Hey people posted a question 2 weeks ago for advice regarding our trip to Broome, Fitzroy River + Exmouth. We managed to jam so much into the trip, except didn’t make to Exmouth during 2nd week as we hit the Fitzroy a 2nd time. Will keep it to fishing details as not much of a wordsmith & 1 finger typing gets real tedious. After pretty much driving straight via Great Northern Hwy we arrived around 11am Friday of the long weekend.

        After dropping off our gear and catching with a friend we took our tinny out to Gantheaume Point & shot off for a look at the bay & a brief bottom bounce. My chauffeur who supplied the tinny + 4x4 was onto a reasonable spanish flag within 5mins after drifting over 80m within sight of the shoreline! . Nothing flash but the excitement was building rapidly as work had recently starved of any fishing time back home, so to be on the water in 31degC weather plus catching 3kg+ fish already felt like heaven. Not much else that arvo so back to the caravan park for a shower, feed and to prepare our attack. Spent the next few days exploring Crab Creek casting poppers for fat little tevally and queenfish also did the same at Barred & Willie Creeks. Tried to find some muddies also but with only 1 to show for a long day. Not having been that far since i was 2yrs old i was blown away by the water, mangroves, and seeming fishiness of it had twitching badly. Really lucky my mate had been several times so had quite a good bit of knowledge to start with, definitely tricky if going blind. That said my mate isn’t what you'd call a mad keen fisherman but really enjoys being on the water & sharing his toys plus is a super reliable/capable 4wdriver.

        Day 3 saw us pack up and head off with another mate out to Telegraph Pool for 3 days camping & obviously a lil fishing. Set up camp and set off in opposite directions as the water looked a little thin. Travel was limited due to low water but thanks to our sounder we were able to find a couple nice deep channels to around 4ms and so started a slow troll. My mate tied on 1 lure for the 5 days. Lazy but strangely prophetic. He confidently went with a rapala fire tiger deep diver from last years trip - no fish then though - and I slowly worked my way thru the assortment i had brought after much reading, questioning then begging of the missus. After an hour and nothing all the forum messages telling me we were too late. it was too cold, and there just weren't many out that way started to seem very correct.           

        Then with mate draped over the outboard drink in hand, rod in other + tiller between his legs, BANG! He gets smashed on a curado of mine mounted on his slow whippy whiting rod. To say there was panic for the first minute or 2 is an understatement. The air was thick with panic & enough blue language to make Rodney Rude wince but after a solid fight a beautiful solid 750mm barra was on board. My mate was lost for words but could u tell he was screaming inside. After many photos, it was quickly dispatched & put on ice. Wow this is more like it. About another 2 uneventful hours passed so we swapped & my mate rested his back upfront. I quickly changed to a shiny new river rat deep diver & started back slowly over roughly the same line we were on earlier. Whilst thinking maybe my mates snoring might get us mounted by 1 of the large saltie sunbaking my rod went whack! & line started stripping of my lil calcutta 250 with some solid nods thrown in. Then all of a sudden a massive barra launched itself completely out of the water, getting fully horizontal about 25m behind the boat.

         My skippering inexperience showed when i stood up to swap spots with my mate and forgetting to take it out gear. This caused us to turn 90degs to the fish and with my mate moving like a sloth our lines soon crossed and tangled. He reeled in finally proceeding to show me a contender for the worlds slowest line lure untangle. Realising the fish was on and still moving fast I grabbed the braid, keeping the pressure on whilst the 30lb braid made mince meat of my little finger and hand. Finally untangled I quickly got back into it. The fish treated us to another full launch, but then with its next head shake out pretty much spat the lure at me & onto the outboard. If you heard a strange noise in Perth that day it was the yell/cry/dying sound that bellowed out from deep within me. To say my mates jokes and comments regarding my skippering nearly caused bloodshed is truer than you may think. We trolled for another hour then headed back in for the day.

          I grabbed some light gear & went for a walk along the banks with a few small minnows to investigate the BOOF sounds + walk off the feeling that comes with losing a trophy fish so stupidly. Managed to get 1 nice barra at 570mm which I kept as we had travelled light on food, plus 4 others under 550mm which were released. At least I was off the mark and headed back to camp smiling again. The next dawn I went walking again and managed to have a great hour session catching & releasing another 6 or 7 barra around the 500 – 550mm mark.

