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A break-away FAD has been “at large” for an epic 4,000km-plus drift up to Shark Bay, before looping back and eventually beaching at Walpole on the South Coast (see map below).
FAD #6 broke off from its anchor point around 50km off Woodman Point earlier this year.FADs can break away for a number of reasons such as boat strikes, violent swell, wind and gear failure. Therefore, all FADs are fitted with satellite trackers.
That’s how the wayward fish aggregation device was tracked as it drifted up to 650km off the coast, before being carried northwards up to 400km west off Shark Bay.
It then looped around, being dragged within 50km of the Abrolhos Islands, before catching the Leeuwin Current and drifting all the way down to the South Coast, landing at Conspicuous Cliffs Beach, near Walpole.
Taking the scenic route! FAD #6 started its journey out from Woodman Point and ended up drifting north of Kalbarri, before moving southwards and eventually washing ashore in Walpole due to our strong currents.
The FAD was retrieved by DBCA rangers of the Walpole-Nornalup National Park, and while the FAD had an extensive journey, it is still thankfully in great nick, allowing it to be redeployed later this year as part of the ongoing Statewide FADs program.
The FAD’s voyage highlights the strength of the Leeuwin Current along the WA coast, which pelagic fish species such as billfish, tuna, mackerel, yellowtail kingfish and Samsonfish use as a “highway” to navigate up and down our coastline.
The wayward FAD finally washed up at Conspicuous Cliffs Beach, near Walpole looking none too worse for wear on the back of its 4,000km trek!
Tapping into the bountiful pelagic fishing action provided by the current is a great boon for recreational and charter boat fishers, whose love for fishing the FADs fuelled Recfishwest and the fishing community’s establishment of the successful three-year FADs program trial.
The State Government has committed to maintaining and developing the State-wide FADs network until at least June, 2025.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
The sportfishing action in Jurien Bay has cranked up since the deployment of four FADs off the coastline!
It is great to see fishers reap the benefits of catches from FADs across WA, with Recfishwest and local fishing community members pushing hard since 2019 to cement a fully established State-wide FADS program.
Now thanks to all that effort, the State Government has committed to funding and coordinating the program in future from June of this year – a fantastic result for WA boat fishers with another great alternative to purely fishing for demersals, which will also have flow-on sustainability benefits.
Along with the numbers of catches of sportfish improving – the sizes of some of the fish has been particularly impressive, with a few thumping dolphinfish caught recently on the Jurien FADs.
One of those brutes, a 19kg dolphinfish landed by Daniel Woodman pictured below, was just one of multiple catches during his recent fishing trip with the Dawesville man making the 300km journey north just to have a crack at the Jurien Bay FADs.
Daniel Woodman’s bull of a dolphinfish landed from one of the Jurien Bay FADs came in at a whopping 19kg, which is one of the biggest we’ve seen landed in WA and came close to the Australian record of 22kg.
“The day started at 4am when we left the marina and steamed out to FADs number 3 and 4 out from Jurien Bay. It wasn’t long before we were watching the sun rise out from the back of our boat named Goodtimes and the FAD came into view,” said Daniel.
“We fished a mixture of gear and had a Nomad deep diver in close with a couple of large Pakula skirts trolled out the back.
“In all, it was an amazing time catching dollies, tuna and wahoo next to the FADs. Living in Dawesville, I’m looking forward to getting out to the recently deployed FADs off Mandurah to see what we can catch on ‘home turf’!”
Daniel had a few good tips to help other fishers increase their hook-ups out on the FADs .
“As for the gear used in trolling and flicking lures around, any simple mid to heavy rod and reel that can handle bottom bouncing is more than sufficient. We were also using a homemade teaser setup with a mixture of pushers and birds on a daisy chain.” added Daniel.
Some of the kind of gear that works well out on the FADs include skirts and stickbaits like the ones above produced by FADs photo comp supporter Richter Lures.
More fishers, more catchesbrings benefits for Jurien
Not only have the FADs attracted more fish, they’ve also attracted more fishers to Jurien Bay, all of whom spend money in the coastal town.
Owner of Jurien Bay Seasports and Tackle, Shane Younger, said it has led to more boat fishers venturing into his store intent on spending their bucks on lures to fish the FADs.
“After all the hard work it’s great to have got the FADs in for fishing in Jurien and we’re looking forward to seeing them go in earlier next year so we can reap the full benefits,” said Shane. “It’s certainly helped bring in more visitors to the shop and to town – and it all helps for a community like ours.”
The Perth Game Fishing Club also held its recent fishing classic competition in Jurien Bay, with a huge majority of the contestants making their way out to the FADs to battle it out with some solid specimens landed.
Talented Salty Bones artist Adam Ashdown’s visit out to the Jurien Bay FADs during the recent Perth Game Fishing Classic competition paid dividends, with this nice yellowfin tuna engulfing his lure.
Recfishwest is proud that the FADs we have deployed over the last four years have provided such exciting and memorable fishing experiences for so many, with the deployments and catches set to only increase in the future.
“It has been a journey to get to this stage but all of 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 now that we have a fully established FADs program backed by the State Government moving forward,” said Recfishwest Operations Lead Matt Gillett.
“We’re looking forward to seeing how DPIRD will continue to develop and coordinate the FADs program in the northern parts of the State during the winter months.”
The Geraldton and Mid-West fishing community is relieved to hear that, following Recfishwest’s constructive discussions with the Fisheries Minister, the bag limit for popular large pelagic species like mackerel and tuna has been reinstated back to three fish around the Abrolhos Islands.
The initial revised daily bag limit down to one large pelagic fish around the Abrolhos was announced as part of the package of new west coast demersal fishing rule changes announced by the Minister in December last year.
