G’day, this is Artificial Lure with your Western Australia coastal fishing wrap.
We’ve had a classic late‑autumn pattern along the west coast today. A cool sou’westerly seabreeze pushed in by mid‑arvo, sitting around 15–20 knots on most exposed beaches, with calmer pockets tucked in behind the headlands and inside the river systems. Skies have been mostly clear to partly cloudy, and temps have hovered in the low 20s along the metro and southwest coast.
Along the Perth stretch, the morning started with a gentle easterly, making for glassy conditions inside Cockburn Sound and around Rotto early. The sun was up just after six, and that first light window produced the best bite. Shore fishos working the gutters from Trigg up to Yanchep picked up tailor to the mid‑40s, a few solid herring, and the odd school mulloway. The cleaner water has helped, but the swell still has a bit of push, so the deeper, darker gutters have been the go.
Tides today ran a modest high in the late morning with a dropping tide through the arvo, which lined up nicely with the building seabreeze for anyone chasing pelagics from the stones. Around the rock walls at Hillarys and Fremantle, the falling tide stirred up bait, and there were reports of a few bonito and small tuna harassing the whitebait schools. Metal slices in the 15–30 g range, cranked fast, did most of the damage.
Offshore, when the wind allowed, boaties working the 30–60 m line out from Mindarie and Two Rocks found a mixed bag of pink snapper, dhufish, and breaksea cod. The snapper have been responding well to slow‑pitch jigs in natural baitfish colours and soft plastics in the 5–7 inch range, especially fished down‑current of small burley trails. Fresh squid and mulies on paternoster rigs are still the staple for those who like bait.
Further south around Mandurah and Geographe Bay, the inshore weed beds have held good numbers of squid. Light gear, 2.5–3.0 size jigs in prawn and white/green patterns, worked over the cleaner patches of weed in 3–6 m have produced full bags for patient crews. King George whiting have been poking around the same areas, with fresh squid strips and small prawn‑style soft plastics doing well.
Up the coast toward Lancelin and Jurien, the surf has been a bit more rugged, but the tailor fishing has been hot in the evenings. Ganged pilchards on surf rigs and 40 g chrome lures thrown into the whitewater have both scored. There’ve also been a few school‑sized pink snapper taken close in after dark when the swell eases, especially around reefy corners and behind bombies.
For bait, you can’t go past fresh mulies, squid, and live herring right now. If you’re fishing the rivers for bream and flathead, small prawns, bloodworms, and mussel baits are working, but a lot of savvy locals are leaning on 2–3 inch paddle‑tails and prawn imitations worked slowly along the snags and flats.
Lure wise, stick with:
- 15–40 g metals and shallow divers for tailor and bonito
- 5–7 inch soft plastics or slow jigs for snapper and dhuies
- Squid jigs in natural and glow patterns over the weed beds
- Light hardbodies and soft plastics for estuary bream and flatties
Couple of hot spots to circle for your next session:
1) The northern surf beaches from Quinns to Yanchep for tailor and the odd mulloway on those evening tides, especially when the swell backs off a touch.
2) Southern Cockburn Sound and the inshore weed beds of Geographe Bay for squid and King George whiting when the morning easterlies keep things calm.
The bite’s been best around dawn and again toward sunset as that light drops and the wind starts to ease. Plan around the tide changes, keep your leaders fresh and your hooks sharp, and you’ll be in the game.
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