Perth Summer Early Winter: Tailor, Squid, and Snapper on the Make

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your arvo fishing rundown for the WA coast. Along the Perth stretch, it’s been a classic early‑winter pattern: light to moderate southerlies through the day, easing off into the evening, with offshore winds at first light making things pretty tidy for the small boats and yak fishos. Skies have been mostly clear with a cool start, max temps in the high teens to low 20s. Sunrise was around twenty past seven, with sunset just after five‑fifteen, so that dawn and last‑light window is short but punchy. Tides along the metro and lower west coast have been on a modest run today, with a low in the early morning and a decent push of incoming water building towards mid‑afternoon and tapering into the evening. That making tide has really been the trigger, especially around reef edges and groynes. Off the rocks from North Mole down to Rockingham, tailor have been fairly consistent on the afternoon high, most fish in the 30–45 cm range with the odd better chopper mixed in. Metal slices in the 20–40 g range, small stickbaits, and pilchard or mulie baits on ganged hooks have been the go. A few bonito and small tuna have shown up wide of the moles and Five Fathom on the better weather days, mostly to trolled hardbodies and 40–60 g metals. Inshore sand holes north and south of the river are holding good numbers of herring and skippy, with a smattering of sand whiting. A simple paternoster rig with half pilchard, squid strip, or prawn is getting plenty of bites. Berley has made a big difference; a light trail has been keeping the herring parked behind the boat or in casting range of the jetties. Squid activity has picked up along weed beds from Fremantle down through Cockburn Sound and out towards Garden Island. Size 2.5–3.0 squid jigs in natural browns, greens, and pinks are doing damage, especially worked slowly across the darker patches of weed during the first couple hours of light and again just before dark. Offshore, the inshore reefs and lumps out to about 30 m have turned up pink snapper, dhufish, and breaksea cod when the swell has dropped enough to get out. Snapper have been taking both fresh baits – whole squid, mullet, and strip baits – as well as soft plastics in the 5–7 inch range on 1/2–1 oz jig heads. Dhufish have come mostly on fresh squid and octopus baits worked close to the bottom. Bite windows have lined up with that tide change and the low‑light periods rather than the middle of the day. On the beaches north toward Lancelin and down past Mandurah, there’ve been decent tailor gutters along with plenty of dart and whiting. Fresh mulies, bluebait, and small strip baits fished on a single or twin‑hook rig have been reliable. A few school mulloway have come from the deeper gutters after dark; big fresh baits – squid heads, mullet slabs – are your best bet there. If you’re chasing a couple of hot spots: • The reefy ground and weed beds off Hillarys and Mindarie have been very productive for squid, herring, and the odd snapper in close. Work squid jigs over the weed edges, then swap to small metal lures or bait rigs for a mixed bag. • Cockburn Sound, especially along the eastern weed lines and around the southern end, is worth a serious look for squid, whiting, and early‑season snapper on the right weather and tide. Fish soft plastics and lightly weighted baits along the drop‑offs during that making tide into sunset. Best overall lures right now: 20–40 g metal slices for tailor and pelagics, 5–7 inch soft plastics in natural baitfish colours for snapper and bottom fish, and quality 2.5–3.0 squid jigs. Best bait: fresh mulies, squid, and mullet strips, with prawn and bluebait as reliable all‑rounders. That’s the word from Artificial Lure for today along the WA coast. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn