West Coast
WA
White walkers are marching LANCELIN
Peter Fullarton
The white crays are creating lots of activity along the white bank, fishers pull pots loaded with lobsters each morning. The old bait is discarded over the side along with undersized or excess catch and fresh smelly bait added to the pot before being reset. All this food and smell acts as a giant berley trail attracting lots of fish. While we can’t target demersal species just yet, they are still around and there will be plenty of whaler sharks, sea kingfish and skippy. Mid-month when demersal fishing re-opens, it is certainly a good chance for dhufish break sea cod and pink snapper. Whilst out checking the pots, it is only a short hop to the 20m line where you can gather a feed of sand whiting, usually without much effort at all. A paternoster rig tied with three #4 long shank hooks baited with some beef heart
Baldies have been becoming more the dominate catch off Lancelin. Maybe a likely result of climate change? It is interesting times.
in front of Grace Darling Park are well sheltered for kayak fishing, herring usual abound here and are easily caught trolling or casting
Ecogear ZX vibes have been a revelation fishing the bay’s waters, you never know what’s going to bite next.
species of fish. Rocky areas hold tarwhine, leatherjackets and wrasse. Weed beds have snook, pike and skippy. Casting a squid jig should find a feed of calamari, although the snook have been destroying the jigs lately. While the broken ground can find some great feeds of King George whiting and the sandy patches are good for whiting, flathead and flounder. Lancelin Island has a sheltered beach you can pull up on and enjoy a lunch break. Casting a few lures or baits on the shallows can score flathead and yellowfin whiting. There is a lookout on the island and the walking path leads to the seaward side that is off limits for fishing, being a ‘fish habitat protection area’ – a great little sheltered spot for a snorkel
Courtney Metcalf sneaking in this dhu just before the close of season out of 35m at Ledge Point.
If you are up for the Xmas holidays and don’t have some good GPS plots, no worries. To score a feed of baldies you don’t need good structure like ledges and lumps, blind drifting usually finds the fish. I wouldn’t
Lancelin Island gives a great break to the day on a bay fishing session.
There have been very good numbers of yellowfin tuna this season. can be pulling triple-headers. Looking out to sea you are just as likely to see some birds indicating tuna schools. Our pelagic season has started as a belter of a year. There have been heaps of bait schools with bonito boiling the sea surface in areas as big as a football field. The species mix has been good too with an early run of bluefin, skipjack and an exceptional number of early yellowfin among them. The flesh is highly prized for eating and the oily heads and frames will make sure the cray pots are full. Demersal fishing is back on the agenda from the 16 December. The water has been in a warming trend since the close of the last season so bald chin groper will likely be in good numbers. 118
DECEMBER 2021
put too much effort in until at least 28m, 30m is even better. You can get them in closer but unless you have the bottom marked up it is less reliable. My rig of choice is a two-hook paternoster with one 8/0 circle hook and a 10/0 preferably baited with a matching size chunk of octopus. I use the large hooks mainly to avoid the undersized fish that have a poor survival on release. Fishing the flats still finds surprising numbers of dhufish and break sea cod. Lancelin Bay offers many opportunities to take the kids fishing on the school holidays. It is ideal for small boats and kayaks. The jetty has some great fishing for sand whiting by day and tailor and herring are caught evenings. The shallow flats
small soft plastics or a 5-10g Halco Twisty. The sand holes can hold schools of King George whiting, and hopping soft plastics along the bottom can also connect to some solid flathead that will be more active now the sun’s warming the shallows well. Deeper areas of the bay fish well for numerous
well. The action is a strong vibration attracting the fish well, while providing a good resistance against the line so it’s easy to have a good understanding on where the lure is and what it’s doing. If you are like me and been slow to pick one up, go out and try one now. On the beach there are less of the big mulloway around. It is moving towards their breeding season, although still worth casting the big baits out. School sized fish are still available and the odd big one over a metre still pops up. Guitar fish are increasing in numbers, and evenings have been finding some small whaler sharks.
and to swim with some playful seals, or to look at the corals and fish. Lately, I have been casting the Ecogear ZX vibes around the bay. I have been astounded just how well they work, it is one well-designed lure. It is not at all uncommon to score more than half a dozen different species in
The Halco Slidog 150 has been getting the attention of the bigger tailor.
King George have been a good fall back to gather a quality feed during the demersal ban.
one session. They have also been very useful to target the King George whiting when the blowfish have made bait fishing next to impossible. They have a weighted rear end that makes them cast a mile, so they can be easily worked from the shore as
Tailor have had a slow start to the season to date, following a lean season last year. On the open beaches they are predominately the chopper sizes now, though some bigger models can still be caught along the gutters up near Wedge Island.
