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Recfishwest
Fishing Report

24/11/23

Here's an early Chrissie prezzie to show our appreciation to you and all of our fantastic members.You're all in our Festive Prize Draw to win great fishing prizes! 🎣🎁

All FREE or premium members of Recfishwest will go in the running to win one of seven awesome prize packs donated by our generous friends in the tackle industry!

Anyone joining up before 15 December goes in the draw and will be helping us stand up for WA’s 700,000+ recfishers, and the way of life we love.! 🥳 So please encourage your family and mates to join our Cast of Thousands as a member today!

T&C's apply and entries close at noon on Friday, 15 December, so get in quick by signing up here.

A big Recfishwest thanks to Anglers Fishing World, TackleWest, Assassin Tackle, Tackle World Miami, Emission Apparel, Compleat Angler Nedlands and Richter Lures for donating the sensational draw prize packs and vouchers valued between $250-500! 🐟

Our contributors

Sam Bock

Sam Russell

Peter Fullarton

Sedin Hasanovic

Want to know the best tips for taking great fish photos and also on how to handle fish out of the water? We've got you covered with our r esponsible fish handling and photography tips page. The page gives a perfect explanation on the types of images we love to use in our weekly Fishing Report and why.

If you've got a cracking fish photo you want to send in, remember to keep sending us your catches by tagging #recfishwest in your online posts! You can also follow and private message your catches to our Instagram page @recfishwest and make sure you let us know where and how you caught it!

Keep up to date with events, clinics, news and amazing catches across WA by following our Instagram page @recfishwest and give our Recfishwest Facebook page a like!

For your photos to appear in the weekly fishing report, please make sure they reflect our responsible fish handling practices (so fish held horizontally, no blood, hand under the belly, no fingers in gills, etc), just like the images below.

If you're planning to head out this week, stay safe, take plenty of photos and have fun!

William Bennett

RECFISHWEST FISHING REPORT WRITER

Pic of the Week!

Brett Poole is feeling quite "fly" with this dog of a mackie reaching the decks of the boat off Exmouth. Measuring in at a solid 145cm Brett had an epic time landing this big dog on fly gear. Fantastic effort, and a worthy pic of the week!

Your fishing photos

If you want to be included in our weekly State-wide Fishing Reports, send your best fishing photos and a description to sedin@recfishwest.org.au to potentially be featured.

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THIS SUMMER'S ABALONE DATES ANNOUNCED!

Get your gear ready, the four days where you can jump in the drink and grab a feed of abs this summer are out!

Nearly 17,000 of WA's licensed abalone recfishers will be able to gather a feed from Guilderton to Busselton between 7-8am on the following days:

- Saturday, 9 December
- Saturday, 13 January
- Saturday, 3 February
- Saturday, 17 February

If one of these days is cancelled due to poor conditions, a backup day will be announced.

Want to know the best abalone fishing zones, gear and safety tips? Check out the abalone advice from Surf Life Saving WA here.

Broome catches

PB and Jam. 😎 Tim Mitchell with a personal best GT off the Rowley Shoals. The biggest and most feared of the trevally family, these premier sportfish offer some sensational fishing experiences.

Boats

There has been plenty of Spanish mackerel action in Roebuck Bay in the 5-15m depths along with a few tuna and some grey mackerel. On the edge of the deeps, from 10-50m, fingermark and bluebone have been caught but sharks have been a problem at times so many fishers have stuck to the shallower depths. Northern mulloway have been active near the creek mouths along with blue-nosed salmon, while northern mulloway have also been hanging around the bay’s ledges and deeper holes. Crab Creek has been the pick of the creeks for barramundi with plenty of fish around the 70-80cm mark which have shown a liking for Nomad Vertrex vibes and the new Halco TBarra 80 deep-diving hard bodies. The Fingers has fished slower than usual but has held barramundi and blue-nosed salmon. The better spots for mud crabs have been Crab Creek and Little Crab Creek. The coming days should see persistent westerlies and low swells.

Shore-based

At Town Beach Jetty queenfish, school mackerel and trevally have been the main catches while the Port Jetty has held golden trevally and bigger queenfish, and barramundi around the pylons at night. Wading out on the low tide at Entrance Point has been productive for those chasing queenfish and trevally, while Town Beach has held good numbers of whiting. Cable Beach and Coconut Wells have been getting hammered by the wind but a few people have persevered fishing there, hoping for a blue-nosed salmon or northern mulloway. Willie Creek has fished well for small barramundi and mangrove jack, with live baits working best, while next week favourable tides mean Crab Creek should be worth a crack for mangrove jack, blue-nosed salmon and barramundi. With plenty of warm water flowing into the Fitzroy River and lots of bait about barramundi activity has really hotted up, with quite a few barra landed over the magic metre mark. The usual Fitzroy faves have produced: Langi Crossing, the Cuttings and Telegraph Pool.

