By Ant Bostock
Inshore
EPIC would be an accurate description of the action and conditions we’ve had over the last month. Along most beaches, there have been plump herring eager to gobble up a fresh piece of coral prawn or white bait. They have been hitting lumo tube, 5gm metals and soft plastics. The hungry little ‘hezza’ will just about eat any moving object that passes in front of him. King George and sand whiting can be landed from the shores and some local anglers are having success with small surface stick baits. 40mm storm flutter stick baits seem to be working best, in green or white. We are still getting goodsized squid, skippy, tarwhine and tailor along the coast as the autumn waters slowly cool. This brings us to the question as to when our salmon will show up along our inshore waters. We have seen them out diving and many surfers are reporting seeing schools come through behind the surf breaks. They are running late again this year and maybe it’s due to the warm waters along the coast still.
Offshore
THE action has not slowed down out in the boat either. With an abundance of pelagic fish visiting from the warmer northern waters there has been a rush of boaties trying to troll up a ‘Spaniard’ or two. Loads of Spanish mackerel have been landed this year from between the Capes, the main concentration of fish being around Cape Naturaliste and south to Ellensbrook. Mixed in with all the pelagic action are the southern blue fin tuna and fat bonito. On the bottom, there have been good numbers of dhuies, pink snapper and even some reports of guys catching solid bald chin grouper up to seven kilograms. We still have loads of sambos and the occasional yellow tail kingy smashing jigs out on the deeper lumps. Unfortunately they are not making it to the surface in one piece as the sharks are taking their share before being landed. Fresh and river BOTH of our local river systems are healthy and so are the fish stocks with them. The Blackwood has had a relentless flogging this year with its seemingly neverending source of blue manna crabs. They have moved around a lot but there are still reports of small-but-fat, meat-filled crabs from Ale – xandra Bridge all the way to Flinders Bay. It is pot luck as they do move around. Black bream are thick along the shallow flats and up in the sticks. The largest bream I have eyeballed this year came from the Blackwood system. It was more than 50cm, an absolute horse that was landed on river prawns and released to fight another day. Fish of this size should be treated with respect and released if possible as they are big breeders and very important for future fish stocks.
Freediving and spearfishing
LAST month has had a small group of dedicated freedivers out chasing pelagic fish. Spanish mackerel and southern blue fin tuna are our target species, along with yellow tail kings and some yellow fin tuna. A lot of effort goes into chasing these fish. Repeat dives in burley trails of chopped mulies and hanging suspended in the water with flashers will usually pay off if you are patient. Those that are at the top of their game, pictured, might say there is no such thing as luck involved with hunting pelagic fish. You go out with a purpose to target them and use the correct equipment needed (preparation meets opportunity) and then before you know it, you’re placing your hands into the gills of the big fat ‘Spaniard’ you have just shot. There are still crays around although they have thinned out since what was on the ground a few months ago. Well I reckon that just about wraps it up for this month, hopefully by Easter we will have schools of big fat salmon on our shores. Until next month, safe freediving and fishing to all our fellow sustainable ‘Aquate a rians’.