Kimberley Coasting

Is there any bright side to all the tragic events of the past few months? Of course there is! I believe there is a bright side to everything. Being positive keeps us healthy in mind and spirit. After the September 11th bombing the world was in shock and people cancelled or altered all travel plans, especially ones involving air travel. At one stage, I remember a report stating that American airlines were losing fifteen million dollars every hour! The sequence of the collapse of Australia’s Ansett Airline imitated that loss on a local scale, and severely affected many businesses, particularly the tourism industry within our country. However, as time has passed, many of us have adjusted back to our everyday concept of life. Travel once again enters our plans.

What will lie ahead for us all in 2002? Quite a lot of changes as the impact of major events worldwide take hold. Most Australians will plan to holiday within the borders of our safe nation, whilst foreigners will also see this immensely diverse country as a safe destination for that well earned break. This is where the tourism industry within Australia should regain something, and perhaps benefit from these changes.

All the devastation pasted on our eyeballs by daily news media reports tempt us to plan an escape to a world away from unwanted tension and drama. So, just where can you go within range of a car or a boat and enjoy your break? The sparsity of the population within Western Australia preserves many untouched areas. One such place of remoteness, beauty, warmth (most important in winter!) and piscatorial abundance is our vast Kimberley Region in the far NorthWest. Recently I travelled on two different charter boats to a few of the eight hundred or so islands and countless inlets that fringe this coast. This story is part one of two articles on these adventures.

“The Boss” is one of the gamefishing charter boats that work out of Broome, owned and operated by Tony Houston. This custom built 43’ boat is fully equipped to take you either out for the day chasing reef or game fish, or up in to the Kimberley for extended charters.

My inclusion on this trip came about because of a special request from the client. When making the booking the client’s wife requested that she should not be the only female aboard. The skipper asked me along as an extra hand. It’s a tough life, but somebody has to do it!! This meant that the party was comprised of the skipper Tony, deckhand Dave, the client Wally and his wife Sandra, and myself.

We boarded the boat at dusk from the Broome Jetty. Welcome drinks soon broke the ice between strangers and eager talk of fishing soon flowed in anticipation of fun-packed days ahead. Excitement was high. The sun sank deep in to the Indian Ocean as we steamed up the coast past the famous Cable Beach towards our first stop, the Lacepede Islands. At full throttle the two Yanmar diesels soon put the necessary nautical miles under our keel, and the steady motion of the hull gave each of us a good night’s sleep. Each of us except the man on watch, of course! The gentle rocking of the boat is always a comfort for me and I slept like a baby until the sun crept up over the red earth.

Hundreds of birds greeted us at the entry to the Lacepedes. The birds were a good indication that fresh bait was abundant. Dave set up his precious Loomis rods and the Shimano 250's spooled up with 20 pound braid. I chose out a few lures from the Halco scorpion range as Wally prepared his fly-rod and selection of his own hand-tied flies. We anchored up and headed out in the tender. The lines had been in the water not one minute when that thrilling sound of the ratchet screamed in our ears.

Sandra hooked up to the first fish, a feisty GT that tested her strength and endurance as we brought it to the boat. Needless to say, she was stoked! The wildlife was amazing there. The gannets flew so close to us in the boat in such numbers that you had to be careful not to hit one as you cast your lure. You could see the fish along the water’s edge chasing each other in what seemed a sporting game. Fish in a world of their own so far removed from our worries.

Hundreds of small turtles were swimming in the shallows. Bait such as yellowtail, sly-sly and mullet electrified the surface every few seconds as queenfish, mackerel and wolf herring darted through hoping for a quick feed. This excitement in the water brought in the sharks, who carved up the commotion, displaying erratic thrashing and fearsome action. We continued to bring in fish after fish on lure and fly, casting and trolling. The prize fish for the first morning episode was a beautifully coloured coral trout caught by Dave. This set the contest for the remainder of the seven days to see who would hold the title of premium catch.

