Better late than never for Karratha barra

DAMPIER/KARRATHA

Troy

Honey

We had a very slow start to the Karratha barra season in 2023, due to the water temp staying cooler. However, the start of February saw the temperature blast through the 30°C mark, and the result was tight lines in all creeks and multiple barra reports coming in thick and fast. The neap tides of the last weekend in January is when things started to turn, and by the first weekend of February during the full-moon spring tides, the season was well underway.

All creek systems to the south of Dampier and north of Karratha are fishing well for barra, as is Balla Balla up at Whim Creek. There are also plenty of queenfish and threadfin in the systems, and no shortage of big mud crabs, especially on the spring tides. The deeper holes around the mouths of the creeks are holding blue swimmer crabs but you need to get your nets right down the bottom of the holes; nearby isn’t good enough, and won’t produce crabs.

Mangrove jacks are plentiful now and can be enticed out of their rock holes with surface lures cast

Wet as close as you can get to the rocks. Try all around the islands, working each of the rocky outcrops.

It is here that an electric motor is essential. Trying to use an anchor is too difficult, and even dangerous at times, likewise with drifting. There are some extremely sharp it, and solid rocks that will tear your hull open in seconds, and they’re hidden well by the rising and falling tides. It’s all too easy to become complacent. You must have an electric motor when fishing Karratha. People often ask me how I get so many bluebone, the answer is simply an electric motor with anchor mode. I would never get a boat without one. Likewise, when chasing GTs around the shoals, an electric motor is an unbeatable tool. There have been quite a few monster GTs landed during February by anglers casting and