Fishing over the school holidays has been epic, and we have had heaps of crew heading into the store to grab gear to head out to many locations along the coast to catch their dinner or just wet a line for a bit of school holiday fun.
Whiting, herring, flathead and skippy have been the main targets, with the whiting particularly having been in good numbers.
Augusta and the Geographe Bay are some of the better fishing spots at the moment - depending on where the wind is coming from.
Our bait of choice for these little guys are coral prawns, river prawns, sand worms and blue bait.
Boaties have been able to get out a few times of late - in between the windy conditions.
Dhufish and pinks are in good numbers and most have reported that the Bottom Meats are hitting the spot for these bottom dwellers.
Crayfish have also been in abundance this season for the freedivers.
Crew pulling pots have reported a slightly less catch rate than last year.
The warmer waters have seen some unusual species down in our southern waters, and we even saw one of our representatives diving with a whale shark last week just off Rottnest Island.
The marron season has kicked off and we remind everyone that there are very strict rules around catching marron around our water systems.
Please ensure you have a licence and you have read all the rules before heading down to the river to catch these tasty morsels.
When out and about trying to get some abalone the other day, one of my customers reported that there was a large number of people (from one vehicle) turn up all with abalone catch bags.
Please remember to only take your bag limit, and that sometimes even that is too many to eat, so there is no point taking them if you are not going to eat them all.
We would like to ensure that our younger generation have the ability to be able to catch what we have been able to during our lifetime - so only taking what you need, rather than what you can, is the best rule of thumb.
If you do see someone doing the wrong thing and possibly taking undersized fish, crays, abalone etc, or are over the bag limit - please contact Fisheries and alert them to this.
Until next month, happy and safe fishing and diving from the team at Down South Camping and Outdoors.
Please remember to only take your bag limit... Only taking what you need, rather than what you can, is the best rule of thumb.
- Roz Cummings
