken on tried-and-true sabiki rigs but also on one-inch soft plastics fished on very light (1-20 ounce) jig heads. In the Swan River, flathead and flounder have been dominating catches in the lower reaches with good numbers of both species hitting a range of lures at East Fremantle, North Fremantle, Point Walter, Alfred Cove, Mosman Bay, Freshwater Bay, Claremont and Nedlands. Fly-fishers have been doing well on flathead at Point Walter. Further up river there have been flathead at the Narrows and better numbers at the Causeway and Burswood. Bream have also been active around Burswood and Optus Stadium. Many fish have been schooling and have been found in big schools huddled around structure. Sometimes they have been reluctant to bite, so it’s often been a case of goading them into a strike or landing lures right in front of them. A few soapy mulloway have been taken up river but not in the numbers of recent weeks, while a big mulloway was landed at Claremont Jetty this week. Giant herring reports have been scarce but tailor chasers at Claremont, Nedlands, Como and Alfred Cove have hooked a few but failed to land them. Tailor catches have been steady at Canning Bridge, Como, the Narrows, East Fremantle, Point Walter and Claremont. At Point Walter skippy have been caught along with flathead and tailor. A few diehard yellowfin whiting chasers have been getting good fish on live baits on the change of tide when fishing wildly unsociable hours around East Fremantle. The best weather window for land-based fishers this week is tonight and early tomorrow morning but the strong westerly winds will make it tough for casting off the beach from Sunday onwards.