Fishing Monthly Magazine | April 2023

Page 106

North Coast

WA

All eyes on Karratha blue swimmer crab season DAMPIER/KARRATHA

Troy Honey

April, or ultimately Easter weekend, traditionally marks the start of the blue swimmer crab season in Karratha. In 2022 the season took another couple of months after Easter before it really got going, and then continued for much longer than usual. It is a hard one to predict as the season can also start much earlier. Water temperature and ocean currents play a big part in crab populations and movement, as well as

impacts from commercial prawning, which catch the blue swimmer crabs as a by-product in the latter half of the season. To date in 2023, we have seen signs of a very early season for this year. A fair few crabs over legal size of 127mm have been coming from Nickol Bay and Dampier Harbour, but they have been few among the many undersize crabs. Further north in the Pilbara there have been some exceptional catches in Port Hedland. In all of the sandy bays along the Pilbara Coast you will find blue swimmer crabs.

Catching big GTs is a dream for many anglers and the Dampier Archipelago is fast becoming the place to target them. Josh Mullen has been getting amongst some serious GT action lately.

The crabs bury themselves in the sand during the day, and ferociously feed at night under the cover of darkness for protection. Due to the large tides along the Pilbara Coast, always ensure you target areas with your nets that remain under water at low tide. Some crabs will move into areas that are exposed at low tide when the high tide roles in, but the numbers will always be much higher in areas that stay non-exposed throughout the tide cycle. As previously mentioned, blue swimmer activity is much higher at night, and fishing for them at this time is significantly more productive, but it comes with challenges. Vision at night on the water is difficult, and with this, finding your floats is harder. I always mark each net on my sounder, even if crabbing during the day. Another tip is to paint your floats with a fluoro colour such as green or pink, which makes it easier to see if the wind blows up and white caps form, as white floats disappear very quickly amongst white caps. And lastly for night crabbing, attach a glow stick to the floats. These work great and make for easy navigation up to each float with the boat. I’m hoping to have lots of catch reports in the next edition for blue swimmer crabs along the Pilbara Coast. Please remember to check the size of each crab and only keep those that exceed 127mm across the carapace, and a boat limit of 40 and north coast bag limit of 20 per fisher. There has been a great variety of fish catches in

John Palermo has been one of the barra anglers in the Pilbara during the 2023 wet that has had success finding some great fish in the local creeks. 106 APRIL 2023

Josh Mullen with another solid GT coming from the shoals in the Archipelago caught on a large stick bait cast across the shallow water. Karratha over the last month, with the weather really turning it on to either get the boat out or enjoy a day fishing land-based. There have been several reports of big coral trout being caught from shore in Dampier Harbour, with the fuel station jetty being the pick of the spot. Plenty of trevally are also being caught here. The mangrove jack fishing scene continues to improve in Karratha, with all the rock walls and creeks holding good numbers. The average size is between 30cm and 40cm, with the occasional jack testing the 50cm mark. Among the mangrove jacks are plenty of queenfish and Spanish flag. Quite a few barramundi and threadfin salmon have

been landed in the creeks and around the mouths, and this will start to slow down as we head into May. Spanish mackerel, longtail and mac tuna are still about, with the shoals and offshore reefs the best place to start trolling. The same areas have seen some monster GTs being caught, with the Dampier Archipelago really starting to stamp its name as the west coast hot spot for monster GTs. The demersal fishing will slowly start to improve during April, and once we are in May it will increase rapidly as the water cools off and the demersals head into shallower water. There have still been plenty of great demersal catches over the last

month, but if you are wanting reds and rankins the deeper water towards the gas rigs has been the place to fish. If coral trout, bluebone, blueline and spangled emperor are preferred then fishing any depth throughout the archipelago has seen great numbers being caught. The coral trout fishery in the Archipelago and surrounds is second to none, and this has a lot to do with the ‘one fish per angler’ bag limit mixed with the perfect habitat and climate conditions. We’ve had an exciting period of fishing in Karratha region as we transition from wet to dry season, but we’ll still get to enjoy the best of both fishing species combined with the lowest average wind months in April and May.

Lachy Warren with a solid dhufish he caught while fishing Esperance.


