Broome fishing - Day 5

Today was another non-charter day. We wanted to capture on camera the tide changes for Broome so we decided we would go to the Broome jetty at low tide and high tide. Low tide was at 0845 and high tide at 1500. So we drove out at 0830 and took pictures of low tide. After having a wander around the jetty, we went to TackleWorld, with me hoping to replenish my very successful Shimano Flat Fall jigs. But alas, they didn't carry any of it. There weren't much similar jigs so I bought whatever that was there.

Had our lunch and headed back to the room. I wanted to check out the Dampier Creek that was just behind the hotel but Bruce decided to stay in the room to rest. So armed with my trusty Shimano rod and some lures, I headed off into the creek. At that time, it was 2hrs after the low tide so I expect the tide to come in. I walked on a path with mangrove to my left and right. The path led to a clearing which then spread out to smaller paths towards the edge of the water. I made my way between the mangroves to an opening and started casting my Rapala Sub Walk lure. I could see that the water was rather shallow, that's why I chose that lure. I could see the channel that was draining in/out of the creek but was too far to cast to. After 1hr of casting, the waters came into the mangroves and limited my casting ability. So I decided to head back. After a short rest, it was time to go take pictures of high tide. I stood at the same spot to capture the high tide.

Broome Jetty at low tide 3.6m

Broome Jetty at high tide 6.8m

When we arrived, we could see the vast difference. At certain times of the month, the peak difference from low can be 0.5m and high at 10.1m!

With the two differences in mind, we decided to try fishing at dusk under the jetty. We went to buy 1 packet of squid and 1 packet of pilchards from the tackle shop again. At 1730, we reached the jetty and proceeded to fish under it. I opted for a floater rig while Bruce went with a small ball sinker. Bruce was getting snagged pretty often so I was glad I was using the floater. But my floater also got snagged so I had to change to ball sinker as well. I was finally getting some bites on the bait and hooked up. Could tell it was a small fish and when I saw it, it looks like a baby snapper. Caught another small fish on the next cast, couldn't tell what fish it was.

As the water was receding, we decided to head up to the jetty to fish. By this time, Bruce was getting lots of bites and began hooking up some fish. We were tied at 3 baby fish a piece when we were down to our last pilchard. So I cut up the 2 pilchards into 5 pieces and told him we will have a fish-off. With 5 pieces of bait, the one that catches the most fish wins. He caught a total of 3 fish from 5 pieces of bait while I only managed only 1. So he was named the 'Tiddler' champion! It was good fun!

Broome fishing - Day 4

Today is our charter with Barradict down at Eco Beach. When I booked this charter, I didn't realize that the charter launches from Eco Beach which is 1hr30mins drive south from Broome! Luckily, the charter starts at 11am so we had ample time to drive down there. After getting some directions from the Broome Visitor Center, we started our drive there. It's been a long time since I've seen such
long, straight roads with no other cars around! We were told to look out for the signs on the road to turn off to Eco Beach. Soon, we saw it and it led to another dirt road.

It was the same red earth type of dirt track. We drove 12km on this dirt track to finally reach the Eco Beach Resort. This place is so secluded it has its own sewerage system and water source! It was like a resort out of nowhere. I wonder what people do at this place. I would be bored after 2 days if I was not fishing! But the view was fantastic!

We met up with the Barraddict skipper, Kurt and his friend Bonnie. We loaded our stuff on the boat and off we went. About 1km from the beach, Kurt slowed the boat down and anchored up and suggested we could cast some jigs to see if anything was biting. I thought we would be trying for little fish or baitfish first but little did we know, this was going to turn out to be one of our best fishing sessions in Broome!

I tied my Shimano Flat fall jig Phantom Squid color and dropped it down. Once the jig touched bottom, I started jigging. 3 strokes later, I felt a bump but no hookup. Kurt advised me to do long strokes and keep it at the bottom third of the water column. On the 2nd drop, I began doing the long upward strokes. On the 2nd stroke I felt like I hit snag but this snag was moving! Fish ON! My reel screamed like a banshee as the fish took off! It was peeling line like nobody's business. I had to re-adjust the drag a few times until the fish stopped running. Then I began pump n reel. Yet again, it took off but shorter bursts. The fish took me round the boat 2 times as I tried to keep it on the line. Finally after 10mins or so, I saw color and Kurt called it as a Golden Trevally! And what a monster it was! Topping 8kg, the fish was netted and unhooked for photos. It was awesome! After the photos, I speared the fish back into the water and it flapped a bit and powered away. I can't believe all this action was happening so close to shore!

