HOLIDAYING IN AUSTRALIA
Stunning East Kimberley Western Australia
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THE AUTHOR’S TACKLE
Peter Jung pjung@fishingmonthly.com.au
Holidays are something that all of us need, and with overseas travel restricted for the foreseeable future, now is your opportunity to explore the amazing country we call home – Australia. For me, the Kimberley region in Western Australia – in particular El Questro Station – was somewhere I had always wanted to go. Inspired a VERY long time ago by an episode of Rex Hunt Fishing Adventures, this year (despite a few COVID scares) I got my wish, and I want to share with you what it’s all about. KUNUNURRA The township of Kununurra is the gateway to the region and proved to be well worth exploring. Getting there from the East coast can
You don’t need a lot of gear, just an assortment of lures and a good rod and reel. Main: A new day dawning over the Chamberlain Gorge. Above: The sunsets were quite stunning during the author’s trip. be done by air either through Darwin or via Perth, with flights arriving most days. There are plenty of accommodation options available (most with airport transfers) or you can hire a car or 4WD to get around and take in the area.
There is more to do in Kununurra than I expected, and the afternoon and morning my wife and I had there wasn’t really enough to do it justice. A couple of days could easily be spent exploring places like the Sandalwood Shop,
Glen, the guide for the author’s trip to the Pentecost River, with a nice 53cm fish caught while trolling. 12
JULY 2021
the Hoochery Distillery, art galleries like Artlandish (they have a great collection of indigenous pieces) and then of course you have the famous Argyle pink diamonds that the region is famous for. Add to that a cruise on Lake Argyle or the Ord River, and you should have a couple of days covered easily. I would also like to mention the markets; I got a fabulous charcoal drawing of a Boab tree by a local artist there, plus a few other things! I cannot tell you about the local fishing because I didn’t fish here, but I was told by a number of the locals that good fishing is on offer in the waters around town. EL QUESTRO The El Questro property itself is huge. Originally 1 million acres, it is now 750,000 acres (recently 250,000 acres in the form of the Cockburn Ranges was returned to the traditional owners) and has gone through a number of owners in its more recent history. It’s now
• 13 Fishing Concept Z2 baitcast reel (filled with 30lb Platypus P8 Braid) • Bone Voyage BVC664 H travel rod • 50lb leader material • Lures – 4 Zerek Flat Shad Pro 4.5” soft plastics, 3 Reidy’s Little Lucifer’s, 3 Reidy’s B52’s, a packet of Zman Finesse FrogZ with the correct hooks to fish surface, 3 Zerek Tango Shad 69’s and a packet of Mustad size 4 Fastach clips all in a single large tackle tray.
If space allowed the author would have added these items to his tackle box. Kimberley barra love surface lures, and sooty grunter are plentiful too. With the benefit of hindsight, the author would now also take a couple of medium to large surface lures, some ZMan 3” Slim SwimZ and 1/8oz heavy duty jigheads to suit, plus a lighter spin outfit to target the sooty grunter with.