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GEN III

0
pages 126-127

Stessco Albacore CC560 with Yamaha F130 4-stroke

5min
pages 124-125

AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST National Fishing Challenge

2min
pages 122-123

Langford pips Johnson for Glenmaggie title

3min
pages 116-120

Johnson claims maiden BASS Pro win at Blue Rock

3min
pages 114-115

DUO Vukic achieves Hollands Landing heroics

7min
pages 112-113

Tight bags and tarwhine on the Swan

7min
pages 110-111

Now is an exciting time to be on the water

8min
pages 108-109

All eyes on Karratha blue swimmer crab season

3min
page 106

The new Stacer package deals

2min
page 105

Exciting Easter action on tuna

2min
page 105

Impact of regulation changes

2min
page 104

Fishers eager to get back out

3min
page 103

Demersal options are back

2min
page 102

Salmon sightings tempt fishers

6min
page 101

Launching a land-based assult

4min
page 100

Savouring the calm autumn weather pattern

2min
page 100

Good fishing continues into the cooler months

4min
page 99

The good, the bad and the ugly: Tassie offshore

4min
page 98

The WIRF Leaders are making lots of waves

1min
page 97

Decisions, decisions: which bank shall we fish?

2min
page 96

Making the most of Gippy during the cold months

2min
page 96

Crackdown on fishing offenses

3min
page 95

Consistent results for fresh salmonid fishers

1min
page 95

Autumn fishing is firing up

4min
page 94

Trolling up some solid autumn Murray cod

3min
page 93

Prime time to go chasing cod

1min
page 92

A great month for trout in northeast Victoria

2min
page 92

Great angling opportunities in Bendigo region

2min
page 90

Tough going on the Murray

1min
page 90

Tracking down the bait schools

2min
page 89

Hot fishing in local estuaries

0
page 88

Bream and flathead from the Bemm channel

1min
page 88

Super snapper from the surf

4min
page 87

A constantly changing fishery

1min
page 86

Flat out dusky flathead fishing

3min
page 86

Your fishing licence fees at work

0
page 85

Local advice is the key to catching bluefin tuna

5min
page 84

Get ready for seasonal changes

4min
pages 82-83

Last chance for good PPB snapper sessions

4min
page 81

Impressive catches in estuaries

3min
page 80

Decent bream catches in the Hopkins River

1min
page 79

Anglers are still on the lookout for big tuna

2min
page 79

Get out there and catch a nice feed this autumn

2min
page 78

Autumn arrives with redfin catches everywhere

3min
page 77

The DPI needs your fish frames

2min
page 76

Perfect time to be walking banks

1min
page 76

Smooth flows ahead for April!

2min
page 75

The importance of water temps

1min
page 74

Anglers enjoying some excellent trout fishing

3min
page 74

School holiday fun for the kids

3min
pages 72-73

Anglers enjoying the long awaited seasonal change

1min
page 72

The autumn fishing is on fire

5min
page 70

A better class of fish on offer

5min
page 69

Anglers are enjoying more moderate weather

5min
page 68

Inshore anglers get into action

3min
page 67

Decent catches are increasing as autumn begins

2min
page 66

Getting the small things right

3min
page 65

Mackerel fever spreads

2min
page 64

The pelagic fishing is at its peak

3min
page 63

Coffs is right in the middle of the mackerel run

1min
page 62

Tagging Tales

1min
page 61

Keep moving to find the fish

4min
pages 60-61

Sydney flathead are still taking bait and lures

7min
pages 58-59

A transition period for all the Sydney waterways

6min
pages 56-57

Range of pelagics in harbour

4min
pages 54-55

Spectacular fishing on the surface schools

2min
page 54

Gary’s Marine Centre

5min
pages 50-51

We’re spoilt for choice

3min
page 50

National Recreational Fishing Survey 2019-21

10min
pages 46-47

Glorious rain is flowing throughout Cape York

2min
pages 44-45

Crabs are under the spotlight

1min
pages 42-43

Autumn adventures abound

2min
page 42

Promising prospects ahead for autumn bags

2min
pages 40-41

Clean tropical waters make for great catches

2min
page 40

Hungry autumn barra are not fooling around

2min
pages 38-39

Bright lures in dirty water

4min
pages 36-37

Transition through the month

3min
pages 34-35

Baits take centre stage

4min
pages 32-33

Why donating your fish frames to science provides valuable data

1min
page 31

What’s a holiday without a bit of fishing?

1min
page 30

Flathead just keep on coming!

4min
pages 28-29

Transitioning from the summer to winter species

2min
page 26

Unseasonable species settle

9min
pages 24-25

Cool conditions bring stability

2min
pages 22-23

Return of the Spaniards

4min
page 18

Big autumn wahoo offshore

3min
page 16

The Great De-Bait

2min
pages 14-15

Used Boat

3min
pages 9-10

Bolstering bait tactics

4min
pages 8-9
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