Glory between the chill

LANCELIN

Peter Fullarton

Later this month we experience the shortest day of the year, which is kind of helpful not having to get out of bed so early for those predawn fishing sessions. But it is also bloody cold, especially on clear days with offshore winds to fish off the sand. Passing fronts will bring big swells, but in between those times you can still expect some glorious days.

Some might be surprised around the bait schools, it’s far more effective to use live baits this time of year and dead slow troll around the perimeter of the bait school. Mackerel follow the schools looking for any strays to pick off. etc. Wearing life jackets leaving the bay is advised and if unsure don’t go. our windiest month is January, so be prepared to make the most of the lulls between the fronts and experience some great fishing days.

Tuna can still be found offshore, mainly striped and southern blues. Next season we can look forward to some FADs being placed out from Lancelin. Recfishwest have given two to the Lancelin Angling Club. They arrived late to deploy this season but are ready to go as soon as the winter storms pass.

The big pink breaksea cod we normally associate in deep water come into shallower depths. While there are plenty on the coral patches and ledges outside the white bank, many can be caught on the inside lumps in 10-15m depths. I find one of the best ways to target breaksea on the shallow lumps is to use large white soft plastics, I prefer the paddle or curl tails to work slowly a metre or so off the bottom. Sounding out each lump and dropping a few times down the side before moving onto the next and you will certainly pick up a fair number of dhufish in the process.

Midyear the last thing on the mind of most fishers is usually tropical species, like Spanish or shark mackerel, but they are still here. Usually schools of pilchards and blue mackerel show up in our local waters around the 15-25m depths, this can make mackerel easier to target than during the warmer months. While you can have success trolling bibbed minnow lures

We can expect to see plenty of mahimahi out there and a few wahoo too.

It is also a great time to target demersals, and the small boats have an advantage this time of year as they are much easier to launch off the beach if a bit of swell is running. Great catches can be had without the need to head west to direction bank. A word of warning though if visiting, the safe passage may break in anything forecast over 2.5m, dependant on the period between the swells and tides,

There are plenty of snapper along and inside the white bank, we find more out around the white bank while the swells are down and the water clear but soon as the swell picks up better numbers come right into the shoreline. Setting up a berley trail in a likely spot early morning gets the best results and it is certainly a good time to send out some baits with a drone to any near shore reefs.

Samson fish have been busting up on bait schools around the jetty pylons early mornings and can be found around many of the inshore reefs, even within casting distance of the beach.

Skippy have been teeming inside the bay this year and there are plenty along the inshore reefs. The shallows in front of sea rescue is where we normally like to troll up some herring, so far this year it’s been a problem to get past the skippy! Great fun on ultra-light tackle in the shallows. The herring are throughout the bay and plenty of big snook are over the weed beds. There have been some great squid catches from the near shore weed banks, I have seen some bucket loads from fishers who get up predawn to cast a few jigs from the jetty. The weed banks inside the bay do get hit up pretty hard by fishers chasing the squid, there are plenty more fresh grounds to the north and south and even outside in 10-15m. Cuttlefish have been taking baits and jigs out in the mid 20s and 30s, they seem to be suckers for a big soft plastic and manage to hook themselves on them fairly easily, whereas they might need to be left to play with a bait a little longer before being caught on the hook.

Bread and butter species of herring and whiting are widely available along the beaches, sand whiting are better average size at this time of year, good numbers can move into the bay where they become a popular target for fishers off the jetty.

Most beach casters are looking or wishing for a mulloway or pink snapper this time of year.