This week’s fishing report was written by staff member Jeremey Cui, an experienced and enthusiastic fisherman who has plenty of fantastic catches to his name.

I hope everyone has had a great start to the summer so far and for those university students with their end of year exams finished, now is the time to get involved in some great outdoor activities and what better activity to participate in than fishing!
In this fishing report I’ll try to cover as much basis as possible from the Swan River which has provided the citizens of Perth with almost two centuries of great fishing to the beautiful sandy beaches of our West Coast and to the vast open blue seas of the Indian ocean. Hopefully by the time you’ve finished reading this article you’re about as enthusiastic to go fishing as you are spending some quality time with family over Christmas! (or not)

Without further ado, here is this week’s fishing report.

There have already been some great catches of blue swimmer crabs in the river, particularly around the deeper waters of Blackwall Reach. Our tip is the next week or two should see larger numbers of blue swimmer crabs congregating around the Swan Brewery area in about 5 – 10m of water. A bait cage is a must as crabs and shags will steal your bait and leave your net empty.

If crabs aren’t your thing, perhaps it’s time to try for some prawns. Catching prawns by any means is not an easy task, but boy is it rewarding. Try shining a light along the concrete walls adjacent to the water and look for the tell-tale reflective “red eyes”. Remember to scoop them up from behind as the prawns propel themselves backwards. This is a great way to get the family involved and makes for some great tucker as well.


A superb feed of prawns from the river

Now onto some fish, there have been HUGE numbers of Swan River tailor anywhere from Matilda Bay to the Narrows Bridge. I highly recommend using single hooks on your lures as most of these fish are undersized and the use of a single hook reduces the damage to the fish’s mouth. If you land a legal specimen the single hook also helps in a quick removal of the hook for a faster dispatching of the fish. Lures to use are the Arma Twist anywhere from the 10g – 25g size, Zipbait Skinnypop Jr’s, Bassday Sugar pen, Yo-Zuri Crystal minnows, paddletail soft plastics and many more. Just come to one of our stores and one of our knowledgeable staff members would be more than keen to help.


Swan River tailor can get very large as staff member Pete has found out previously

Giant Herring! These fish are incredibly fast and difficult to land. My best advice when targeting these elusive speedsters is persevere! Cover the ground and eventually you’ll find them. Start off by fishing small inlets or quiet “bays” of the Swan and looking for baitfish. Remember to use a heavier than normal leader of about 15-20lbs to reduce the chance of wearing through the leader in a prolonged fight. Some popular lures to use are the Zipbait Skinny Pop Jrs, Halco Twisty in the gold colour (10-15g) and certain subsurface minnows such as a Zipbait Tiny Khamsin jnr.

Along the coast, there have been solid catches of tailor around most metropolitan beaches with sunset and sundown proving to be the optimal bite time. Most of these schooling tailor are about 30-45cm with anything over 50cm being a decent catch. Remember your bag limits, only two tailor of 50cm+ are able to be kept per person within the total 8 tailor daily bag limit per person. A great method of catching these toothy critters is using a paternoster rig with about 50-60cm of line to your sinker, with a three-way swivel connecting your sinker to your mainline and a set of 4/0 gang hooks with leader to your mainline. Baits to use are mulies, scaly mackerel and any fresh fish fillets. You can also try throwing lures whilst soaking a bait out. Some popular lures to use are the Dual Adagio’s in the smaller size, Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows, Shimano Rockslides and Zipbait Monsoon Breakers. If you’re really after something that’ll stretch your arms than catch a few legal tailor, fillet one and chuck it out on your line. Look for gutters and hopefully a big angry mulloway will take your bait and you’ll be hooked onto a fish of a lifetime! Some other by-catches by fishing with this method include gummy sharks, spinner sharks, shovel nose sharks and recently several big samson fish as well.

With the demersal ban still in effect, it’s a great time to target some lightening fast pelagics. It should be anytime now before the FADS start firing and there’ll be dolphinfish getting caught left, right and centre! A bit closer to shore there are the ever-formidable samson fish, who love to test the spirit of whoever hooks onto them. A basic set up to catch these fish is a PE5 setup with a 10000 Shimano or 5000 Daiwa sized reel with plenty of 50lb braid tied onto a 70lb+ leader. These fish are regarded by many as a sportfish only, so take care in releasing them. There are also plenty of yellowtail kings around already this year if you are keen for some topwater, arm stretching fun around the reefs!


Customer Sebastian with a massive sambo he caught this week on Saltwater Charters

That’s it for this week, tight lines and happy fishing!


Staff member Pete with an averaged sized metro king


Customer Zeke with an awesome John Dory caught out of Rockingham recently


Customer James with a cracking bream on a hardbody


Customer Mellon and a chopper from the river