We returned to ‘The Boss’, sat down for lunch in the sun with a cool fresh breeze unwinding us all after the busy morning. Fresh fish for lunch, couldn’t be fresher! We pulled anchor and headed for Cape Leveque as siesta time kicked in. On the way up we tried for the odd chance of a Marlin and put the 24kilo outfit with the “lucky” lure out. Unfortunately, this came to no avail and not a billfish was seen. That left a good excuse to come again next year and try harder to target the billfish.

Cape Leveque is located 211 kms from Broome on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula. The Kooljaman tourist complex situated there offers a range of budget accommodation from basic camping through to paperbark bushpole cabins with stunning views over the ocean. There is a general store and good restaurant that will cook you up a storm in the dry season. It is accessible by car, or by short scenic flight from Broome or Derby. You can swim, snorkel and fish day or night, and enjoy a relaxing wine overlooking the beach. There is no alcohol on sale there though, so remember to BYO if that’s your scene!

After a still night, under the Kimberley moon, anchored off the beach at Cape Leveque Wally and Sandra went ashore to explore Kooljaman while Dave and I tested the new wake board. Wally took his fly-rod ashore to walk the beach in search of new fish to add to his list of species on fly. The wake-boarding was exhausting, but exhilarating and although we were keen to fish, we knew this would be our best chance for being in the water before heading into serious croc territory. Wally was pleased to have caught a few fiery juvenile bluebone on a crab fly, along with trevally and bream. The day hadn’t ended though, and the prospect of tuna and mackerel lay ahead of us trolling through the blue channels that separated the hundreds of islands.

The coastwatch and customs plane was a welcome sight as it flew overhead, making radio contact with us as we continued north towards Crocodile Creek. Schools of tuna crashed surface bait at almost every glance around the waters and it wasn’t long before Dave, Wally and myself geared up the tender in search of sashimi, the planned entrée for the evening meal. Wally was keen to attempt a tuna on fly, a “reel” challenge. The cunning tuna were playing games with us as we raced in between schools trying to give Wally the best vantage point for a cast within the feeding zone. The wind had picked up, and after many efforts at fly, I quietly snuck a Halco Twisty lure in at the stern of the boat with a swift retrieval. “Quietly” didn’t last long as the tuna took off like a shot. After a little struggle I humbly landed the fish and took out the camera for a few potential magazine snaps. This was a time that reinforced the lesson to be observant and respectful in areas with such great tidal movements. As we were busy taking photos the boat was picked up and carried close to the rocks, within the space of a few minutes. Had we experienced engine trouble, we could have been in strife. However, the men assured me we were safe the whole time and we headed back to ‘The Boss’ with a beautiful fresh feed of longtail tuna.

Crocodile Creek was the next stop and we jumped straight in to the tenders for the afternoon session as the fish went into a feeding frenzy. This is the exciting part of the day where the sun is setting and the fish are boiling. The quietude of the surrounding water and landscape was broken with cheers and laughs as we all scrambled to bring in the prize fish. However, nothing could top the tuna, they said, and I received the accolades for the day’s fishing. Maybe that was because I was even allowed to clean and prepare it, not just catch it! Anyway, it was superb eating.

Day three began with practise for Sandra on using baitcasters. First cast: big Barra. Now that’s what we women like to hear! Unfortunately she dropped it and we continued on, content with several mangrove jacks using the Halco Rellik Doc with Elton John colours. The Rellik Doc is a cast and retrieve lure with a rattle and polycarbonate bib. The vigorous shimmy action will attract most species, but what I want to know is- where’s the Kylie Monogue colours? Wally caught many little jacks and a javelin fish on fly. We stopped at the fresh water spring for a swim and moved on to Talbot Bay for the afternoon. The scenery between stops is amazing, rugged and time worn. It’s hard to stop taking photos of the picturesque world around you that seems so vast and endless. Not to mention full of good fishing areas and no other vessels in sight!

