West Aussie Winter Bite: Tide Turns and Dawn Dusk Action on the Metro Coast

G’day crew, Artificial Lure here with your West Aussie coastal fishing run-down. Along most of the Western Australian coast today we’ve had a classic winter pattern: cool mornings, mild arvos and a light to moderate offshore breeze early, swinging onshore with the sea breeze later. Skies have been mostly clear to partly cloudy, keeping the water pretty clean in the lee of the wind. Tides along the metro and lower west coast have been running modest highs and lows, with a handy push of water on the mid-morning and late‑arvo changes. Those tide turns lined up nicely with bite windows, especially around reefy breaks and harbour walls. First light and last light have both been short but productive feeding periods, with just enough low‑angle sun to get predators pushing bait into the shallows. Inshore, the bread‑and‑butter species have done the heavy lifting. Herring and hardy sand whiting have been thick along the beaches and groynes, with skippy and the odd bigger tailor mixed in on the deeper gutters. Small metal slices, 10–20 grams in baitfish colours, and tiny 3‑inch paddle‑tail plastics have outfished most other lures when worked quickly through the whitewater. For bait fishos, you can’t go past fresh mulies, squid strips, and prawn baits on light gangs or small long‑shanks. A steady berley trail of pellets and chopped mulies has been the difference between the odd fish and a proper session. Off the stones and nearshore reefs, pink snapper have been the main attraction, especially where today’s swell wrapped onto broken ground in 10–20 metres. Heavy soft plastics in 5–7 inch jerk‑shad profiles and slow‑pitch jigs dropped just on the tide change have pulled some solid fish. For bait, unweighted or lightly weighted mulie, squid, and fresh fillet baits wafted down the berley have drawn the better models. Night sessions around the new‑moon dark and a bit of lump on the water are still your best bet for a big knobby. Further north along the WA coast, the cooler change hasn’t shut things down completely. In the warmer pockets, there’s still spanish mackerel and tuna working the bait schools wider out, with 40–60 gram chrome slices and trolled deep‑diving hardbodies doing the damage. Reef country has held coral trout, spangled emperor and rankin cod, with 4–6 inch soft plastics and flesh baits proving reliable when worked slowly around bommies and ledges. A few hot spots to circle for the next few days: • Metro / Perth coast: The rock walls and beaches around Hillarys and North Mole have been producing herring, tailor and the odd snapper on dawn and dusk. Work small metals and stickbaits around any visible bait, and soak a whole mulie out the back if you’re chasing a bigger red. • South‑west reef edges: The broken ground off spots like Bunbury and Busselton has fished well for pink snapper and skippy on the tide changes. Sound up the little lumps, anchor on the up‑current side, get the berley running and send down soft plastics or lightly weighted baits. Overall fish activity has been patchy in the middle of the day under bright skies but very lively around the tide turns at dawn and dusk. If you can line up those windows with a bit of breeze and some stirred‑up water on a reef edge or gutter, you’re in the game. That’s it from me, Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in and make sure you 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