Bunbury Koombana Bay (Inner Harbour / The Plug / Casuarina Boat Harbour)

Koombana Bay is Bunbury's sheltered side — the inner harbour, the breakwater locals call the Plug, the Marlston Hill foreshore, and the Casuarina Boat Harbour rock walls. Where Back Beach is the open Geographe surf, Koombana is the calm-water counterpart: family-friendly, dolphin-friendly, productive across a wide species mix and fishable when the open coast is blown out. The Plug breakwater has a long-running reputation as a squid hotspot, and the inner harbour produces a year-round bread-and-butter mix with a credible mulloway shot at night near the entrance.

The Plug breakwater: 2.5–3.0 size jigs worked slowly along the rocks for southern calamari, especially after dark when the lights pull bait. Cast metals and ganged mulies through the channel for autumn tailor and the run of salmon. Casuarina Boat Harbour rock walls: bait rigs tight to the rocks for herring, skippy and tarwhine; whole mulies or live herring on heavier gear at the harbour entrance for mulloway after dark. Inner harbour flats and the Collie River mouth: light spin and surface poppers for yellowfin whiting through summer; small soft plastics for bream around the marina pylons. KGW hold over the cleaner bottom of the bay and respond to long-shank paternosters baited with prawn or bloodworm.

Squid is the headline (the Plug and the Casuarina rock walls are both productive year-round, peaking spring and autumn). KGW and sand whiting over the bay's clean bottom in warmer months. Yellowfin whiting on surface lures through summer. Tailor in autumn off the breakwaters. Mulloway from the harbour entrance at night. Pink snapper push in occasionally during the cooler months. Black bream from the Collie River mouth on light gear.

The Plug fishes shoulder-to-shoulder on calm spring evenings — set up downwind of established anglers and call your casts. Don't fillet on the breakwater; the gulls and pelicans get on it fast. Dolphins regularly cruise into Koombana Bay; expect them to follow your boat and avoid casting where they are working. The new universal-access fishing platform on the northern breakwater is worth checking once it opens.

Multiple sealed car parks around Koombana Drive, the Dolphin Discovery Centre and the Casuarina Boat Harbour, with sealed paths to most of the productive sections. The Plug breakwater has step-on access from the boat harbour side. Public toilets, cafes and a tackle shop within five minutes of the bay. The southern breakwater walls are walk-in over rocks; the harbour-side platforms are largely accessible. Permanent lighting along parts of the Casuarina breakwater helps after dark. The drive from Perth is around 2 hours via the Forrest Highway.

North-facing and tucked behind the harbour breakwaters, so Koombana Bay shelters from the prevailing south-westerly weather that shuts down the open coast. Easterly mornings are calmest; afternoon sea breezes blow across the bay but are softened by the bay shape. Tide changes lift the squid and KGW bite; slack water is slow. Water clarity is generally good but drops after heavy rain or strong northerlies that stir the seagrass. The Collie River discharge gives the inner end of the bay a slightly tannin tinge after winter rains.

Light hazards by South West standards. The Casuarina breakwater rocks get swell-washed in heavy westerly weather; stay back from low ledges. Rock surfaces are slippery wet or dry. Boat traffic in and out of the boat harbour is constant during the day; keep lines clear of the navigation channel. Stingrays cruise the inner flats; shuffle if you wade for whiting. Bluebottles drift in during summer northerlies. Sharks transit the harbour entrance occasionally but have not historically affected fishing safety.

The Plug is the local name for the breakwater and bridge structure at the southern end of Koombana Bay where the channel links the bay to Leschenault Inlet, with gates that can be closed during big storm surges. It has a long-running reputation as a squid hotspot, with the Casuarina breakwater walls and the inner harbour rocks the productive land-based sections.

Yes — the Plug breakwater and the Casuarina Boat Harbour rock walls are both productive squid spots year-round, peaking through spring and again in late summer to autumn. Fish 2.5–3.0 jigs in pink, orange or natural patterns slowly along the rocks and over weed patches, and head out around dusk into dark when the lights pull bait.

Yes — sheltered water, sealed access, public toilets, cafes and a tackle shop within five minutes, plus a productive but light-tackle fishery for herring, skippy, KGW and squid. The Dolphin Discovery Centre is right on the bay too. It is one of the better family fishing destinations in the South West.

Koombana is the sheltered counterpart to Back Beach. Where Back Beach is exposed surf with gutters and a tailor and mulloway focus, Koombana is calm-water structure fishing with a squid, KGW and bread-and-butter focus. Pick Koombana when the open coast is blown out, or for a session with kids. Pick Back Beach for the autumn salmon run and the nighttime jewfish shot.