Tag: fish aggregating devices

Five new cutting-edge FADs provide great new sportfishing opportunities for Port Hedland fishers!

Pilbara fishers have received a fantastic boost for offshore fishing options following the installation of five Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) off the Port Hedland coast.

The new FADs were anchored in position this week in waters 20 to 40 nautical miles off Port Hedland. Recfishwest initiated the project, working closely with the local fishing community and in partnership with BHP and maritime-service provider TAMS.

Representing the State’s 700,000 recfishers, Recfishwest pioneered WA’s State-wide FADs program and drew on that expertise to drive the exciting new initiative – a first for Port Hedland.

With BHP’s support, Recfishwest procured high quality “Okabe” FADs to deploy off Port Hedland. The FADs have been built and rigged to withstand big tides and swell and therefore do not need to be taken out of the water during the cyclone season.

Attached to each FAD is a small buoy that provides satellite tracking as well as collecting water temperature data, which will be shared with fishers to enhance their fishing success.

Click here to see the five FADs coordinates off Port Hedland!

An example of what the five cutting edge “Okabe” FADs off the Port Hedland coast look like and the kind of fish they will help attract! Get out there and wet a line next to the devices for the chance to reel in billfish, wahoo, tuna and Spanish mackerel!

Through several stakeholder meetings with Recfishwest, North-West Spearfishing Club, Port Hedland Game Fishing Club and local fishers, it was made clear FADs were high on the wish-list to open up new fishing opportunities. They also advised Recfishwest on optimum locations for the FADs.

North-West Spearfishing Club’s Robbie Peck, who was instrumental in driving the FADs vision for Port Hedland, said, “It’s a great outcome which has created exciting new fishing opportunities for fast-growing, highly sustainable pelagic fish and distributing local fishing efforts across a wider area.

“The outdoor and fishing lifestyle is huge in Hedland – you’re not going to spend any time in the Pilbara without doing one or another. So we’re delighted that Recfishwest and BHP is supporting fishing in the region through initiatives like this that go a long way in adding to the attraction of living here and coming to visit.”

Cindy Dunham, BHP General Manager Port Operations said, “We’re proud to support the deployment of FADs in Port Hedland. We know how important fishing is to the Pilbara community and we hope the FADs will help bring plenty of great fishing days ahead.”

Recfishwest would also like to thank the TAMS group for their support in delivering this project.

Recfishwest’s FADs webpage has all the tips and info you need to know about fishing the FADs, along with their real-time coordinates and deployment status. Get out there and enjoy it!

Mackerel are just one of many pelagic species that will gather around the FADs, so get your lures in the water to find out what’s there! Photo credit: Marco Fraschetti @oceansdownunder.

State-wide FADs network gets Government backing as southern/Metro FADs deployment begins!

In a great win for fishers, following Recfishwest’s successful FADs trial program, the State Government has committed to maintaining a Statewide FADs network for the next three years with the north Metro FADs already deployed.

The four most northern Metro FADs have gone in around 30 nautical miles off the coast out from Hillarys and Two Rocks.

CHECK OUT THE NORTH METRO FADS COORDINATES AND ALL OTHER FADS INFO HERE 

The rest of the Metro FADs between Mandurah and Rottnest are due to be in position by the first week of November – subject to weather conditions and logistics.

The table below shows a rough schedule of deployments for all the remaining southern FADs – but it should be noted that all deployments are subject to weather conditions and logistics.

A heads up for Gascoyne and Pilbara fishers, the six combined FADs that were deployed off Exmouth, Dampier and Point Samson have also been retrieved for maintenance prior to the cyclone season and are expected to be deployed in March until around November, 2024 to spice up the sportfishing opportunities for locals.

We will keep you up to date as soon as we learn from DPIRD once these FADs are in the water and ready to fish!

FADs location Planned time for deployment (subject to weather conditions and logistics)
The south Metro FADs between Mandurah and Rottnest Island First week of November
Lancelin (NEW!) and Jurien Bay Late November
Steep Point (NEW!) Late November
Cape Naturaliste Mid/late November
Albany Mid/late November
Geraldton/Abrolhos Islands Abrolhos Islands FADs are subject to Marine Parks Australia approvals. Once approvals have been obtained, those FADs and the one FAD off Geraldton will be deployed

At a media conference earlier this month, the Minister for Fisheries Don Punch announced the State Government’s commitment to a State-wide network of FADs for the next three years (see map below).

