There are still numbers of salmon lurking around inshore waters, with several being caught from North Mole over the last week. Small schools of salmon have been visible cruising along the rock walls at North and South Moles, ASI and Coogee as well as further south on the west side of Penguin Island.

The calm before the storm at North Mole. This always provides for some good fishing.

This time of year Penguin Island – an oft-forgotten metro shore based fishing location – starts to fire for both salmon and jumbo tailor. There is a ferry service to the island from Mersey Point in Shoalwater Bay, or the alternative walk across the sandbar can be quite interesting as well, with some fantastic fishing to be had on the drop-offs for flathead, flounder and whiting.

A Rapala X-Rap proved too much for this healthy tailor. 

It is also worth having a look further south of Safety Bay, along the Murray Reef system, as there are still salmon floating about there, along with some very good sized jumbo tailor, some up to 80cm.

Laith Richman from Bluewater Melville hooked up and holding on!

Catches of pink snapper are still being made regularly, from both shore based and boat based locations – for shore based, try the ASI or Coogee rock walls, along with old faithful North Mole, and from the boat you do not have to travel far – no further out than the Five Fathom Bank in to as close as just out from the Woodman Point boat ramp.

Bluewater Melville customer Rick with a nice early morning snapper.

Cockburn Sound is currently holding good numbers of big squid - try natural-coloured jigs around the two and a half size - getting a feed of these succulent cephalopods requires not much effort at all. A couple of drifts will see you reach your bag limit easily. 

Squid are not one of the smartest of creatures but they sure are one of the tastiest.

Into the river, activity has been quite steady for the last month, with a couple of species becoming – once again – common catches. Good sized skippy have been a welcome catch, with quite a number of lure fishermen having a lot of fun on light gear battling these hard fighting fish. Lewis Mounsher and Chris Chesky from Bluewater Morley recently raised three very respectable bream. Try fishing the causeway on a rising tide with some fresh boney herring.

Aaron Tippet from Bluewater Melville hooked up on sunset.

Amongst them don’t be surprised to encounter small samson fish, with one Bluewater Melville customer, Stu Gordon, hooking and landing one of eight kilos recently. Stu is an avid lure fisherman and will pretty much only ever throw lures at fish – he used a 20gm Spanyid Sniper to entice the sambo. Flathead numbers also seem to be on the increase and there are also, of a night time, more and more squid being caught in the lower reaches.

Bluewater Melville's Aaron Tippet with a tailor from the Mewstone area.

With more rain forecast in the near future, prawn dabbers have been gearing up for runs on the outgoing tides – indeed a number have been doing quite well in past weeks with hauls of four to five litres per night not being uncommon.

The offshore scene has been basically centred around three species at the moment – snapper, jumbo tailor and the ever-sought-after jewfish. Snapper have definitely been the species making up the majority of catches, and the best time to be on the water is at sunrise for these big thumpers. Floaters or slowly sinking baits seem to work best and don’t forget to berley! The R-Jayz berley system has proven to be extremely effective, along with being a joy to use.

Melville customer Rick with his sunrise reward after a long night at Five Fathom Bank.