Exmouth catches

The fluff-chucking experiences in Exmouth continue with Liam Surridge deploying the long-wand and landing a coral trout (not the usual trout fly-fishers target 👀)

Boats

Blue marlin and the odd striped marlin have dominated catches in the deep waters on the west side with many boats regularly raising up to seven fish a day in depths of 500m and way beyond. Most of the blues have been around the 100kg mark but a fish thought to be 300kg was also reported. A few tuna have been among the deepwater bycatch. In the 50m depths out west, Rankin cod, red emperor and spangled emperor have been the main catches while trolling at Exmouth Reef and off Tantabiddi has been productive for Spanish mackerel. Cobia have also turned up at Exmouth Reef and they have also made their way further down the gulf. The gulf also has a few Spaniards as well as school mackerel and tuna but sailfish catches have tapered off. The shoals in the gulf have produced bluebone, blue-lined emperor, spangled emperor and a few coral trout, while big golden trevally have been landed at King Reef but many fish have been lost to sharks. Mud crabs and the odd blue swimmer crab are down at the Bay of Rest but squid catches have been down. Fly-fishers targeting the offshore flats have sighted permit, queenfish and bluebone but few fish have been landed.

Shore-based

At Learmonth Jetty whiting catches have been good. A few bream have been among the bycatch and mangrove jack have been hanging around the jetty pylons. Squid have been hard to find there. Better spots for squid have been around Bundegi, where small trevally and queenfish are harassing hardyhead schools near the boat ramp, and on the northern wall of the town marina. Inside the marina, mangrove jack, javelin fish, bream and cod have been caught while fishing on the town beach for whiting has been a good option. Spangled emperor have been caught at the Lighthouse and Mildura Wreck, while spangled emperor and bluebone have come from the Dunes. Tantabiddi has held a few spangled emperor in the mornings and plenty of whiting in the day, while in the evenings mangrove jack and cod have been caught. Cod and mangrove jack are also in Wapet Creek with the most successful anglers using a throw net to catch live bait before targeting them.

Kalbarri catches

Big G-herring! Measuring in at a whopping 114cm of drag-sizzling, cartwheeling pool noodle of a fish, Jayson Spencer hit up Shark Bay and had a great time, check out his insta for more great photos here.

Boats

Visitors to town headed to Sand Patch to chase Spanish mackerel and tuna but had to make do with schools of bonito last weekend. The Murchison is a good option for angler chasing bream and mangrove jack upstream, or yellowfin whiting and tailor down near the Spit and river mouth. Elsewhere, boating activity has been quiet but divers chasing crayfish off Port Gregory have reported picking up some whites along with good numbers of reds. The coming days should see low swells and short windows of light winds in the mornings, hopefully allowing for a few boats to make the most of their opportunities.

Shore-based

Tailor have continued to fish well in the mornings at Red Bluff and Wittecarra with many anglers getting their bag limits and some of the fish hitting the 50cm mark. Mixed in with the tailor have been big yellowfin whiting and dart. Over at Oyster Reef the odd pink snapper has been taken, while from the cliffs pink snapper and even a few spangled emperor have been caught at Goats Gulch. Wagoe has produced mulloway to 15kg and a few pink snapper. In the Murchison River bream continue to be caught upstream while good numbers of mud crabs and the odd blue swimmer have been about the system. The river’s Sand Spit has fished well for yellowfin whiting and the odd cod, while chopper tailor have been at the spit in the evenings and also at the town marina, where a few small mangrove jack have been caught around the boat pens.

Geraldton catches

Seriola Saturdays are for the upper body with this specimen giving Geraldton's own Mat Svenson a pump. 💪

Boats

Squid, many with 40cm tubes, have been caught in front of the Batavia Coast Marina all the way around to Point Moore, while a few blue swimmer crabs have started to show up off the Town Beach. Inshore fishers can also expect to find tailor, pike and herring around the inshore reefs. With water temperatures on the rise and reasonable conditions this weekend boats are expected to head out to troll for Spanish mackerel and tuna. Swell around 1m and light winds in the mornings should see a few boats head out over the coming days before the stronger south-westerlies kick in before midday.

