Hopetoun (Mary Ann Haven / Two Mile / Four Mile / Starvation)

Hopetoun is the Fitzgerald Coast town between Bremer Bay and Esperance, seven hours from Perth and quiet enough that you can usually find your own stretch of beach. The original Hopetoun Jetty was demolished in 1983 and replaced with a groyne, so this is a beach, groyne and small-boat-harbour fishery rather than a jetty town. Mary Ann Haven sits in front of the foreshore, Two Mile and Four Mile beaches stretch east along Hamersley Drive into the Fitzgerald River National Park, and Starvation Boat Harbour 30km west is the small-boat launch into a sheltered bay. The salmon run owns the calendar from March.

Mary Ann Haven foreshore and groyne: light spin gear from the rocks for herring, skippy, garfish and squid, with the occasional KGW off the sand edges. Two Mile and Four Mile beaches: classic gutter fishing — walk the beach at low tide, find the deeper troughs and feeder channels, then come back on the run-in with metals for salmon and tailor in autumn or paternosters for whiting and herring year-round. Starvation Boat Harbour: protected bay fishes well for whiting, skippy, herring and squid; locals beach-launch tinnies inside the harbour. Snook and flathead show on the shallow sand flats.

Australian salmon (Mar–Jul, the headline event), tailor mixed in, herring, skippy, garfish, KGW, squid, sand whiting and flathead from the beaches and groyne, plus the occasional mulloway from the deeper gutters at night.

Read the beach before you fish — Two Mile and Four Mile change shape every winter and the gutter that fired last year may not be where you remember. Pack everything: fuel, food, water, ice. The IGA and roadhouse are the only options. Phone reception drops once you head into the national park.

Sealed access to Hopetoun via Hopetoun-Ravensthorpe Road off the South Coast Highway. The town foreshore, groyne and main beach have sealed parking and public toilets at the caravan park end. Hamersley Drive into Fitzgerald River National Park is sealed to the major beach turn-offs but the beach access tracks themselves are gravel and sand. Starvation Boat Harbour is a 30km gravel run west; passable in a 2WD when dry, soft after rain. National park entry fees apply on the Hamersley Drive side. Drive from Perth is around 7 hours.

Same Southern Ocean swell exposure as the rest of the south coast — open beaches wash out fast on a big SW set. Mary Ann Haven faces roughly south-east and gets some shelter from the headland, fishing through moderate south-westerly conditions when Two Mile and Four Mile are unworkable. Calm before the afternoon onshore is the productive window. Weather flips fast and the next sealed road and supplies are 50km away.

Fitzgerald River National Park beaches are remote — phone reception is patchy, fuel is back in town, and a bogged car can ruin a weekend. Big Southern Ocean sets reach the beaches without warning; never turn your back on the surf. White sharks are present along this coast. Sanctuary zones exist within the Fitzgerald River marine area — check the DPIRD South Coast zoning before fishing inside national park boundaries. South Coast Bioregion demersal rules apply, not West Coast.

No. The original Hopetoun Jetty was demolished in 1983 after years of storm damage and has not been replaced. The current foreshore at Mary Ann Haven has a rock groyne that you can fish from, but beach and rock fishing is the realistic land-based option. The nearest fishable jetty east is the new Esperance Jetty roughly two hours away.

Yes. Hamersley Drive into Fitzgerald River National Park, which leads to Two Mile, Four Mile, Mylies Beach and others, charges a standard DBCA vehicle entry fee. An annual all-parks pass pays for itself if you fish the south coast more than a couple of times a year. Mary Ann Haven foreshore in town is free.

March through July, peaking in April and May. Schools push west to east along the Fitzgerald coast and the open beaches off Hamersley Drive — Four Mile especially — produce reliably in the right swell window. Spin metals into the schools as they work the gutters.

Mary Ann Haven has a beach launch suitable for small tinnies in calm conditions, and Starvation Boat Harbour 30km west is the more sheltered launch the locals use. Neither is a deep-water marina; if you want a proper trailer ramp, Esperance is the next option east.