Perth Fishing TV

Late Spring and early Summer are prime jigging times in Perth and especially for the mighty Samsonfish which present a formidable challenge due to their size and power. After arriving at their chosen spot, the skipper, Mark, points out a group of fish lying near the bottom on his amazing 3D Sonar display. Nick then shows us the Albright Knot which he favours to connect braid to mono before dropping his 300g jig 112m down to the bottom. Almost instantly, Nick has a fish on and a back breaking fight ensues with one of the toughest fish you can find. Its a chunky 20kg and is quickly released as there are more down there and almost certainly much bigger ones. Mark joins in too and in less than a few seconds, its a double hook up and the mayhem begins with both anglers trying to keep their fish from entangling each other. Nick gets his fish in and its a 25kg specimen, but Mark is still fighting his and its obviously bigger. Finally getting it in, Nick is flabbergasted to see the biggest Samsonfish he's ever seen which they estimate at over 50kg. More monstrous fish follow and you can be certain Nick and Mark will sleep well tonight.

Nick has invited one of his viewers on the show this week, and local angler Shannon Edwards takes them to a spot called Two Rocks where they start fishing in 15-20m of water for Snapper. Shannon throws in some small pieces of burly to get the fish active and they drop their baits out of the back along the burly trail. Shannon hooks up first and has a tough fight with a Jewfish which is a great start to the day. Nick then hooks and the first Snapper, no monster but most welcome. More Jewfish and Snapper follow for both anglers and Nick shows us how to rig his baits. On their second trip out with Shannon, he takes them to another reef to try some lure fishing, but the swell is too strong to get over the back of the reef. Thinking there will be Snapper below the breakers they start throwing soft plastics out and in no time at all Nick fights and lands his PB Snapper. Its pretty gnarly fishing but the guys are convinced there ae more fish in this rough water, so persist and Nick catches another big Snapper. On the way back, they do some trolling and Mark hooks and lands a big Shark Mackerel to cap a great day's fishing in Perth's waters.

Western Australia isn't the first place you'd think of for Trout, but in the South West of WA, is Waroona Dam, which is stocked with both Brown and Rainbow Trout providing an interesting change from the saltwater fishing. Nick starts by trolling along a tree lined bank and soon gets into a couple of small yearling Rainbow Trout. Moving up to the dam area he then finds a good sized Rainbow on a Rapala lure which looks very similar to a small trout. After taking a break to show us the various lures he favours for these trout he continues fishing. Trolling around 3.5kph seems to bring consistent results throughout the day, despite the bright weather. The following day, Nick makes an early start and is soon into the fish again rounding off the trip with a succession of hard fighting Rainbows.

In this episode the guys are fishing on the Swan River which flows through the middle of Perth, and testing bait vs lure to find the most effective tactic. Finding a nice snag on the bank they begin to pick up a few small Grunter and Black Bream but decide to move into some deeper areas to find something bigger. This tactic pays off as they start catching some much bigger Bream using Mullet and Prawn for bait. Nick then bags his personal best Black Bream measured at 39cm so its a great start to the day. Next we join Ruan Van der Berg who is up river at first light and demonstrating how he fishes lures around a snag. He grabs a quick Bream before noticing some Cormorants in a tree on the far bank. Its a great indicator that there are fish around and casting under the tree that they are roosting in, provides instant results with another Bream coming to the boat. Back in the city and Nick finds fish in the harbour area by targetting the walls and other structure with small lures. Next he fishes under a new bridge targetting the pylons and immediately finding more Bream. Back to Ruan and he shows us how to fish creature baits which the Bream round here just love.

In this episode, we learn about a tagging project which was set up to help protect the Dhufish which are unique to Western Australian waters. A prized sport fish, Dhufish have unfortunately been in decline for several years, so the more information the scientists can get about them the better. Simon joins up with local Two Rocks skipper, Paul Greenwood and his son, Jess who have been big supporters of the project and regularly catching and tagging Dhufish with over 300 to their boat. Having arrived at the first mark, the baits are dropped down and the rods are soon bent over. Several Dhufish are caught in quick succession with each then measured, recorded and tagged before release. Paul the skipper shows us how he uses a release weight, to safely release the fish back to the bottom attached to a barbless hook which is then teased out. We also learn how to prepare perfect squid baits for Dhufish fishing whilst Paul shows us the kind of bottom structure that Dhufish reside in. At the final mark, the gys find more Dhufish plus some Snapper and a surprise St George Whiting to round off the trip.