South Coast
WA
Savouring the calm autumn weather pattern ESPERANCE
Murray Johnson
The large autumn tides are coming in, with 1.2-1.3m tides quite frequent at this time of year, making for some great beach fishing. The school sized mulloway around the 80-100cm mark have been in good numbers at beaches like Alexander Bay. Fishing the shallow shore gutters along Thomas River has also been great for these medium size mulloway. The best baits for targeting mulloway lately have been herring fillets or fillets of mullet, rigged on a snelled 7/0 octopus hook. Roughly two hours before the high tide is when they seem to bite the best, but you can still catch them all throughout the tide change. Fishing the deeper
beaches along Esperance, such as Kennedys and Roses, has been really productive for good-size gummy sharks, with some solid specimens up to 20kg landed off the beach recently. The best way to target gummies is to fish the new moon on these deeper beaches. The incoming tide and high tide are preferred, but not overly important – it’s more important to fish the new moon. The best bait for catching these is an octopus tentacle on a snell or a fresh herring fillet. For the less adventurous beach fishers, there have been great numbers of salmon around. Big schools of salmon have been cruising around out west at Roses Beach and 14 Mile, and even at Fourth Beach there have been good numbers of them being caught. Closer to town, the weed beds at Wylie Bay can be
productive in autumn. At this time of year, you can expect to catch good numbers of breadand-butter fish such as King George whiting, tarwhine, sand whiting and big flathead. During those calm, autumn afternoons, it’s quite pleasant fishing down there. The best bait to fish off the weed beds lately has definitely been prawns. I recommend putting them on a Black Magic KL 1/0 hook, which is the ideal size for hooking everything from small sand whiting through to 3-4kg salmon. The tanker jetty is starting to come back into the squid season, even through they didn’t really head out deep this summer. While we’ve got the clear and calm autumn waters down here, presenting natural coloured squid jigs (e.g. browns, whites and blues) will increase catches off the jetty. In the 3.5 size Harimitsu, the
lemon SP has been a great colour. It’s quite a subtle glow colour, which has proven to be really effective in the clear water. Great numbers of large herring have been getting caught at both the tanker jetty and Taylor Street jetty. The best time to target the larger ones is in the afternoons right on sunset. A strong berley trail brings them in closer, and there are always a lot more around when the grain ships are parked up at the port. All the lakes around town have been fishing really well for bream, with the water temperatures still quite warm and levels reasonably low. Anglers can consistently catch bream all day off the surface in these conditions. One of the stand-out lures is the Berkley Pro-Tech Bender, retrofitted with an assist hook in the middle, and fished subsurface.
You can also get good results on small soft plastics worked hard and fast – it’s a deadly technique to catch these fish. I like the Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5” Minnow in whitebait colour rigged up on a Bait Junkie jighead in 1/12oz on a no. 2 hook. The larger fish (around 1.2-1.3kg+) tend to bite better first thing in the morning or right on dusk on a warm afternoon. OFFSHORE In autumn we tend to get quite low winds and a lot of winds off the north, which makes for very pleasant boating. In recent weeks, anglers have been smashing good numbers of nannygai up to 3kg, along with big breaksea cod. The Nomad Squidtrex has been a hot new lure down here in the 150 size, catching everything from small harlequinfish all the way up to dhufish. We are still seeing an
increased number of dhufish in Esperance, and it’s becoming a regular occurrence to catch them over 10kg. Slow pitch jigging has been the best way to target these, and the 170g Ocean’s Legacy Long Contact jig in pink glow colour has been working well. April is also a good time of year to target big samsonfish out wide. Live baiting whole herring or skippy on top of the bommies out wide is a great way to target fish over the 30kg mark. • Established in 1986, Southern Sports and Tackle specializes in the supply and servicing of fishing equipment. They have an extensive knowledge of the local area and provide all brands, whether you’re fishing from beach, jetty or boat. Come and chat to the friendly staff at Shop 16, The Boulevard, Esperance or phone 08 9071 3022.
Launching a land-based assult BUNBURY
Whiteys Tackle and Camping
This has to be my favourite time of the year for a land-based assault. Whether you’re fishing the local beaches, the cut or inside the
I find those areas to have more sharp drop-offs or ledges that benefit from having your lure get close to the bottom, something a diving lure can’t always accomplish. Whilst fishing the beaches I’ll take the heaviest metal slug or minnow
Big salmon schools can pop up seemingly out of nowhere. marina, our famous Australian salmon can pop up out of nowhere and in huge schools. I’ve spent many mornings and afternoons chasing the salmon up and down jetties, rock walls and beaches around Bunbury just to feel that screaming run on light gear. It’s something that we don’t always have the opportunity to experience fishing landbased locally. If you’re fishing the jetties and rock walls, I’d suggest a well-balanced soft plastic around the 6” length as 100 APRIL 2023
profile hardbody lure that my rod will allow. Having that bit extra weight with a well-matched line can be the difference of 20m on your neighbour’s cast, and ultimately first punt at the school of bruisers. With no surprise, shark catches have escalated lately, with the salmon running up the coast coaxing the toothy critters along with them. Plenty of tigers and bronzies have been taking the baits recently, particularly around Dalyellup beaches, making for some exciting sportfishing. A slab of stingray is the most popular bait, and the Mandurah mullet we have delivered weekly have been enticing them well. Blue swimmer crabs are still on fire in the Leschenault estuary, with this being one of the best years we have ever had. If you’re happy to get your feet wet and spend a bit of time walking the flats you should be able to manage a feed. If you
really want to get your quota, the relatively new Willy hooks are a great way to try something new, and effective if the old-fashioned scooping isn’t for you! For boaties out there, try dropping your nets on the edge of the sand bar drop-offs with a nice oily bait like mullet or tuna heads to ensure your catch. The Collie River has been fishing really well, with reports of black bream over the 40cm mark. Fishing river prawns as bait
There are some good size tailor out there at the moment.
Corey with a nice lure-crunching bream.
A nice catch of crabs by David Moore.
rigged on a 1/0 baitholder hook with a small running ball sinker is a simple but effective way to target these fish. If lures are your thing, the Bite Science plastics seem to be out fishing everything else. If you’re looking for a fasterpaced way to fish these elusive Collie River bream, I recommend slow rolling a bibbed minnow deep in the snags for an exciting
hook-up and fantastic fight. Harvey Dam has been fishing well for redfin perch. Look for rocky banks with plenty of structure as this is where the redfin hide out. The norm is generally spinners but don’t discount soft plastics. I rig a slightly heavier jighead (around 1/8oz) to ensure my plastic is getting down to where the fish are. Beach fishos can expect
to find good numbers of yellowfin whiting cruising the beaches. A simple running ball sinker down to a long shank hook with either bloodworm or sandworm as bait is proving to be most successful. A tip for chasing yellowfin whiting from the beach is not to cast too far! They normally sit in the wash only 8-10ft from the shoreline. We are still getting good tailor reports from south of Buffalo Beach. These fish have not been in huge numbers but the size are certainly making up for it, with most fish well over the 40cm mark. On those still nights when the wind is behaving, I find it best to baitcast a mulie or scalie with little to no weight, and use a very slow retrieve. • Call into the shop at 1/143 Grand Entrance, Australind for the latest fishing reports and what’s biting, or simply to have a yarn. Until next time, tight lines and screaming drags!
