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Five Fathom Bank Western Australia

Five fathom bank stretches from Rottnest south towards Mandurah and has been a favourite area for fishos for many years. This stretch of reefs provides excellent fishing most of the year for many species of fish. West Australian dhufish would have to be the most sought after species and many have been caught off this stretch in surprisingly shallow water. As the name suggests five fathom bank is in about 8.5 metres of water and is very easy to find even without modern fish finding equipment. The bank is visible from the surface sand is approximately 3 nautical miles west of Garden Island if you are heading out from Rockingham.

Both drift fishing and anchoring are popular methods of fishing over the bank with drift fishing being more popular. Unfortunately if you are planning to drift over five fathom be prepared to lose rigs. The ground over the five is full of ledges, swim throughs and large bombies that just love to swallow up your tackle. However drifting covers more ground and can open up more opportunity to catch a mixed bag of reef fish.

Anchoring up on a favourite lump can also produce good results and when fishing for Skippy this is really the only way to go . Just berley up and wait for the fish to come to you!!!! A couple of the more popular areas are the Casuarina shoal and Coventry reef.

Casuarina shoal is on the northern end of the bank almost directly west of the northern tip of Garden Island and comes up to about 5metres in depth.It is a great spot for big King George whiting ( kidney slappers) as the spot is covered in patches of weed and sand and the reef is home to some big Skippy from time to time.

Coventry Reef is a horseshoe shaped reef that breaks the surface and when this place fires up you can really have a great session. Coventry is home to big tailor that get up to 4 kilos and are caught in the whitewater around the reef either baitcasting mulies or chucking poppers into the surf. I have caught small dhufish around the reef along with breaksea cod pink snapper , King George whiting and big Samson fish. In season it is a great spot for salmon and I have seen the reef literally turn silver from huge quantities of salmon at times.

The easiest way to find Coventry is to head out from safety bay through the channel in Warnbro sound and straight out, you can see Coventry from the channel in Warnbro it is usually covered in spray and approximately 3 miles west of the Murray reef system on the edge of Warnbro sound.

Out a little deeper just beyond five fathom bank and the opportunities become almost endless depending on the time of year. In summer when the warm waters of the Leeuwin current filter through to local waters you have opportunity to catch fish that would not normally be seen in local waters. Spanish mackerel are one such fish and only a couple of weeks ago local charter boat SHIKARI sighted a shoal of Spaniards chopping up a shoal of baitfish not more than 500 meters off the back of Coventry.

Big shoals of skipjack tuna come in relatively close and trolling a couple of lures can be productive if you can find a shoal.

More common catches in the deeper water off the back of five fathom and beyond include big Samson fish/ dhufish/ snapper/ big Skippy and king George whiting and breaksea cod.

Floating out live baits can also be productive ,only a couple of weeks ago local fisho, Peter Dawson landed a 26-kilo yellowtail kingfish whilst fishing with a live Skippy for bait.

Peter told me he was fishing for Skippy but something big kept darting out form the bottom of the boat and eating his catch. After a while he managed to catch a 1-kilo Skippy and threw it on a fifteen-kilo outfit live. Within a couple of minutes it was monstered by something big and after fifty minutes or so the big kingie was boated.

There are many opportunities on five fathom bank for the average fisho and you dont need thousands of dollars worth of electronics to get good fish. Just a good marine chart and a little bit of knowledge of the local areas and the bounty can be fruitful
Written by Ian Bailey

With thanks

All text is Courtesy of Dennis Havery and Ian Bailey

Source http://members.iinet.net.au/~tugboat/

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