Australian Herring
Shore / JettyBread-and-butter species found year-round on almost every structure and beach in Perth. Reliable on small bait rigs, bait jigs, and sabiki rigs. Great eating when bled and iced immediately.
Australian herring are the most commonly caught fish in Perth and the species most beginners cut their teeth on. Found year-round from jetties, groynes, and beaches, they're reliable biters that school in large numbers. They also make excellent live and cut bait for tailor, mulloway, and other predators.
Small pieces of prawn, mulie (pilchard), chicken. Some old-school anglers swear by bread dough.
Bait jigs, sabiki rigs, small metals, tiny soft plastics
Float rig with a size 6–8 hook set 1–2m below a bobby cork, or a sabiki rig dropped alongside jetty pylons. Keep bait pieces small — herring have small mouths.
Fish off jetties and groynes using a float rig or sabiki. Berley with bread or old pilchards to draw the school in close. Once they're around, the bite is usually constant. From beaches, look for schools dimpling the surface and cast small metals or bait jigs into them.
Herring feed throughout the day but are most active in the morning and late afternoon. Incoming tide brings them closer to structure. They bite year-round but schools are thickest from autumn through spring.
Up to 1kg, commonly 300–500g
Year-round
Surprisingly good eating when bled immediately and kept on ice. Delicate white flesh that's excellent crumbed and fried. Deteriorates fast without proper handling.
Bag limit: 20. No minimum size. Always check current DPIRD rules — regulations may change.
Ammo Jetty, Woodman Point, and Coogee Beach are reliable herring spots. Keep a bucket of berley or an oil slick going and you'll hold the school. Herring are also the best live bait for tailor — hook through the nose on a single hook and cast into the wash.