Once again the afternoon fish brought big smiles and tales for the evening’s congregation back aboard ‘The Boss’. Now there was a new challenge of tender against tender, but both teams were successful and over dinner we sat watching the moon rise, comparing stories. Sandra reigned champion for the day, while Wally sat quietly awaiting his turn, with a secret little grin on his face.

At 04.45am Dave and Tony snuck out in the dinghy to explore the potential run-offs for the morning’s session. Through the night the barra were “booffing” as they fed on bait, and the anxiety for the chase was reaching fever-pitch among the anglers. Breakfast was brief and tenders went separate ways in search of the mighty barramundi. Wally and I fished fly whilst Sandra, Tony and Dave fished conventional.

Dave had given me his fly outfit the previous day which I found awkward to use, so I set up my faithful Strudwick with positive vibes. Sometimes it can take a bit of practise to be comfortable with a different outfit. The Strudwick DBT10weight fly-rod is versatile and my favourite for the fishing that I do. It’s lightweight compared with others I’ve tried and very flexible, helping with that accuracy needed to land your fly in that tricky spot. Geared up with the Scientific Angler 8/9 reel and 10weight intermediate clear fly-line, it has managed the tinniest sooty grunter up to a 20kilo sailfish for me. Not to mention hard-hitting GT’s and bluebone that soon test the flexibility of the rod and muscles in your arms when the backing starts peeling. It comes with an outstanding lifetime warranty no matter how you break it, and packs away neatly into it’s own case in three pieces: great for travelling!

The tide slowed, turned and began incoming when the fish really turned on. Dave dropped a horse and quietly, ever so politely, said “never mind, there will be more”. I then changed to my favourite “pink thing” fly that was sure to work. Work it did! The next barra to the boat was my first on fly and measured an impressive 72cm. My smile was from ear to ear and we dashed back to ‘The Boss’ and put it in the live bait tank to keep fresh. (An imperative factor of keeping fish to eat in the tropics.) The morning’s effort produced more mangrove jack, some fingermark bream, queenfish and estuary cod. However, all but one of the elusive barra remained deep in the channel. Lunch was looking good!

In one particular hot spot I was hooked up to a bream that I had swimming on the surface waiting for Dave to pass the pliers for a quick release when a weird woofing sound startled me. To my surprise I turned to find a Sea Eagle swooping down to pick up my bream. Luckily I scared it off, otherwise I would have been connected to the bird! We noted it must be hungry and threw the fish up on the bank to allow the eagle to pick it up. This is the time you wish you had a video camera with you. We watched in awe as it descended upon the fish and took it up to its nesting site high in the cliffs.

The afternoon fishing session and travel took us to a secret island (if I told you, I’d have to silence you! Most of the 800-odd islands on the chart are unnamed, anyway.) Once again the challenge was on. We began with a big queenfish on fly for Wally and GT for Sandra. I decided to sit back from the fishing for a while as I had caught enough to warrant being left behind! Wally insisted that I have a cast and then it was on for young and old.

Three of us were fishing, two on fly, as Dave manoeuvred the boat around the fast running tide and baitschools. There was hardly a time when we weren’t all hooked up at once and Dave was frantically trying to take photos, record on video, steer, de-hook, re-rig and keep it together! The fish were unbelievable. As we brought our fish to the boat there would be half a dozen more following and at one stage I had such a big GT on that I reached the far end of my backing. Unfortunately the fish broke off on the reef. We continued to catch everything from trevally, queenfish, batfish, mackerel, and snapper. In fact I caught six different species of fish on fly that one day. The stories from that afternoon will be told over for many years to come.

We kept some queenfish for nummous (Asian style dish that includes raw fish steeped in white wine vinegar, soy sauce, coriander, chilli, garlic and ginger) and kept the frames for the crab nets. Mmmm, more good food to come.

