With the Demersal fish Closure upon us, its a great time to clean and service gear, repair boats, research and invest in new gear, etc etc,until the new season begins. The last 7 days leading into the closure were a fishermans worst nightmare, with wind and swell conditions less than favourable, leaving the diehards to fish inshore, more protected areas. Amongst the mixed bags included Herring, skippy, Whiting, Tailor, Pinkies, Mako Sharks, and the odd Dhuie. Crabs and squid were also in good numbers back towards Busso. A couple of boats got out to some deeper ground, with the young fellas on the boat landing a 12kg Dhu, a nice size Sambo and a solid Mako which was released.

Tailor have been prolific and good size, with all wash zones and points around the cape proving to be hotspots. I was lucky enough to get into some great Tailor action, with an endless number of 40+cm fish smashing everything we threw at them!! Downsize your lures, and fish the same areas for herring and silver trevally, with Tarwhine also hitting lures. Squid and crabs have been more productive around Siesta Park, Tobys Inlet area. There have been plenty of female crabs around, but very few carrying eggs, but do be careful when keeping females as they are the future of the fishery.

Landbased fishing has been great, with plenty of action on both sides of the cape. Bigger tailor specimens of around 60cm have been fairly consistent on the west coast, with Yallingup, Smiths and Injidup all worthy of a cast. Still a few Salmon being landed from the beaches, most likely resident fish, which we see hide out around the coast until the season comes around. As the temperatures have dropped slightly since the warm patch through July/August, the Sandwhiting have dropped off a little, however still worth your while flicking fresh prawns, or Gulp Sandworms on the flats in Dunsborough.

Until the Demersal closure ends, why not try your luck at some Jigging and trolling in the area, and test your gear against powerhouse Sambos, and drag burning Kingys. Drop in the shop, or hit us up on Facebook, and we can point you in the right direction, and show you whats working!!

Until next time, happy cleaning, happy dreaming, and good luck fishing!!!

Cheers,

Zac@dunsboroughoutdoorsportz