West Coast
Offshore action great when you can get out GERALDTON
Graham Maunder & Michael Triantopoulos
There’s an old saying that life wasn’t meant to be easy, and sometimes I think that the same thing applies to fishing. BEACH Anglers fishing the beach area around Pages Beach to Separation Point
paddle-tails and jerk shads in clear baitfish patterns have provided great success. Low tides in the afternoons have allowed anglers to access reef spots, and Explosives has been producing some very nice tailor around 50-70cm, with the better fish coming on lures. Stickbaits and poppers have provided the most success. Lightly-
Brendan Hughes with a solid baldchin groper caught 7nm northwest of the Batavia Marina in 33-35m of water. have caught reasonable numbers of herring. Using berley helps attract the herring, but don’t over do it. A silver Halco Twisty in 15-20g and small soft plastics with suitable jigheads are good starting points. Small 2-3” grubs,
weighted pilchards seem to do the trick when the fish shut down. Drummonds Cove, Pages Beach and Fishermans Wharf have still been producing school, yellowfin and sand whiting. The best baits have been peeled coral
prawn pieces, sand worms and mullet pieces. This season has been a difficult one due to a continuing run of large seas, strong winds and unusual run of rainy weekends. Using the breaks in the weather to fish the reefs from Flat Rocks to Cape Burney and around the local rock walls has produced dhufish to 9kg and mulloway to over 20kg. As you would expect, the best fish have been caught by anglers putting in the most effort in difficult weather and conditions. Keen anglers will always find somewhere to fish, and even if your first choice is not available, sometimes the second choice can be just as much fun. With large seas pounding the outside of the rock walls, not only will anglers look for protection, so will fish. Inside the harbours and marinas at Geraldton and Port Denison, there are plenty of bream being caught, with most anglers using pieces or chunks of pilchard. The larger fish around 28-35cm are biting later in the afternoon and into the dark. The Port Denison marina has a better mix of species at the moment with skippy, herring, mullet, yellowtail and bream around the jetties. Cod, mulloway and a few other species have been caught along the rocks near to the car park and out towards the port entry. Some of the best bream and skippy are being caught on no. 8 hooks, 6lb fluorocarbon leader, no sinker and enough pilchards to barely fill the gape of the hook. J-style hooks with a medium length shank like the Mustad 8260 or Gamakatsu SS15 make removal easy. It can be a bit
Young Max Smyth with a 68cm dhuie caught 5nm southwest from the Batavia Marina in 30m. of a shock when a 600g+ bream or skippy grabs ultra light tackle! Perth angler Josh Cole has recently been fishing at Flat Rocks, where he caught and released an impressive mulloway. The fish went 1.35m in length, and his outfit was a Shimano 5000 sized reel and a set of 2/0 gang hooks. BOAT OPTIONS The weather has only been allowing small windows of opportunities for anglers to get out. The
5-7nm west of the Batavia Marina in about 27-33m of water has been producing dhufish, pink snapper and red throat emperor. SMALL BOAT AND KAYAK Anglers fishing around Seal Rock have had some great success with herring, skippy, striped sea pike and squid. Using berley certainly helps attracts these species to you. From Pages Beach to Explosives there has been herring, striped sea pike
13-16m, is a productive area to start looking, and so is African Reef. Trolling deep diver lures such as a Halco Laser Pro 160XDD and 190XDD, Samaki Pacemakers 180D, Rapala X-Raps, Nomad DTX 140 and DTX 160 is a good way to go. Blue/silver, red/white, purple/chrome, gold/black, green/gold are popular colour patterns. Tailor and herring catches will be good along most beaches and rock walls. Early morning
Scott Steadman with a mulloway caught from the back of the crayfish factory.
Brendan Hughes with a pinkie that has a bump on its head, which is more fitting for a fish twice its size!
fishing out around South West Bank area, which is around 15nm from the Batavia Marina, are getting pink snapper up to 7kg, dhufish, coral trout and baldchin groper. Greenough to African Reef has been producing dhufish, pink snapper, samsonfish and baldchin groper, with the better fishing being in the shallower water around 10-15m. Medium-sized 5-6” paddle-tail plastics in blue, green and gold have been the pick, amd should be matched to a 1-2oz jighead. The area around
and the occasional squid. The days the water has been clear has also been when the squid seem to be more active. Size 3.0 jigs are a good size, and bright yellow, olive, red, pink and orange have been the successful colours. With the West Coast bioregion demersal closure soon to be in full swing, anglers should take the opportunity to try for a mackerel. Mackerel like edges, as they have something to push the baitfish up against. The Pensioners Bank, in about
and late afternoon into the evening are the more successful times. Mulloway will be more consistently making an appearance along our local beaches and break walls, so it is worth putting out a larger bait. Fresh fillets of tailor or pike are great baits and if there is mulloway around, they will not be able to resist it. • If you are staying in Geraldton or passing through, don’t be afraid to call in to Geraldton Sports Centre for a chat. They are located at 204-208 Marine Terrace, Geraldton. OCTOBER 2018
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