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Top End Advice - Broome>Darwin


DaveTheBoy

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Whilst I absolutely am trolling through the awesome information already available on the site, I thought I'd ask the question here too.  Mrs & I are headed on a driving/camping trip from Broome to Darwin via GRR throughout July & August.  We do have a good 4wd setup & plan to do some fishing along the way.   Any advice on land based options would be much appreciated.  Dampier Peninsula/Cape Leveque > Derby > Kununurra/ Ord / > Kakadu/Jabiru > Darwin is the rough itinerary.   Any other advice on special things to see would be welcomed also! 

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Keep an eye out for snakes and be very careful near the water's edge (crocodiles). That's an area I've always wanted to see / experience, as much for the photographic beauty as the fishing. Alas, it is not to be. Hope you have a wonderful experience Dave and Mrs and return with lots of great stories and photos. Cheers, bn

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I've towed small boats up there a few times with the family. Kids are a worry around waterways with crocs but in all honesty simple common sense is all that's needed. We search out snakes and other reptiles and once again common sense is all that's needed, don't mess with them and they won't mess with you ( if you are lucky enough to see any ). 

The things that can mess you up are heat and humidity, even out of season it's not a guarantee the dry will be dry or the wet wet. My last trip in the dry we simply couldn't get into Kakadu because of flooding, while the trip before in the wet we managed to get around everywhere.

Camping close to any big body of water can at times be torture once the sun drops with mozzies. Leaving that evening meal to prepare outside after dark at places like Shady camp can at times be a big mistake, while at other times we've seen very few mozzies at all. Proper camp sites didn't seem to have the mozzies issues and most also have pools to cool off.

Catching fish can be far trickier than the shows make out on the Barra rivers, they are quite a finicky fish when it comes to water temp and lures at times.

The best advice I can give is to ask at local tackle stores or other travelers you meet as everything is subject to weather, temp, tides and moon phases to get into some serious fish.

Many places have small boat hire which might be worth considering especially for the wildlife abundance in some areas. Charters are very expensive and tour boats are often catered for large numbers of tourists, hence why I tow a boat.

Trip adviser on your phone gives a pretty good feel if somewhere is worth the effort to explore.

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Also some areas are lacking in terms of phone reception, this sounds good in terms of getting away from it all but if anything does go wrong you may need to be able to let people know. Last year my fishing buddy headed off with his wife and three kids from Shady camp towards the river mouth exploring areas he'd never been in the hope of finding a good fishing spot.

Along the way hey drove over a stump in his new Ford Ranger, this stump hit the underneath causing a failure to the auto gearbox. As they all sat in the car they noticed smoke coming up through the gearstick. They all got out of the car only to have it go up in flames so quickly they didn't have chance to get anything from the vehicle except one phone ( no reception). Everything was burnt, high end fishing gear, Stella's, fridge, cameras etc gone, they didn't even get out with drinking water. Things went even further down hill from there very quickly.

My point being such devices as personal location beacons (plb) or satalite communication devices like Garmin inreach can be cheap insurance when your life is on the line. I carry one of these ( under $250) small plb beacons and also get my kids to carry it when they go remote into wilderness areas, I will also invest in an inreach mini in the near future. 

 

 

Edited by JonD
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I agree with all JonD is saying, really good advice.

Crimp down the barbs on lures, not just for the fish, for yourselves. You don't want to be 600km from care with a treble lodged in your fingers or head that your partner can't pull out.

Little wounds like line cuts and fish spikes get infected very quickly. A good pair of fishing gloves, and add this to your First Aid. It dries out wounds.IMG_2218.JPG.5a43fcc77e27916e44388957a56ecbac.JPG

Don't try to go Malcolm Douglas with native plants. 

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I really appreciate all the tips here.  We're both reasonably experienced travellers with a fair amount of caution/common sense - though it never hurts to be reminded of how careful you really need to be.  Being prepared to deal with issues in a remote location is quite different to the usual "fishing trip plans"  As an example I learned my lesson re crocs on our first trip to Broome some years ago, a call close enough to remove any complacency!

I will look into an emergency beacon to be sure!

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One of my favourite fishing spots in all of Australia is north of Broome at a place called Middle Lagoon. It's half way up to Cape Leveque. We had a tinny though. We just sat on the water and listened to where the tuna schools were busting up and headed that way. Heaps of tuna, spanish and even caught black jewfish and coral trout on the troll. You could go there and beg to tag along with someone there who has a boat. Maybe a donation of a case of beer would help.

Further up you can flick lures at Cape Leveque. Tides are big so can be challenging.

Take heaps of lures and wire trace if you get on to someones boat otherwise the trip back to Broome for supplies is a long one. I know, I've done it.