Checked my jig and sent it down again. After a few times, I worked out that to bring the jig to surface, I took 7 long strokes so after 3-4 long strokes, I would free spool the jig down again to work half of the water column. 5 mins later, I was hooked up again. Same rod bending action and reel screaming. Went round the boat again and when I thought I had the fish under control, it sped off
again. This time burying me in some structure and busting me off!

Checked my line and the 20lb braid was cut. Re-tied my leader and blue/pink Shimano jig and dropped it. 1 stroke up and I was immediately hit on the down crank. Fish ON! This fish battled like the last and took me some time to bring it boatside. Another thumper Golden Trevally! Another round of pictures and back it went to fight another day. Bruce wasn't getting any luck with his jigs.

I then caught some small School Mackerel (Scomberomorus queenslandicus) on the jig as well. The fish were like everywhere! We continued fishing and various fish caught on jigs. Bonnie was doing some bottom fishing with dead mullet as bait and brought up some Saddletail Seaperch. She also caught 2 Golden Trevallys on bait. Meanwhile, Bruce was still not catching any Goldies but he did hit a 3kg Grouper on jig. That became our dinner!

I continued to use my Shimano Flat Fall jig and scored another Golden Trevally. Then on the next drop, I was on my 6th upward stroke when I was hit near the surface. I didn't expect that and was almost pulled over. I quickly steadied myself and fought the fish. The fish went under the boat and my reel screamed. I stuck my rod under the boat to prevent line cut but I was going nowhere! When the fish finally stopped running I started reeling in. Then I felt the line snagged. Darn it, a couple of pulls later, the braid snapped. Lost the jig but I thoroughly enjoyed the fight!

Only our footsteps on this untouched creek!

Kurt said we need to head into the creeks if we want to target Barramundi so at 1300, we left the awesome action at the reefs to hunt for Barra. The creek we headed into was rather shallow. Kurt said in a few days, this creek would be cut off from the sea due to low tides.

We began with Kurt using a cast net to catch Mullet for use as Barra bait. It's amazing to see his every cast yielded 6-7 bite-sized Mullet. With bait gathered, we headed to the opposite side to a rock bar to start fishing for Barra. I changed my jigs to lures, hoping to nail a Barra on it. Bruce started on lures as well but then settled with using live bait. I was watching his rod when I saw some tapping. Kurt had rigged a running sinker with a 4/0 circle hook and Bruce fed out the line. Shortly thereafter, the rod loaded up and the fish was ON! The bait was only under the boat when the fish took it. The fish jumped near the boat to reveal itself as a Barramundi, a huge one! A short fight later, it was boated and it was measured at 80cm! A real thumper! Some quick photos later, it was revived boat-side and released! Size limit for Barramundi in WA is between 40-80cm. Any Barra larger than 80cm must be released. So Bruce can cross that Barra off his bucket list!

Measuring the monster Barra!

A happy angler

Kurt suggested I change my rig to a light jighead with a white plastic minnow. I tossed that jighead towards a hole and did small flicks on the rod tip. Halfway back to the boat, I got this massive hit on the jig. Quickly striked and began reeling. This fish felt heavy too. Out jumped the fish to reveal itself as a Barra and when it landed, the jighead came flying towards the boat! We examined the jighead and discovered the hook had opened! Darn it! Lost my dream Barramundi! I then changed to my DOA prawns and got a couple of small Orange-Spotted Groupers.

With the action quieting down, we decided to head back to the reef for more Goldie action. The wind was really blowing when we reached the reefs. I tied my 2nd last Shimano Slow Fall jig and started my jigging. On the 3rd drop, I hooked up again! Rod bending, reel screaming..... this was awesome! Brought the Goldie up for another photo op. Beautiful!

