Rottnest Island by Lee Paxman 

Pink Snapper and King George Whiting are quite common species to be found on this ground. Sometimes larger fish are also seen here such as Samson fish and Yellow Tail Kingfish.
I currently hold the State Spearfishing Record for the largest Yellow Tail Kingfish taken from that area. 34.25 kgs

All spearfishing at this part of the island has to be done a minimum distance of 800 meters from the island.
Bathurst PT to North PT
Off the Basin, Longreach Bay and Geordie Bay there is a lot of shallow ledges and caves, a good area to do a shore dive for rock lobster, as there is an abundance of these crustations inside the bays. The Basin in particular is very well protected and a well know spot for families and beginners to snorkel and enjoy the under water marine environment.
Further out beyond the 800meter spearfishing and netting restriction zone in much deeper water, in areas such as Roe Reef there are huge lumps and caves, probably one of Rottnest Islands most spectacular scuba diving areas.Bronze Whaler Sharks and Mako Sharks are not uncommon in this area.

Lee Paxman with a Yellowtail (left)
and a Blue Mowie (above)
Baldchin Groper. (below)

North PT to Cathedrel Rocks
Along this stretch of Rottnest Island there are many large bays and lots of good sand holes fringed by reef, perfect ground to see schools of Tarwine and some nice King George Whiting. Out from these bays there are small reefs that wash, good for tailor fishing or in the month of April are good for large Australian Salmon.
Straight out off Rocky Bay, around Swirl Reef divers regularly see large schools of Spanish mackerel and even the odd Wahoo from late summer through autumn. Often these pelagic species are accompanied by large sharks such as Bronze Whaler sharks, Hammerhead sharks, Mako sharks and occasionally due to the leeuwin current Tiger sharks maybe also be sighted.
WEST END
The western most point of Rottnest Island is Cape Vlamingh also known as West End. This area is known for its excellent fishing and scuba diving but is not for the faint hearted, as this area has no protection from the elements. Large swell is not uncommon here and is very dangerous if you are unfamiliar with the location. There are many large lumps in deeper water that can break unpredictably when a big swell rolls in.
Out side of the breakwater the ground slopes off quite rapidly, in about 20meters of water there are large caverns and ledges that are often dived on by scuba divers and free divers such as myself. There is a great abundance of fish life and rock lobster in these caves. Late summer through to autumn off the west end of Rottnest island pelagic and more northern species of fish can be seen by divers, such as Spanish Mackerel, Shark Mackerel, Wahoo and various types of tuna, divers have also encountered large Queensland Gropers dwelling around these big caverns. Divers that have not dived the west end before should be warned that currents can be extremely strong and divers can be carried away from the boat and may not be able to make it back.

Greg Pickering & Lee Paxman with Spanish Mackerel

SOUTHERN SIDE
Wilson bay is a well known rock lobster diving spot for lots of free divers I know, it is good for free diving because of the shallow and the amount of good ground in this area. Just out side of this bay there is a good surf break called radar reef and a side break mainly for body boarders known as Rotto box, I've surfed this break a couple of times but I think its drilled me more then I've actually surfed it.
Further along the southern side in Strickland bay there is another surf break, I haven't actually surf the break but looks to be good shape and always has heaps of guys surfing it, so I suppose it's a pretty good break. Right next to the break is a great place for a snorkel or to catch a feed of crays, there are heaps of good ledges and caves that house many small reef fish. Most times I have dived Strickland bay, there has been a pod of dolphins hanging around, always a pleasurable sight to see.
Around from Strickland bay is Salmon bay and as you can imagine from the name at certain times of the year large schools of salmon congregate around the reefs in this bay, usually it is in April but odd ones are quite often seen all year round in the bays of Rottnest. This bay like most bays of Rottnest has a large number of Rock lobster in it.
PARKER Pt
Parker point has great caves and ledges all around the point but there is a total marine reserve were no fishing of any sort is aloud, which makes for an excellent observationry dive. There are lots of different species of fish all around this area.
Often large scuba diving boats are seen around parker point, so definitely worth a look.
DYER Island
Dyer Island itself has an abundance of rock lobster in the ledges around the island, being mainly shallow water definitely the depth for a free dive.
Moving in a southeast direction from Dyer Island out about 1 nautical mile good ground for Blue Morwong, Western Australian Jewfish and Pink Snapper can be found in about 17 meters of water.

Lee and Pink Snapper (left)

DYER Island to Natural Jetty
The ground along this area is mainly shallow and the main place I dive for Rock lobster, there are heaps of jumbo crays around the small islands and being such shallow water its not to hard to catch a feed. Often when I dive this area catching crays I see huge blue gropers up to around 70lb, always good to see that there is still lots of them around.

Lee Paxman