Drakesbrook Weir Fishing (Waroona)

Drakesbrook is a stocked fishery, not a wild one, and that’s the point.

• Rainbow and brown trout — the headline species. The weir is restocked with trout each year, most visibly around the annual Waroona Troutfest when thousands of fingerlings and grown fish go in. That makes it put-and-take fishing: the trout are there because someone put them there, and the population leans on the stocking calendar.
• Redfin perch — an introduced European pest, established here as in most south-west dams. They pull hard for their size and eat better than their reputation suggests, but they’re a declared pest in WA and must not be returned to the water alive. Catch one, keep one.
• Marron — the smooth marron (Cherax cainii) that the whole south-west chases for a few weeks each summer. Drakesbrook is a classic public marroning water, close enough to Perth to make a season trip realistic.

For the full picture on each, see the brown trout, marron, and redfin perch species guides.

The single most important thing to know about Drakesbrook Weir: motorised boats, other than electric, are prohibited. No petrol outboards, no jet skis, nothing with a combustion engine.

This isn’t a footnote — it shapes the fishing. The water stays flat and quiet, which suits trout that spook off engine noise and anyone bank fishing or paddling. It also means the far bank and the deeper water off the wall belong to whoever brought a kayak, canoe, paddleboard, or electric-motor tinny. A cheap inflatable kayak genuinely opens up water that bank anglers can’t reach, and you’ll have it to yourself while the swimmers stay near the pontoon. If you don’t paddle, the bank fishing is still the core of the spot.

Marron is the most tightly regulated fishing you’ll do here, and the rules are not optional. The recreational season is short by design: 12 noon on 8 January to 12 noon on 5 February each year. Outside that window, marroning is closed completely.

What applies at Drakesbrook (a general marron water, not a trophy water):

• Licence: a separate Recreational Marron Licence from DPIRD — your freshwater angling licence does not cover it.
• Bag limit: 8 marron per licensed fisher per day, measured noon-to-noon.
• Minimum size: 80mm carapace length. Measure before you bag it.
• Gear: drop nets, scoop nets, or a single bushman’s pole snare — one method at a time. Traps and pots are illegal.

Worth knowing: nearby Waroona Dam (Lake Navarino) and Harvey Dam are trophy waters with a tighter limit of 5 marron at 90mm and a snare-only rule, so don’t carry one dam’s habits to the next. Bag and size limits change, so confirm the current season with the DPIRD recreational fishing rules before you set anything.

Freshwater fishing here runs on light and temperature more than tide. Aim for the cooler edges of the day — dawn and the last hour before dark — and the cooler months for the most active trout. Hot, still summer afternoons are for swimming. Marron is the summer exception, because the season is locked to January.

Check the Waroona Dam area forecast on BiteCompass for the day’s wind and temperature, and if you’re pairing the trip with the coast, Preston Beach is the closest surf — about twenty minutes west — for tailor and whiting on the same weekend. Heading further south, Wellington Dam near Collie is the other big south-west impoundment worth a look, holding the bigger trout and redfin.