West Coast
WA
Tuna triumph during annual dermersal ban very plump skippy, smaller fish have been inside the bay. King George whiting are being caught along the sand to weed edges out from the jetty. While the ban is on, you can target some other tasty seafood options as well. There are lots of crays along the inshore reefs getting ready to moult, so it is well worth
LANCELIN
Peter Fullarton
This month will see the seasonal closure protecting demersal fish stocks commencing 15 October, ending 15 December. Targeting demersal species even for release is not permitted during this time. Drone fishers have been doing well on snapper and in recent months several dhufish have been landed as well. That might be a clue to the small boat owners not to overlook the inshore reefs for a quality feed! Coral patches around the 28m depth have been productive for baldchin, break sea cod, snapper and a few dhu. Lumps out around the 35-45m have been producing plenty of dhufish around the 10-15kg.
When using high speed lures like the Halco Max, manoeuvre the boat to position the lure ahead of fast moving tuna schools.
The calm shallows at the south end of the bay is a great spot to fish from a kayak. October usually signals the arrival of better numbers of tuna. Something to keep us interested on the water during the demersal ban period. You don’t usually need to go far to find some schools. At times they will be just outside the bay, although they are more reliably found outside the white bank. I have put together a few tips on how to get amongst them: • The bait the tuna feed on are usually schools of small sardines or whitebait. The tuna literally push the bait up from below, a ball of the tiny fish can be seen being hammered by tuna from below while the birds swoop in from above. If you find a good bait ball, the tuna are usually in a feeding frenzy and it is easy to get fish to take pretty much any offering. Birds will indicate where the tuna are located. A few birds usually means the tuna are moving, stopping fleetingly to bust up on some small patches of bait around floating weed. These are usually the hardest fish to catch, so scan the horizon looking for 120
OCTOBER 2021
available you can set up to 6 of these, although most people just set some short lengths of pipe, usually blocked off on one end with enough concrete so the pot won’t move. A haul rope and float attached to the open end. Check these every few days hauling the pipes to see if any octopus have made the pipe their home. Pipes
birds are on a single direction flight path, if so follow them to find the tuna. • Trolling a bait ball it is important to keep distance or risk putting the fish off. This is done by running the lures out and cutting the boat in an arc around the school before straightening the course to pull the lures through the fish without driving too close. When casting, position the boat upwind at the edge of casting range and cut the engine allowing the boat to drift towards the school as you fish. • In reality, most of the time tuna are only busting up infrequently on small patches of bait or picking a few baitfish off the floating sargassum weed as they pass. These schools only stop for a minute or two before moving on. You can cast to these schools, but
Trolling can be successful with fast-moving schools, run out skirts or bibless minnows that can handle 12+ knots so the boat can be manoeuvred fast enough to cut the lures ahead of the school’s path. • Early morning and overcast days are when the tuna feed best. Tuna are not always
Lancelin Bay has plenty of squid on offer.
Match the hatch, when the tuna are fussy look for a lure that is a similar size to what they are feeding on.
There’s been plenty of sambos on structure, both inshore and out wide. the largest gathering of birds, indicating the likelihood of a good bait ball. Lancelin Island hosts large breeding colonies of noddys and terns. If there is a big bust up on bait offshore these birds often indicate a bearing to follow. When leaving the bay, check out to see if all the
pay attention to the birds as they can see the tuna much better than you from above. The cast needs to go well ahead in the direction the birds indicate the fish are moving, so the lure crosses their path. If you aim for where the birds are by the time the cast goes out the fish will already be gone.
switched onto a feeding frenzy. They can be frustratingly difficult, quickly sounding as a boat approaches and then refusing the lures that are offered. Matching the hatch, finding a lure that is close to what the fish are eating, and winding fast as possible can be the secret to get these fussy fish to commit. High-speed retrieve reels will help greatly on these days and you cannot crank that handle too fast. Fishing the 20-22m depths is always reliable for a feed of tasty sand whiting. The trick is to do a bit of drifting to find where the larger fish are, before setting the pick to gather a bunch of larger sized specimens. Berley on most inshore reefs has been finding some
should be set on the shallow weed banks where there is little boat traffic. There are always plenty of squid on offer both inside and outside the bay. The most reliable way to catch squid is to drift along sea grass areas with some whiting threaded on squid spikes trailing behind the boat whilst casting a jig. Blue swimmer crabs are always an option too. Setting drop nets along the near shore where the sand meets seagrass is where they will be the thickest. Beach fishers have been getting onto some mulloway in the 10-20kg range. The new moon period has been the most productive with most fish coming early evenings and mornings. Plenty of small whaler sharks have been taking
The tailor run is on! Now is the time to be on the sand casting lures or pilchards into the surf. throwing a few pots out on one of the near shore reefs. It is also probably the best time of year to pot for some octopus. There are the trigger traps
the baits too. This month the tailor run is as good as it gets with fish averaging around the 50cm, gutters and reef breaks holding larger fish.
