Yanchep Beach (Capricorn)

Yanchep Beach is the open-coast half of Yanchep, and the half most visitors miss because the lagoon a kilometre south gets all the photographs. A groyne sits in front of the beach access car park at the end of Capricorn Esplanade, and Capricorn Beach runs 1.25km north from it to a foreland attached to a reef. The groyne fishes as a platform in its own right, and the sand either side of it forms the surf gutters the sheltered lagoon simply doesn't have. The local shorthand splits the two neatly: the lagoon for calm-water whiting on light gear, this beach for tailor.

Work metals and stickbaits off the groyne into the deeper water at either end of the run, hardest on a moving tide at dawn and dusk. On the sand, read the gutters — the darker water between the bars is where tailor and salmon travel, and a 40g metal cast across the run covers ground far faster than sitting on bait. After dark the beach turns over to mulloway, fished with a whole mulie or a big soft plastic in the same gutters that held tailor at dusk. Herring and sand whiting sit closer in over the clean sand, picked off on light paternosters between casts.

Tailor work this stretch year-round with autumn through summer the strongest window, and the local reputation is that it out-produces the lagoon. Australian salmon push through in autumn on their way along the coast. Mulloway are a night fishery in the beach gutters, and the fish that most justifies the head torch. Herring, skippy and sand whiting fill the daylight hours, and the groyne holds fish that the open sand never will.

Fish the groyne first at first light, then walk north as the sun comes up — 1.25km of beach spreads anglers out, and the reef end rarely has anyone standing on it. Yanchep Surf Life Saving Club patrols this beach seasonally and the patrol area runs north to the Rafts surf break and Club Capricorn beach, so keep casts well clear of flagged water in summer. Carry water and a second light; there is nothing between the car park and the reef end.

Sealed car park behind the groyne at the end of Capricorn Esplanade, which serves both the northern end of Yanchep Beach and Capricorn Beach running north from the groyne. Beach access is about 50m of soft sand from the lower beachfront car park — no stairs to negotiate, but a loaded trolley is hard work and nothing past the car park edge is wheelchair-friendly. Behind the dune sit the Capricorn Beach foreshore playground, an outdoor shower and shaded picnic areas, which makes the car park a workable base for a family session. No lighting on the sand, so a head torch is mandatory for dawn, dusk or the mulloway shift. Parking fills fast on summer weekends.

West-facing open coast with no outer reef in front of the groyne — the exact opposite of the lagoon a kilometre south. Incoming south-westerly swell lands directly on the sand and builds the gutters that hold fish, but above about 2m it turns the groyne into a bad idea and flattens the beach out. The afternoon sea breeze blows onshore and puts chop over everything, so mornings run cleaner. Water clarity is good for most of the year and drops for a few days after winter storms. The groyne fishes best on a rising tide with some swell working; the gutters fish best at the low-light ends of the day.

This is unprotected open coast, and the reason it fishes well is the same reason it carries risk. The groyne washes over in big swell and wet limestone is genuinely slippery — stay off it above about 2m and never turn your back on the water. Rips run alongside the groyne and between the sandbars, which is precisely where the gutters are, so wading to extend a cast is a worse idea here than it looks. Summer northerlies bring bluebottles onto the sand. Surf club patrols cover flagged areas in season only; outside those hours the nearest help is the 1.25km walk back to the car park.

The lagoon is a protected pool inside an outer reef about a kilometre south — calm water, light tackle, whiting and families. Yanchep Beach is open coast with a groyne at the access car park and surf gutters running 1.25km north to a reef. The lagoon still fishes when the swell is up; the beach fishes better for tailor and is the only one of the two with a genuine night mulloway option.

Yes — the groyne is one of the main reasons people fish here, alongside the sand either side of it, and it puts you over deeper water than the beach can reach. Stay off it once the swell is over about 2m; it washes over and the rock is slippery when wet.

In the gutters — the darker channels of deeper water running between the sandbars — and off the end of the groyne, which reaches past the first bar. Find them at low tide, then fish them at dawn or dusk on a moving tide with a 40g metal retrieved fast. Autumn through summer is the strongest run, and this stretch has a local reputation for out-producing the lagoon.

Seasonally. Yanchep Surf Life Saving Club patrols this beach, and the patrol area extends north to the Rafts surf break and Club Capricorn beach. Patrols cover flagged swimming areas during the season only, so fish well clear of the flags and treat the beach as unpatrolled outside those hours.