# SA Port Broughton 26-27-28th October 2012



## snowymacco (Nov 3, 2009)

After receiving an invite from AKFF member Ray, who lives in the Port Broughton area, myself, Murphysegg and Goanywhere headed up to Pt Broughton on Friday afternoon, all in separate vehicles. We booked a site at the Broughton caravan park in advance, so it was a matter of getting away from work early and getting up there. I arrived at approx 6.30pm, a bit later than I would have liked to find Steve (Goanywhere) already on the site with tent set up. The wind was up and apparently he had some trouble on his own. I put my own tent up and a short time later, Ray, his son Nathan and new member Kracker who also lives locally showed up for our first intro's, Jason (Murphysegg) arrived after 7pm. A bit of a chat and putting a plan into action, we agreed to meet on the jetty for a fish later that evening and crabs, and whatever fish might come along were on the agenda. The wind was still blowing when we got there but eventually died down. The fish were hit and miss as some locals were getting good tommies, we could see schools of YFW on the bottom under lights, but they werent playing ball. After pulling the pin around midnight, we ended up with a few crabs, some tommies and plenty of shitties (trumpeters) Ray and his son landed a few nice YFW.
Saturday morning was an early start and very chilly, the water was glassy and after a quick breakfast, setting up the yaks, we hit the water. We headed north in the bay towards the jetty and had a look around. Met Ray and Kracker on the water and flicked a few sp's about, i eventually anchored in some shallow water over broken weed/sand bottom. Plenty of pickers, undersize KG's, some salmon trout and pesky toadies. It wasnt long before a big hit and run had me uncertain if I had a Port Jackson shark or a flathead. A few runs under the anchor rope and around the yak a few times, I eventually netted a beauty of a flathead at 52cm. A while later Steve landeda 58cm flatty. Ray headed in early and the action was slow. We decided to head in for lunch and Jason boated a few st's whilst trolling back to camp. The decision proved to be a good one as not long after we came in the wind whipped up and the afternoon was a loss. Ray and Kracker dropped into camp during the afternoon and we decided we'd hit the Wallaroo jetty that evening if the wind dropped off. After cleaning our fish, packing some gear up and getting rigs ready for the evening, we all had an afternoon nana nap. Our camp site was right next to the fish cleaning station, so we saw plenty of people coming and going cleaning their catch. A charter crew came in and had some monster snapper and a haul of kg's that we were envious of.
The wind died off and after a phone call to Ray, we met him on the Wallaroo jetty just on dusk. There were plenty of people there, crabs and tommies seemed to be popular, but we struggled to get amongst them. Jason landed 5 Port Jackson sharks which he dubbed his Jackson five. He landed a few chows too, I managed to hook a crab net on a jetty pylon and it didnt look like Id get it back. That was my only catch for the night (except for a few undersize crabs), the net eventually freed itself. Tommies were breaking the surface but not biting well. We pulled the pin about 11.30pm in anticipation for another early start Sunday morn, we had to vacate the site by midday.
Well I know I slept like a log, and awoke to another cool moring, glassy seas and again after a quick breaky, we hit the water. We didnt see Ray, assuming he had a lie in. We paddled over to the same area as the day before, and Jason scored a 58cm flatty on an SP, a first for him. I boated and released about 8 undersize KG's, landed 3 plump ST's and was eventually plagued by toadies and trumpeters. Toadies account for plenty of my hooks and patience. Time was against us so we headed in to pack up. After cleaning fish, gear, and packing the cars, I bid farewell to Jason and Steve, who were planning to hit Wallaroo in their yaks for an arvo fish. SO hopefully they'll provide an update on how they went.
Well we didnt come home with a bag of fish, but we had a good time, met some new members and have got a good idea of the area so if we go back we've got our bearings. For anyone planning on heading up there, the caravan park was good, our site was right next to the fish filletting area so we were able to clean our catch without going too far, wash down our yaks and gear, and we were right on the water front so launching was too easy. The only con was the fish filletting station was right next to the porta potty dump site so it was a bit smelly. We didnt notice the smell from our camp site too much. The fish filletting station also had pots and gas burners to cook crabs with gas supplied free. The camp kitchen was good but Id suggest take your own utensils as they were limited. For the three of us on one site for two nights (powered site) was under $27 each. Im looking forward to a few feeds of flathead, the fillets should provide me with four meals. I forgot to take my digital camera but took some photos of the camp site and so on with my phone but some pics didnt save (my phone memory is full I think) so unfortunately Ive only got the photo of the flatty.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Sounds like it's a great spot for flathead - any 50cm plus flathead in south Oz is a great catch - pity about the toadies!


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## snowymacco (Nov 3, 2009)

I should add a big thankyou to Ray for his advice and sharing his knowledge with us. Good company and plenty of info of the surrounding area. Also good to meet his son, wife and Kracker from Redhill, hopefully catch up again soon, Cheers. And Andy, if you want some advice on how to catch toadies, Im happy to pass on my experience, hopefully someone else will catch them instead of me. Im that good I can differentiate a whiting nibble from a toadie's.....true fact.


