# Land based fishing around Broome WA



## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Sorry this has nothing at all to do with yak fishing  
Squidette and I are Broome-bound next Friday for a week (friend's wedding). We are planning at least 1 charter fishing trip, but I am also keen to take a few rods along for some beach/pier/rock fishing when we have some spare time. I've never been to WA, so any suggestions on what fish to target and what tackle to take are much appreciated.  At this stage I am thinking about taking the surf rod with 20 pound braid and a lighter SP rod with 8 pound fireline.


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

jason
I was over there in august 04 and was lucky enough to go on a charter chasing sailfish on fly.
the first day was spent fishing at the southern end of cable beach chasing the small queenfish that hang around the rocks there,well first cast resulted in a flathead 50cm.Then the queenies started to get harrassed by a 6ft whaler,how do i know, well the bloody thing took my best crab pattern and then bit me off.
A friend of mine, ,Dan O'Sullivan. used to guide at the eco resort south of broome.Last time i spoke to him I think he was going to start some sort of land based charters using quad bikes to run up the coast to fish some of the beaches and creeks to the north of Broome so that could be an option to follow up on while youre there.


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

Hi Squidder.

When I was a young fella, all of 12 years of age (25 years ago!..bloody hell is it that long??), my oldies took me and my sister on an around Australia road trip.....one purple kombi van, a box trailer and a 12 foot tinny.

it was one of the best experiences of my life and something that still burns brightly in my memory banks!.

anyway, one of the absolute highlights for me from this trip was fishing off the end of Broome wharf (i think it must have been the cattle wharf that occy mentions??) I recall at the time, that it used to have an outfall at the end of it which would pump scraps/offal/fertliser etc from the abbotoirs out into the ocean.

Hence, the end of that wharf was fishing nirvana. Fish would congregate around it like it was fish heaven. The massive tides meant that at low tide there was a 30-40 foot drop to the water whereas at high tide it was only 10 feet or so.

Fishing off the end of the wharf was a matter of loading up the biggest hook you had (I recall using an 8/0 or so) with a chunk of whatever bait you could get (we used squid or octopus tentacles - something tough) on 50lb mono handlines, throwing them out and hanging on.

If your bait hadn't been smashed in 5 seconds, then it was a sure sign the bait had fallen off. An amazing place and amazing fishing.

The main species hanging under the wharf were trtevally which I assume where GT's. The smallest fish I caught was 12lb and the biggest over 20lb. I'd hook them and have to hand the line over to dad to haul them up mid air as I wasn't strong enough. I remember the nasty line cuts all over my 12 year old hands and thought that it was one of the coolest things I'd ever done.

I recall one day we caught over 20 of these fish in around one hour. of course, being 25 years ago we kept them all (don't know how we ever imagined that we'd keep them all cold/fresh). My sister and I then went around the Broome Caravan park and sold them off to other campers for $2 each....great way of making a few buck pocketmoney. We both finished up with about $20 each and still had plenty of fillets in the Kombi fridge.

Happy days.

I hope this sort of fishing is still on offer at the end of this wharf,, I sure remember it well. (sorry for rambling on!)

ps. i also recall guys fishing with rods, which turned out to be useless off the wharf. Due to the huge drop to the water, they would struggle to haul the fish up mid air with the rod, and resorted to pulling the lines up with their hands, therefore handlines were the go.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Many thanks to davenielsen, occy and daveyG for seriously whetting my appetite! It does sound like an amazing place, the cattle wharf sounds the go, I'll be sure to pack in the heavy gear and leave the light stuff at home. I hadn't even considered the massive tidal variations, thanks for opening my eyes to this.

I'll be sure to post a report when we get back in a few weeks.

Thanks again,
Jason


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Sounds like a hoot of a trip Team Squid


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

Good luck Squidder
Have a great trip.The highs are sitting just right over Aust. so you have mainly offshore winds which drop off around lunchtime.
Theres a spot just north of the wharf on the inside of the bay where the queenfish often hound the mullet on the flood tide.I think theres a road/track off to the left as just before you get to wharf area.Poppers should be the go there.
The neap tides (6m tide difference) will your best time for water clarity especially chasing threadfin and you dont have to walk too fast to keep up
i dont know if its still running but there was a guy running sunset cruises on a yacht starting at the gaunthome point end of cable beach as well as Malcolm douglas's croc farm and the open air cinema theatre in town if you you want to do things "non fishing" wise.
Another "event" to see is the "stairs to the moon" which happens when the full moon comes up over roebuck bay on the low tide.The "drawback"to this is its best seen from the beer garden of a hotel on the hill (its name escapes me due to alcohol induced amnesia)


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

LOL @ occy and Dave, thanks again for your words of wisdom. Dad has worded me up about the stairway to the moon, I'll have to find out if that moon phase coincides with our trip. I did not, however, know about the technicolour flash, cheers occy, I'll do as you suggested with the swan lagers, but as I don't handle beer that well the "technicolour flash" may be swiftly followed by the "technicolour yawn" 

A large portion of the trip will unfortunately be non-fishing (I have promised Squidette that I won't turn this trip into a fishing safari at the expense of quality time together), so we have booked things like Pearl farm trips, a day trip to see some sort of flooded underground cavern, and a hovercraft trip out to the flats at low tide to see some Flying boat wreckage from the war. We also plan to do some sea kayaking around the broome coastline (they do offer trips, not sure how that will work with the mega tide difference though). However I should still have some mornings and evenings free, and at least one full day to devote to landing a behemoth from the pier. I will endeavor to find the spot you mentioned with the queenies Dave, but we will be car-less, so I don't know how I'll go getting there.