Dropped the jig over and started again. On 2nd stroke, I had a hit but missed the hookup. Kurt said drop it again, and sure enough the fish hit the jig again. This time I hooked up solid and began fighting the fish. This fish took me 2 times round the boat before busting me off with a final reel-screaming burst! Bonnie hooked up a Goldie on bait which gave her quite a runaround.

I now only had left my 130g Shimano Flat Fall Sardine color jig. We jigged for another 20mins but nothing was taking my jig. Bruce had a monster hit on this jig which took him round the boat and it was like a stale-mate. Neither party giving up. Then Bruce felt like the fish was snagged so Kurt moved the boat around, trying to change the angle of the line, hoping to drag the fish out but after 10mins of trying, Bruce had no choice but to pull the line hard. Unfortunately, the line snapped and Bruce was dejected. That was the last of the action for the day and we proceeded back to Eco Beach.

We had a cold beer at Eco Beach and recounted the days action. Mine was the non-stop action on the Goldies while Bruce was very happy with his record Barramundi. We enjoyed the trip so much that we decided to book Kurt again for Sat! He said he'll check his schedule and call us back.

Gut-bruising encounters with the Golden Trevallies

Gear used:
Rod - Shimano TCurve Travel Tropical PE1-2
Reel - Shimano Stradic Ci4 3000FA
Line - Sufix 832 30lb with 40lb Black Magic Fluorocarbon leader
Bait - Shimano Butterfly Flat-Fall jig (Pink/Blue, Anchovy, Phantom Squid, Sand Eel, Blue Sardine)
       - DOA prawn lures 
Rig - weighted jighead 
      - direct leader to lure

Fish ID - Golden Trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus)
           - School Mackerel (Scomberomorus queenslandicus)
           - Barramundi (Lates calcarifer)
           - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)

Broome fishing - Day 3

Today was our off day from charter fishing. We wanted to try out the land-based fishing out of Broome. With some info gathered from the local tackle shop and deckie, we headed out to the rocky headland near the Broome Jetty. According to the deckies, the best time to fish was 2hrs before the top of the tide. The tide changes were quite vast. Difference was about 8m!

iPhone 5s panorama

So armed with lures and jigs, we headed out to the place. We made our way to the outer rocks and
began tossing our lures. Just standing on the rocks, chucking lures in the emerald sea was kinda therapeutic. After countless casts, we didn't get any hits at all. All the fishing-looking holes and spots were covered with no success. I just happened to look back, when I realized the water was rising fast, covering the path back to the beach. I quickly told Bruce and we packed up and  made our way back on the rocks. The water was already covering most of the rocks and we had to move calf-deep across some  submerged rocks with strong waves crashing over it. Thankfully we made it across safely and up to the beach. When we looked back at the rocks, the waves were already covering the most of the rocks! We would have been stranded on the rocks if we had waited 5mins more. Or swim back! We were really close to being caught out by the rising tide.

As the only other places to fish was from the beach and we couldn't cast that far out, we decided to head back for lunch. After lunch, we decided to go check out Willie Creek, according to the locals, another good fishing spot. Willie Creek is located north of Broome and its where the Willie Creek Pearl Farm is located. But Bruce's GPS took us to the Willie Creek Pearl Farm store! So we inquired at the store and was told that to get to the Farm, one would have to drive through dirt roads. And some cars have been bogged in at some parts. A 4WD is recommended. We decided to go anyway just to see if we can make it through. We got to the dirt road part and it was all red!

Not too bad as our humble small car trundled through the dirt road. Then we came to another section when the red earth turned into white sand. The sandy track was single lane and the initial track looked ok so we continued. Bruce has 4WD driving experience so I let him decide on whether to carry on or not. Soon we were flying through the sand track as according to Bruce, if you slow down, there's is more likelyhood that the car will get bogged in. The deeper we got down the track, the sandier the path became. I was really worried at this stage because the car brushed the bushes a few times due to no traction on the wheels! When we came to a clearing with some grass on the side, we pulled over! At that point, we both knew it was a BAD idea to have driven onto the sandy track. We made a 3-point turn and began to head back out. We managed to get back to the red earth track safely without
any cars coming in the opposite direction! If there was, we would have been bogged in for sure! As we exited the dirt road, we both heaved a sigh of relief and thank God for our safety.