              After brekky & a wash we pushed off again In the boats. Trolling another few spots first we eventually found ourselves back roughly where yesterdays fish were found. About 30mins into it my mates lure was poleaxed by something large + moving at speed. This one settled down deep and while I offered to kindly wrap my lure around my mates line to say thanks for yesterdays effort we soon realised this was a horse. It was not sighted for nearly & mins pulling my mate around the bout about 10 times. 2 healthy blokes appearing to dance the tango on a 4.2m tinny with 2 large salties on the bank 15m away whilst a large barra goes round makes for some pretty interesting moments. When we finally got it aboard we were blown away by the perfect conditioning of this fish. After a few quick snaps & measure we spent about 5mins slowly coaxing this 885mm beauty before she quickly powered off into the green depths. We sat there stunned. As I said my mate is no fisher and had enough bad luck last year to last 10 lifetimes. Not 25 mins later we were slackjawed again as line started peeling from the curado once again. This time a 760mm beauty stared back at us. This one went in the icebox to feed the masses. Again they seemed to disappear off the sounder around 1530 even the smaller ones disappearing.

            I went for a walk that evening as well but only managed to bag one small one around 500mm after about a heap of hit but no hook-ups even after switching to my smallest lure. The following day it was back to broome for a few days to catch up with more friends whilst also making the decision to cancel the Exmouth leg and return to the Fitzroy just with the one boat. Saying I could go to and had been to Exmouth many times is what I told my mate but really I just had to crack a big barra to shut my mate up. The bastard was incessant and he managed to slip, “ Need a barra lesson into every 2nd sentence. We left Broome the following morning, arrived & set up camp.

          We hit the water just after 1230, and like the other days nothing appeared to be on the sounder – the previous days it they wouldn’t appear till 1330ish. With that in mind we weren’t expecting what happened on the 2nd pass after 10mins on the water. My artline modified rapala nagnum obviously looked prettier that my mates banged up old rapala as my little Calcutta suddenly lit up and squealed. Suddenly the fished launched & launched then launched again. To say I remember more than that would be a lie. In a flash it seemed I was taking photos of this big silvery slab just nudging 870 mm. FINALLY!! Without hesitation we began to swim her slowly by the boat, as I repeated to my mate over & over that mother nature would reward us for not be greedy and following the rules.

               Wrong, not a bump for the next 4 hours. With my mate telling me and mother nature to find out about sex & travel we pulled up for the evening, so I grabbed the light rod + a new popper and walked down in front of camp. A brace of 600mm in 10mins with 1 released after realising 1 would be plenty for tea for the only the 2 of us tonight saw me leave the fish on. I cooked tea then melted into bed early still replaying the days events over & over in my head. The next morning I managed only 1 off the shoreline. With 3 more boats in the water the holes suddenly looked tiny so we decided to pack up and head back to Broome before setting off on the long drive home at 7am after an early night again. Drove home realizing we had hit some fish that people chase for years, in fact due to mechanical issues the previous year my mates first fish technically cost him $15 000, that fact gave me more than enough ammo for the uneventful 25hr drive home.

           The trip was awesome and plans are in place to attempt another next year, with the oldest son in tow. Big thanks to all people who helped out with info, especially with knots. Was proud to see the new braid to leader knots I dedicated every spare minute of couchtime learning for 2 months prior held beautifully on both sets of gear that nailed the barra and many many snags and big thanks to Blake & Oceanside for the servicing and drag work again on both reels that performed awesomely especially my lil Calcutta which must have thrown what felt like 50000 searching casts. Broome is covered pretty extensively in most forums but any specific questions will be answered if I can. 

             Biggest tips: Tides – get a chart, get an app, phone a friend, whatever it is use the info and always keep your eye on the water. Things change pretty quickly       

                   Fuel: Make sure you know your range and plan ahead so you know where the 24 hr or prepaid fuel stops. Don’t want to get caught short, and allows for a stretch feed or rest. We went via Great Northern Hwy so wasn’t really an issue though some close early ( Meekarthara – 10pm, use 24hr prepay BP for diesel next door to Shell servo)      

               Crocs: Theres enough of a visual presence to keep you on your toes. But remember they’re the ones YOU can see. BE AWARE Fishing: So many options and variations don’t waste time flogging dead water. Up and move if no luck there’s always something biting no matter the time of the day just have to adapt to conditions that vary by up to 10m every 8 hours or so.    

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