Minister Punch said, “The deployment of these FADs around the State follows the highly successful trial by Recfishwest. They came to us with the concept of putting them into the water, checking it out and seeing how well it worked. It’s very been well received by fishers so far, that’s why we’ve expanded it with a $1.5 million commitment from the State.”

We’re sure to see more FAD-tastic catches continue off the WA coast into the future, just like this cracking dolphin fish landed by Dwayne Robinson at one of the Cape Naturaliste FADs earlier this year!

Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland commented, “We’re really proud to have worked with the local clubs and communities in the regions to lay the foundations for this program which the State Government is backing in as a permanent fixture along the Western Australian coastline – not only taking what we’ve done in the previous three years but expanding that to 40 FADs in 13 locations around Western Australia.

“This FADs network is something which when we travel around the State provides and unlocks new opportunities for trailer boat fishing, for sport fishing and for the charter sector. It’s great to see the State Government back that in and make it become more of a permanent fixture along the coastline.”

Recfishwest would like to acknowledge the fantastic work of Perth Game Fishing Club (PGFC) in pioneering FADs off Perth. Their efforts in running their FADs program over the years have shown the effectiveness of the devices off Perth in creating fantastic new sport fishing opportunities for boat fishers.

PGFC’s assistance and advice was invaluable in helping Recfishwest establish the three-year FADs trial that paved the way for the State Government commitment to the network of FADs announced by Minister Punch.

RECFISHWEST – KEEPING FUN IN FISHING – JOIN RECISHWEST TODAY IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE FADS, ARTIFICIAL REEFS AND JETTIES IN THE WATER!

Enhanced sport fishing opportunities for Dampier and Point Samson with four FADs deployed for the first time!

Pilbara boat fishers off Dampier and Point Samson now have enhanced sportfishing options available to them, with four Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) deployed off the Pilbara towns for the first time in WA’s history.

The latest FADs deployments include one device approximately 40km (22 nautical miles) north, north-west off Point Samson in a depth of 37m, with the other three FADs deployed around 50km (27 nautical miles) north-west of Dampier in depths of 40-46m.

GET THE NEW DAMPIER AND POINT SAMSON FADS COORDINATES HERE! 

The devices have been deployed off Dampier to attract mainly black marlin, sailfish and wahoo, while the Point Samson FAD is expected to attract the same species for sportfishers with dolphinfish also a welcome possibility.

Vince Amico from Adventure Sports in Karratha said the deployment location of the three Dampier FADs – coordinated by Recfishwest and DPIRD – are bang on the money for attracting larger pelagic predators in the coming weeks.

“Given their depths and the water temperatures, I think they will fire up brilliantly for pelagics and both Recfishwest and DPIRD have done a great job on researching where to put them to the greatest benefit of the community,” said Vince.

“These FADs are on the way to most of the trolling or bottom bouncing spots for locals and are relatively close together, so they have the option of fishing all FADs within one session which will help them save on fuel.

“The best tip I can give to anglers heading out there is make sure you are courteous to others and don’t anchor up directly on the FADs. It’s a first in, best dressed scenario, so if you turn up to fish a FAD and it’s already quite busy, there are thankfully other FADs close by.”

For tips on how to fish the FADs and FADS fishing etiquette, click here.

It is another feather in the cap of the State-wide FADs program, which is being run by DPIRD in partnership with Recfishwest.

Marlin, sailfish and wahoo catches could be a common occurrence next to the four FADs recently deployed off Dampier and Point Samson in our State’s Pilbara region, with three devices in the drink off Dampier and one device positioned north of Point Samson. Photo credit: Marco Fraschetti.

“FADs being deployed off this northern stretch of the WA coast for the first time is a big win for the Dampier and Pilbara region fishing community and it’s going to be exciting to see how catches coming off these FADs compare to other parts of the State where the devices have been rolled out,” said Recfishwest Operations Lead Matt Gillett.

With the State Government committed to funding a full-time and State-wide FADs program for at least the next three years, Recfishwest is hoping to develop more new sustainable fishing opportunities like these that can provide great fishing opportunities and better value to the WA fishing community.

Want to know more about FADs and their coordinates? Check out the Recfishwest FADs webpage.

The newly deployed FADs could fire up quickly for attracting larger sportfish, making them a potential hotspot for competitors in King Bay Game Fishing Club’s Dampier Classic between 18-21 August. Right photo credit: Marco Fraschetti.

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!

FADs photo competition – all the info you need to know!