Shore-based

Tailor have been widespread both sides of town. They have been prolific south of Greenough through to Flat Rocks and sizes have varied with some good fish and plenty of regular summer choppers. Soapy mulloway have been among the tailor schools. Greenough River mouth’s first and second points have fished well for tailor and also pike and herring. Southgates has produced tailor in the mornings on the low tide, while in the mornings at Tarcoola Beach tailor have been patchy but prolific when they’ve turned up, and herring, pike and dart have also been caught. Greys Beach has offered tailor, school whiting and herring. Batavia Coast Marina has held big squid along with tailor, and a big pink snapper was caught there this week. The southern end of Drummond Cove has tailor, herring and pike and in the evenings good tailor have been caught along with mulloway around the metre mark. At Coronation Beach weed has been a problem but lots of tailor and a few pink snapper have been caught from the northern end.

Lancelin catches

Peter Fullarton giving the Assassin Spin Tech a bit of a stretch with a few tailor creating some great action in the mornings on dawn.

Boats

The whites run of crayfish is heating up! Boats fishing close to shore have been bagging out on the tasty crustaceans. Tuna schools have been plentiful and there hasn't been a need to head far out to find a few schools, with some big bust-ups occurring on bait balls. Yellowtail kingfish have made a welcome appearance around the bays reefs and out to the 10-12m drop off. Schools have been busting up on baitfish at the surface and can be caught sight casting stickbaits and poppers into the action. While inside the bay there’s been plenty of herring, skippy, flathead and after a period of low numbers we have seen some good catches of King George whiting again.

Shore-based

The weather has been sensational for the beach casters and the fish have certainly come to the party with some great sessions on tailor both mornings and evenings, biting well into the night. Using larger baits have resulted in some perfect size sharks for the pan at around a meter and the guitar fish have returned with the warming waters. Dawn has seen some good snapper from casting to nearshore reefs. Unfortunately, northern beaches will be out of bounds Monday and Tuesday, with the defence force firing range active. The hot weather has also had several total fire bans where 4wd on tracks is not permitted and is expected to continue till Monday.

Esperance catches

Boats

Crews taking advantage of weather windows have found good nannygai at Figure of Eight Island, Boxer Island and Leg of Lamb Bank, while a couple of thumping nannygai at 60cm were landed at Mondrain Island. Breaksea cod to 3kg have come from the wider lumps such as Humilaria and Waterwitch, while queen snapper to 8kg have been caught at Lion and Black Islands and big harlequin fish have been landed at Sweep Rock. Big numbers of skippy have come from Coopers Reef. King George whiting have been caught in the corner of Wylie Bay, while sand whiting have been in the 12m depths behind the surf club at Twilight Cove and Esperance Bay has fished well for herring and big squid. Strong westerly winds in the afternoons will make boat fishing difficult over the weekend but there may be a weather window or two in the morning to take advantage of the relatively low swells.

Shore-based

The Town Jetty has fished well for squid and herring, while the Taylor Street rock wall has produced bigger squid. Observatory Beach and 10-Mile Lagoon have held big flathead, while every beach along Great Ocean Drive has produced salmon with schools estimated at 5.5 tonnes passing through Roses Beach. Alexander Bay has held gummy sharks, while Thomas River has fished well for mulloway to 90cm with the hot bite being right on high tide. At Stokes Inlet bream to 45cm have shown a liking for shallow-diving Cranka Minnows, while early morning has been the been the best time to target King George whiting up to 40cm at Bandy Creek Boat Harbour.

Great Southern catches

Gido's Fishing Adventures back at it again testing some new gear out and catching some colourful harlequin. Check out his channel to see the latest uploads here.

Boats

Winds and swells have kept most crews confined to King George Sound which has fished very well for squid and quite well for King George whiting around the 40cm mark, while a couple of early-season blue swimmer crabs have been caught in Oyster Harbour. A few fishers out from Bremer Bay have been able to find the weather windows and have picked up pink snapper and nannygai. Unfortunately the screaming easterlies and large swells should keep most boats parked up in the driveway until conditions start to improve late next week.

Shore-based

The Kalgan River has fished well for bream and mulloway, and juvenile salmon mixed in with herring have been hanging around the river mouth. Bream have also been caught in the Wellstead estuary at Bremer Bay, while offshore from Bremer Bay. Beaches, mainly to the east of town, have produced small salmon, herring, skippy and whiting, while squidding has been good at the Town Marina, Frenchman Bay and Emu Point. These locations have also produced whiting, herring and small skippy and Emu Point has also held a few juvenile salmon. Flathead and King George whiting have been caught in the Wilson Inlet.

