Winter Bite Times Fire on WA Coast: Herring, Tailor, Snapper in the Low Light

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your West Aussie coastal fishing report. Along most of the Western Australian coast today we’ve had classic winter conditions: cool mornings, moderate southerly to south‑westerly winds, and a lingering swell on the exposed beaches. Skies have been a mix of partly cloudy with the odd shower pushing through, especially around Perth, Mandurah and down toward Bunbury. Daytime temps have been sitting in the mid‑teens to low‑20s, cooling off quickly once the sun dips. Sunrise along the west coast has been around twenty past seven in the morning, with sunset just after five‑thirty in the evening. That gives a short but very fishy window of low‑light at both ends of the day, and those bite times have been the standout. Tides today along the metro coast have been modest but handy for land‑based anglers: a low tide through the late morning and a building high into the evening. Up around Geraldton and further north, the tidal range has been a bit bigger, with stronger movement helping the pelagics and reef species fire around the headlands and outer reefs. Offshore crews have been timing their drifts and burley trails to that incoming tide into sunset. Fish activity has been solid for winter. The metro beaches from Two Rocks down through Cottesloe and further south to Secret Harbour have produced good numbers of **herring**, **whiting**, and the odd solid **tailor** in the evenings. A few **snapper** have been caught from rock walls and close‑in reefs after dark, especially when the swell has had some punch over the last few days. Down toward Mandurah and Bunbury, the estuary and inlet systems are giving up **black bream**, **juvenile snapper**, and a few **mulloway** to patient night‑time anglers soaking big baits. Up the coast, spots like Jurien Bay and Geraldton have seen **pink snapper**, **dhufish**, and **Baldchin groper** coming from deeper reefs for boats working slow‑pitch jigs and baits. Land‑based, the northern rock platforms and groynes have produced **tailor**, **skippy**, and the odd **Spanish mackerel** earlier in the week when the water cleaned up. Lure choice: For beaches and rock walls, small metal slices around 15–40 g in chrome or white bait patterns have been deadly on tailor and herring. Shallow diving minnows in natural pilchard or mullet colours are doing well at dawn and dusk. Soft plastics in the 3–5 inch range, paddle tails or jerk shads in motor oil, pearl, or bloodworm, are accounting for snapper and skippy around reefy ground. Offshore, slow‑pitch jigs in pink, blue, or glow have been working on dhufish and snapper. Best baits right now: – For bread‑and‑butter species: **prawn**, **squid strips**, and **pilchard** cubes. – For bigger predators and mulloway: **fresh mullet**, **herring fillets**, and whole **squid**. – For bream in the estuaries: **river prawn**, **cockles**, and small **crab** pieces, or lightly weighted soft plastics and hard‑body crankbaits. A couple of hot spots to put on your list: – **North Mole and South Mole, Fremantle**: Great for herring, skippy, and tailor on a rising evening tide. Fish metals and small bait rigs for a mixed bag, and drop a bigger bait deeper if you’re chasing snapper or mulloway after dark. – **Mandurah Cut and adjacent beaches**: Consistent bream and tailor, plus the chance of mulloway at night. Work the edges of the current with soft plastics by day, and soak whole baits after sunset. If you’re further north, the **Geraldton headlands and reefy points** are worth a crack for tailor, snapper, and the odd pelagic when the wind backs off and the water clears. That’s the wrap from Artificial Lure. 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