What’s Biting in Perth in May

May is that changeover month in Perth. Water temperatures drop a couple of degrees, the easterly mornings creep in, and the summer species start handing over to the winter crew. You’ll get a run of 22°C days that convince you summer’s hanging on, then the first front rolls through and half the city collectively remembers where the trackies are. It’s a sweet spot on the calendar — you can still chase tailor and salmon at first light, then pivot to whiting and squid in the same session. Just keep an eye on the forecast, because the first proper cold fronts usually roll through this month and they’ll shut a bite down quick.

Tailor and Salmon: The Tail End of the Run

The autumn tailor run is winding down by May, but don’t write it off. There’s still a solid week or two of action left along the metro beaches and groynes, especially on the back of a warm spell. Dawn and dusk are your windows, and the fish tend to be bigger — the stragglers that hung around after the schools moved on are often decent greenback size.

Australian salmon are in much the same boat. The main southern push is mostly past, but you’ll still find pods holding around the moles and rocky headlands. North Mole and Trigg Beach are worth a look on a calm morning with some swell to stir things up. The Trigg carpark at first light in May is its own subculture — uggies, trackies, a thermos, and the quiet grief of a salmon run on its last legs. Metal slugs, big soft plastics, and live herring will all get hit if the fish are there. If two sessions in a row come up empty, they’ve probably moved on.

King George Whiting: The Month They Arrive

If there’s one species that defines Perth fishing in May, it’s King George whiting. The cooler water pulls them onto the metro sand patches and into the sheltered bays in numbers, and the bite typically goes from patchy to properly reliable through the month. They’re a fish that rewards effort — finding clean sand between weed patches is the whole game.

Drift fishing from a dinghy over broken ground in four to eight metres is the classic approach. Small hooks, light line, and fresh bait — squid strips, prawns, or blue sardine fillets. Hillarys Boat Harbour and the Mandurah inshore banks both fire up from May onwards. Land-based options are thinner, but jetties with sand and weed mix can turn up a feed if you work the edges. Anchoring and burleying lightly keeps them coming once you’re on a patch.

Southern Calamari: Prime Time

May is as good as it gets for southern calamari around Perth. The water’s still clear, the weed beds are holding squid, and the cooler nights bring them up on the shallower grounds at first and last light. If you’ve been meaning to learn the squid game, now’s the month.

Artificial jigs in the 2.5 to 3.5 size range do most of the work. Natural browns and pinks on sunny days, brighter pinks and oranges when it’s overcast or low light. Ammo Jetty and Point Walter are both reliable land-based options, and the weed edges around the Mandurah estuary produce well on a run-out tide. Let the jig sink right down to the weed, give it a sharp rip, then pause — most hits come on the drop. Keep a bucket handy, because when they’re on they can come thick.

Black Bream: Pre-Spawn Bite

Black bream are in a good feeding mood through May as they build condition heading into the winter spawn. Without daylight saving to stretch the arvo, a post-work session is a short affair — you’ve got an hour of usable light after knock-off before the sun drops into the river like it’s got somewhere to be. The Swan and Canning fish are on the chew up in the middle and upper reaches, and the Mandurah estuary fish are doing the same thing in the reedy margins.

This is a skinny-water, slow-fishing game. Ashfield Flats on the Swan is a standout spot this month — fish the snag lines and pontoons on a rising tide with small soft plastics, hardbodies, or unweighted prawns. Mandurah Jetty and the surrounding estuary flats hold good fish too. Low light and overcast conditions are your friends. Once the water temperature drops below about sixteen degrees the bite gets tougher, so make the most of the first half of May if the weather plays ball.

Australian Herring: The Ever-Reliable

When nothing else is cooperating, Australian herring will almost always save the session. They’re thick around most of the metro jetties, groynes, and sheltered beaches through May, and they don’t care much about cold fronts. A simple gang-hook rig with a small float and a strip of mulie gets hammered.

They’re a brilliant fish for getting kids involved, and they make outstanding live bait for mulloway, bigger tailor, and even the odd school jewfish. The southern side of Ammo Jetty, the groynes at Scarborough, and the rock walls around Mandurah all produce. Fish a couple of metres under a float for the bigger ones — the quality herring tend to sit a bit deeper than the hordes of small fish smashing bait at the surface.

Night Sessions: Mulloway on Perth Beaches

May is when mulloway become a genuinely worthwhile night mission from the metro beaches. The fish move in closer as the water cools and baitfish schools hug the gutters. It’s a patience game — long soaks, fresh bait, and a willingness to stand there in the dark while nothing happens for three hours.

Warnbro Beach and the stretches north of Trigg both have form. Fresh tailor or mulie fillets on a running sinker rig, cast into the nearest gutter, and wait. The bite often comes on the tide change, particularly on the bigger tides around the new and full moon. Dress warm — the south-easterly that comes in after dark in May will cut straight through you if you’re not ready for it. A servo pie on the drive home is part of the rig, not optional.

May is genuinely one of the better months to fish Perth if you’re flexible about what you’re chasing. Cold fronts will knock you around, so watch the forecast and pick your windows — a calm two-day gap between systems is often where the best sessions happen. Check BiteCompass for wind, swell, and tides before you commit to a spot, then back yourself. There’s a lot of fish around this month if you’re willing to read the conditions and move with them.