The Glaucosoma hebraicum (dhufish to the rest of us) is a member of the Pearl Perch family, and only found around the waters of Australia. The dhufish is the largest in this family, located solely in WA and growing to more than 25 kilos.

It’s no wonder the WA public have such a soft spot for the dhuie. They are only found from Steep Point to the Recherche Archipelago in our South West, but the slow growth rate has meant stocks are very vulnerable to overfishing. And they have been overfished.

Jurien Bay, 220km north of Perth, is one place where dhufish are still around in good numbers, but the unpredictable winds and difficult to locate ground can be a problem for newcomers to the area.

In the warmer months, you’re quite likely to catch them in depths as shallow as 10 metres, as many are seen by divers hunting around the reefs close to Jurien. For most of the year, fishing 30-50m is certainly the best way to find the bigger fish.

The first quarter of the moon is a favourite time for targeting dhuies. It just seems to be when they’re most likely to feed and catch rates at this time are certainly higher amongst charter boats.

Bait is of prime importance. You need to pay close attention to freshness and presentation, with octopus one of the best frozen baits, if it’s good quality! Obviously, fresher is better, so many dedicated dhufish chasers will catch their own in the form of herring or, even better, red king wrasse found on the same reef as dhufish.

Live baiting with both of these is a very good option, as a dhufish is an aggressive hunter, but simply using fillets will work just as well.

When setting up for dhuies, you will need heavy tackle because of the country, but use as light a sinker as practical while still keeping the bait bumping along the bottom. If your bait comes off the bottom for any distance, you will rarely pick up any fish. Strong winds can make your drift too fast, so a sea anchor should be used to keep you moving at the ideal pace. Keep looking at your GPS and monitor your drift rate at all times.

Paul Noles, our Local Fishing Legend in this episode, looks for coral patches that are abundant off the Jurien coast. Learn to work your sounder and to recognise one type of ground from the next.

As a slow growing and much sought after fish, why not consider imposing a boat limit of one dhuie per trip to share, then get into some jigging afterwards? If we want to keep dhufish stocks anywhere near what they are even now, we all have to play our part and be responsible with our dhufishing practices.