Nanarup Beach (Albany)

Nanarup Beach is 4.2km of white sand 20km east of Albany, and its long surf gutters are the reason it gets named in the same breath as Cheynes and Middleton for the autumn salmon run. What makes the page worth reading is that two completely different fisheries share one car park. Taylor Inlet, known locally as Nanarup Inlet, discharges through the western end of the beach and is a light-tackle black bream water you can fish from beside the car. Fifty metres away the Southern Ocean is cutting gutters into 4.2km of open sand backed by unstable dunes to the west and 12m calcarenite bluffs to the east. Pick the one that matches the swell forecast and the day is saved either way.

On the sand it is the standard drill — find the gutter, get some height on the dune if you can, and throw metal into the darker water where the schools travel. Autumn is the run, and a fast, erratic retrieve that mimics panicked baitfish is what turns followers into hook-ups. Herring, skippy and tailor are the year-round by-catch on the same gutters and come readily on lighter beach gear with a bit of berley. In Taylor Inlet, work small plastics, hardbodies and vibes along the edges for bream, most of them modest with genuinely good fish in there for anyone who keeps at it. Juvenile salmon, the ones everyone calls salmon trout, mix through the inlet and will hit anything small and shiny.

Australian salmon from March to May are the fish people drive out for, at a 300mm minimum and a bag of four. Black bream in Taylor Inlet run year-round at 250mm and six a day, and the Swan and Canning rule about only two over 400mm does not apply out here. Herring have no size limit and a bag of 20, skippy are 250mm with a bag of eight, and tailor are 300mm with a bag of eight of which only two may exceed 500mm. Salmon, bream, skippy and tailor all sit inside a statewide nearshore mixed bag of 16 fish, while herring and whiting sit in the all-other-finfish category with its own mixed bag of 30. Whiting are caught along this stretch as well and, King George aside, carry no minimum size and a bag of 30. The inlet is the family option and the beach is the trophy option, and it is entirely reasonable to fish both in a morning.

Fish the inlet with the kids and the beach with the alarm clock. Taylor Inlet lets you pull the car up next to the water and cast, which is why it works with a young crew, while the salmon gutters want first or last light and a walk. The sheltered pool at Islet Point, the tombolo of granite boulders at the western end, is the safe swimming water and the calm corner when everything else is churning. Do not plan a stay out here — the caravan park at Nanarup has closed, so book in Albany and drive the 20km. Berley holds a herring and skippy school once you find it, which matters on a beach this long.

Head east from Albany along Lower King Road, which turns into Nanarup Road, for about 20km of sealed-then-gravel driving. Picnic benches and toilet facilities are reported at the beach entrance, with stairway access down to the sand at the western end near the inlet mouth, though the only source for the facilities is undated, so do not build a long session around a working toilet. A 2WD gets you to the car park and to the inlet, and that is all most people need. From there 4WDs can drive the sand east toward Two Peoples Bay, with the usual soft-sand and tide caveats, though the nature reserve itself is entered by the sealed road from Albany rather than off the beach. There is no park entry fee at Nanarup — the fee only starts once you are inside Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve further east. Nothing here is described as wheelchair-accessible, so treat the stairway and the soft sand as the standard of access.

The beach faces south into the Southern Ocean, so swell rather than wind is what decides whether it is fishable on any given day. That same exposure is what cuts the long gutters the salmon travel, which is why this is a run beach rather than a calm-day beach. The western end around Islet Point and the tombolo is the sheltered corner and the only genuinely calm water on the ocean side. Taylor Inlet is unaffected by swell entirely and fishes when the coast will not. Autumn brings the salmon and, being autumn on the south coast, the biggest swells arrive with them. A small, largely diurnal tide means the swell forecast decides the day rather than the tide chart.

Nanarup Beach is not patrolled and carries many rips along its length, which is exactly the water that holds fish. The granite at either end is where the danger sits — an 18-year-old died fishing off rocks near Casey's Beach, between Gull Rock and Nanarup, on 26 April 2015 after slipping, and Western Australia had recorded 21 rock-fishing deaths since 2002 as at that date. A life jacket is not legally mandatory at Nanarup, but it is standard advice for rock fishing on this coast, and staying on the sand avoids the question. Once you lose your footing on wet granite there is nothing to stop the slide into the water. The dunes to the west are unstable and the bluffs to the east are scarped to 12m, so the beach is not uniformly walk-on and walk-off. Soft sand and rising tides are the two things that strand 4WDs heading east. Check the signs at the beach entrance before you drive that way.

Yes, in Taylor Inlet at the western end of the beach, where it meets the sea. Most of the bream are on the small side, with genuinely big fish in there for anyone patient enough, and chunky juvenile salmon mix through them. It is light-tackle water you can fish from beside the car, which makes it one of the easier family sessions near Albany. Bream are 250mm with a bag of six.

March to May, peaking around Easter and the April school holidays. The long surf gutters at Nanarup are what the run is known for, with herring, tailor and skippy as by-catch on the same water. Autumn also brings the biggest swells of the year to this coast, so check the swell forecast rather than just the wind before leaving Albany.

No. The beach is unpatrolled and has many rips along its length, and there is no surf club out here. An 18-year-old died rock fishing near Casey's Beach, between Gull Rock and Nanarup, on 26 April 2015. Fish from the sand rather than the granite, and treat the sheltered pool at Islet Point as the only safe swimming water on this stretch.

Yes, 4WDs are permitted on the sand and you can drive east from Nanarup toward Two Peoples Bay, though the nature reserve itself is entered by the sealed road from Albany rather than off the sand. A 2WD will get you to the beach car park and the inlet, which covers most of the fishing anyway. Watch the tide and the soft patches — this is a long way from a tow truck.

Toilet facilities and several sets of picnic benches are reported at the beach entrance, plus stairway access down to the sand at the western end, though the source for the facilities is undated. There is no park entry fee at Nanarup itself; that starts inside Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve further east. Do not count on accommodation here — there is no caravan park at Nanarup any more, so base yourself in Albany, 20km west.