Giant Herring
Inshore / EstuaryA slender, silver, hard-jumping sportfish of WA's tropical north — the local 'ladyfish'. Patrols estuaries, creek mouths, harbours and sandy beaches from the Gascoyne up through the Pilbara and Kimberley, smashing small lures and skipping across the surface when hooked. Pure sport: spectacular on light tackle but bony and poor eating, so almost always released.
Overview
Giant herring (Elops machnata) are one of the great light-tackle sportfish of tropical WA — the local equivalent of the ladyfish or 'poor man's tarpon'. Long, slim and bright silver, they school around estuary mouths, harbour edges, creek entrances and sandy beaches from Shark Bay north through the Pilbara and into the Kimberley, hunting small baitfish and prawn on the tides. What makes them special is the fight: hook one and it goes airborne immediately, greyhounding and tail-walking across the surface in a series of wild jumps. They throw hooks constantly, which is half the fun. They are not, however, an eating fish — the flesh is bony and poor — so giant herring are a sport-and-release proposition almost everywhere they're caught.
Identification
Ladyfish, tenpounder, poor man's tarpon
First thing to clear up: giant herring is not Australian herring. Our southern 'herring' (Arripis georgianus, the tommy ruff) is a 300–500g nearshore fish of cool Perth water; giant herring is a tropical northern sportfish that reaches a metre. Look for a long, slim, bright-silver body, small scales, a big eye, a single dorsal fin set mid-body and a deeply forked tail. The nearest look-alike up north is the oxeye herring or tarpon, which has much larger scales and a trailing filament off the back of the dorsal. Milkfish are deeper-bodied with a tiny toothless mouth.
How to Catch
Small live baits (hardyheads, prawn, mullet), small strip baits — though most are caught on lures
Small chrome slugs and metals, small soft plastics on 1/8–1/4oz jigheads, small surface poppers and stickbaits, soft vibes
Light spin gear — 10–20lb braid, 15–25lb fluorocarbon leader, single hooks on lures. They have hard, bony mouths, so sharp hooks and a firm hookset matter, but no wire is needed. Crush the barbs to speed up release of a fish that's mostly going back.
Sight-cast small metals and surface lures to schools working bait around creek mouths, harbour walls and sandy beach gutters on a moving tide. A fast retrieve triggers the chase; the strike is immediate and the first jump comes a heartbeat later. Keep the rod tip working to stay connected through the jumps — they shed hooks the moment the line goes slack. Fish the run-in and run-out around structure and current lines.
Available year-round in the tropical north, with the cooler dry season (April–October) the most comfortable to fish. Run-in and run-out tides around creek mouths and harbour entrances concentrate bait and fire them up. Dawn, dusk and the first hour of dark are the standout windows.
Up to 1m and ~10kg, commonly 1–4kg
Year-round (Pilbara/Kimberley)
Size & Growth
Most giant herring you'll meet in WA run 1–4kg and 50–70cm, which is plenty of fish on light spin gear. A good one is over 70cm; anything approaching the metre mark and 8–10kg is a genuine trophy and uncommon in recreational catches. They're a fast-living tropical fish that puts on length quickly in warm water and doesn't reach the ages of a mulloway or a dhufish. The headline maximum of a metre and around 10kg is the far end of the range, not what a school working a creek mouth will produce on an average tide.
Diet & Habitat
Giant herring are pursuit hunters of small baitfish and prawn — hardyheads, mullet, glassies, whatever is moving on the tide. They work shallow water: creek and estuary mouths, harbour and rock walls, sandy beach gutters and the edges of mangrove drains, usually in loose schools that follow bait in on the run-in and back out on the drop. In WA they're a tropical-north fish, from around Shark Bay and the Gascoyne up through Onslow, Dampier and Karratha and into the Kimberley creeks. They tolerate brackish and near-fresh water, so don't rule out a long way up a creek.
WA Size & Bag Limits
| Minimum size | No minimum size |
|---|---|
| Bag limit | No individual limit — within the 'all other species' mixed bag of 30 |
| Counts toward | Counts within the statewide 'all other species' mixed daily bag of 30. Most anglers release them regardless. |
Giant herring are not individually listed in WA's main bag and size tables and fall within the 'all other species' mixed daily bag of 30 (no minimum size). Most anglers release them regardless.
Eating Quality
Poor — one of the few WA species where the honest answer is don't bother. The flesh is dry and riddled with fine intramuscular bones that no amount of careful filleting removes, and size makes no difference: a big one is simply a bigger set of bones. Some anglers mince them into fish cakes, or use the flesh as cut bait for mackerel and mangrove jack, which is a more honest use of the fish. No cooking method redeems it — grilled, fried or curried, the bones are still there, and it doesn't freeze into anything better. Almost every giant herring caught in WA goes back, which suits a fish that fights this well. Crush your barbs, keep it in the water and treat it as sport.
Perth Tips
Beadon Creek (Onslow), Dampier and Karratha harbours and back creeks, the Exmouth marina flats and the Kimberley creek mouths all produce giant herring on the moving tides. Crush your barbs and keep the fish in the water for release — they're delicate and there's no reason to keep them. Light gear and small lures make for the best sport.