Thanks again for the advice guys, I feel 1000% better prepared for the fishing than I was a few days ago, I'm off the tackle shop now to buy some lures, handlines and whipper-snipper cord :wink:


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## Kevin (Aug 29, 2005)

Squidder,

Queenies hit and pull unbelievably hard and will destroy light and lower quality lures. I was fortunate enough a couple of years ago to to get into the queenfish landbased up that way. I was very lucky to land a couple on the cheapy metal lures that I was using after having a number of fish straighten my hooks.

I hope you and Squiddette have a great time.


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Squidder - Here's what I'd bring to the tropics for a holiday:

About a dozen 6" storm/ Atomic/ Tsunami or similar paddle tail swim shads in various colours.

4 x Halco Laser Pro 190 2.5m divers in H51 Chrome Gold Black back, H69 bonito, H57 baitfish, and H70 king brown colours.

4 x Halco Laser Pro 120 1m divers in the same colours (maybe add H52 flouro green)

2 x Halco Roosta 135 poppers 1 x gold, 1 x blue

Also a couple of 65-85 gram blades (knight, bishop or halco)

If you get nothing on this selection, bring out the small setup because the big fish probably aren't there.

If you do get big fish, you won't be let down by crap hardware either.


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## PhilipL (Apr 15, 2006)

Hi Jason
Trying to send you something on PM but don't think the attachment is going through - check your PM
PhilipL


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Thanks for the good wishes Kev, if we get onto some queenies land based I'll be a happy man! (Never caught one before, fingers crossed!) Do you know if they're edible? We've booked accomodation with cooking facilities, so my aim (I'm probably dreaming) is to catch some fish then cook them up for Michelle.

Thanks heaps for the advice Dan, I've printed out your HB lure suggestions and will be taking the list with me to the tackle shop tomorrow. I have packed all my larger 4", 5" and 6" SPs and jigheads, plus I threw in a few packs of 3" minnows just to give the fish something to laugh at. I have a Daiwa Laguna with 20lb braid sorted out, my mission tomorrow is to find a 6-8kg spin stick to pair it with, which also must fit in my rod tube.

I haven't got a PM from you Philip, not sure what might have gone wrong :?: You could try sending it through to my hotmail: mailto:[email protected] Nice work with the pinkies last weekend :wink:


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

jason
Queenies are edible but theyre not as highly rated as other species.They are a bit like tailor in that their best eaten as fresh as possible.Theyre not a thick bodied fish so getting a fillet of a small one might be a problem,one of the local names up FNQ used to be skinnyfish,the other used to be leatherskin so it is usually best to skin the fillets before cooking.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Thanks Dave, having never fished in the tropics before it's a steep learning curve for me! I've been told that threadfin and smaller trevallies are good eating.


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

they sure are mate,the same deal applies with the fresh is best.I just called friend over in Broome who said he would ring back tomorrow.Will try to get good oil on whats happening at the moment and get back to you ASAP


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Geez Dave, you didn't have to go to so much trouble (but it is greatly appreciated). Thanks again


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

No worries mate ive itching to get back over there,ive a got a score to settle with those dam sails.plus mate keeps threatening to take me up to kimberleys


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

Jason
My slackarsed mate hasnt got back to me re:whats happening at present.The best thing would be to drop in the tackleworld outlet in town there to get the good oil,from memory its across the street from the "Roey" beergarden.
Have a great trip mate.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Howdy all,
We got back from Broome last night, it was a magic trip and although the fishing didn't quite live up to expectations we still caught a few. Having decided to shun the overpriced charter fishing scene, our fishing was based at the deepwater port (cattle jetty) and also from the town beach. Although many of you guys worded me up about the huge tidal flows, nothing quite prepared me for the way the tide rips around Broome. LARGE sinkers were required to hold bottom during much of the run in and run out when fishing off the port, with a brief period of slack water at the top and bottom of the tide. I think Davey G might have caught all the GTs from the port area, we didn't really see anyone catch anything of huge size during the day we spent fishing there. One bloke caught a nice blue bone (aka Bladchin groper), and another had a decent bag of bream. As for us, baitfishing on the bottom yielded dozens of interesting critters, not many above 25cm or so though, and every fish that came up looked different! Apparently most were juvenile snappers and emporers, and I spent quite a while chasing some long toms which hide out under the pier. By far the highlight was when a large turtle swam past the pylons, carrying with it a school of 6 or so 10kg cobia  ........out came the big lures, cast cast, jig jig, but the window was only about 15 seconds before the turtle sounded, taking the school with it. This scene was repeated a few hours later, except that it was a massive stingray with accompanying cobia. This time I was ready with a gold halco trembler on an 80lb handline, my jigging of this lure induced one of the cobia to leave the turtle, come over for a peep at my offering, then turn his nose up and join his mates again. Most frustrating! :x I spent a further few hours flicking different lures (metals, poppers, divers, tremblers) from the rocks surrounding the port, but I didn't get a single hit or follow up (no sign of any queenies, although I was looking).

