Where is Ammo Jetty and how do you get there?

Ammo Jetty is the old ammunition jetty at Woodman Point, inside Cockburn Sound south of Fremantle. You park at the Woodman Point reserve and walk a few minutes along a sealed path through coastal scrub — there is no vehicle access to the jetty itself, so take a trolley or a decent bag for your gear.

What is the best rig for herring at Ammo Jetty?

A two-drop paternoster with size 8–10 long-shank hooks on 6 lb fluoro droppers and a small (size 00–1) ball sinker is the standard Ammo rig. If you just want numbers, a herring sabiki jigged gently brings up two or three fish at a time. Fish a light 6–7 ft 2–4 kg rod with a 2500 reel and 6–8 lb braid.

What is the best bait for herring?

Maggots are the great Perth herring bait — they stay on the hook and herring inhale them. Thumbnail-sized mulie pieces are the reliable backup, especially when the schools sit a little deeper, and small prawn chunks, baby garfish strips or a sliver of squid all get eaten happily.

When is the best time to catch herring at Ammo Jetty?

Dawn — first light to around 9am — is the most reliable window, and summer afternoons fire up once the sea breeze pushes bait against the jetty around 2–3pm. Watch for surface boils and diving birds: where the water is churning, the schools are feeding.

Are Australian herring good to eat?

Yes. Australian herring (tommy ruff) are excellent eating fried fresh — bony but sweet — and they take a smoker well. Bleed and ice them straight away, because like most oily fish they go soft fast in the sun.

Do you need a licence to fish at Ammo Jetty?

No. Shore-based recreational line fishing in WA, including off Ammo Jetty, does not require a licence. Bag and size limits still apply, and herring rules have changed before, so confirm the current numbers with DPIRD before you keep a feed.

Herring Fishing at Ammo Jetty (Woodman Point)

If you’ve got a kid who’s never caught a fish, or a mate from the east coast who reckons Perth fishing is overrated, Ammo Jetty is where you prove them both wrong. Tucked inside Cockburn Sound at Woodman Point, the old ammunition jetty sits over shallow, sheltered water that holds herring in numbers for most of the year. It’s the Perth fish: abundant, willing, ridiculously fun on light gear, and forgiving enough that a seven-year-old casting like a windmill will still end up with a feed.

Herring (or tommy ruff, if you grew up south of Albany) aren’t glamorous. But they’re the reason half of WA learned to fish, and Ammo is the spot where more Perth kids have pulled their first fish than probably anywhere else in the metro.

Why Ammo Is Such a Reliable Herring Spot

A few things line up here that don’t line up anywhere else. Cockburn Sound is a big protected bowl of water — Garden Island and the reefs out wide knock the swell flat before it gets anywhere near the jetty, so even when the Fremantle Doctor is carrying on like a blown hairdryer, the water behind Woodman Point stays fishable. The jetty sits over shallow sand and weed — shallower near shore, deeper toward the end of the structure — which is prime herring country: clear water, decent structure, and enough food washing through that the schools stick around.

It’s also ridiculously accessible. No boat, no ramp queue, no launch fee. Walk in, drop a line, go home with dinner. That’s rarer than it should be in a city that’s otherwise very good at getting between you and its own coastline.

The Walk-In From Woodman Point Carpark

You park at Woodman Point and walk. It’s a few minutes along a sealed path through the coastal scrub, and you’ll share it with dog walkers, a few old blokes on e-bikes with rod holders bolted to them, and the occasional jogger looking mildly offended that you exist. Take a trolley or a decent bag — there’s no driving right up to Ammo Jetty, which is part of the charm but also means carting chairs, bait and a tackle box in one trip.

Bring water. There’s no shop, no bubbler, and the carpark toilet is exactly as nice as you’d expect a free carpark toilet to be. If you forgot snacks, the nearest servo pie is a detour back through Coogee, and by the time you’re back the school will have moved on.

Rigs That Actually Work

Keep it simple. A two-drop paternoster with size 8 to 10 long-shank hooks, tied on 6lb fluoro droppers with a small ball sinker (size 00 to 1) at the bottom, is the standard Ammo rig and it works every trip. Herring aren’t leader-shy like bream, but they’ve got small mouths, so match hook size to bait size — nothing kills a session faster than hooks too big for what you’re threading on them.

If you’re chasing numbers and couldn’t care less about presentation, a purpose-built herring sabiki (those little flashy gangs you see hanging in every tackle shop from Rockingham to Hillarys) is lethal. Drop it, jig it gently, watch three fish come up at once. Kids lose their minds over it. Just don’t try to unhook a tangled sabiki in a hurry — you’ll wear one through your thumb and go home with a story instead of fish.

Light gear all the way. A 6-7 foot rod rated 2-4kg, a 2500 reel, 6-8lb braid, and a metre of fluoro leader is plenty. Herring punch above their weight but they’re not going to dust you on a pylon like a bream will.

Bait: Simple, Cheap, Deadly

Maggots are the great Perth herring secret that isn’t really a secret. Grab a tub from the tackle shop on the way down — they’ll keep in the fridge for a week, they stay on the hook, and herring inhale them. Mulie pieces (thumbnail-sized, not a whole pilchard) are the backup and they work just as well, especially if the schools are a bit deeper and you need scent in the water. Tiny prawn chunks, baby garfish strips or a sliver of squid all get eaten happily.

The tackle shop will tell you they were “going off yesterday on maggots” regardless of what actually happened yesterday. Buy the maggots anyway. They’re right often enough.

Timing, Schools and Reading the Water

Dawn is the most reliable window — first light to about 9am in summer, a bit later in winter. You don’t get the east-coast humidity or light-and-tide drama we’re told about over there; Perth’s herring mostly respond to low light and bait movement. Summer arvos fire up as well, especially once the Doctor kicks in around 2 or 3pm and pushes bait up against the jetty. That same sea breeze that wrecks a picnic is doing you a favour here.

Look for surface action before you even bait up. Herring schools boil the surface when they’re feeding, and where there’s boiling water there’s usually a cormorant or tern absolutely going for it. Birds diving equals fish feeding — it’s the simplest rule in Perth fishing and it works everywhere from Ammo to Mandurah. If the water’s dead flat and there’s no bird activity, walk a bit further along the jetty and try again. Schools move.

No daylight saving means dawn is a sensible hour even in January, which is one of the few genuine quality-of-life wins we get over the eastern states.

Bycatch and What Else Turns Up

You’re fishing for herring, but the bottom will give you others. Tarwhine come up on mulie and prawn, especially closer to the pylons. Small whiting work the sand edges around the jetty, particularly on a slack tide. The occasional squid will swim up mid-retrieve and eye off your bait or a hooked herring with genuine menace — if you’re keen, keep a jig rigged on a second rod and you’ll pick up a couple most trips.

Tailor show up when the water warms and will mince a light herring leader in seconds, so if you start losing rigs clean through, upgrade your leader and tie on a longer-shank hook. Skippy (silver trevally) also cruise through in schools and pull harder than anything else you’ll hook here.

For bag and size limits, always defer to DPIRD — herring rules have shifted before and you want the current numbers, not what your uncle told you in 2019.

Ammo is one of those spots where the fish, the setup and the vibe all line up. Take a kid, take a mate, take yourself with a thermos at sunrise — it’s hard to have a bad time. For more on the species and the seasons they run, the Australian herring page has the detail, and before you head down check wind, tide and solunar on BiteCompass so you can pick the morning the schools are most likely to be on.