Artificial reefs

Positioned on a previously sandy barren seafloor at a depth of 17m, these revolutionary structures have quickly flourished into a productive marine ecosystem. The growth on the modules and fish biodiversity and mass on the Exmouth artificial reef are unparalleled by any of the other reefs.

Trolling for species such as Spanish mackerel, school mackerel and tuna with bibbed minnows and skirts in close proximity to the artificial reef area can be quite productive.

The reefs create upwellings and hold baitfish that these pelagic species hunt. The artificial reef area is also close to sailfish grounds so you may potentially encounter a Sailfish in the area as well if you’re lucky!

Try drifting through the reef area or jig using bait for a range of pelagic species such as trevally, tuna and mackerel along with demersal fish such as spangled emperor, Rankin cod, coral trout and bluebone. Light unweighted baits drifted down in the area are a great way to naturally present a bait to the fish. Fresh squid heads from the nearby areas are the ideal baits when fishing the Exmouth reef.

Avoid anchoring right on top of reefs as it will limit the benefit they can have to all fishers and the chances of your anchor returning.

The Carnarvon Artificial Reef sits in 8m – 9m of water, making it the shallowest artificial reef deployed in Western Australia to date. This means the reef should lend itself to skinny water fishing methods, including the use of surface lures, as well as soft plastics and long-cast bibbed minnows. Bouncing soft plastics and metal jigs a metre off the seafloor is a great way to entice a bite from species like pink snapper, tuskfish and mulloway in this kind of depth. Keeping your lure up off the bottom will minimise snagging and is a great method for keeping you in the zone, but off structure.

The reef also provides a large area for multiple boats to fish in, as well as long stretches of reef to drift or troll across. Try casting lures while drifting or idling along the long contours of the reef or trolling around the perimeter of the modules could also be potentially effective. A range of pelagic species can be caught with these methods, including Spanish mackerel, trevally and tailor. Remember, when trolling or drifting, be considerate and respectful of other anglers.

When anchoring, dropping anchor up wind of a module cluster in the sand will ensure smooth anchor retrieval and points the stern of the boat towards the structure. Utilising the anchor burley method can be a great way to pull fish away from the structure and get them fired up. If burleying, a soft plastic, or free-floating whole bait in one of the rod holders is always a chance and a great way to switch up your fishing. If anchoring, make sure to give other anglers plenty of space and avoid anchoring right in among the reef clusters, so others can drift or troll the area.

Check out Recfishwest’s artificial reefs code of conduct and our responsible fishing guidelines to make sure you’re doing the righty out there and send any pictures of your catches in to info@recfishwest.org.au for your chance to feature in our weekly fishing report. For your photos to be featured, make sure they follow our responsible fish handling and photography guidelines.

The north metro artificial reef is poised to become a new fishing mecca off Perth’s northern suburbs. With accessibility being one of the strong point of the artificial reef, many new fishers will see this as one of the first go-to spots, so knowing how to fish these awesome and diverse playground of species who will call this reef home is key.

At 27m of depth, this artificial reef will be able to transform into a complex marine habitat supporting iconic species such as pink snapper, dhufish, Samson fish, yellowtail kingfish and much more! Some of these hard-fighting fish can swim straight through the reef when hooked in order to avoid being reeled in and in turn bust you off! In order to minimise this issue, avoid anchoring right onto the reef (this also reduces the chance of losing an anchor), and instead set your book alongside the reef taking into account of the wind and current. Losing heavy tackle and fish is one thing all angler’s hate and simple tips like this will save a lot of frustrations and money in the end.

In order to target specific species such as pelagic fish, trolling around the reefs is a good way to hook up with tuna species, Sambos or kingies. Drifting closer nearer to the reef will allow you to target some iconic species such as pinkies and dhufish!

If you’re targeting smaller bread-and-butter species, burleying up and getting a trail going is a good way to attract all fish especially skippy and whiting. Drift down small pieces of bait such as squid tentacles or mulie cubes on small Sabiki or paternoster rigs will increase your chances of catching some of these great tasting and fun-fighting fish on light gear.

