Perth angler Laith Rickman has had a great run recently at a little spot he has on Five Fathom Bank. First it was a thumping yellowtail king which featured in this newsletter a while ago, and now a honking 29kg spaniard.

Some top fish from the metro area.

Laith (right) with his metro mack.

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Bluewater owner Hal Harvey made a Mother's Day dash for Rottnest and arrived with just enough light to navigate through the bombies. He soon spotted a school of salmon only a blind man could miss.

Both Hal and deckie Fraser Hocks were soon hooked up on spin gear, while the troll rods also went off.

Fraser Hocks with a Rotto salmon on dusk.

Big schools of well-fed salmon have been pestering bottom fishers well offshore, with baits rarely making it to the bottom.

Hopefully some rough weather will push these fish into the metro beaches - if the three week run of perfect weather ever ends!

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Daihatsu Delta van for sale

The faithful Bluewater bus is going after 18 years of trouble-free service - and for a mere $500!

Our trusty van, a 1984 model high-roof Delta diesel with custom white-spoker wheels, alarm, immobiliser, dual batteries, six months' rego and a fair stereo with CD player that's never even had a CD in it, has finally seen its use diminish to the point where we shouldn't keep it any longer. We bought it second-hand and after 25 years, it has less than 190,000km on it.

Now for $500, there has to be a catch, and having lived over the road from Scarborough Beach for all its life, it should come as no surprise that rust is biting badly. Mechanically we'd have no qualms about driving it around Australia tomorrow, but yes, it's rusty.

It's out the back of the Scarborough store - call 9245 1313 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We'll miss her when she goes.

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Here's a preview of this week's Sunday Times fishing column...

HOT SPOTS 

METROPOLITAN

Anglers can't complain about the lack of action when they can't get away from salmon while bottom bouncing not far offshore. One party caught a couple of decent dhufish out from Two Rocks as well as salmon up to 5kg in about 40 metres of water.

Bluewater Tackle World's Joff Weston took his colleague Dave Holbery out from Mindarie and the pair hooked double headers of salmon. It didn't seem to matter where they moved the salmon were there. Weston and Holbery released almost all of the salmon, only keeping a couple for the smoker. Baldchin groper have made another hot target with Direction Bank good. Spanish mackerel remain in the Metro region with fish encountered at Rottnest and behind Garden Island.

Boaties are finding increased skippy action with some terrific fish between the One Mile and Three Mile - but most reef country is holding good numbers.Five to eight kilometres off Fremantle where small samson fish are also active. Small pink snapper are notable around marina rock walls with some of them inside Ocean Reef Marina.

There are heaps of herring and garfish up and down the coast. Ocean Reef Marina is excellent for the gardies, Floreat is producing smallish skippy, whiting and the occasional chopper tailor. Squid catches aren't as good as they have been. Night fishers at Wilbinga have been rewarded with the odd yellowtail kingfish. 

Swan bream chasers should look at water from Ascot and upriver towards Guildford.

MANDURAH

Herring are in plague proportions right along the coast and inside the Dawesville Cut, with ample whiting about including at the Five Fathom Bank. Dhufish are scarce offshore.

The Murray is holding plenty of bream with above Ravenswood best. The Serpentine has been.

Crabbing inside the estuary is slow but locals have found another way to catch them. In the calm weather they're launching their fishing kayaks off the beaches such as White Hills - where they drop their nets just after the break. Some bringing home their bag limit. 

FITZGERALD RIVER NATIONAL PARK 

Russell McCarthy has been a fan of the Fitzgerald River National Park for years and described a memorable recent trip. 

Russell was fishing with his sons Stellan and Thys, and their mate Liam Hurtado, and had some terrific skippy action. Hurtado, who had never fished before, made his first cast on a newly purchased rod with a small metal lure and soon had a 2kg plus skippy on the sand.

With the group hoping for salmon but finding only small ones, the skippy provided masses of fun. Nearing the end of the session, Russell thought he'd have a go and landed a big samson fish after an epic struggle.

EXMOUTH

This week's Exmouth newsletter can be viewed here.