It is In a bad state but plenty of fish

the river isn't that bad

What's in there? Anything worth catching?

I'll be flying into Perth with my family on January 20th from South Africa where I've been living for the past decade. I'm from England and used to fish the rivers there fanatically.

That's good news sarcasm0 (it's about time real names were used on forums ;) ) I see that WA governemnt has a Swan River Trust and River Guardians organisation http://www.riverguardians.com/ who are keeping an eye on both the Swan and Canning rivers. I'll be keen to get into some new species in the estuarine section as well as some redfin too, which from what I can gather are considered a pest and have to be removed when caught?

 http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-26/swan-river-trust-goes/4982538

We have one of the best rivers in the world that runs through a major capital city – The Swan; but yes it has been abused over the years and requires a lot of work to make it better.

The lower reaches of the Swan do however hold abundant life.  Here’s a vid I did a few years ago, which was taken near Blackwall Reach.  The river gets down to about 22m in this area aswell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=undThqnQPWo

You arrive just in time for Australia Day on 26th Jan.  Enjoy the fireworks around the Swan River foreshore.

Cheers Pete

Something smells a bit fishy here. As much as I care about the state of the river systems, I'm a little sceptical when an international organisation starts interfering in local issues, ie pew. The Swan river trust hasn't been disbanded, its just been amalgamated with dec, giving it more resources to work with. 

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's great to hear that the rivers are not as bad as I thought (phew). I'll be there on the 20th, my tackle will follow shortly afterwards.

I'm really looking forward to getting into some of the monsters you have there, any volunteers to show me the ropes?

I'll probably get slammed for this but anyway...a Pommy South African read something on the net about the swan river and is all of a sudden a full bottle and is going to fix it all by talking to farmers and government departments!! Give me a break!! Sorry mate but as a farmer you would be the last person I would have anything to do with on the issue - and btw what you read is a load of crock!! Thankfully you have already been given some more accurate info but perhaps maybe get some runs on the board by living here for a few years before trying to fix our "problems". JMO

Definatly one the the cleanest in the world. Arnt to mant rivers that hold dolphins, sea horses etc. My fav locations around freshwater bay. Massive bream, mulloway, blue manna crabs, tailor , flatheads etc!

dont you think that we local fisho's would have already done the cleanup attempt. There is DEC managing the rivers but runoff has and still is an issue.

I am sure (hope so) that "If it is, then I'll be up for getting a team together to liase with farmers and local government and see if we can't get the rivers cleaned up and back to how they were" was not meant that you would do this. That would be like telling us to suck eggs, and Ozzies dont like that.

On here you would find some of the cleanest semi-green fishers that try and protect what we cherish, and work is constantly underway to try and minimize pollution etc.

Australia is huge, and relatively few rivers for the land areas covered, so lots off farm runoff end in few rivers.

However the rivers in the SW are mostly in great nic due to conservation efforts by fishing loving people and dont need foreigners like PEW telling us what to do. (And I sure do wish you arent trying to tell us aswell)

"On here you would find some of the cleanest semi-green fishers that try and protect what we cherish" I'm one of them too :)

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone here, it wasn't my intention - I guess I'm the one who needs to be taught how to suck eggs.

"work is constantly underway to try and minimize pollution etc." great news :)

 Gday mate, dont take these crew to heart.   Australian Fisherpeople are just about fed up with people (govt, greenies, enviro groups etc) interfereing and telling us all how to go about our actions and lifestyles.  The govt was previously a Labor govt that had to shack up with the greens party to give a minority govt the ability to make legislation. Unfortunately this led to being forced to make decisions about the Australian environment, fishing, business, resource etc from a green background which led to a raft of green legislation that the current liberal govt got in by promising to repeal.  The decisions of the previous fed govt included the introduction of the worlds largest network of marine reserves in Australia (over 50% of the worlds marine parks in one country) when we already have the tightest rec and commercial fishing controls in the whole world.  We never have had a species go extinct from fishing here, ever.  We have licence fees, bag limits, possession limits, area closures, seasonal bans etc coupled with car and boat rego fees yet all this was still forced down peoples throats based on dubious science funded by overseas green groups with a vested interest.

People say all sorts of crap about things the world over, all you can do is come and see it for yourself, read as much and widely as you can and formulate your own opinion.  When I first replied I had to really bite the urge to reply like Howa Hunter but thought I would give you the benefit of the doubt.  As others have said the river is in pretty good state, sure there are issues but the wildlife is there.  I used to enjoy going diving with others in the river who claimed it was boring or a wasteland but the whole place is teeming with life if you slow down and look.  

I cannot think of another capital city in the world where you can catch crabs, mulloway, tailor, bream, flathead or similar species right on the CBD. 

No egg sucking required, I like your thick skin, can see you have a sense of humour and are interested in catching fish, learning about the place where we(and you will) live and want to treat it with respect.  Im not so much of a shore based fisherman, nor do I have so many great spots that always catch fish, but I am definately up for showing you some of the local spots, drinking cold beer and hanging out with a fellow fisho.

P.S Nice Tiger Muskellenge? (I think?)

 I can see an aweful lot on coastal and estuarine fishing, but not too much on fresh water, other than for trout down in the south. A

this is because we dont realy have a lot of fresh water!, look on google earth and you wont see many river systems of note once north of geraldton any rivers only run after heavy rain then dry up again  until you get right up into the kimberly 

a few down south but not many given the size of the state

Well, I guess my fishing is going to change somewhat then. Looking at the fish some of the guys are catching on here is enough to make me get out into the depths and oik out some monsters - those GT's look like they are up for a good scrap!

COOL :)

Where were you 27 years ago?

 ......yep I'm a pomme

gotta say , the rivers aren't as clean as they were 20 odd years back but they are better than they were 10 years back. there are plenty of fish to be had in the river , from whiting right up to mullas or as the South Africans call them Cobb.
probably the most hunted fish would be the Black Bream. great fighters for their size but can be dirty fighters. flathead are also a popular species to chase. lure fishing has got some good results across the board as the blowies will destroy baits in no time.

So, to conclude... my unwelcome, overambitious attempts to clean up WA’s rivers has already been done for me.

Thank you to everyone involved, I look forward to fishing in your beautiful, fish packed waters and I promise to leave them in the same or better condition than when I found them :)