Our most succesful fishing excursion was from town beach (for those familar with the area, it is on the Roebuck Bay side of Broome Peninsula, near the camping ground), depite the tackle shop bloke telling us that our best chance of catching a fish from town beach was with dynamite (I took this up as a challenge). It was a very snaggy bottom, first cast - snag, bust off, retie rig. Second cast.....Squidette came up tight with a beautiful diamond trevally, a seriously pretty fish. I unhooked this, baited her up again, cast out, and handed the rod over (I was still trying to sort my own gear out)......a few minutes later she was battling another fish which was doing its best to bury her in the mangrove roots......and out came a beautiful (I think) bigeye trevally of about 40cm, ripper! I finally got to fishing myself, and we started pulling out whiting after whiting after whiting. Amazingly, the patch of sand/mud that we were catching the whiting from was bone dry by 50 meters within 30 minutes (crazy Broome tides). Wide gape #4 hooks and fresh prawn bait was the key, also fishing with a rod was a distinct advantage, the few people who spotted us catching fish and ran over with handlines caught nada.

Aside from the fishing (which was always going to be a secondary pursuit on this trip, unfortunately!) we did a day trip to Cape Leveque and Beagle bay (where the pearl shell altar is), another day trip to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek (great gorge country and lots of Freshwater crocs), a tour of the Willie creek pearl farm (it's a fascinating business and a licence to print money if you can get the seeding process just right), a sunset kayaking trip around Gantheaume Point (magic spot rich in fossils, paddling in Malibu2 yaks), and a 14km hike around some spectacular coastline in the same area. We also discovered Matso's, Broome's only brewery, and fell in love with Smokey Bishop (a beautiful flavoursome malty ale with chocolaty overtones).

Broome is a magnificent holiday destination, it's a shame we only had 10 days, and I'm already dreaming about a return trip with fishing high on the agenda this time. I've sussed out a few other fishing options for the next trip, having a car would open up some great estuary and creek mouth fishing further north from broome, also the fishing off the wharf at night is supposedly exceptional. A few locals fish from yaks off the cable beach side of the peninsula, and do well trolling lures along the current lines for pelagics and bottom bashing with crab baits in close to the rocks for groper. Livies and whole gars on ganged hooks under balloons, fished from the Gantheaume point rocks also give up quite a few spaniards to 1.5m. Unfortunately the moon phase was against us a bit, the local Aborigines say the best fishing is when the moon is basket shaped (crescent) - which it was during our final weekend in Broome when wedding commitments ate up all our time.

When we get sorted I'll post a stack of pics (geez what a rant this post has been!)
Cheers
Squidder


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

bloody great read Jas
good to see you guys enjoyed yourselves.cant wait to see pics.


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## Kevin (Aug 29, 2005)

Squidder,

I loved reading your rant. Going to places like that is always amazing considering how different our coastline is down here.

Well done with applying some southern techniques in the whiting and showing the locals how to do it.

Look forward to the photos.


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Nice account Squidder. Sounds like a welcome break from the Melb winter and a gem of a place. Snobby Cobia would've been a patience test though Squidder, especially when ya could see the big fella's :!:


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

As promised, here are some pics from the trip


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Emporer off the jetty


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Me with a small pretty fish, identity unknown


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Long toms under the jetty


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Fishing for long toms under the jetty is uncomfortable!


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Got one on an SP, finally!


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Big stingray surrounded by cobia which swam past the jetty (my fishing line is visible going under the ray). The cobia are under and behind the ray.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Another unknown fish from under the jetty


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Fishing from town beach, Broome. Me with a nice whiting.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Michelle with a beautiful diamond trevally


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Michelle's (I think) bigeye trevally.....any trevally gurus please feel free to correct me on this one


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## Milt (Sep 2, 2005)

Well done, Broome looks like a fantastic place to visit and fish.

Must go there one day and check it out for myself. Jason one of these weekends I may brave the cold for a spot of surf fishing if your interested. Venus bay well, it ain't Broome but should produce the goods. All other mangoes welcome if it all comes together.

Milt,


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## yakfly (Jun 8, 2006)

hey jason
great pics mate,makes me want to pack the rods and head west again
i think the fish in pic 1 is a grassy sweetlip,pic2 is a whiptail and the "diamond travelly" is some sort of batfish (nice eating still)
cant remember if you said or not but did you chuck a popper at the cobia


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Hi Dave, cheers for the fish IDs, I couldn't easily identify any of the fish we were catching until we got a few whiting. The ray and cobia came and went so quickly I didn't have a chance to change lures, so I had to throw what I had on at the time - a gold halco trembler. Earlier in the day I spent about an hour working a popper in the wash around the rocks at the base of the pier for no joy.


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