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Bite Compass
Inshore / Estuary

Giant Herring

Elops machnata

A slender, silver, hard-jumping sportfish of WA's warm north — the local 'ladyfish'. Patrols estuaries, creek mouths, harbours and sandy beaches from the Mid West and 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.

Size
Up to about 1.2m, commonly 1–4kg
Peak season
Year-round (Pilbara/Kimberley)
Minimum size (WA)
No minimum size
Bag limit (WA)
No individual limit — within the 'all other species' mixed bag of 30

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

Also known as 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

Best Baits

Small live baits (hardyheads, prawn, mullet), small strip baits — though most are caught on lures

Lures

Small chrome slugs and metals, small soft plastics on 1/8–1/4oz jigheads, small surface poppers and stickbaits, soft vibes

Rigs

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.

Technique

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.

Best Time

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 and dusk are the standout windows.

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 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 well over a metre 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 mainly a tropical-north fish, from around Shark Bay and the Gascoyne up through Onslow, Dampier and Karratha and into the Kimberley creeks, though they are recorded down the west coast and as far as Albany. 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.

Last checked . Limits change — confirm with DPIRD before you fish.

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.

Where to Catch Giant Herring

14 Mile (Warroora, Ningaloo) Broome (Town Beach / Gantheaume Point / Roebuck Bay) Coronation Beach (Geraldton) Dampier (Hampton Harbour / Dampier Archipelago) Exmouth (North Ningaloo / North West Cape) Murchison River (Kalbarri) Onslow (Town Beach / Beadon Creek / Mackerel Islands)

Guides Featuring Giant Herring

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