Karratha

WA North Coast

Karratha camping and fishing: a traveller’s dream

DAMPIER/KARRATHA Troy Honey

Karratha, and all along the Pilbara coastline from Onslow in the south to Cape Keraudren in the north, is the ultimate place to be in May each year. The weather is always ideal with little to no winds, average 32ºC days and rarely a cloud in the sky.

Line all of that up with a set of neap tides and crystal clear waters and you have the perfect conditions for diving, fishing, or just relaxing on a beach with a rod in the rod holder. The nights are starting to cool down, which makes sleeping in a tent ideal and with most camp sites allowing campfires in the region, where else would you rather be.

The creeks around Karratha have well and truly slowed down on the barra front but there are still plenty of threadfin salmon, flathead, whiting, cod, mangrove jack The creeks around Karratha are a mud crab haven. By using the high tide on the spring tides and a few drop nets, it didn’t take too long for Brett to catch some thumping big green mud crabs. offshore are in good health. Multiple catches of good numbers and size were recorded of red emperor, ranking cod and saddletail snapper. Most catches came from waters 45m and deeper behind the island on the way to the rigs. May should see these species move closer to shore and start turning up in 30m or less, although the better size and numbers will be found in and around the 40m mark. Blueline emperor, Chinaman, coral trout, and large schools of Spanish flag are being caught in the 20’s and fishing the waters off Enderby Island out towards Cod Bank is consistently only be here for two to three months though although small specimens under 40cm are always around.

May marks the start of the annual tourist run in Karratha. The camping areas such as Cleaverville, 40 Mile, Fortescue plus every caravan park in Dampier, Karratha and Point Samson all fill up quick with traveller’s keen to enjoy the dreamy weather, stunning landscapes, and exceptional fishing, especially landbased. From land it is not only the fish and crabs that can be caught, but also and endless supply of oysters, octopus, squid, cockles

Gascoyne town of Exmouth so get in quick for the crabs as the trawlers tend to stir things up in the bays, such as Nickol creating challenges for the recreational crabber.

Sailfish have been turning up behind the islands of the archipelago. Anglers trolling the ship anchorage area are finding a few sails but they also being caught where the yellowfin tuna are, and all the way to the oil rigs.

Pelagics, such as queenfish and trevally, are being caught all around the islands and along the coastline of Karratha, Cleaverville and Point Samson. Both species are taking lures, poppers and

The author enjoys catching bluebone on a regular basis as all it takes is a rising tide, fresh caught rock crab, big handline, and some rocky coastline.

and mud crabs being caught. The creeks south of Dampier write down past Fortescue to Mardie are performing exceptionally well and there are still a few big black jewfish being caught in the deeper holes around the creek mouths which are being caught during the night on live baits.

Just out from the creeks in the bays such as Nickol, King, Sherlock and the harbour in Dampier, the blue swimmer crabs are all good size and plenty to be caught. This blue swimmer crab season is certainly a good one with many anglers easily achieving bag limits with only a few pulls of their sets of nets. The sharks have started to move out of the shallow bays as the water temperature is really dropping off now which is welcomed by all crabbers as they cause havoc in the nets. June will see the start of the prawn run and the arrival of many trawlers up from the Schools of trevally are plentiful in Karratha, as Brett Stevenson found out on a recent trip fishing the islands off Point Samson.

are having to work for them. Spanish mackerel numbers are slowly increasing now the water temps in the south of the state are dropping off fast and the mackies start to make their way back up the coastline. Yellowfin tuna are turning up west of the Monte Bello Islands and all around Glomar Shoal, along with a few wahoo. Mahimahi are stick bait with the queenfish responding better to live mullet baits. I find fishing for queenfish is best at low tide on the larger spring tides and look for creeks that are emptying into bays. It is here the queenfish can be found herding bait schools into the banks for easy taking. When the event takes place, you will see and hear the queenies as they chase the bait. By simply catching a few mullet they are herding with a cast net and throwing them out live on a rod with a small running sinker and 8/0 to 10/0 hook, it is then usually only a matter of minutes before a big queenie has your reel screaming. Some of the queenies currently being caught are well in excess of a metre in length and not only pull hard, but they also provide a great visual display with multiple leaps out of the water.

Full steam ahead for the Dampier demersals with April proving the stocks producing fish and shark numbers have also been less than on the north-eastern side of the archipelago. On the lumps in and around 35m behind the islands we should start seeing large schools of spangled emperor start and more.

We are heading up to Cape Keraudren for a week of camping and fishing with the target species being threadfin salmon, bluebone, whiting, mangrove jack and mud crabs and I hope to

Hearing about the aerobatics and land-based challenge of big queenfish in Karratha, Brett wanted a piece of the action. Guided by the author, it was less than 30 seconds after his first cast with a large 30cm live mullet bait that the reel started screaming with a queenie that made it just over the magic metre mark.

turning up. I find it is around May and June each year once the cool change kicks in the schools turn up and there are usually both big numbers and good size Spanglies to be caught. They tend to bring you a good read on the iconic location here in the Pilbara as well as how I went about targeting each species, which will all be land-based and in walking distance from the campground.