Mulloway (Jewfish)
Shore / SurfPerth's premier land-based trophy fish. Patrols rock walls, channels, and river mouths after dark. Best targeted with live mullet, squid heads, or large soft plastics on tide changes.
Overview
Mulloway are Perth's premier land-based trophy fish. These powerful predators patrol rock walls, groynes, and river mouths after dark, hunting baitfish and squid on the tide changes. Landing a big mulloway from the shore is a genuine achievement and one of the most exciting experiences in Perth fishing — and one of the few where a single fish can justify a whole night on the rocks.
Identification
Jewfish, jewie, jew, soapie (small fish), schoolie, butterfish, river king
Long, thickset and silver-bronze, with a slightly concave forehead on bigger fish, a big mouth, and a bright silver lateral line that shows as a visible row of pores. The tail is squared-off to slightly rounded, never deeply forked, and young fish carry scattered silver spots along the flank. And yes — mulloway and jewfish are the same fish; jewfish is simply the eastern and older WA name. Confusingly, WA anglers also call dhufish 'jewfish', and that's a completely different deep-reef species. Size-class names: under about 60 cm they're 'soapies', to a metre 'schoolies', beyond that just a big jew.
How to Catch
Live mullet, squid heads, whole squid, large fresh pilchards
Large soft plastics (Gulp 6–7 inch), deep-diving hard-bodies, vibes
Running sinker rig with a 60–80lb leader and 6/0–8/0 circle hook for bait. Use enough sinker weight to hold bottom in the current. For lures, a heavy jig head (1–2oz) with a large Gulp is the go-to.
Fish after dark around rock walls, groynes, and river mouth channels. Cast bait or large soft plastics into areas where current flows past structure — mulloway ambush prey in the current lines. Use slow, deliberate retrieves on lures and let the scent trail work. Be patient — mulloway fishing is a waiting game, but when they bite, it's explosive.
After dark on tide changes, especially the first two hours of the run-in tide. New moon periods and overcast nights are best. They bite year-round but can be more active in the warmer months.
Up to 40kg, commonly 3–10kg
Year-round (night)
Size & Growth
A Perth land-based mulloway is most often a 50–80 cm soapie of 2–5 kg. A good shore fish is a metre and 10–15 kg; anything past 20 kg is the fish people talk about for years. The 40 kg headline size is real but rare, and those fish are old females. Growth is quick for the first few years then slows right down, so a metre-plus mulloway is decades old and a serious breeder. Be realistic about the odds: most nights on the rocks produce nothing at all, and the fish you do land will usually be a soapie or a schoolie rather than a trophy.
Diet & Habitat
Mulloway hunt mullet, tailor, herring, whiting, squid, prawns and crabs, mostly after dark, using current lines to ambush prey swept past structure. They hold in deep channels, scour holes beside groynes and rock walls, river mouths and surf gutters, and will feed in surprisingly shallow water at night. In WA they range from around Shark Bay down the west coast and along the south coast, with the Swan River, the Fremantle moles and the beaches and river mouths from Mandurah to Bunbury the metro strongholds. Juveniles live in estuaries — the Swan holds soapies year-round — and move out to the open coast as they grow.
WA Size & Bag Limits
| Minimum size | 50 cm |
|---|---|
| Bag limit | 2 |
| Counts toward | Counts within the statewide nearshore/estuarine finfish mixed daily limit of 16. WA's general finfish possession limit applies; there is no mulloway-specific one. |
Bag limit: 2 (individual species cap), counted within the statewide nearshore/estuarine finfish TOTAL mixed bag of 16 per fisher. Minimum size: 500mm. Possession limit applies.
Eating Quality
Yes — mulloway is one of the best table fish in Perth: firm, white, large-flaked flesh that's mild and slightly sweet and holds together on the grill or in the pan better than almost anything else. Bleed and ice on capture; unbled jewfish go soft. Size matters more than usual here — the 'soapies' just over the 50 cm limit actually eat cleaner than big breeders, so there's no shame in keeping a modest one for the table, while a really big fish can be coarse and watery through the thickest part of the fillet. Pan-fry, bake, crumb, or cut thick cutlets and barbecue them; it's firm enough for curries and very good raw when it's fresh. It freezes better than most — skin, portion and vac-seal — which is just as well, given how much fillet comes off a decent fish.
Perth Tips
North Mole, South Mole, and the Swan River bridges are Perth's top mulloway spots. Invest in a quality headlamp and a long-handled net — you'll need both. Mulloway spook easily, so keep noise and light to a minimum on the rocks.