As we headed back, we stopped by the famous Cable Beach. The beach was so beautiful and we saw the infamous camels being led to the beach area for the sunset ride. The sand was powdery white and slow gentle waves lapping. The waves went out a long way, from the beach to the water line was about 200m! It was just an awesome sight! Managed to take some pictures of sunset over Cable Beach.
What a sight!

Broome fishing - Day 2

Today is our charter on Absolute Ocean. We were picked up at 0700 in a bus and went to pick up another 10 persons. Then we made our way to the boat ramp. It was low tide then and it was a long way out. The charter boat was a long way out and they sent a smaller craft to the shore.
Low and behold, the craft 'grew' wheels and was transformed to a land craft! Boarded in 2 batches and made our way to the fishing boat.

We then took 1hr to reach our fishing grounds. Looking around, I saw that the gear supplied were super heavy duty! 200lb braid on Fin-nor reels, 2 size 8 circle hooks and size 20 sinker. It seems that the heavy duty gear is to bring the fish up as quickly as we can, if not, we will get a visit from the 'man in the grey jacket'! Also known as SHARKS! The deckies distributed colored paper clips for each party to identify the fish that was caught. We got blue paper clips. After 1hr30mins we reached our fishing grounds. The skipper gave a quick brief on how to fish.

1. Bait up and toss over.
2. Let the sinker touch bottom and wait.
3. When you feel bites, open bale arm and feed line out.
4. If the line is coming out faster than normal, count to 5 and close bale arm.
5. Slowly raise the rod and the fish should be hooked.
6. Reel fast to the surface to avoid being 'sharked'.
7. Do NOT STRIKE!

Let's fish!

I baited up with squid and dropped the line down. Straight away, I got a hit. Fish ON! I quickly reeled it up and I got a double-header! 2 Grass Emperor (Lethrinus laticaudis) on each hook. Not very big, so the deckie said he will make strip baits out of them. Other anglers were also pulling up some decent-sized Grass Emperor. Baited up and tossed the bait over. Straight away I could feel the fish biting. Don't strike, don't strike. Very hard to overcome that need to strike. The deckies were reminding to feed more line out when we feel the bites, hoping the fish would take the bait and self-hook on the circle hooks. I opened the bale arm and let out some line. Line was peeling fast so I close the bale arm and lifted. True enough, I was hooked up. Had some weight on this guy and reeled it up. Yay, another Grass Emperor about 4kg. Since me and my fishing buddy decided beforehand that we would only take 2 fish home, we said we would keep this one.

Before I could bait up again, lines up call was made and we moved to the next spot. At the next spot, it was Bruce's turn to hook up. This one gave quite a bend on the rod! Reeled it up and it was another Grass Emperor. Another keeper. I dropped my line and felt the nibbles. Striked and ended up with empty hook. Darn it, must remember not to strike. Another angler managed to hook up a Rankin Cod. Beautiful fish. Subsequent drops yielded nothing as we moved to the next spot. It seems that most of the fishes caught were Grass Emperors.

Rankin cod

At the next spot, I baited up with the fresh strip bait. Less than 5mins, I felt a tug so I released some line. The line was peeling out super fast! Quickly closed the bale arm and lifted. Woo hoo, fish ON! With this heavy gear, there was no problem bringing them up. Another Grass Emperor, 3kg. Re-baited and dropped over. As soon as the sinker hit bottom, I felt a tug and the rod bent over. I quickly lifted and the  fish was ON! For the first time, I heard the reel drag sound for 3secs. But as I pumped it up, the fish relented. Up came a very familiar color and shape. Orange-Spotted Grouper! Nice 4kg version. Definitely keeping that one! Soon we moved on and had a fabulous spread of food for lunch.

Next spot, some anglers were getting some Golden Trevally so I thought it would be a good time for me to try my own rod and reel with jigs. The deckies were kind enough to clear some deck space on the opposite for me to do jigging. I tied my jig and began jigging. My rod was heavy so after 10mins or so, I began to tire with no fish taking the jig. While jigging, the angler next to my buddy caught a
red-colored fish and as he brought it up, I saw the head only! A shark obviously had a bite out of it!

