West Coast
WA
Dreaming of a white cray-mas! LANCELIN
Peter Fullarton
Number one target species this month would have to be the white crays. The beach is busy every morning with boats coming and going checking pots often near dawn while there is a lull in winds.
you are due back. Don’t forget to log off! DEMERSALS When will we be able to fish? That was the question at the time of writing, there was much uncertainty to the future of the fishery. Lancelin Angling and Aquatic Club competition calendar was certainly hanging in the balance with no forward planning due
current. Currently, it’s a La Nina period, which suggests a stronger and warmer current, perhaps another good
up plenty of herring, skippy, snook and pike. Fishing baits can be at risk of finding hoards of wrasse, butterfish, trumpeter
Griffin slaying some solid tailor, two on one bait!
Geordie almost cracked the 60cm while fishing the saltwater for the first time.
The Roberson family had a great day out chasing tuna and dhu fish. This is young Harry with a nice tuna. It’s a great social time of year with fishers comparing catches and depths they have been coming from, a social event on the beach! Lancelin has lots of room for everyone to park and make a leisurely launch. A totally different scene to the long queues, parking
to the uncertainty! If the season does open in December this year, baldies should have improving numbers and be found in shallower depths. Dhufish will be schooling up on the lumps. Snapper can be attracted to boats feeding on the old bait
mackerel season on the way – woohoo, something to catch big enough to pull some string during the ban! There are usually plenty of tuna just outside the white bank 25-7m and often another band out from the 30m line. Southern blue, striped and yellowfin perhaps still some bonito around too. More towards the end of the month start thinking about Spaniard, school and shark mackerel as the water temperatures go upwards of 21ºC. The larger mackerel potentially shadowing the schools of bonito and smaller bluefin, activity will peak during next year when the temps near 24ºC. Small boats and kayaks can find plenty on offer to keep occupied during the school holidays fishing within the bay. Trolling small lures can pick
or blowfish, so it is probably a better idea to keep the burly in the boat. If you can get past the pickers in addition baits might find tarwhine or King George whiting. Casting lures to the sand weed edges and
Donatello with a nice mulloway, posing for a quick pic before release. So good to see so many people releasing these prized catches these days.
Snook will respond to a rage of lures trolled or cast, mainly found over the seagrass areas. fees and crowded frustration of the metro boat ramps. It’s not hard to come unstuck pulling heavy pots, especially solo. Log into Sea Rescue if you are heading out later in the day, otherwise make sure someone knows where you are going and when due back. If you don’t have someone you can trust, you can leave details with Sea Rescue via a SMS before the radio room opens stating call sign, boat and vehicle rego, bearing, number of people on board, fuel litres and when 112
DECEMBER 2022
discarded from lobster pots along the white bank. You can drift along different areas with the engine running watching the sounder for the fish attracted to the boat looking for scraps, no need for stealth the more noise on the boat the more likely something will come for a look. Beware though, there will likely be sharks following the boat too! In late December water temperatures are warm enough for the more tropical species to start to reach our latitudes on the Leeuwen
Jack getting returns from an early start casting the surface popper over a shallow reef at dawn.
using a lift and drop retrieve to keep the lure near the bottom flathead are more active in the shallows of the bay on warm days. I prefer a hardbody or vibe lure any blowfish will demo plastic tails in seconds. Additionally drop netting can find some sweet blue swimmer crabs or try drifting the weed beds casting jigs for squid. No boat, no problem! The jetty can be productive platform to fish from, although I advise to fish at night. Holiday season there is a lot of boats, jet ski’s etc coming and going throughout the day and the professional fishers have boats docking unloading their catch to trucks. With all the disturbance you’re only likely to catch blowfish. Night-time the jetty transforms, fish and squid move in under the lights. Small scented soft plastics are very successful on the big schools of herring that can gather. Tailor can be caught baitcasting pilchards off the northern end of the jetty. Beach fishing, we have seen some great mulloway over the past weeks, they become less common through December, school size fish 60-75cm more likely. The big baits are still worth a go, small whaler sharks have been active during the evenings, perfect eating size around a meter or so in length. Make sure to bleed them soon as they hit the beach gut, remove head fins thoroughly washing off any skin slime and get them on ice. You will be rewarded with fine meat and little ammonia odour. Guitarfish come with the warming waters too, they do eat well if treated the same. Although only keep what you need, one goes a long way to feeding a family for months. Winter green tailor are finishing up now, a lot more smaller choppers and bull herring along the beaches.
