Wheelchair Access

A fishing magazine is generally something safely recognised as being a politics-free zone, thank goodness. Yet the question may still be tossed into this arena: what is it to BE AUSTRALIAN? For one thing, most of us live near the coast. Geographically, that spreads us out around thirty-five thousand kilometres of coastline, surely enough room for every imaginable fetish and fad. Most of us find some form of relaxation in, on, or near water at some time of the year. Not all of us are 100% capable, so some of us need extra consideration. Broome offers something special for the not so hale and hearty, the minority group of Australians who are fishing enthusiasts confined to a wheel chair. There is one such person living in Broome, a young woman who places such high value on her privacy that she prefers to remain anonymous for the purposes of this column. Nevertheless, she is out here amongst us all, fishing.

Cable Beach is a long stretch of white sand featured in most tourist brochures about Broome. It stretches enticingly 28 kilometres north of Gantheaume Point lighthouse providing wonderful scope for beachcombing of a different sort: Cable Beach is a gazetted road and cars are allowed to travel along most of it. Shock horror electrifies most greenies whenever this fact is even whispered among friends in the dead of night! But spare a thought for the wheel chair bound. They can drive away into anonymity, find a little seclusion from curious eyes, and cast a line in peace. After all, the peace and tranquillity of mind engendered by casting a line in the water remains a major component in the art of angling.

The complex beach life of creatures that live in the littoral zone, between high tide mark and low tide mark, can be enjoyed at close quarters. Various crabs live in separate or overlapping colonies. Some of them patiently dig holes and tirelessly excavate little marbles of wet sand as they feed, creating impressive star-shaped patterns ready to be washed away by the next incoming wave. Some species posture aggressively over brief territorial claims, others beckon enticingly like con-men. At night, the ghost crabs skitter away on tip-toe, as though they are at risk of having a nervous breakdown, while the bumbling hermit crabs elbow and shuffle each other for a feast of the re-cycled pal left by pet dogs let loose on the sand.

Shellfish such as cowries create convoluting patterns in the wet sand, each to the beat of its own drum, but seldom crossing over another trail nor even meeting up with another creature on its separate journey between tides. All these inhabitants of the littoral zone are a good indication of just which stretch of beach to choose, from which to cast that line for the most productive results. It’s not all pure luck. There is certainly method in the madness.

Less well-known than Cable Beach is another Broome icon jealously guarded by the locals: Broome jetty stretching 1.8 kilometres offshore across mudflats, sandbanks and reefs to deep water even at low tide on springs, when the depth of water has dropped by 9 metres (30’).

Gone are the halcyon days when locals could park their utes on the jetty, catch a feed of fish (big eye trevally, or mulloway) and snooze away the hot wet-season nights in the luxury of the sea breeze. Progress has put a gate across the entrance to control motor traffic. Gone are the days when whole families would drive down, spread out a blanket and picnic while catching a few saddle back perch, or coral trout, barramundi-cod or at least spanish flag. However, local women, particularly indigenous women, regularly and methodically fish there and regard the jetty as a reliable source of household food supply. A new walkway has been constructed alongside most of the length of the jetty, and it provides a safe traffic-free fishing zone and excellent wheel chair access. Without the bother of getting into a boat it is possible to cast a line into seriously deep water and excellent fish habitat.

Baitfish such as yellowtail, garfish and the local sardine known as ‘sly-sly’ come milling around the pylons, or moving on the tidal flow in teeming balls easily visible to the unpractised eye. That’s the season when the big predators appear, the tuna, broadbar, spotted and spanish mackerel, also mackerel-tuna. Great sport with a few spoon lures or Wobblers from the Halco range. A fast retrieval is the best method after placing it in the strike zone. Bag limits on mackerel are four fish per angler, but that can leave you with 20 kilo of fillets, and heads and frames for fish soup and rice. Ample for a day’s fishing, so who’s complaining about that!

Queenfish on poppers and golden trevally on live bait are the most commonly caught fish from the jetty, and for many of the visiting anglers it is the catch of a lifetime, because the sizes are so enormous. Hand reels with 80lb. line and leather gloves are the most popular gear. To actually land an average sized fish one extra piece of tackle is essential and that is a flying gaff. There are various models but all share the main principle: they slide down your fishing-line on a length of cord to gaff the fish in the water. Lifting the weight of the fish out of water by using strong cord avoids the disappointment of breaking the fishing line and losing the catch.

Mammoth groper laze under the jetty and raid your catch until they can’t stomach any more, swallowing whole four-kilo fish as though they are mere snippets of bait, then busting the line off around a pylon. Sometimes sharks are the raiders, cutting up the water and making short work of good table fish like cobia and mackerel. In such a competitive environment the angler must be prepared for lost tackle and spine-chilling smash-ups.

At other times of the seasons milk-fish are thick in the water, their tell-tale tail fins cutting a slow circle at the surface. The only way to tempt them is with a little trail of white bread interrupted by a tiny white fly. Then hang on to your rod for dear life because milk fish move like Taliban bullets. They even have a sort of wraparound windscreen covering their eyes, to make their head a superbly aerofoil shape and gain extra speed. Luckily they usually head out away from the jetty structure and provide great sport. Eating them is another story, as the flesh is a mass of cartilaginous structure rather like a second skeleton. Better to release them than even try to prepare them for a curry.

The most common fish caught off the jetty would have to be the humble trevally, black, gold, spotted big-eye and giant. They are unkindly labelled ‘neighbours fish’ because most people give them away. Nevertheless they are tasty table fish easily prepared in a variety of ways: pickled, soused, barbecued, fried, steamed, or made into fish-cakes.

Broome’s much loved jetty has one additional asset for the keen angler which is provided by the low tide, or more accurately by the tidal range. At high tide people fish off the full length of the jetty. At low tide it is possible to search the shore and many of the pylons to retrieve snagged line, lead sinkers, hooks, and lures. Access is possible even for wheel chairs via the boat ramp at Entrance Point, just a short roll away across hard sand.

Women and children are the anglers most often found at the jetty, and that particular location still acts like a marketplace, a place to catch up with friends, listen to the important local news, exchange snippets of gossip, air views on political hot potatoes, discuss plans, and compare dreams and fantasies. Yes, Broome jetty is just about the centre of the universe for many female anglers in the Kimberley.