If you’d like to know more on how to fish some of these great species check out the ilovefishing website!

Always be responsible and aware of other fishers in the area including spear fishers. With the scale of this artificial reef, there is plenty of opportunities for all fishers to enjoy this soon-to-be fishing mecca.

The reef towers will be located in “the paddock” between Garden Island and Rottnest Island.  They are designed to hold bait fish and attract fish such as skippy, samson fish, yellowtail kingfish, Spanish mackerel and tuna species along with pink snapper and baldchin groper.

Similar to the South West artificial reefs, some of the best fish are caught around the structure, not right on top of it. Sounding around the towers you will often mark fish within a 100m radius of the structures. Samson fish will often stack up on top of one another and distinctly appear like this on the sounder.

Fish can be targeted by trolling around the area and over the top of the reef as well as drifting near the reef location and jigging or drifting weighed baits in a berley trail. To set up a drift you usually have whats called a trial drift where you see which way the boat is going to move. You then use this information to set yourself up in a way that will allow your boat to slowly drift over the fish tower. Usually those fishing an artificial reef will set themselves up in this way creating a sort of line where each boat can drift over the reef. If the drift is slow unweighted mulies are a great method to target most species around these reefs. Not many fish will pass up a whole mulie with minimal weight drifting around these structures.

Anchoring right on top of reefs should be avoided as it will limit the benefit they can have to all fishers and the chances of your anchor returning as it may get caught up on the large structures.

With the same modules in a similar depth to the successful South West artificial reefs (25 metres), the Mandurah Artificial Reef is already developing into a complex marine habitat supporting a diverse fish community providing fishing opportunities for iconic species such as pink snapper, skippy, dhufish, baldchin groper, samson fish, whiting, squid and flathead.

Fish like this can run straight through the reef when hooked, meaning disaster for the angler. That means the bigger fish are its almost impossible to stop if hooked close to the structure and it requires fishers to take that into account when fishing around the reefs.

For that reason, it is best to avoid anchoring right on the reef (which also means less chance of losing the anchor), instead set yourself to anchor so you are sitting alongside the reef (taking into account wind direction and current).  Anchoring directly on the reef will lead to heavy tackle and fish losses, but being too far away will produce poor results, so take the time to get it right, remembering that those sambos, pinkies and kingies know exactly where to head when hooked.

Once you have anchored up, get a berley trail going with things like mulie cubes, pellets or old bait chopped up and scatter it around the boat ever so often. This will create a slow steady feed of berley that will attract the fish to your area. Once you’ve established your trail, you can drift down small pieces of bait like mulie cubes, unweighted on just a single hook. This helps to present the bait in a natural way and the fish will believe its just another free piece of berley for them to snatch up. You can always use a weight to get the bait down the bottom, this can help when targeting fish like whiting or baldchin which are not likely to swim up the trail. Though unweighted baits will eventually make it down to them if you’re patient.

Alternatively, trolling around the reefs is a good way to find the pelagic fish which are in the area, while drifting close to it should allow you to draw bottom fish like dhuies and pinkies to your bait or lure and allow you to cover more ground.

Always be responsible and courteous of other fishers in the area, including spear fishers. There’s plenty of opportunities for all to fish the reefs and enjoy our underwater oases.

Avoid anchoring right on top of reefs as it will limit the benefit they can have to all fishers and the chances of your anchor returning.

Always be responsible and courteous of other fishers in the area, including spear fishers, there’s plenty of opportunities to fish the reefs.

The modules are perfect cover for tough fighters likes sambos, pinkies and kingies, and other species such as skippy, mulloway, baldchin groper, flathead, whiting and squid.

Fish like this can run straight through the reef when hooked, meaning disaster for the angler. That means the bigger fish are its almost impossible to stop if hooked close to the structure and it requires fishers to take that into account when fishing around the reefs.