Each inlet we travelled down had me fervently thinking like a fish, chanting in my head, “Now where would I hide if I were a barra?” My efforts paid off that next afternoon as we targeted the only rockbar in the inlet. An hour before sunset the fish went in to such a turmoil that they were jumping out of the water chasing the bait. My fierce jerk and wind action on the Loomis with the Halco Scorpion 125 Fire Fin was a winner. I landed an 86cm beauty, my biggest barra to date.

The dark night curtain fell. I had never fished for barra at night and my undiluted excitement flowed down the braid, enticing the fish. Having that good positive vibe is important and keeps you alert when angling. That’s my theory, anyway. Casting towards a rock cliff in the pitch-black dark really tested all our other senses, as the moon didn’t rise till late. That’s when I learnt to understand why Halco make “bullet proof” bibs for the lures! If your lure landed with a “splat” you knew it was close to the rock ledge and perfectly in the strike zone. A “plop” meant you were in deep water and had to put that extra effort in next cast. A “smash” left you praying for a “splat” as you hit the rocks and hoped it fell in the water instead of hooking up to the structure. We just got it down-pat when the moon rose, putting a whole new light on the subject.

Dave was using a fizzer which, as the name suggests, fizzes across the surface causing commotion and attracting predators. Once again my faithful Fire Fin colours did the trick and I hooked up just as I was pulling the lure out, right next to the boat. This is a time when many people have broken the rod as the tension is so tight close to the tip. Quickly I switched the rod in to free spool as I let the silver bodied bucket mouth swim in an intense burst. It didn’t get far though, and after safely landing it we retired to The Boss for the evening. That night we ate like ecstatic gourmets feasting on rich barra and spicy mudcrabs caught earlier in the day, topped off with velvet wine. However, just one detail was missing: Wally, misty-eyed with silent preoccupation, was still quietly anticipating that big, legendary barra.

Walcott Inlet was the next port of call and as we ventured up the salt channel to where the fresh meets the salt, the bait and barra darted in all directions. We pulled up on the rock-bar and all had a quick dip in the fresh. Out came the shimano calcuttas again, and fish after fish were caught and released.

Wally began to fly fish, casting north and south, near and far but all to no avail. Just as he decided he would reel in and end the session, a big barra grabbed the gold bomber fly. It danced and paraded, fought and ran, as Dave scrambled through the boat for the landing-net. This was definitely the fish of the trip, and missing it would be more than his job was worth. The barra swam close to snags and rocks as everyone held their breath, hoping it would make it to the net. With grim determination Dave became more game and stood waist high in the water with the net, only to slip on the muddy rocks and be fully submerged. Everyone froze. The fumbled slip turned in to a quick recovery and the next attempt had the 101cm beauty safely netted. Wally was elated. In fact, the whole crew was truly impressed, and celebratory drinks flowed well in to the afternoon. At last! Wally could not stop smiling (and talking, and drinking, and gloating, and planning next year’s return trip, and……)

A few more days followed with plenty more fish, plus sight seeing, whale watching and relaxing in true Kimberley style. In total we covered around 250 nautical miles with most of the travelling done at night. Wally, Sandra and myself disembarked at Cockatoo Island and flew back to Broome passing over many of the areas we had fished. Seeing it from the air adds a whole new dimension to the scope of this ‘playground’.

I hope these words have managed to whet your appetite, or made you decide that only seeing is believing, not travelling second-hand along a stranger’s claims.

After this has tempted you to explore these areas ( I don’t have over-confidence in my writing, just in the offerings of the Kimberley!) may I please give you some advice. The reason I am writing this during the summer, is that most of these places will be booked out for next year, especially after all the happenings this year. If you would like information on any of the various options for a trip through the Kimberley, please contact the Kimberley Tourism Association on 08 9193 6660 or visit there website www.ebroome.com/kimberley.

Plan ahead, book early and don’t miss out. Life is too short.