West Coast
WA
A sea of blue swimmers DAMPIER/KARRATHA
Troy Honey
The blue swimmer crab season is off to a fantastic start with the crabs running before Easter weekend and of all sizes. We had welcomed late wet season storms at the same time that challenged the local crabbers, but those who persisted were well rewarded.
net, whereas I was losing anything up to 70% of my nets to shark damage a session beforehand. Still on crabs, there are some really solid mud crabs being caught, especially on the full moons when the crabs work the creeks at night for a feed. The creeks south of Karratha have been performing very well and with the access roads and tracks dried out, the creeks have become much more
along the channel markers and gas pipelines and all of the ledges and ground in between is fishing really well with the odd species previously mentioned as well as plenty of blueline emperor, coral trout, Spanish flag and bluebone. The bluebone will start to slow down now the water temperature is cooling off as this species are far more active in warmer water. Bluebone can still be caught
John Palermo with a fly fisher’s dream species, a stunning pennant fish. your while to try some switch baiting or trolling lures as there are plenty about. Fly fishing is becoming very popular around the
diamond trevally to name a few. With the endless grounds surrounding the islands of the archipelago, nearshore shoals, mackerel
jack, bonefish, spangled emperor and even coral trout will be the species to target. By the end of May, the king prawns will be turning
The Pilbara region is host to monster GTs, which angler Darren Aliphon proved by fishing large casting poppers. May and June will only increase in size and numbers of the crabs, and they will also move into shallower waters and spread out across the bays. Sharks can be a
accessible. Water temps have cooled off nicely. Since the pictureperfect weather the Pilbara experienced during the wet season, mild weather, lots of
but the effort is greater when line fishing. Spear fishing for bluebone is much easier in the cooler water, and it is during the dry season we start to see many of the large male sultans speared as they become less active and easier targets. The sportfishing is starting to kick into gear with sailfish turning up regularly among the ship anchorage as well as northwest side of the archipelago islands. Numbers will rapidly increase into June setting up nicely for the billfish comps in July and August. I will cover more of the billfish action as we progress but if you are up in Karratha on holiday it is definitely worth
John Palermo with a solid queenfish on fly. Pilbara region with many species being great targets. Firstly, the blue bastard, one of the most sought-after species among fly fishers, followed by queenfish, spangled emperor, trevally, mangrove jack, bonefish, permit, pennant fish and
islands, multiple creeks and flats, the Pilbara coastline is a fly fisherman’s dream location. The fishing is evenly spread across the two seasons with plenty of fish to target in each of the weather conditions. As we head into the dry season, mangrove
Golden trevally are a tough fish pound-forpound, landing them on fly is no easy feat. problem at times with the drop net baits luring them in and destroying the nets. Fishing for blue swimmers, I have learnt to run a very light gauge bait clip, the opposite I run for mud crabs. The reason is the sharks rip at the bait and the bait clip fails early, leaving your drop net in relatively good condition. After a few crabbing sessions of testing this method, the sharks destroyed one 102 MAY 2023
rain and no cyclones has all resulted in the demersals, such as red emperor, rankin cod, saddletail seaperch and the like, moving into shallower water earlier than usual. Some really good examples have come from depths around the 20-30m mark, which is great as the distance needed to travel is much less. In fact, the fishing for demersals from the iron ore and gas ports,
Darren Aliphon having fun with Pilbara coral trout on jigs.
up in Nickol Bay and around to Point Samson. The prawns can be targeted from boats using dab nets and bright lights shone into the water or cast nets from the shore or even the Back Beach boat ramp walkway. The prawns run from May through to August and an easy way to pick the better days is by using the expertise of the trawler fisherman, when they are out, the prawns should be running. Next month’s article I will endeavour to bring some insight into the mangrove jack fishing in Karratha. The creek populations have been exploding over the last couple of years and it is not uncommon to see schools of jacks in the mangrove shaded creek edges while either incoming or outgoing tides are running. They congregate in these areas and strike at any food that comes past, and this is a great way to entice a strike by replicating it with lures or unweighted baits.
