Hillarys Boat Harbour · 12 m cat
Reef & deep-drop fishing charters out of Hillarys — lines in by seven.
Half-day reef seats from $180, full-day deep drop from $260 a seat, the whole boat from $1,600. Bait, ice and the licence covered — you bring a hat and a soft esky. Set your deck plan and send it as a booking request.
Four seats, full day, lines in by seven
Shared trips carry eight; the boat is surveyed for ten on a private charter.
Shared trips carry eight — nine and up, book it private (it's the cheaper trip from nine anyway).
Bait, ice, safety gear and the charter's fishing licence cover are included on every trip. Every booking is a request we confirm by phone or email. Weather call by 6pm the night before — full refund or reschedule. Corporate days, multi-day trips and Rottnest or Abrolhos runs are quoted on the brief.
Trips & rates
What a day on the boat costs
GST inclusive. Bait, ice, safety gear and the charter licence cover are on us; every booking is a request we confirm by phone or email.
Half-day reef seats
Five hours on the three-mile reef and the inshore lumps — pink snapper, skippy, the odd dhufish. Lines in by seven, back for lunch.
from $180a seatFull-day deep-drop seats
Eight hours, out to the Rottnest trench in 150–300 m on electric reels — dhufish, bar cod, ruby snapper. The trip most crews book.
from $260a seatExtended-day seats
Ten hours — the trench in the morning, the reef on the way home, and the eskies stacked before we tie up.
from $340a seatPrivate charters
The whole boat for one to ten anglers — bucks' days, the FIFO crew, the family. Same trips, your crew only, the pennant up.
from $1,600half day · full $2,300 · extended $3,000Rod & tackle hire
Rod, reel and rigs to suit the trip — or bring your own gear and save it. Electric reels on the deep drop are included.
$25per personCleaning & filleting
Filleted and bagged at the pen while you rinse off — bring a soft esky and it goes straight in.
$15per personCorporate & multi-day trips
Corporate days, multi-day runs and Rottnest or Abrolhos trips — tell us the brief and the head-count and we'll put a plan together.
Quoted on the briefFrom the deck
Crews who came back
★★★★★Booked the whole boat for my brother's bucks — eight of us, none of us knew what we were doing. Skipper put us on the trench and Dave pulled a 14 kg dhuie by ten. Fillets bagged at the pen. Best day of the weekend, and it wasn't close.
★★★★★Family of five over from Adelaide, kids aged nine and twelve. Half day on the reef, and every one of us caught something — the deckie rigged the kids' rods and kept count of the limits. Calm as anything on the cat.
★★★★★Our crew books the same swing every month now — four seats, full day, tackle hired so no one carries gear through the airport. They text the weather call at six on the dot and we've only lost one day all year.
Where we fish
Out of Hillarys, north to Two Rocks, west to the trench
The pen is at Hillarys Boat Harbour, twenty minutes from the CBD. Half days work the three-mile reef and the inshore lumps; full and extended days run west to the Rottnest trench for the deep drop, or north toward Two Rocks when the weather says so.
- Hillarys Boat Harbour — the pen
- Three-mile reef
- Rottnest trench (deep drop)
- Marmion lumps
- Two Rocks grounds
- Mindarie & Ocean Reef
- Perth CBD & Scarborough pick-ups
- Rottnest & Abrolhos — on the brief
Before you book
Questions we get on the phone
What will we catch?
Dhufish, pink snapper and baldchin groper in season, with skippy, bar cod and ruby snapper on the deep drop — but it's fishing, and we don't promise a fish. What we promise is the right ground for the day, a deckie who rigs and re-rigs, and honest advice on the weather call.
Do I need a fishing licence?
Not on board — the charter's fishing licence covers every client on the boat (that's how WA Fisheries sets it up for licensed charters). If you want to fish off the wharf before or after, that's your own gear and your own rules.
What if it's blowing?
We make the weather call by 6pm the night before, from the BOM forecast and what the skipper can see off the wall. If we cancel, it's a full refund or a reschedule — your pick. If you cancel inside 48 hours for other reasons, we try to fill the seat and refund if we do.
I get seasick — will I be all right?
Honestly, maybe. Take a tablet the night before and another with breakfast, eat something plain, stay on deck and watch the horizon. The cat is a lot steadier than a mono, but the deep drop is out wide and there's swell out there most days.
What do I bring?
A hat, sunscreen, polarised sunnies, lunch and drinks (no glass), a jumper for the run out, and a soft esky for the fillets. Bait, ice, tackle if you've hired it, safety gear and the licence are on us.
What about bag limits?
Real WA Fisheries bag and size limits apply on board — the deckie keeps count per angler, and undersize or over-limit fish go back. It's the law and it's why the trench still fishes. Ask us and we'll walk you through the demersal rules for the day you're out.
Book seats
Send a booking request
Your deck plan is already in the message. Add a name, a number and a preferred date; we'd call you back within one business day to confirm the seats, the pick-up and the weather window.
Nothing is charged until we've spoken. Every booking is a request — we confirm the trip and take a deposit by phone or email, and the weather call is by 6pm the night before, always.
This is a demonstration build by Sapience Analytics. Want one pointed at your customers? Southbound Charters is fictional; the deck plan, the booking form and the weather-call flow are how we'd build it for a real charter operator.