Just kidding mate...you've come to the right place and don't ever think that your questions are stupid or wasting the time of others. There are lots of fishers on here with lots of info and they are more than willing to share it with you. I don't fish with bait and I don't fish in the areas you mentioned, but there are plenty on here that do and will definitely do what they can to head you in the right direction. I can tell you that no matter where you are fishing land-based in the metro area, the best times to do it are in the hours before and after dawn and dusk, and for most species an incoming tide, right up to the high, gives you the best chance.

If you are interested in coming down to Mandurah/Dawesville Cut and want to use soft plastics, give me a PM.

I am starting to fish with soft plastics and with lures but i still put a rod with bait out to

went to perth  under a bridge once put out a rod with soft plastics and the plastics were eaten all 3 i put out completly gone..

i might try the swan river to  try and look for some bream and flathead

...you have to keep them moving, especially if there are blowies around. For bream and flatties, they have to be worked slowly along the bottom, slow enough for the blowies to shred, but you have to persist and be prepared to lose a bunch of tails.

I generally use placcies in faster moving water, chasing faster moving fish (herring/tailor/skippy/salmon trout) so that the blowies get left behind. It also helps to use braided line and mono leader, preferably flourocarbon, and go as light as you can. Unless I'm chasing big skippy around rocks and bridge pylons, my normal set up is 5 lb braid to either 5 or 8 lb FC.

Agree with AuLobster - good advice. Also check out the Land based section of this site. This is how I picked up the pointers when I arrived in Perth. We generally try and do a "monthly" get together every now and again - not truly monthly - but when the mood hits us. Maybe join us the with the next session as there will be plenty guys willing to share information. We try and get to a metro beach that is big enough to accomodate a few guys. If Cutbad's reading this - maybe we can start throwing some ideas together for in a month or so - will be great to meet some of the other faces of fishwreck!

Tight lines.

Until my 10 month old was born I was heading north almost every other week for a road trip, but of late have had to focus on fishing metro waters. Most of my fishing is around the same area - Henderson, Coogee and so forth. Have had plenty of nights where I have struck out, even when targeting little stuff. Am also yet to get into anything of size in the metro area.

If you want to get into the smaller stuff, burley up and fish with as little weight as possible. Herring and gardies will almost always come to the show and depending where you are you should get into the yellowtails, trumpeter, etc. I like to fish with no weight - just cast with light line and the wind, then burley up around where your cast lands. Gently feel for the bite then let your bait sink a bit...repeat...until you get the results.

Lots of squid to be had at the ammo jetty at night...always worth a go. Believe it or not I have had more success on the $3 jigs than the $15 ones!

ASI groyne is always worth a go, despite the long walk to get to the spots further out. Pretty much anything can show up there (same as off the back of the ammo jetty) - but you really have to put the hours in.

As far as spots within an hour...worth checking out beaches further south for tailor, mulloway and sharks. Think Golden Bay / Singleton / Madora etc. From reading they all turn up decent fish from time to time. Have only fished down there the once (Madora) and struck out but it looks like a really good area to be fishing.

My advice...find a niche that keeps you happy like breaming, then plan the odd big trip north or south every month or two! 'Cos in my opinion....there are no fish in metro waters and the mulloway is a mythical legend!

Hey buddy, I understand it can be frustrating fishing landbased in Perth sometimes but you just have to figure out the seasonal times for fish and the spots and rigs to get them. All the spots that you mention hold good fish at different times of the year but no point targeting them when they're not around. For example right now is an awesome time for big tasty squid, so instead of goin for herring which havnt really showed up in numbers yet (hence no salmon), try going down to woodies nice and early at sunrise with a few squid jigs and you'll have a ball. Same with north mole, gardies, squid, and after a good NW storm try soaking a big bait for snapper. Next spring to summer you'll find big whiting along the beaches using worms, then tailor frenzy afterwards and big mulloways along the surf beaches if you put in some time around a full moon, after a while the fishings actually not too bad here :)