I was there in 2002 & 2004 so a lot could of changed.

A couple of stations on Gibb River Road have places to fish for Barra however it can be hard during the dry.

In Kakadu a lot of people fish for Barra at the causeway at Cahills Crossing however the crocs there can be huge.

You can hire boats and fish from the shore at Dundee Beach near Darwin.

Even the harbour charters in Darwin harbour are ok.

Things I wouldn't go without:

  • Yabbie traps to catch cherabbin. Drop into any river with dry dog biscuits or leftover meat/bone scraps. They are one of the best tasting seafoods I've come across. They are killer barra bait too.
  • Insect spray with Deet otherwise you will get smashed by insects.
  • Epirb - as mentioned before.
  • Axe/saw for fires if you're bush camping.
  • Protection for your rods as they will get bounced around. I got a flanalet sheet, folded it several times and got someone to sew the side. Makes seperate pockets for all your rods.
  • Rod bells so if you are lucky enough to be camping near a river you can set your rod up and sit by the fire waiting for the bells to go off.
  • A strong spotty so if you do the above you can see the crocs. It always amazed me how many of those beady eyes you can see at night compared to the day time.
  • Walkie talkies so when you are 2km up the river fishing you don't have to walk back 2km to say your still fishing and haven't been eaten by a croc.

Have a good one.

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On 1/30/2019 at 5:14 PM, Brew said:

One of my favourite fishing spots in all of Australia is north of Broome at a place called Middle Lagoon. It's half way up to Cape Leveque. We had a tinny though. We just sat on the water and listened to where the tuna schools were busting up and headed that way. Heaps of tuna, spanish and even caught black jewfish and coral trout on the troll. You could go there and beg to tag along with someone there who has a boat. Maybe a donation of a case of beer would help.

Further up you can flick lures at Cape Leveque. Tides are big so can be challenging.

Take heaps of lures and wire trace if you get on to someones boat otherwise the trip back to Broome for supplies is a long one. I know, I've done it.

I was there in 2002 & 2004 so a lot could of changed.

A couple of stations on Gibb River Road have places to fish for Barra however it can be hard during the dry.

In Kakadu a lot of people fish for Barra at the causeway at Cahills Crossing however the crocs there can be huge.

You can hire boats and fish from the shore at Dundee Beach near Darwin.

Even the harbour charters in Darwin harbour are ok.

Things I wouldn't go without:

  • Yabbie traps to catch cherabbin. Drop into any river with dry dog biscuits or leftover meat/bone scraps. They are one of the best tasting seafoods I've come across. They are killer barra bait too.
  • Insect spray with Deet otherwise you will get smashed by insects.
  • Epirb - as mentioned before.
  • Axe/saw for fires if you're bush camping.
  • Protection for your rods as they will get bounced around. I got a flanalet sheet, folded it several times and got someone to sew the side. Makes seperate pockets for all your rods.
  • Rod bells so if you are lucky enough to be camping near a river you can set your rod up and sit by the fire waiting for the bells to go off.
  • A strong spotty so if you do the above you can see the crocs. It always amazed me how many of those beady eyes you can see at night compared to the day time.
  • Walkie talkies so when you are 2km up the river fishing you don't have to walk back 2km to say your still fishing and haven't been eaten by a croc.

Have a good one.

Good one you mate thanks for that.  We will be spending some time at Middle Lagoon & Cape Leveque so i'll take your advice there.  Great tip also for the yabby trap!

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Cape Leveque is a magic place and my favourite part of the trip we did from Broome to Darwin many years ago. We stayed in a hut on the beach and the scenery, water and fishing was amazing. Plenty of trevally and queenies from the shore on lures and a never ending supply of garfish from the rock/beach junction which we feasted on along the gibb river road. We also joined the flat bottomed boat that took campground guests out for a bottom bash and if you had your own gear you just pinned a livie on and there were quite a few big Spaniards caught or busting gear.

One arm point further north was also a great looking spot with very deep water close near the trochus shell hatchery.  We didn’t fish here but heard some great fishing stories and I would love to return here with a tinny one day.

We hired a boab boat in Broome for a day, launched on the beach and had a magic day catching mackerel, tribally, a nice selection of reef fish, and big queenfish and also seeing a dugong. Highly recommend if the weather forecast is good.

Found the Barra fishing hard work in the Kimberley in the middle of the dry, but did see plenty in the Pentecost on the start of the run in not far from Home Valley Station. We couldn’t tempt them on anything but had to keep a close eye on the crocs. Didn’t catch Barra until we got back into NT but did have limited chances with the young family to explore more likely spots.

Overall an amazing part of Australia with great scenery and plenty of characters.

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