Mandurah

Fighting the dreaded seaweed

MANDURAH

Jesse

Choy July is quite a productive time to fish, however it can be painful to fight the seaweed if fishing from the beaches, and it can also be difficult to find good days to take the boat out when the swell or winds permit. Although weather can appear detrimental to anglers, the constant change in the environment provides a lot of opportunity for fishing if you are looking in the right place and are willing to put an effort in to succeed despite conditions.

The rock walls near openings to the ocean will produce well for herring, with plenty of tarwhine,

Although seaweed can be difficult to avoid, it is fishable if you are willing to go deeper to get your line that bit further out.

Murray River bream are some of the hardest fighting black bream in our state and are more than willing to smash lures. salmon trout and the odd whiting thrown in. Fishing towards the estuary side of the cut, you are likely to come across a few stray King George, with a good possibility of coming across good pink snapper if fishing from the ocean side rocks with bigger baits. Worth mentioning in these winter months, is that swells create a lot of potential risk that needs to be constantly addressed in order to remain safe. If you are fishing near rolling swells, especially at night, it is wise to always be aware of your surroundings and approach with understanding that rocks are quite hazardous you will get into some fun with reports of herring and smaller mulloway still lurking around chasing mullet schools. If droning baits out from the same beaches, the pink snapper are bound to show up if you can soak bait for long enough, but there are also plenty of rays and smaller sharks showing up too.

If you are chasing some sheltered fun, the rivers are a great option and will produce good numbers of quality black bream. When chasing black bream in the rivers during winter, most of the numbers reside in the mid to lower sections of the systems and will often be found quite close to the food sources that are pushed down by heavy flows. Fishing with lures, a bibbed minnow or vibe will give you the ability to actively search for signs for feeding fish, with rattling models good at attracting fish in from wide with subtle vibrations. Paddletail soft plastics will work well, with prawn and worm imitations also proving effective at matching the hatch. If you are fishing with baits, a small cube of mullet, pilchard or river prawn is ideal and will produce the best results.

Another great option for some protected fun is a spot of freshwater fishing at one of the local dams. Although it can be a bit of a drive to get to Waroona or Harvey Dam for example, schools of redfin will keep you entertained whilst you enjoy the beautiful scenery and protection from potential elements. A great option for the casual fisher is to target these fish on a lightly weighted rig, a small hook and worms as bait. If you are after a bit more of a challenge, lures like fluorescent orange spinners resembling smaller redfin work very well and will also turn up some good trout if you are lucky. As a rule of thumb when targeting fish in the freshwater systems, the fish you are likely to catch will all exhibit cannibalistic behaviour and so choosing lure colours or baits accordingly may help your results.

with regards to slipping or falling.

Beaches around Mandurah prove difficult to fish, with seaweed littering a good portion of our shoreline whether you are northern or southern side of town. Although it can be a bit tedious, you will want to put an effort into finding a patch clear of seaweed, so that you can give yourself the best chance at catching fish. Fishing from the southern beaches, there is a great chance Redfin perch are plentiful and extremely fun to target on artificial lures. Photo courtesy of Dready.

Herring aren’t the biggest fish, but chunks like this are extremely fun on light gear.

From page 106 continue to be good for sand whiting. Fresh squid or coral prawns will be your best bait options. OFFSHORE

Winter offshore fishing is heavily reliant on windows in the weather. When those weather windows occur, there will be plenty of anglers looking to take advantage. The reward is some excellent fishing for species like dhufish, baldchin groper and breaksea cod. Your starting depth should be from 25m of water, with 30-40m being the prime depth.

Most anglers will use fresh baits, however soft plastics (big paddle-tails) are very effective on these species, especially if you are chasing a big dhufish. They love them.

Bluefin tuna are still available on the wider grounds. Trolling a spread of lures to search for them or looking for birds that give away their locations will be the key to hooking one of these balls of muscle. Try your luck heading south from Hilarys.

Highly weather dependent is the deep drop fishing. The deep drop grounds will certainly see less traffic at this time of the year so the fishing can be red hot. Fishing 350-500m of water will be the key to a delectable feed.

So, angler comfort Nolan Unwin with a welcome late season metro salmon from the sand – an excellent fighting fish!