West Coast
WA
Big front off southern ocean LANCELIN
Peter Fullarton
It’s that time of year as we near winter and are more likely to get a big front off the southern ocean. The first big blow of the season can break up the salmon schools around Perth and Rottnest sending a few Lancelin’s way. The big seas also cause lots of beach erosion, becoming narrow, steep and the sand is fluffed up soft. Lancelin beaches can be some of the trickiest beaches you will find anywhere to drive on. Parts of the year some
swell period. The longer the period the more power in each wave increasing the likelihood a wave could stand up on you trying to leave the bay. If greater than 3m, you probably should be keeping the trailer boats at home unless fishing inside the bay. The best catches of larger dhufish have been coming from out deep 35m+, but there is still plenty of smaller fish inside the White Bank for the small boats and pink snapper have been in great numbers on the inshore grounds. Baldies have been a reliable catch drifting pretty much anywhere in
of the 13cm Gulp curl tail white soft plastics behind the boat. Just leave the rod in the holder, cuttles can’t
their larger cousin snook eat quite well. Squid anglers had a lean summer. The bays
Nolan Unwin hooked up on this big beast of a southern shovelnose ray while chasing mulloway north of town.
Huxley Taylor had a great time fishing with his dad for pinkies.
Spanish mackerel should still be around until late June. beaches can be next to impossible to drive with a conventional 4WD. Countless vehicles become stuck requiring help to be rescued each year. Caution is well advised, carry adequate recovery gear if unsure use back tracks to go around any sections of beach that look dodgy. Apart from the likelihood of a big cold front or two, we also see wonderful lulls in between to cast a line from the beach or head offshore without those blustery summer sea breezes. It’s a time of year to watch the forecast and
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have been quite turbid from seaweed wrack, conditions have much improved and some good catches are coming from both the jetty and dinghies drifting the weed beds. Larger squid have been caught just to the north of the bay in deeper water. Drop netting along the near shore or from the
Samsonfish have been prolific on the inshore reefs.
Justin Taylor finished off a morning casting baits for tailor with a few nice pinkies off the drone at Didie Bay. make the most of windows when they open. When the forecast is for a 2.5m swell or greater, check the
resist the scented plastic and will continue to attack the jig until hooked. While tuna have been mostly far offshore over summer, fish are back in the 20s and 30s now.
the jetty fishing really fires up, most evenings plenty of herring coming in under the lights. Letting the baits sink a bit deeper can find skippy, tarwhine and even the odd King George whiting. While baitcasting pilchards from the northern end should score a feed of tailor. Early mornings has been when schools of samsonfish have been most likely to bust up on the baitfish that have sought shelter under the jetty
the 30s. Cuttlefish have been grabbing the baits in these depths too. One way to snag a few is to trail one
Spanish mackerel are still around even though the water is cooling. The next month or two look for the schools of blue mackerel just outside the white bank 15-20m. Troll lures or live blue mackerel around the area the bait is holding to get some hot sessions going. The bay just keeps giving when it comes to herring this year, both in size and volumes. Southern shallows have been best for casting or trolling lures. Skippy have been holding over the deeper holes and weed beds. Snook and pike can be caught drifting or casting pilchards and lures over the ribbon weed, while the smaller pike might be best used for bait;
Sam Cook went drone fishing with father-inlaw Fred Mathys using a Cuta Copter EX1. The result was a rather large lemon shark that was released after a quick photo. jetty can find a few blue swimmers to go with the squid for dinner. Lancelin Jetty usually has a problem with blowfish during the daylight hours, casting towards the shore can escape the plague and find some good size sand whiting. It’s at night when
over night. Lobster potters have been getting a bumper haul off the nearshore reefs, the risk now will be losing pots if a big blow does roll in before the pots are retrieved. The surf beaches have been fishing well for tailor,
surprisingly mid-afternoon has provided plenty of action as well as the usually run a sun set and rise. We are nearing the end of the better tailor fishing for the season as the water cools the bulk of the fish will move further north. There will be some bigger fish that overwinter, these are most likely to be around structure like gutters or reef breaks and can be caught casting lures to these areas. Mulloway season is in full swing as usual fishing around the full and new moon is the most likely time to catch one off the sand. While the mulloway rod is in the holder, fishing a smaller setup can gather some food and bait. Plump sand whiting prevail at this time of year and herring have been a great average size. The fresher the bait the better for mulloway, even live is the way to go if conditions permit. I have been using the drone to drop my live baits gently, rather than casting that quickly concusses smaller fish like sand whiting. It’s even possible to send out multiple baits on one rig. On the subject of drone fishing, it’s phenomenal how much this aspect of our hobby has taken off. When conditions suit drone fishers have been far outnumbering the beach casters. Pink snapper have been the main catch dropping baits out 2-400m, although you never quite know what may take the baits next. There has been a whole bunch of species landed not normally seen off the sand, sand bass is a common catch and indicates you are dropping on good ground even a few dhufish and breaksea cod have hit the beach in recent times.