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## Murphysegg (Oct 21, 2010)

I reckon you've pretty well covered it all Jamie. Just a few piccies to add -







































This looks to be an excellent spot if you wish to hone your Flathead skills & keep the missus & kids happy with a great campsite & facilities right on the water. I suppose it's all about timing with regards to other species.

Big thanks to Ray & Cracker for their hospitality & pointers 

Good to see we now have 3 SA contenders for the Oct/Nov Flathead comp. ;-)


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## Ray (Aug 26, 2012)

Glad to hear you had a good time up here, its not a bad little spot with plenty of close in options, pitty the fish were a little shy and "Yes" I did sleep in sunday unfortunately , I was looking forward to a last fishing session with you before you all headed off. After looking over your Yaks I think Im going to have a serious chat to the minister for war and finances or maybe santa might be nice to me this Chrissy, very impressed with the Hobie and I gotta say Steve you did a mighty fine job building your yak, I was looking forward to seeing it in full sail mode , next time, Jason and the Jackson 5 pitty it wasnt Jason and the 5 pinkies but I suppose thats fishing , Jamie it was good to see you got your crab net back , i thought you were trying to pull the plug out at wallaroo, lol, atleast you got a nice flatty for the table, good work mate. Kraker next time we go out hope we fill your yak with good fish , stay intouch a bit more warm weather and the yellowfin will be in. It was good to meet you all and if your heading this way in the future let me know we'll catch up for a session..

Thanks for coming......Cheers Ray


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

Nice looking spot and great flathead! Pt Broughton's on the list now


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## goanywhere (Feb 22, 2011)

Great post Jamie. Just an update on the Sunday fishing. murphysegg and I headed to the Wallaroo jetty again for a session on the way home. We were going to launch the yaks and try some recommended spots Ray told us about, but I was pretty stuffed after a weekend of little sleep and a couple of strenuous paddles against the wind, so we tried off the jetty again. Unfortunately it wasn't much better. There were a few small tommies caught, and murphysegg did land a trevally that he threw back thinking it was undersized. It turns out you could have kept that one Jason (24cm is legal). I caught a single little tommy and one legal blue crab.

I agree with the others, it looks like a great spot, but being the change of seasons the fish might still be a bit skittish and the KG's need to grow a couple of cm's (very frustrating, I must have landed about a dozen that were JUST undersized!!).

Thanks for a great intro to the area Ray, you were a great host. We'll be back again for a crack at those 'bag outs' we kept hearing about! It was good to catch up with snowymacco (and your sick sense of humour!!), murphysegg again, and nice to meet Kraker and Ray. Some really good people hang out on this forum site!

But just one warning. Take the wind report with a grain if salt for this area. I don't know what it is but the winds were the strongest 15kt winds I've ever experienced.


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## Zilch (Oct 10, 2011)

Well done guys.

They are good flatties for SA. Great photos and thanks for sharing.

Steve


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## Rockster (Sep 7, 2007)

Sounds like a relaxing weekend guys, pity the fish numbers were down but looking at those fat flathead, the quality was up!!
Cheers
Bob


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## kracker (Apr 12, 2009)

there gd lizzards guys nice to meet u all maybe catch up on another trip


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## labrat (Jul 25, 2008)

Murphysegg said:


> Good to see we now have 3 SA contenders for the Oct/Nov Flathead comp. ;-)


HOW many? ;-)

Great flatties there fellas. I was at Moonta the weekend before but only managed to get out on the Saturday morning - too much easterly meant I was worried about ending up at Cowell. Not that there's anything wrong with fishing Franklin Harbour but it's a bugger of a paddle back. 

Have often lunched at Broughton on the way to Eyre Peninsula but am determined to have a weekend there now. Thanks for the reports.


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## Geoffw (Jan 23, 2011)

Sounds like it was a great weekend but then again why wouldn't it be with a bunch of yakkers keen to fish! Great flatties and those bloody toadies...... I had a session where it was a race to get them in before the little buggers eat their way up the long shank hooks (and I mean hooks) and bit through the line. I nearly went through a full packet and only got to dispatch a few toadies.


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## goanywhere (Feb 22, 2011)

Looking on the bright side, there were lots of whiting in the channel. Undersised, yes, but they were there. I reckon a trip outside the channel in good weather would have yielded their bigger brothers. Next time if the weather is kinder a trip out further might tell a different story. I'd definitely go again.

On the negative side though, my neighbour has a mate who's selling his shack at Pt Broughton because he reckons the fishing has deteriorated a lot over the years.


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## Ray (Aug 26, 2012)

Your neighbour is right, this place has been hammered by the pro's and locals for years and still is on a daily basis also we get a large number of interstaters who are intent on baging out everytime they go out considering this is a breading ground thats just simply crazy for the future of fish stocks here............ Maybe there's a lesson in that for all of us! ..........


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