Guilderton is where the Moore River meets the Indian Ocean, and the sandbar between them dictates the fishing. Most of the year the bar is closed and the river sits as a long tannin-brown lagoon — classic light-tackle bream country with snags, rock walls and flats running well upstream. When heavy winter rain cuts the bar, brown water pushes out into blue and the mouth switches on for big mulloway and tailor. Two distinct fisheries hiding inside one tidy coastal village.

When the bar is closed, work the river — small hardbodies and soft plastics around timber snags, rock walls and deeper holes for bream. Kayaks help for the skinnier upstream pockets. When the bar is open, fish the mouth where brown meets blue on a rising tide — whole mulies, mullet strips or big soft plastics for mulloway and tailor, especially at dawn and dusk. The beach north of the rock groyne fishes well for tailor, whiting, herring and salmon when there's a bit of white water and defined gutters.

Black bream (the upstream signature — wade the flats, work the snags), tailor and mulloway at the mouth (bar open, dawn/dusk), tailor on the beach in autumn, herring and sand whiting along the shore year-round, flathead off sand edges, and salmon schools through autumn.

Check bar state before you go — an open bar and a closed bar are different trips. Moore River bream are among the slowest-growing in WA; take only what you'll eat and stick cleanly inside the bag and size limits. 4WD access north of the rock groyne is fine on the tracks but the dry sand is soft — check before you commit. Two formal fishing platforms (Silver Creek, Stephens Crescent boardwalk) for anyone not wanting to wade or beach-cast.