Carissa Moyle hasn't caught a fish for five years, but she didn't let that stop her on one of Perth's recent run of calm afternoons.

Fishing in Cockburn Sound with Laith Rickman, she first caught plenty of squid over the weed beds out from Coogee before they headed towards a snapper patch that normally yields small pinkies - just out from the Woodman Point boat ramps.

Using 6lb gear, they caught one small 35cm fish, then on the next pass went straight through a massive school which is when Carissa hooked up to this nice 67cm fish.

It took 15 minutes to land on the light 6lb tackle, and fortunately the 12lb leader snapped only as the fish was lifted over the side of the boat.

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Longtail tuna may not venture much further south of Geraldton too often, but a recent report of schools of 10 - 15kg fish off the metro coast may not be too hard to believe.

A lone fish of similar size was taken on a popper off Rottnest a couple of months back. And then there was this ripper - taken by Steve Davey while snapper fishing with a floating mulie off Scarborough in July 2001.

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We received an interesting email about another odd metro catch from regular customer David Bridge, so we thought we'd share ...

Was in the shop the other day talking to the boys and they mentioned that you might
be interested in this photo.

Its of an estuary cod that I caught off Mindarie in May this year while drifting for
dhuies. I didnt have scales but estimate it to be about 15kg. I didnt know exactly
which species it was at the time but some quick research on the Monday after soon
confirmed.

Sorry about the quality of the photo - its hard to find good deck hands let alone ones
that take good photos (it was taken on a mobile phone).

Keep up the good work, I always shop at the Scarborough store even though its a bit out of my way. The service is great, congrats boys.

Cheers, David 

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Snapper of a different class are also on the menu for this week's Ifish shows. Keep a look out for these upcoming shows.

ARNO BAY SOUTH AUSTRALIA

It's a massive hour this Sunday starting with Aussie cricket legend Merv Hughes and Paul Worsteling catching Arno Bay's monster snapper.

They head out with guide Ash, in search of their personal best snapper. Merv was also keen to land a nice fish on a soft plastic.

It wasn't long before they had ticked all the boxes and had more snapper than could possibly fit in to half an hour. It gives you a bit of an idea of just how good the fishing is, when you land 87 cm reds and they end up on the cutting room floor.

Wait till the end and you will see a monster 28 pound, 99cm snapper.

SYDNEY HARBOUR NSW

Paul flies to Sydney to catch up with Mick Collins from Otto's Tackle World Drummoyne and Fish about Tours.  They start with tailor on lures, then nail a truckload of squid for bait before turning them into some nice little yellow tail kingfish.

There is even have a visit from an eight-legged friend that causes a bit of havoc.

TACKLERAT Aussie made Instinct split rings
FISHING AND BOATING TIPS Crossing your chains when towing
GEAR OF CHOICE Shimano Trinidad 16, Shimano T-curve King Mack Overhead, Fins braid

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

METROPOLITAN

 Targeting bread and butter species like herring and garfish will give anglers a very good chance of heading home with a tasty meal. Bluewater Morley's Karl Rosenow suggests a 20 minute berley session at the likes of Brighton Road or Floreat is enough to catch good numbers. North and South Moles are both hot for herring and plenty of garfish.

Small samson fish have provided a bit of fun around Cockburn Sound and skippy are biting all over the place with reef country offshore best - including the Three Mile. Try a small amount of berley to bring the skippy to you. The Garden Island Causeway holds some good skippy and the Sound remains the best prospect for squid but there are a few also in northern waters.

Large tailor highlighted northern beach action with the winter run improving. Some nice sand whiting are adding quality to bags. Swanbourne has yielded tarwhine.  

Boat groups have scored on some cracker-sized king george whiting within about 6-7 kilometres from shore. Some of the best have been 60-65cm long. Glen Northen and Matt Seaman had a great day out in 30 metres of water off Mindarie - boating breaksea cod, very good king george and a number of just size pink snapper. Ben Weston caught two dhufish in two drops from 40 metres of water north west of Rottnest. Some bigger boats are doing well for baldchin and dhufish from country 30 kilometres offshore.

Small pink snapper have provided entertainment in the Swan but the size needs watching. Bream activity is best near East Perth with early mornings preferred.

MANDURAH 

Small fish abound in the Mandurah region with plenty of herring and storm garfish at spots such as Falcon and Dawesville. Skippy added another target in the Cut and recent rains pushed bream down stream with both the Murray and Serpentine Rivers turning up bream to 40cm. Herring and little tailor are fairly reliable at White Hills, as are pesky stingrays.

Whiting are in good numbers in 20-25 metres of water just before the Five Fathom Bank. Skippy have been plentiful and while dhufish were found all over the place 37-40 metres of water has been best.  

King prawns are heading out after the rains so watch for suitable tides.

JURIEN  

The crew aboard the charter boat Valkoisca had little trouble putting clients on to the plentiful pink snapper in the area along with numbers of small dhufish and breaksea cod. Baldchin groper were pretty active in Jurien waters and a lucky few are still boating the occasional mackerel. Squid are a further treat and tailor are worth a try for shore fishers. Herring are a reliable species and sand whiting are prolific. Skippy have been best pursued in weed and reef territory.  

EXMOUTH

The Saltwater Flyrodders have returned to Perth from their annual Boneheads trip, and reported plenty of big fish stretching their fly gear.

A 24kg spaniard on a 10kg tippet for Peter Morse was the highlight and of world record size, with plenty more macks also encountered on the shoals out in the gulf. The same grounds held plenty of golden and bludger trevally, but strangely the big goldies were absent from the flats.

In the millpond conditions that prevailed for most of the trip, some big queenies and longtails also provided some great fishing.

While the west side of the cape was mostly quiet, a couple of Darwin fly fishos nailed a nice bonefish on the flats after putting in the hard yards. North West Reef was a queenie and mackerel hot spot.

Last week's Exmouth newsletter can be viewed here.