So back to bottom fishing. Caught another 2 large Grass Emperors and my buddy also had 2. In between, we hooked up many smaller versions which ended up as strip bait. At 1330, the skipper called lines up for the last time and we steamed home. Took us 1hr to reach back to the launch point.

During the trip back, the deckies gutted the fish only and separated the fish according to the colored paper clips. We caught 8 large fish altogether so we told the deckie we would keep 3 for ourselves and the rest were given to other anglers that didn't do too well.

The boat that 'grows' wheels. Awesome!!

Back at the room, we prepared the fish for dinner. 1 Grass Emperor and 1 Grouper. Emperor was filleted while I prepared the Grouper for steaming. The fillets were bbq-ed with butter and lemon. Taste verdict? Emperor had nice, firm texture while the Grouper had a more tender texture and sweetness. Downed the fish with an icy cold beer. Ahhhh.... good way to end a day of fishing!

Gear used:
Rod - Fin Nor 
Reel - Fin Nor Offshore
Line - 100lb braid
Bait - strip bait of squid and fish
Rig - running sinker (size 20) with 2x size 8 circle hook

Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
             - Grass Emperor (Lethrinus laticaudis)
             - Rankin Cod (Epinephelus multinotatus)

Broome fishing - Day 1

Reached Perth and transiting for 4hrs for my flight to Broome. Too early, nobody at Terminal.......zzzzzzzzz

Chose a window seat so that I could get a nice view of Broome when we make an approach. Well rewarded! I got to see the Broome Jetty and Cable Beach from the air

Touched down in Broome and it's hot like Singapore but less humid. 1 baggage carousel, that's how small the airport is!

Bruce picked me up and off we went to the hotel that we were booked in for the whole week. 5 mins later and we're there! Really small town.

The room at the Moonlight Bay Suites were nice, comes with kitchenette and 3 beds. After dumping my stuff, we went to check out the Broome pier.

The waters were emerald green and deep blue. Walked the length of the pier and a few people were fishing. But didn't see anyone hook up any fish.

After that, we visited the local tackle shop, Tackle World to pick up my Shimano TCurve Travel Trop rod that I had reserved. I'm going to pair this rod with my Stradic Ci4 3000 to fish here in Broome.

Did some grocery shopping for breakfast as well as cooking the fish that we were going to catch. I bought 2 packets of pre-mix curry and garlic paste.

We made a detour to the drive-thru bottle shop. The beer of choice? Pure Blonde! We bought a case, ie 24 bottles with the plan of 2 beers each after each fishing day.

Getting ready for Broome

Can't wait to go on my fishing trip of a lifetime! Broome baby!!

Had arranged for this trip with Bruce as he also wanted to fish at this awesome destination. So its going to be 8 day trip with 3 charters booked and free days in between to explore the area on our own.

I'm packing the following to use:
Rod - 3-piece Shimano TCurve Revolution Overhead
Reel - Shimano Talica II, Stradic Ci4 3000, and Slade 4000
Tackle box filled with various lures, madai, jigs and micro jigs.
I'm planning to buy another Shimano TCurve Revolution Travel Tropical rod which I've asked the Broome tackle shop to hold for me.

I've read forum posts that sometimes the Australian Customs confiscate Berkley Gulp soft plastics as they are considered as bait and we all know how particular the Customs are with such things. So I decided to leave my stash at home and purchase new ones in tackle shops over there.

I've got a bucket list of fish that I hope to catch while I'm over there.
1. Spangled Emperor
2. Yellowfin or longfin Tuna
3. Mahi Mahi
4. Barramundi > 75cm
5. Jewfish
6. Giant Threadfin
7. Giant Trevally
8. Mulloway

Let's hope I can cross some out from the list!

Battle scars

As I was cleaning up my fishing gear, I had a look at my Shimano Butterfly jigs. Yes, some bite/scuff marks from the Bonito and Cencaru that hit it yesterday.

Think I will be using this jig more often now!