Bluewater Tackle World
Friday 22nd of September 2017
  
A recent full moon, late morning high tides and the sudden return of wintery conditions have been very favourable for the land based snapper fishermen. Quinns Beach, Club Capricorn, and parts of the Mindarie Marina rock wall have been regularly producing pink snapper to 5kg in the North. South, the Moles and Woodman’s Point have still been producing and some fish that have been very large.



Customer Andrew with a very respectable landbase fish. Good work mate.

Plenty of boaties were lucky enough to have been able to take advantage of the epic weather last Monday. Stores had stories of demersal bag outs with dhuies, baldies, and pink snapper making numerous appearances. A trip up to Jurien Bay is worthwhile for those chasing some fun and fillets as most boats have been catching their bag limits of dhufish in no time. The fish haven’t been huge with the average size around 6-8kg but the number of fish out there is outstanding. It would seem that the future is looking bright for dhufish as reports of releasing under sized dhufish to catch another day keep flooding in.


Joondalup customer Travis with a 97cm pinkie..........horse!

The Cockburn Sound is holding large schools of huge snapper and will be holding even more so after this blow. Finding the schools can take a bit of time and some days they have been quite shut down. If the snapper aren’t touching soft plastics or even fresh squid then try reducing your leader size to 20lb with a cube of mulie on a single 4/0 hook drifted down you burley trail. Do not forget however, that the closure in The Sound starts on the 1st October.

Staff member Pete has found squid to be pretty small from his land based haunts but the numbers have been there. This can change very quickly though and some very big ‘hoods’ might be in closer to shore after this weather. The Sound remains full with some kayakers and boaties getting there limit in 30 minutes. Further north plenty of squid can be found around the south cardinal marker off Scarborough. Just after sunset has been the most productive time with multiple squid following the squid jig right up to the side of the boat. Also on the cephalopod front, cuttlefish seem to be everywhere when dropping a bait/jig/plastic for demersals with plenty of anglers coming up tight on what feel like an enormous clump of seaweed, only to find one a massive one of these critters at the end of their line.


One of Pete's calamari from the last week.

For the shore based fishermen, the tip of the South Mole and Mindarie and Two Racks Marina’s have at times provided some light tackle fun on 40+cm skippy. Throwing in a handful of oil soaked pellets or cubes of mulies is a good way to keep the fish within casting distance.

There have been consistent reports of herring at the Grant Street Reef in Cottesloe with many anglers taking home a tasty feed of the little pocket rockets.  Tailor have been sporadic with early morning fishing being more productive than late arvo and fish to over 50cm have been taken. Some anglers have been having increased success with garfish baits which have consistently been in stock over the last few weeks.

Staff member Pete Berlinksi has been stoked with the arrival of Spring and some warmer weather, as he is an avid bream angler who loves chasing them on hard body lures;

'With the change of the season I've been prospecting the Canning for some black gold.
 
I've had little luck in trying to crack the minnow cranking code this time round, each year is different depending on environmental and weather patterns.
 
I was blanking badly and only getting a few timid hits here and there each outing. This in turn was starting to really test my patience and will.
 
My good buddy Han scored some fine gold nuggets the other night, making me question my own abilities.
 
Well persistence and a little 'inside information' resulted in myself sharing a bit of glory with a successful sunset wade.
 
A few plump rats caught and released, not worthy of pulling out the Canon dslr... then...a long cast with the wind towards the bank landed in shin deep shallows. A few muffled bumps through lightly weeded skinny stuff and hookup big time! Line peeled over and over as the unknown went even shallower as I followed in haste. With glimpses of a blue back protruding my thoughts of a soapie faded and I beached my bluenosed black gold.
 
Yeeeooow!'

 
Pete's very good bream on a Zipbait.