Customer Troy and his first Marlin

   
As the new moon approaches, not only will we be totally safe from werewolves, everything is lining up to send snapper wild. If you’re a land-based snapper angler, you’ll no doubt be loving the weather we’ve been having of late, but for the rest of us softies, it’s been a bit damp and chilly. So far, the forecast for the weekend offers a glimmer of hope for a short window from midday Saturday to around 10pm. It should be noted that there is still a decent swell, so finding a location protected by a landmass is a good idea. Also, keep a close eye on the forecast as we approach Saturday, because it’s liable to change quickly (probably while writing this report). If things do pan out as planned, all indications are that you’ll have a great time on big snapper.
 
Quality and quantity. This would adequately describe the pink snapper fishery along our coastline. There have been some absolute crackers caught over the past week and some crews have had non-stop action in sessions lasting a couple of hours in as little as 5-10m of water. The wind, rain and swell has certainly stirred things up and got them biting in a big way. These areas are easily accessible in small boats on the right days, but watch the weather, tides and swell closely and pick a safe time to fish. A heap of berley and simple snelled rigs baited with a whole mulie or half a blue mac is a great way to go (avoid any sinkers). Soft plastics such as the Zman Scented Jerk Shadz are also very effective slowly worked through the berley trail. It definitely pays to use both baits and plastics, even if you have the rod with the plastic on it sitting in the rod holder when occupied elsewhere. Some days the movement of a well worked plastic will trigger a bite over even the freshest bait. To no staff members surprise Laith was at it again this week and, along with his brother Clayton, they landed more good pinks.

Laith....again
 
And a good one for Clayton

The average weather of late has made it very tempting to stay warm and dry on the couch at home but it has also fired up some great fishing for those prepared to brave the elements. Our bait freezers have been hammered this week by the landbased crews chasing pinks, buying the likes of blue mac, sanmar, scalies and yellowtail and by the reports flooding in, many have been successful. No warm ‘cuppa’ while sitting next to the heater will get an angler warmed up like the adrenalin from their first or even their 100th land based snapper.
 
Customer Mitch with a cracking land based pink

Kingfish and sambos are also providing lots of action around the inshore reefs. Solid metre plus fish are being landed both on baits and plastics. Both species can also be tempted to take a stickbait or popper and nothing gets the heart racing like a big surface strike from one of these beasts.
 
Dhufish are thick and some absolute horses have been caught to the north of Perth recently. Two Rocks, Wedge and Jurien have been fishing particularly well with lots of solid fish being found in the deeper water and have been responding very well to slow pitch metal jigs. Fresh baits such as sergeant baker fillets are also usually too tempting for the big fish to resist and will quite often see you hook up. Either that or the Lunds squid that is finally back in stock. In general demersal fishing has been great lately with a few nice storms stirring up the water and making the fish hungry and aggressive towards jigs and plastics. Staff member Trent fished NW of Mindarie last week finding some great fish in the 30m mark.
 
 Thumping squid are being jigged up in Cockburn Sound and around Garden Island. These are great areas to get out in the average boating conditions with lots of sheltered water and weed banks not too far from the ramps. Fremantle is also fishing well around Fisherman’s Boat Harbour. South Mole is a top spot for those who are land based but big jigs and egi rods capable of casting a fair distance are helpful when battling SW winds.
 
Herring, big tailor and the odd salmon are being caught from local beaches. Fremantle up to Scarborough has had good reports of solid greenbacks. Sending out a mulie on ganged hooks on a big beach rod will see results, but being mobile is an effective way of finding big fish now. Metal slugs or heavy sinking stick baits on a lighter setup allows you to cover lots of area putting you in with a good chance of more fish. Zman plastics have been Morley Manager Karl’s lure of choice recently as he chases tailor and the odd salmon, stalking the beach and casting into likely spots for the bigger fish.
 
Lots of small bream are being caught on baits in the Swan River but for those chasing the big guys the snaggy areas upstream are the way to go. Kayak fishermen throwing hard bodied divers at the snags not accessible from shore are seeing the most success. Imitation crabs such as the Cranka Crab are tempting bream around structure in the Canning River. Canning Bridge, Mt Henry Bridge and South of Perth Yacht Club are fishing very well. East Perth is also a good area to fish now, sticking close to and fishing hard up against structure and very slowly working a plastic is deadly.
 
Morley customer Troy just enjoyed a holiday in Exmouth spanning two week. As well as catching lots of bottom fish Troy was lucky enough and stoked with landing his first marlin. Chasing marlin was something he was never really interested in but now fully comprehends how people dedicate so much time and money to it after his baptism into billfish fishing.

  
Troy hooked up to his billy