Tag: fads coordinates

FADs first sees deployment of fish aggregation devices off Mandurah

Two FADs have been deployed for the first time off the coast of Mandurah to provide exciting new sportfishing opportunities for boat fishers in the Peel region.  

Both Mandurah FADs are positioned in 100-110m depths and with this latest deployment – it now means there are 20 FADs in the water between Mandurah and Jurien Bay, with an additional two FADs soon to be deployed off Lancelin in the coming weeks.  

The local community have welcomed the Mandurah FADs development according to local tackle dealer Tackle World Miami’s Ash Ramm. 

“It’s awesome to see these FADs deployed after many years of hard work from the crew at Recfishwest and within our doors at Tackle World Miami,” said Ash. “We’re very humbled and excited to see the accessible and adrenaline-filled sportfishing opportunities now on Mandurah’s doorstep,”  

“The potential of the fishing at these FADs is untapped and I know from many years of experience that these FADs hold pelagic fish so well. We’ve seen a huge growth in the number of boats switching to trolling based on better awareness of improved catches – it feels like it’s the dawn of a new era.  

“We even saw a wahoo caught in recent weeks off Mandurah, which we had never seen before. There are loads more boats trolling lures out the back in the hopes of catching dolphinfish, tuna, mackerel and wahoo and these new deployments will only help heighten the growing passion for sportfishing.” 

This stunning dolphinfish was recently caught by Matt Durell from one of the Cape Naturaliste FADs – and now Mandurah fishers can enjoy the sportfishing opportunities at their two FADs.

Forming a ‘FAD Freeway’ 

With Mandurah’s latest deployment over the weekend and with Lancelin’s FADs set to make a splash in the coming week or so, it means there will soon be over 22 FADs deployed between Cape Naturaliste and Jurien Bay, forming a ‘FAD freeway’ that will help accumulate great species and numbers of sportfish.  

The State Government has now committed to funding a fully established State-wide FADs program going forward with DPIRD taking over the funding, running and development of the FADs program from June. This follows the success of the FADs trial program Recfishwest initiated and ran from 2019.   

“Recfishwest is proud that the FADs we have deployed over the last four years have provided such great fishing experiences for so many,” said Recfishwest Operations Lead Matt Gillett.  

“It is great to see that all the hard work and support we have had from so many in the fishing community and fishing clubs like Perth Game Fishing Club has paid off with a fully established FADs program backed by the State Govermment into the future.   

“We look forward to seeing how DPIRD will develop the program in the north of the State in the coming months.” 

Lure prize pack up for grabs for first dolphinfish or wahoo caught at Mandurah FADs

To celebrate Mandurah’s first FADs deployments, Tackle World Miami will reward $250 worth of Richter skirt lures and Nomad stickbaits – perfect for FADs fishing, to the first fisher who lands a dolphinfish or wahoo at either of the two Mandurah FADs coordinates!  

To be in the running, all you need to do is: 

  1. Travel out to either of the Mandurah FADs (coordinates found here) and catch a dolphinfish or wahoo; 
  1. Take a snap of yourself holding your catch with the fish still alive and held horizontally with the Mandurah FAD where you caught it clearly visible in the image behind you;  
  1. Message a photo of your catch to the Recfishwest Facebook or Instagram page with your full name, details on how you caught your catch and the Mandurah FAD that you fished and stay tuned to see if you’re a winner!  
With Mandurah’s FADs now deployed, there are 22 FADs in total now ready to fish between Cape Naturaliste and Jurien Bay, all available to avid boat fishers!

Want to get cracking at fishing the FADs across WA? Find all the FADs coordinates in WA here!  

Don’t forget – our State-wide FADs photo competition runs until May 1 and you could win some great prizes simply for taking a snap of your catch at any of the WA FADs and sending it to us! 

Find out more about our FADs photo competition here!  

Don’t forget – there are ten prizes up for grabs in our State-wide FADs photo competition running until May 1, with three Madfish cooler bags up for grabs to the three best pictures of catches from any of the deployed WA FADs!

Metro FADs in position and ready for great sportfishing action this summer and autumn!

Recfishwest is pleased to announce all of the metro Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) have now been deployed and are in position ready to fish providing great pelagic sportfishing options for this summer and autumn.   

This means there are now eight more FADs deployed in the metro region in addition to the six existing Perth Game Fishing Club (PGFC) devices west of Rottnest.  

With 14 metro-based FADs now deployed in Perth waters, expect to see a lot more sportfishing action with great species such as dolphinfish bending your rods! Photo credit: Marco Fraschetti.

CHECK OUT ALL THE METRO FADS LOCATIONS HERE  

The latest deployment includes six devices approximately 30 nautical miles off the metro coast from between Rottnest and Two Rocks in water depths of between 130-350m.   

In addition, the Mangles Bay Fishing Club FAD and Compleat Angler Rockingham FAD are now in position and ready for action. 

As we recently reported following the Cape Naturaliste FADs deployment in January, we’ve been working hard since late December to get the metro devices out ever since the State Government finally committed to fund a fully established State-wide FADs program going forward.  

Read Fisheries Minister Don Punch’s FADs program launch media release here 

Of course, we would have liked to have been in a position to deploy the metro FADs sooner, but from all reports from keen FADs anglers like Tackle West’s Luke Ryan, action on the PGFC FADs has just started to heat up – check out his recent video of an epic dolphin fishing session on the YouTube link below!      

Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said, “We’re really pleased we’ve been able to deploy FADs in the metro in time for late summer and autumn – we know from the wealth of positive feedback we received from the three-year pilot program we ran how popular these devices are with metro-based fishers.  

“The metro devices are a key component for State-wide FADs program which we now have an ongoing funding commitment from the State Government to support, which is a first for WA. 

“The FADs provide a great sport-fishing option for fast-growing abundant pelagic fish and we want to work with the Government to develop more new sustainable fishing opportunities like these that can spread fishing effort and provide real value to the WA fishing community.”  

FADs are still planned for Albany and Geraldton and for the first time off Mandurah and Jurien Bay.    

Recfishwest is also in talks with the Government over the FAD program rollout for the northern parts of the State.   

We will continue to work hard to get the remaining FADs in the water at all locations – stay tuned to all our channels for updates.   

FANCY GIVING THE FADS A GO? Check out our How to fish the FADs guide here  

Hard-fighting sportfish such as dolphinfish and various tuna species love to congregate around the FADs, make sure you send us your snaps of your catches if you pay the metro FADs a visit!