Leighton is a wide beach between Fremantle and Cottesloe that forms gutters and holes after decent swell. It's surf fishing that rewards anglers who read the water rather than just casting into the waves. The beach faces west, so the Freo Doctor can shut it down in the arvo — fish the mornings.

Walk the beach and look for gutters, darker patches, or breaks in the wave pattern before you even set up. Once you find a defined feature close to shore, fish it with fresh bait or metals on the tide change. Dawn and dusk are the productive windows — tailor patrol the gutters in low light.

Herring (year-round in the gutters), tailor (autumn dawn and dusk), Australian salmon (Mar–Jun when schools move through), and whiting over clean sand in calmer conditions.

If the beach looks flat and featureless with no defined gutters, it probably won't fish well — try another day or another spot. A little southerly swell helps carve gutters; onshore wind pushes weed in and kills visibility. Leighton fishes best on calm mornings after a swell event.