Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your arvo run-down for the WA coast.
We’ve got a classic winter pattern along the metro and lower west coast today: cool, mostly clear skies, offshore breeze early swinging onshore by mid‑arvo, and a bit of swell hanging in but fishable for most rock and beach ledges. The morning easterly has kept things glassy inshore, with the sea breeze ruffling things up from lunchtime onward.
Sunrise came in early, with first light giving that magic low‑light window; sunset is early too, so your prime bite times are that first hour after dawn and the last 90 minutes before dark. The cooler water has pushed a lot of the action into those edges of the day, with a noticeable mid‑day lull unless you’re fishing deep structure or berleying hard.
Tides along the west coast are running on the small side but they’re enough to matter. The incoming tide through the morning has been the pick for the beaches, giving just enough push to fire up tailor and herring in the whitewater gutters. The early arvo high has lined up nicely with the sea breeze, so you get stirred‑up water and bait getting washed around reef fingers and groynes.
Reports from the last few days up and down the coast have been solid for winter:
- Metro beaches: Good numbers of **herring**, chopper **tailor**, and the odd **salmon** still poking through the schools. A few **whiting** in the cleaner side gutters when the swell backs off.
- Inshore reefs and rock platforms: Plenty of **skippy**, mixed **reefies** like tarwhine and small pinkies, plus squid over sand/weed patches in the clearer water.
- Northern boat crews: **Dhufish**, **baldchin groper**, and **breaksea cod** coming from deeper lumps when the wind lays down.
- Estuary and river arms: Bream are schooling tight on structure, with a few flathead still hanging in deeper drop‑offs.
Lure choice today is all about matching that stirred‑up winter feed:
- For beaches and rock walls, small metal slices around 20–40 g in natural baitfish colours are doing the damage on tailor and herring. Slow them down in the cooler water; a medium retrieve with a couple of pauses is enough.
- 4–5 inch paddle‑tail and jerk‑shad soft plastics on 3/8 to 1/2 oz jigheads are producing pinkies and skippy around inshore reef systems, especially worked along the bottom with short hops.
- For bream and by‑catch flathead in the estuaries, go with 2.5–3 inch grubs or prawn imitations on light jigheads, cast tight to snags and rock bars.
- Squid chasers should run size 2.5–3.0 jigs in natural browns, greens and pinks over the sand/weed edges in the clearer patches between squalls.
Best baits right now:
- Fresh mulies and whole herring ganged for tailor and any cruising salmon.
- Fresh squid or octopus strips for pinkies, skippy, and other reef fish.
- Worms or peeled prawns for whiting and herring in the gentler shore breaks.
- River bream are still loving mullet strips, mussel, and small hard cubes of mulie drifted back into snags.
Couple of hot spots to put on your list:
- The **northern metro surf beaches and reefy corners**: those little pockets of reef with a defined gutter and some wash have been holding tailor, herring and the odd salmon, especially on the run‑in tide at first and last light.
- **Inshore reef systems and groynes around the main metro harbours**: fish the up‑current side with plastics or lightly weighted baits, and you’ll find skippy, pinkies, and herring cruising the edges of the whitewater.
If you can only fish one window today, aim for that late‑arvo high tide rolling into sunset with a bit of breeze on your face and a metal or pilchard in the wash. Keep it simple, keep it moving, and you’ll stay connected.
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