South West catches

Boats

Plenty of sand whiting have been caught from both sides of Bunbury but King George whiting have been scarce. Also harder to find off Bunbury are tuna as the baitfish schools seem to have diminished with the calmer weather. Crayfish catches have been very good, with pots producing in as little as 3m of water. In the Leschenault Estuary, trolling the channels and drop-offs has been productive for chopper tailor. Squidding has been excellent in Geographe Bay and King George and sand whiting catches have also been good. Relatively warm and calm conditions over the weekend should make for good boating conditions, with the wind picking up from mid next week.

Shore-based

Yellowfin whiting have been very hungry and fishers wading the flats of Leschenault Estuary have been doing very well. It’s been a case of the hotter the better with the whiting particularly aggressive in the middle of the day, hitting lures such as Bassday Suga Pens and vibes such as TT SwitchPrawns and Eco Gear ZXs. The estuary’s drop-offs have also produced chopper tailor and bream have been caught in the Collie River. For family-friendly fishing the Bunbury Cut and the rock walls at Back Beach have produced chopper tailor, herring and whiting. Beaches from Preston all the way down to Forrest Beach have produced chopper tailor and school mulloway, along with herring and whiting. Busselton Jetty has offered heaps of squid and herring and fishers have been tangling with Samson fish in the deep water at the end. Crayfish have been in close at Peppermint Grove Beach, making them easy-pickings for experienced shore-divers. At Dalyellup, chopper tailor, herring and flathead have been caught in the evenings. The sheltered beaches in Geographe Bay around to Dunsborough have offered good yellowfin whiting, with many anglers targeting them on lures, while herring and sand whiting have been among the bycatch. Chopper tailor have started to show up on the beaches around Dunsborough.

After spending time bashing through prickle bushes and blackberries, Alex Vermeulen caught this chunky trout that took a soft placcy in less than 30cm of water.Great effort!

Water levels are uncharacteristically low in the South West, making the dam fishing a bit easier going compared to the rivers for kayakers. Wellington and Harvey Dams have produced plenty of redfin perch and rainbow trout, especially in the mornings, with fish taking a range of lures including soft plastics, Razor Edge Scout hard bodies and micro jigs. In the Collie River, stream fishers have found brood rainbows around Honeymoon Pool and redfin perch around the 45cm mark have come from the Pemberton region. If you catch any great trout or redfin, make sure you message us a snap of the catch to our Instagram page @recfishwest.

Mandurah and surrounds

Mandurah

Yellowfin whiting fishing has been the main game in town this week with the hot bite coming first thing in the morning. Some of the better spots have been Island Point on a high tide and the first part of the runout, Coodanup and Len Howe Reserve in Erskine at any time, and South Yunderup mainly on a high tide unless you fancy a long walk out. Effective surface lures have included Atomic Hardz K9s and Bassday Suga Pens, while vibes such as the TT SwitchPrawn have also worked well. There have been plenty of herring in the estuary also and tailor fishers are doing well targeting the estuary’s drop-offs or trolling in the channels. The Dawesville Cut has offered squid and herring early in the mornings and chopper tailor after dark. Chopper tailor and herring have been showing up at the Mandurah traffic bridges as well, while bream have been around the canals. Good tailor have come from beaches both sides of town with Seascapes one of the better spots. Beaches at Falcon and Melros have offered squid on the high tide when jigs or bait spikes have been fished under a float. Good sand whiting catches have come from just outside the Five-Fathom Bank, the 30m line off Dawesville has been the sweet spot for big King George whiting and lumps in 35 and 40m have offered plenty of arm-stretching Samson fish. The weekend and early next week is looking glorious for putting the boat in or flicking from the shore, so make the most of the warm weather and easterlies before the conditions change from Tuesday onwards.

SECRET HARBOUR / PORT KENNEDY / ROCKINGHAM / SAFETY BAY / WARNBRO SOUND

For boat-based fishers, yellowtail kingfish and tuna have been caught at the Five-Fathom Bank and behind Garden Island, with trolled Richter Jelly Babes accounting for quite a few fish. Exposed reefs at the back of Garden Island have also fished well for tailor to 50cm and the same area has offered some good skippy and Samson fish. Cockburn and Warnbro sounds have been reliable for King George whiting, sand whiting and squid, as have Parmelia Bank and Mangles Bay. Cray divers have been doing well, finding recently-moulted whites in abundance, meaning it’s only a matter of time before the whites run is well and truly underway. Boating and offshore diving over the weekend and Monday should be good with light offshore winds in the mornings, low swell and warm weather.

