Massive sambo landed on Saltwater Charters by Edward Lee

Staff member Dave with a good dhu he landed early in the week

The back of the Five Fathom Bank is producing consistent captures of shark mackerel and small southern bluefin tuna. Trolling small to medium sized bibbed minnows around bait schools or near diving birds works well, but if this doesn’t create any interest then try trolling small Richter Jelly Babe skirts at a speed that will have the skirt skipping along the surface. Spanish mackerel are prolific and have been caught as far down as the Busselton Jetty and speared as far down as Hamelin Bay. There have been reports of schools in the Sound, free jumpers along the coast, plenty at the back of Rotto and more hanging around the mouth of Freo Harbor. It is madness not to take trolling lures out with you whenever you are on the boat.

The yellowtail kings are prolific at West End. They are responding well to livies both under a balloon in a burley trail or trolled very slowly through their usual haunts or sometimes you can see the school or the birds sitting above them. They have also been responding to a range of medium sized stickbaits including the Nomad Riptides and Madscads. The moon had the sambos out in force as is evident by the results of Saltwater Charters this past week.


Another happy customer on board saltwater charters. 

Along the beaches we have seen good catches of soapies, often being part of the bag of those targeting tailor, some much bigger mulloway and plenty of small sharks (the inshore reefs are also full of them). We have also seen a couple of pinkies landed this week off Northern beaches and a couple of monster sambos.


Mindarie Customer Daniel 

Joondalup Customer Luke with a pinkie he landed on a shark rig

The crabbing season is in full swing throughout the Mandurah estuary and the Swan. The crabs in the Mandurah area are finally reaching a decent size unlike the pre-Christmas period. The big blues in the Swan are more prevalent in the deeper water in Mosman and Claremont. Spleen and mullet are the baits of choice.

The river has produced some bigger tailor lately and more giant herring. Some top water fun can be had on these two species but also keep a couple of metals handy if they are not responding. Bream have also been responding well to top water in the Canning at first light. Subtle twitches and long pauses will often be the key to enticing a bite. February is the time of year to soak a larger bait upstream at Bassendean and Ashfield for mulloway which follow the schools of bony herring frequenting this stretch. With the amount of scalies in the Fremantle Harbour at the moment it would be worthwhile targeting mulloway from the E Shed platform.