Salter Point (Canning River)

Salter Point is where the Canning pinches into a narrows, and it's one of the few spots on this stretch of the Canning where deep water sits close to the bank. Even the City of South Perth's 2000 foreshore plan singled it out as the likeliest fishing on this stretch for that reason. The rock-pitched tip of the point and the Rossmoyne foreshore directly opposite fish the same channel from either side. The drop sits between the Shelley flats upstream and the Mount Henry reach downstream, so bream and flathead have a reason to pass through, and tailor follow the baitfish in when they run. It's quieter than the jetty spots nearby, largely because there's no jetty.

Work the edge of the drop on a moving tide — the rising tide is the local tip from the Rossmoyne bank. From the point, swing small suspending hardbodies down the ledge on the current; they survive the blowfish, which shred plastics, so save the plastics for flathead or for bream on a quiet blowfish day. On the Rossmoyne side, walk the foreshore and cover the sand between the sedges. One local tip is to wade out from the sedges at low tide — through existing gaps, not across them — and cover the whole sandy bank; another rates the rising tide along Fifth Avenue as the pick. A peeled prawn or mussel on a light running rig worked along the drop after dark is the bait play for bream and cobbler.

Black bream are the reason to come, with flathead on the sand shelves either side of the channel — a 40 cm flathead on a soft plastic has been logged on the Canning around Salter Point in late winter. The Fifth Avenue bank is known for numbers of bream, flathead and tailor, and one Rossmoyne local reported regular 40 cm-plus bream in the months coming into winter. Tailor are a bonus from October to June, best December to May, whiting work the cleaner sand in summer, and yellow-eye mullet and cobbler fill in the rest; the blowfish supply is never in doubt. Blue swimmer crabs and prawns move through in the warmer months.

Cast up-current from the point and let the swing carry the lure along the ledge — it spends far more time in the strike zone than a lure retrieved against the run. Swan-Canning black bream are 250 mm minimum with a daily bag of 6, only 2 of them over 400 mm. Flathead and tailor are both 300 mm and 8 a day, with only 2 tailor over 500 mm, and estuary cobbler are 430 mm and 8 combined with catfish — check the current DPIRD Recreational Fishing Guide before keeping anything. Throw nets are not permitted anywhere in the Swan and Canning. Put blowfish straight back in the water rather than leaving them on the bank, where they can kill dogs. Salter Point Lagoon behind the point is a conservation area — fish the river edge and leave the lagoon and its sedges alone.

Salter Point Parade ends in a turnaround with limited street parking, and from there it's about 250 m south along an informal path past the lagoon to the point, which the council rock-pitched in 2023 while formalising river access from Redmond Reserve. There's no jetty or platform, and the last stretch is path, sand and rock, so it isn't a mobility-friendly spot. The Rossmoyne bank is easier: Fifth Avenue runs down to the corner where Riverton Drive West becomes Riverton Drive North, with parallel parking bays along Riverton Drive North just east of the corner and a shared path beside the foreshore. Toilets are in Sandon Park at the end of Fairview Gardens, about 1.2 km north on the Salter Point side — roughly 1.4 km on foot — and at Shelley Beach Park about 1 km east along the path on the Rossmoyne side. The point and the foreshore paths are unlit, although Riverton Drive North has street lighting, and it suits older kids better than toddlers.

This is lower-Canning tidal water, and with the channel squeezed to a narrows the current tends to run harder through the narrows than over the flats either side, and the fishing slows at slack water. Clarity is best through summer and autumn, while winter rain sends brown, tannin-stained water down the Canning for days. In summer the water is often calmest early, before the south-westerly seabreeze puts a chop across the point in the afternoon. The narrows is 5-knot water and jet skis are banned upstream of Salter Point. It's still a busy rowing and paddling corridor that Rowing WA flags as high-congestion, so early mornings are both quieter and better fishing.

Deep water sits close to shore here, so a slip on the rock pitching at the tip puts you into a moving channel, not knee-deep flats — the rocks get slippery, so keep kids back from the edge and stick to the formed paths around the eroding banks and lagoon. Wading at Rossmoyne is a low-tide, sand-only exercise: shuffle your feet for stingrays, stay well short of the drop, and keep lines and backcasts clear of the rowing crews funnelling through the narrows — an eight at full stroke does not give way to a bream rig. Bull sharks range well up the Canning — DBCA records them as far upstream as Shelley Bridge, and a swimmer was bumped by a reported 3.5 m bull shark at nearby Deep Water Point in January 2026 — so don't wade at dusk, after dark or in murky water after rain. Cobbler spikes are painful, so handle them by the line. Algal blooms periodically affect the Swan-Canning, so check current advisories before eating your catch: crabs must by law stay whole until you're home, DPIRD then recommends removing the top shell, guts and gills because of Alexandrium, and it advises against eating mussels from the river.

Yes. Salter Point sits on a narrows where deep water runs close to the bank, and both the tip of the point and the Rossmoyne foreshore opposite at Fifth Avenue are fished from shore. Black bream and flathead are the main targets, with tailor, whiting, mullet and cobbler also caught. There's no jetty, so bring a light spin rod and fish the edge of the drop on a moving tide.

The Rossmoyne foreshore where Fifth Avenue meets Riverton Drive, opposite Salter Point, holds bream, flathead and tailor, and locals fish it on a rising tide. Work small hardbodies along the sand between the sedges, because blowfish tear up soft plastics. There are parking bays on Riverton Drive North just east of the corner and a shared path along the bank.

Leave it alone — Salter Point Lagoon is a shallow, tidal conservation area behind the point. Fish the Canning River side of the point instead, where the channel runs close to the bank. Keep off the lagoon's fringing sedges and the eroding banks around it.

No. Cast nets — throw nets in DPIRD's wording — are not permitted anywhere in the Swan and Canning rivers. Outside the 1 September–30 November crab closure, crabs can be taken with drop nets up to 1.5 m across, 10 per person, or with rigid scoop nets, and prawns can be taken year-round with a hand dip or scoop net within the 9 litre combined prawn bag. Check the current DPIRD Recreational Fishing Guide before netting.

It's better for older kids than toddlers — there's no jetty, the last stretch is path, sand and rock, and the channel is deep right at the edge. The Rossmoyne bank along Riverton Drive is gentler, with parking and a shared path beside the water. For a toddler session, the jetty, BBQs and toilets at Deep Water Point are the easier pick.