For that reason, it is best to avoid anchoring right on the reef (which also means less chance of losing the anchor), instead set yourself to anchor so you are sitting alongside the reef (taking into account wind direction and current).  Anchoring directly on the reef will lead to heavy tackle and fish losses, but being too far away will produce poor results, so take the time to get it right, remembering that those sambos, pinkies and kingies know exactly where to head when hooked.

Once you have anchored up, get a berley trail going with things like mulie cubes, pellets or old bait chopped up and scatter it around the boat ever so often. This will create a slow steady feed of berley that will attract the fish to your area. Once you’ve established your trail, you can drift down small pieces of bait like mulie cubes, unweighted on just a single hook. This helps to present the bait in a natural way and the fish will believe its just another free piece of berley for them to snatch up. You can always use a weight to get the bait down the bottom, this can help when targeting fish like whiting or baldchin which are not likely to swim up the trail. Though unweighted baits will eventually make it down to them if you’re patient.

Alternatively, trolling around the reefs is a good way to find the pelagic fish which are in the area, while drifting close to it should allow you to draw bottom fish like dhuies and pinkies to your bait or lure and allow you to cover more ground.

Always be responsible and courteous of other fishers in the area, including spear fishers. There’s plenty of opportunities for all to fish the reefs and enjoy our underwater oases.

The modules are perfect cover for tough fighters likes sambos, pinkies and kingies, and other species such as skippy, mulloway, baldchin groper, flathead, whiting and squid.

Fish like this can run straight through the reef when hooked, meaning disaster for the angler. That means the bigger fish are its almost impossible to stop if hooked close to the structure and it requires fishers to take that into account when fishing around the reefs.

For that reason, it is best to avoid anchoring right on the reef (which also means less chance of losing the anchor), instead set yourself to anchor so you are sitting alongside the reef (taking into account wind direction and current).  Anchoring directly on the reef will lead to heavy tackle and fish losses, but being too far away will produce poor results, so take the time to get it right, remembering that those sambos, pinkies and kingies know exactly where to head when hooked.

Once you have anchored up, get a berley trail going with things like mulie cubes, pellets or old bait chopped up and scatter it around the boat ever so often. This will create a slow steady feed of berley that will attract the fish to your area. Once you’ve established your trail, you can drift down small pieces of bait like mulie cubes, unweighted on just a single hook. This helps to present the bait in a natural way and the fish will believe its just another free piece of berley for them to snatch up. You can always use a weight to get the bait down the bottom, this can help when targeting fish like whiting or baldchin which are not likely to swim up the trail. Though unweighted baits will eventually make it down to them if you’re patient.

Alternatively, trolling around the reefs is a good way to find the pelagic fish which are in the area, while drifting close to it should allow you to draw bottom fish like dhuies and pinkies to your bait or lure and allow you to cover more ground.

Always be responsible and courteous of other fishers in the area, including spear fishers. There’s plenty of opportunities for all to fish the reefs and enjoy our underwater oases.

The best method for targeting fish on Esperance’s Cooper reef are by drifting baits and jigs or trolling around the area of the reef. The reef often holds baitfish that are herded upwards by schools of predators like tuna, bonito or salmon. Trolling divers and skirts is the best way to target these pelagic predators. Often deep divers will fish best but having a mix in the trolling spread is usually beneficial.

Drifting with weighted baits in a berley trail will increase your chances for species such as pink snapper, queen snapper, nannygai, breaksea cod, harlequin, samson fish, skippy, flathead and King George whiting. Try stopping your boat upwind of the reef, this will help you to drift slowly over the reef area allowing you to cover more of the reef area and increase your chances of locating a fish.

Using mulies will help you to burley up and excited the fish with the oily bait while something like a fresh squid tentacle will be best for fish that are likely to pick at the baits with small mouths like whiting. Using a small cube of mulie is great for a varitey of species and throwing out some extra ones every now and then will help to burley up the fish in the area. Even if you don’t hook up, the mulies oil will help to excite and fire up the fish in the area so that you may catch them on your next drift or the one after.

Avoid anchoring right on top of reefs as it will limit the benefit they can have to all fishers and the chances of your anchor returning.