To celebrate the great fishing opportunities at FADs currently between Albany and Jurien Bay (more to come at other locations soon), we’re giving away some quality prizes thanks to Richter Lures and Madfish Gear simply for catching a fish at the devices between 1 March – 1 May and sending in a snap of your fish!

Thanks to Madfish and Richter Lures, we have three fish bags to give away to the top three images, along with a load of Richter skirts for 4th-10th place!

PRIZES:

Best photo: An XL Madfish Fishing Bag (to keep your catches frosty) with 10x Richter skirt lures inside.
2nd best photo: A medium-sized Madfish Fishing Bag with 10x Richter skirt lures inside.
3rd best photo: A medium-sized Madfish Fishing Bag with 5x Richter skirt lures inside.
4th-10th place: Each receive a handful of Richter skirts and lures!

HOW YOU CAN WIN:

1) Visit any of the FADs (Can find their exact GPS coordinates here);
2) Catch a pelagic sportfish (via boat or spearfishing) and take a photo of your catch that reflects our responsible fish handling practices (linked below) with the FAD clearly visible behind you. This means avoiding images where there is blood visible, cutting the fish’s throat, having your fingers in the fish’s gills, holding the fish vertically, etc).
3) Message a photo of your catch to our Facebook or Instagram page detailing where and when you caught it;
4) Keep an eye on our socials when we announce the winners after May 1!

READ RECFISHWEST’S RESPONSIBLE FISH HANDLING GUIDELINES HERE 

These two images are perfect examples of the kind of images that would win prizes – treating the fish with respect, high-definition snaps and with the FADs visible in the background!

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!

Cape Naturaliste FADs now ready to fish as Statewide program gets green light

Recfishwest is pleased to announce that we’ve been able to deploy four FADs off Cape Naturaliste, with additional Perth Metro FADs to follow in the next couple of weeks. 

Following on from the success of the three-year pilot FADs program initiated and run by Recfishwest, many fishers have been asking us when the fish aggregation devices are going to be deployed this summer. 

Recfishwest submitted an in-depth report outlining the results from the pilot program to DPIRD in May 2022, along with a request for funding of the program going forward.   

We have continued to press for funding to allow us to deploy the devices in the southern half of the State this summer – as our pilot program clearly established how effective and popular the FADs have been in creating fantastic new pelagic sportfishing opportunities.  

In late December, we received provisional support from DPIRD for the program to go forward.  

Since receiving approval to proceed we have pushed ahead as fast as we can to ensure sport fishers can make the most of the FADs this summer and autumn.  

FIND THE CAPE NATURALISTE FADS LOCATIONS HERE 

Four FADs are readily available to fish off Cape Naturaliste to help spice up the sportfishing in the area as Chris Leigh Cooper found out when he hooked up right next to one of the Cape Naturaliste FADs.

Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said, “Despite the disappointment at the Government’s recent west coast demersal decision, we are pleased to see a commitment to an expanded WA FADs program as part of its package to support recreational fishing.  

“Having an established Statewide FADs program is a first for WA – and is a direct result from all the hard work put into the FADs pilot program by Recfishwest and local fishing champions, as well as expertise from Perth Game Fishing Club (PGFC). 

“We look forward to hearing DPIRD’s plans for expanding the program in the north of the State and going forward Statewide.”  

Recfishwest is also planning to deploy FADs off Mandurah and Jurien Bay for the first time, to add to the already successful Albany, Cape Naturaliste, Rockingham, Perth and Geraldton deployments in the south of the state. 

Another six metro FADs will again be deployed between Rottnest and Two Rocks in water depths of between 130-350m to complement the six existing annual FADs already deployed by the Perth Game Fishing Club (PGFC), located west of Rottnest.  

In addition, Recfishwest will be deploying the Mangles Bay Fishing Club FAD and Compleat Angler Rockingham FAD as soon as possible pending weather conditions. 

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

Once settled, fishers can again expect FADs in the traditional locations of Exmouth and Broome, with plans to drop FADs for the first time off the coast of Port Hedland. We will keep you updated on any progress with these discussions. 

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.  

Consider joining our cast of thousands as a Recfishwest member to help us launch more initiatives like this that create more great fishing opportunities in WA – jump on our membership page here to find out more.  

Recfishwest will continue to work hard so that more FADs in more locations are deployed as soon as possible so you can catch impressive sportfish like this dolphin fish, landed by Beau Suladra in Perth.