WA
West Coast
Beaches will produce KALBARRI
Stephen Wiseman
The winds are well and truly in but there are plenty of fish to be found up river and off the beaches around town. In the bay at the back of Oyster Reef is a good place to pick up a feed of whiting. With the low tides, wait until the rise and fish the full tide with plenty of clear water flowing in. Bream have been active all around the Pens but the bigger fish are further up river around the snag areas. Old trees and reed areas are a good start and can turn up fish to
1kg. My last session only produced a juvenile but shows the upper reaches are holding good numbers of small fry. Occasional mulloway are still to be found of the Sand Spit but you have to put in the hours for the rewards, try strips of mullet salted as it will stay on the hooks a lot longer. Beach anglers are having some fun with the tailor run really starting to crank with fish to 700mm+ to be found off Oyster, Chinamans and around to Back Beach. Tailor and mulloway are bitting well at Wittecarra with good catches most mornings for the anglers getting an
early start. The odd catches of skippy and dart have turned up around the beaches and close in shore for those in boats. Boat fishos have had a struggle to find pelagics but reports of yellowfin tuna out from Natural Bridge have got a few excited, including yours truly! Now I’ve got to get rid of the redbacks. Those setting pots out the front of the river are getting a feed of nice sized crays, but no whites have shown up. With warmer waters, the macks won’t be far away and I hope to have one before next issue.
The upper reaches of the river are holding good numbers of small bream.
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tuna or bonito will often be shadowed by mackerel looking to pick off strays. Dead slow troll or drift one as a live bait around the outskirts of the school is probably the best way to entice an early season mack. Tuna season has been a cracker with fish lot bigger than we usually expect to see locally. The schools can be found more densely at certain depth ranges where current lines hold bait schools of small sardines or whitebait. Look for the weed that indicates where these current lines converge. Sometimes the schools will be in close behind the white bank, also often this time of year the tuna become more prolific
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out from the 30m depth. Skippy and samsonfish school on the heavy ground and lumps in the 25-30m depth ranges. To target them while avoiding demersal species (if the ban is still in place?), firstly pinpoint the schools on the fish finder. Sambos can be discerned as they nearly always curiously swim up towards the boat, send a knife jig or live bait towards the school as they rise. On a good sounder you can watch the lure or bait until it reaches the same depth as the fish before starting to jig. Skippy won’t rise but the school will be obviously seen off the bottom, micro blade jigs sink quickly to get into the school before the boats drifts off and
work the lure a few metres off the bottom. Blue swimmer crabs can be caught drop netting the bays’ shallows. While it’s better to move the lobster pots out wide now the white crays are finishing up, dropping pots for 2-3 day pulls in 20-35m can score some good catches of big male jumbos. Marron season opens 12 noon on 8 January and closes 12 noon on 5 February. Spending a relaxing day or evening on the banks of the Moore River catching a feed a great change of pace from the ocean fishing. Just be sure of the rules they catch people out every year with the complexity of gear restrictions.
Processed properly, by bleeding, gutting, thoroughly washing skin slime off and quickly placing shark trunks on ice will result in top quality fillets.
JANUARY 2023
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