While the weather may have seemed unfavourable to many over the past week, some local anglers have adapted to the conditions to cast a line in and have done well.

A nice 71cm soapie for Myaree staffer Pete Berlinski caught using a prototype Halco Madeye soft plastic
 
Myaree staff members Curtis Waterman and Pete Berlinski hit up a “secret” yet well-known Mandurah river system in pursuit of an estuary mulloway and found themselves somewhat under gunned. Pete managed to extract a nice 71cm fish using 30lb gear, only to be blown away a few casts later. Curtis knew he was wasting his time with 10lb gear but managed to prove this by hooking a fish and being busted off in style.


Pete's soapie before release

Rohan Smith, Myaree store manager, has reported regular mulloway around the Fremantle area (Moles and Eshed) as well as pink snapper and gummy sharks also being caught landbased. Mulloway have been a top pick for anglers over the past week with fish coming from the late afternoon and into the evening in such locations. With the abundance of slimy mackerel around, anglers have been taking an advantage of the ‘match the hatch’ theory, with live bait being easy to catch, and mulloway feeding heavily on the bait available.  The deeper parts of the Swan river have produced a few large Mulloway for boat fisherman. One method that’s worked is to create a light berley trail of shreded mulies and sending down a whole mulie on a single 7/0 hook. Use the smallest sinker that the tide allows for and fish with 40lb leader. If fishing in an aluminium dinghy keep the noise to a minimum so as not to spook any fish that come up the berley trail.

All the major rockwalls have produced snapper in the last week. Mindarie customer Troy got an 82cm fish at his local haunts during the day. The ‘boaties’ have also been getting very good numbers of fish inshore along 5 Fathom, 3 Mile, in and around Cockburn Sound and further north around Two Rocks aswell.

Mindarie customers Jayden Bartell (left) and James Rossielle did well on the pinks in shalow with a bonus dhu north of Two Rocks

Pete managed a few nice bream over the week on an afternoon hightide Canning wade. Mostly rats took a liking to his Zipbaits but one solid model pulled a bit of line and gave him his bream fix for the week.

The Canning river continues on firing. Pete Berlinski's good bream

Laith Rickman from Myaree reported bream in a similar scenario, with plenty of rats being landed and one solid fish that unfortunately managed to pull a bit too much line and find the snags before Laith could turn it. The big bream are definitely around if you’re willing to fight through the masses of small fish to get to them.


Laith continues to catch good bream

Myaree staff member Luke Ryan and Shane King also hit the bream over the past week landing countless rats, only to be torn apart by the few big fish they managed to hook. Luke and Shane were also fishing the Canning however from a tinny as opposed to Laith’s shorebased approach or Pete’s waist deep wading session.


Staff member Luke Ryan on the Canning this week

Staff member Curtis also headed down to Bunker Bay in Dunsborough early in the week and managed to connect a few salmon to his Halco Twisty. There were very large schools sitting just outside his casting range , which although frustrating, are good signs of fish around. The fish he did manage to land were solid, and he estimated them to be around the 6kg mark. There have been some reliable reports from surfers just south of Mandurah that a couple of schools of salmon have been passing by in the surf breaks which suggests they aren’t far away from showing up in Perth in numbers. Tailor and mid-size mulloway have been caught from this same area. The North and South Moles have been quiet, with the odd stray salmon being hooked and landed however the big schools are yet to begin regularly cruising these areas.


Ashlee Cullam of Siesta Park with her first salmon of the season and from her very own beach

Good numbers of herring have been appearing at the stretch of beaches between Cottesloe and City Beach, as well as further north around Mindarie. They have been popping up late morning and are chasing schools of small bait fish so it would be wise to be mobile to keep in touch with the school. A flick rod loaded with a small Arma Twist works well for these fish and there is always a chance of picking up a tailor. It is worthwhile changing the treble on the lure to a single hook as herring often find a way to throw a lure and these help to stay connected.


Brodie's haul
Western Angler NextGen member, Brodie Copeland has bagged out on crayfish multiple times this week diving in the shallows around Carnac. There are still plenty of crays to be caught which is evident by his results.