The bag limit change had left many Mid-West fishers bewildered and disappointed, given there are no sustainability concerns around these fast-growing pelagic species which are highly abundant around the Abrolhos.
Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said, “The Minister has made a sensible decision to reinstate the original daily bag limit back to three large pelagic finfish.
“We are glad that the Minister listened to us and common sense has prevailed. Recfishwest is now looking forward to seeing fishers rightfully enjoy the full benefits of the pelagic sportfishing opportunities available throughout the Abrolhos Islands.
“Generations of fishers have travelled to the Islands for the fantastic sportfishing opportunities on offer, so this is great news. We are glad to see DPIRD has now clarified the reinstatement of the original three large pelagic fish bag limit on their website and in the online version of their fishing rules booklet.
“This change was also inconsistent with the overall push to develop greater sportfishing opportunities to support the recovery of demersal scalefish species along the west coast.”
With the latest revision, it also means charter operators and their customers can rightfully enjoy the full sportfishing opportunities on offer throughout the islands during the April-May period, which is one of the most popular times of the year for visitors to travel to the region and wet a line in the hopes of catching one of these hard-fighting pelagic species.
A spokesperson for the Minister’s Office told the Geraldton Guardian, “A bag limit of three large pelagic finfish has been reinstated following feedback provided by Recfishwest about how the reduced bag limit was impacting the recreational fishing experience at the Abrolhos Islands.”
“The reduction was originally introduced as part of a new wilderness fishing concept at the Abrolhos Islands and not due to sustainability concerns.”
The Abrolhos Islands are teeming with pelagic finfish species such as this wahoo, landed by this fisher onboard Blue Juice Charters.
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:
Travel out to either of the Mandurah FADs (coordinates found here) and catch a dolphinfish or wahoo;
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;
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!
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!
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!
With 237 tag-and-released billfish, including 161 black marlin, 68 sailfish and two pending State and national queenfish and spangled emperor records — the 55th GAMEX fishing tournament once again lived up to its reputation as one of the premier fishing competitions in Australia!
A healthy contingent of 245 avid competitors on 58 boats flocked to Exmouth from across the State between 17-25 March, with Recfishwest researchers also in attendance to collect vital species data for our Fishing for Science program and to coordinate a fishing clinic for dozens of excited kids.
A smorgasbord of point-scoring species were weighed in across the comp, including Spanish mackerel, shark mackerel, school mackerel, queenfish, golden trevally, cobia, dolphinfish, yellowfin tuna, striped tuna, wahoo, barracuda and spangled emperor.
From these captures are two pending records, both from the same angler in Luke Mounsey, who landed a 5.16kg queenfish on 4kg line — a pending Western Australian Male Small Fry record — and a 2.24kg spangled emperor on 1kg line — a pending National Male Small Fry record.
68 sailfish in total were tagged and released across GAMEX, including this stunning electric-blue fish by Chris Tanti.
Not only does GAMEX produce some of the best catches of any fishing tournament in the land— but it also had the most impressive booty of prizes up for grabs which included a $50,000 Northbank trailerboat package draw for one lucky competitor, fuelling fantastic fishing and fierce competition across the tournament.
The team aboard Fatal Attraction enjoyed a fantastic tournament, winning a range of categories including the Overall Capture/Tag & Release category with 11 species across 11 line classes landed, Matt Gates winning Champion Male Angler with nine species across 10 line classes, along with their crew member Dean Gates winning Champion Small Fry Angler.
Bri Bollard aboard Dickens Cider claimed the Champion Female Angler title for five species across eight line classes, with Jessica Hournhardt winning Champion Junior Angler (16yrs/U) of five species across eight line classes and Luke Mounsey winning Champion Small Fry Angler (11yrs/U) with three species across four line classes.
Bri Bollard had a cracker of a tournament, taking out the Champion Female Angler title for five species across eight line classes.
With over $1 million pumped into the Exmouth regional economy each year from GAMEX visitors thanks to the hard-fighting and abundant fish species on offer, it’s clear how important fishing tournaments like GAMEX are to regional towns across Western Australia.
Ben Knaggs, Club Manager of the Exmouth Game Fishing Club (EGFC), said it is the most highly anticipated fishing event on the calendar each year for Exmouth and it has been part of the fabric of the town for over half a century.
“GAMEX is a highly important milestone on the social calendar each year, particularly for mad-keen fishers. Economically, it has a huge part to play each year and it marks the start of the tourist season around Exmouth, which forms the foundations of the livelihoods of many businesses in the region,” said Ben.
“There is such a wide variety of species on offer during the competition and it showcases the fishing in Exmouth on a national and international perspective. It puts the spotlight on Exmouth as the world-class sportfishing destination it is.”
Thanks to the kind fishers who let Recfishwest Operations Officers Sam Russell and Levi De Boni sample their catches, they were able to collect data from loads of fish during the Exmouth Game Fishing Club-held (EGFC) comp.
Data collected included weight, length, condition, sex and maturity stage, while tissue samples from each fish’s belly were also taken for future research.
“Thanks again to the EGFC and its weigh-in committee for the help throughout this year’s GAMEX and for supporting Fishing for Science, along with all fishers who let us sample the fish that they caught – you’ve helped collect valuable data regarding important recreational species,” said Sam.
“Our fishing clinic was also a great success for the youngsters, we had dozens of kids landing some impressive catches that are highly abundant and easily accessible year-round from the Exmouth marina. This region is always rewarding when it comes to teaching kids about sustainability and catching fish.”
Recfishwest’s Operations Officers Sam Russell (pictured left) and Levi De Boni were kept busy baiting lines and unhooking great catches for dozens of kids during the recent Exmouth fishing clinics!
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.
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.
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.
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!
