Angling targets in early autumn

Murray Johnson

Esperance has been experiencing its normal summer winds, but there have still been plenty of fish caught, including good-size bull herring and salmon.

On the local beaches we are also seeing plenty of flathead, smaller skippy, and the occasional bronze whaler and small mulloway. The best local areas to fish are still Salmon Beach and Fourth Beach, with the reef at the first carpark at Fourth producing the best fishing. The best time to fish is late in the afternoon.

When targeting salmon off the beach, the standard approach is a 4/0 gang baited with a pilchard, and a reasonably heavy leader.

Further out of town, Roses has been producing good numbers of salmon, and more sharks have been sighted there. Anglers have also been encountering the occasional tailor.

Munglinup Beach has been super soft to drive on, but when it’s accessible, or you’re prepared to walk, there are good numbers of salmon on offer, plus herring and smaller mulloway.

East of town, there have been good catches of salmon at Duke of Orleans, along with bronze whalers.

Alexander Bay has also been producing plenty of salmon and bigger herring. People are also getting nice skippy there, up to around the 0.5kg mark, which is a good eating size.

At Israelite Bay there have been catches of smaller mulloway, the occasional gummy shark, and plenty of small bronzies. There’s a lot of side drift there, so bring a wire surf rig (grapnel sinker or breakaway sinker). The most popular rig is your standard nylon paternoster with 60lb leader, and a 5/0 tarpon gang or a 6/0-7/0 snell holding a bigger bait such as a pilchard or strip of herring. Personally, I like to use a 3/0 kahle during the day, and a 5/0 kahle at night. Remember to check your bait every 15 minutes to make sure that the pickers haven’t taken it.

In town itself, the jetty fishing is seeing plenty of good herring being caught, along with the occasional squid, and plenty of garfish at night.

Anglers have also been picking up the occasional small tuna off the jetty, mainly bonito. Most have been taken on herring baits fished under a float.

Tailor Street jetty has also been producing the occasional King George whiting. The majority have been taken baits of prawns, cockles or bloodworms on a paternoster rig with long shank no 6 hooks. You can also get good results by using pre-made tinsel flash rigs, such as Black Magic Whiting Snatchers or Whiting Whackers, for that bit of extra attraction. These rigs use recurve/ circle hooks, which nearly always hook the fish in the lip, so they’re quicker to remove.

At Bandy Creek Boat Harbour there are good numbers of small bream, King George whiting, flounder and flathead. There are numerous herring there as well.

The bream lakes have been producing good numbers of fish up to the 40cm+ mark (approx 1kg). One of the best producing soft plastics has been the 2.5” Bait Junkie Minnow in the blue colour, worked with a slow retrieve.

Moving to boat fishing in the bay, we are seeing some smaller bluefin tuna being caught. The best areas have been the back of Charlie and Cull islands, and also out near Lion Island. Good results have been coming on the Halco Laser Pro160 in pilchard colour, and any of your jet head trolling skirts. If you want to try something a bit different, you can try casting stickbaits like the Ocean’s Legacy Keeling. These lures have been producing good fish of late.

Closer in there are sand whiting, herring, and snook, and around the closer islands there are still good numbers of queen snapper, smaller breaksea and the occasional samsonfish.

Out wide there are plenty of big schools of tuna, and for the bottom fishers there are good