Cheynes Beach (Waychinicup)

Cheynes Beach is one of WA's genuine salmon meccas — a small settlement 66km east of Albany beside Waychinicup National Park, where the autumn run arrives before almost anywhere else on the angling map. The salmon migrate westward along the south coast, so Cheynes, sitting east of Albany, meets the schools early, and in recent years enormous schools bailing baitfish in the shallows have become almost an annual event — a 2025 school off the beach was rated by a veteran ocean photographer as the second-biggest he'd ever seen. Around the run it's a proper mixed fishery: herring, skippy, tarwhine, whiting and squid off 15km of driveable white sand. The famous orca aggregation is Bremer Bay's show further east; Cheynes makes do with salmon, and does very well out of them.

In season it's the 4WD salmon chase: drive the beach glassing for the dark schools and working birds, then get ahead of the fish and meet them with metals, stickbaits or ganged mulies — the water is clear enough to sight schools from the sand, and salmon here will hunt down a stickbait in the shallows. Between schools, fish the gutters with baits for tarwhine, herring and flathead. Tourist Rocks handles the rock side: it faces roughly north, so it fishes best in a southerly while Main Beach prefers an easterly — pick your platform by the wind. Squid jigs and light paternosters cover the quieter months, and berley brings the herring and skippy to heel anywhere along the stretch.

Australian salmon are the headline act from March to May with Easter the traditional peak — schools that bail herring and mulies into the wash and turn the shallows white. The support cast runs year-round: herring, skippy and tarwhine from the beach, King George whiting over the sand and weed edges, flathead in the gutters, snook through the calmer corners and southern calamari over the weed. Pink snapper, samson fish and the bluewater names belong to the boats working out toward Bald Island. When the salmon are in, expect company — the rocks fish shoulder-to-shoulder and nobody minds.

Time the trip for the run and book the caravan park early — the annual Great Southern Salmon Campout fills the place, and Easter doubles the traffic. Watch for diving birds and bait flicking on the surface; the schools often show long before they're in casting range, and patience beats blind casting — the 2025 mega-school ignored anglers until it finally pushed within reach of the beach. The local advice is blunt: favour the beach over the rocks, and bin your fish waste rather than feeding it to the neighbourhood's tagged white sharks. Sort fuel and supplies in Albany before the drive out.

The settlement is about 66km east of Albany — roughly an hour via South Coast Highway and the signposted Cheynes Beach road. The caravan park at the western end is the accommodation base, and 2WD access covers the park and Tourist Rocks. The beach itself runs about 15km and is 4WD territory, with Mermaid Point and the Bamboos reached from the townsite tracks and Bluff Creek's soft sand at the far eastern end the hardest going. Boats launch off the beach — there's no ramp, and the shore surge can make that interesting. Services are minimal; treat it as remote and arrive provisioned.

Clean water and crisp white sand are the spot's signature — clarity good enough to sight schools, which is half the technique in salmon season. Wind picks the platform: Main Beach fishes best in an easterly, north-facing Tourist Rocks in a southerly, and between them something is usually workable. Low swell and the low-light ends of the day are the general prescription outside the run. Autumn brings the salmon weather — cooler, cleaner, with the schools pushing westward along the coast and the whole settlement watching the water.

Tagged white sharks frequent the water off Bald Island at the southern end, and the standing advice to anglers is simple — prefer the beach to the rocks, and dispose of fish waste responsibly rather than rinsing frames in the shallows. The rocks carry the usual south-coast surge risk and get crowded in season: rock boots and a life jacket, and give the swell the respect it charges. The beach run is soft-sand 4WD work, worst at Bluff Creek, with recovery a long way off. Beach-launching boats through the shore surge is its own skill — watch a local do it first.

March to May, with Easter the traditional peak. The schools migrate westward along the south coast, so Cheynes — east of Albany — sees fish earlier than the beaches further west, and big schools bailing baitfish in the shallows have been close to an annual event in recent years. Watch run reports from late February if you're planning around it.

Not strictly — 2WD reaches the caravan park and Tourist Rocks, which covers a rock platform and the western beach corner. The full experience is the 15km beach drive chasing schools, and that's committed soft-sand 4WD work, hardest out toward Bluff Creek at the eastern end. Drop pressures and carry recovery gear.

Plenty — herring, skippy and tarwhine off the beach year-round, King George whiting over the sand and weed edges, flathead in the gutters, snook in the calmer corners and squid on the jigs. The salmon run is the famous six weeks, but the other ten and a half months are a quietly good mixed fishery.

Yes — tagged white sharks are recorded around Bald Island at the southern end, and the standard advice for fishers here is to favour beach fishing over the rocks and to dispose of fish waste responsibly rather than leaving frames in the water. Check SharkSmart before a session, especially if beach-launching a boat or wading with a full bait bag.

A 10–12ft surf rod with a 4000–6000 reel, around 30lb braid and 40lb leader, casting 40g metals like the Halco Twisty, or stickbaits and poppers when the schools push into the shallows. Bait fishers use fresh mulies on gang hooks with a star sinker. Salmon must be 300mm and the daily bag is four per fisher — check DPIRD's current guide before the trip.