Shore-based fishers have had their fair share of action too. Tailor have been active in the evenings at Secret Harbour and Port Kennedy beaches with the fish mainly biting well after dark, around 8 and 9pm. And leading up to the full moon, mulloway chasers are expected to be out in force next week. Golden Bay has fished well for sand whiting and some nice flathead have been among the bycatch, while the beaches around the grain terminal have a good mix of sand and yellowfin whiting. A mix of whiting species have also been caught at the Penguin Island spit, while Long Point has held whiting, herring and chopper tailor. Squid, herring and chopper tailor have been the mainstays at Woodman Point and the Ammo Jetty and the same species have come from Rockingham and Palm Beach jetties. Land-based squidding has been good at Point Peron, which has also produced a few crayfish for shore-divers.

Perth catches

A bit of shallow-water free-diving off Rotto has been producing the goods! Matt Burton, Graham Mcaullay and Riley Burton picked up a fair few reds this week.

Boats

King George and sand whiting have been the main targets for boaties this week and good catches have been widespread. Fremantle Sailing Club’s Angling Section made the most of the good KG fishing during their King George Classic over the weekend, with plenty of fish being brought to the weigh in – including a 1.2kg kidney-slapper caught by Reza Salleh and many fish over the half-kilo mark. Deeper waters near Rottnest and Garden islands have produced big KGs and Windmills has fished well for decent KGs and also chunky sand whiting. Sand whiting catches have also been good off Cottesloe and City Beach in 10-15m depths and KG catches have been good at the Three Mile Reef. Squid too have been widespread with the inshore waters off South Fremantle producing plenty and so too the inshore waters off Mindarie. Solid skippy and rat Samson fish have come from the back of Stragglers, while decent tailor have been caught at Mewstones. Divers are reporting plenty of crays in the reef ledges across the Perth Metro – most of which are whites – which should translate into full cray pots over the coming weeks with the whites run. Trolling for chopper tailor in the Swan River has also been productive with Halco Twisty lures working well. Light to moderate offshore winds and low swell should see plenty of fishers make the most of the warm weather before it turns for the worse from Tuesday onwards.

Shore-based

Tailor have been in good numbers with Yanchep Lagoon producing fish in the mornings and Cottesloe and Swanbourne offering plenty of choppers in the evenings. Northern beaches such as Alkimos, Iluka and Eglington have fished well for chunky sand whiting in the mornings and the north metro rock walls have offered tailor and herring. In Fremantle Harbour tarwhine and scaly mackerel have been in good numbers, North Mole has offered herring in the day and tailor after dark, while South Mole and the South Fremantle rock walls have held squid and herring. The Swan River has really turned it on for a range of species this past week. Flathead and flounder fishing in the lower reaches of the Swan and Canning systems has been excellent with both species taking a range of lures, including hard bodies, soft plastics, old-school jigs, vibes and imitation prawns. Tailor are also plentiful as far up river as Burswood and surface bust-ups are a common sight. One angler came across one such bust-up at Blackwall Reach while chasing flathead and enjoyed a half-hour session catching and releasing a dozen tailor ranging from undersized to a respectable 43cm. Better spots for tailor have been the Canning and Mt Henry bridges, Applecross Jetty, Claremont Jetty, the Narrows and Point Walter. Plenty of yellowfin whiting have been flashing in the lower reaches of the Swan but have so far shown little interest in lures. Fishers wading the flats have also seen quite a few big blue swimmer crabs, suggesting the Swan River crabbing season which opens on December 1 could be a good one. The same angler who encountered the tailor bust-up was also impressed with new Vexed Buckabou jigs. Primary aimed at flatfish chasers, the jig claimed five species in a session on Tuesday morning: flathead, a decent flounder, tailor, herring and a bream. Bream chasers have come across good fish in the Canning River as far up as Shelley and up the Swan River to Guildford. Night-time sessions targeting bridges and structure have been the most productive and soapy mulloway have been among the bycatch. Another prized Swan River species is the giant herring and a few have popped up around Applecross with fly-fishers managing to land a few, along with the odd tailor.

Recfishwest

3/45 Northside Drive Hillarys

Perth, WA 6025

Australia

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3/45 Northside Drive
Hillarys, WA AU

GPS Latitude: -31.82141 Longitude: 115.73853

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