Karratha

Preparation for looming wet season ahead

DAMPIER/KARRATHA Troy Honey

The 2022/23 wet season is just around the corner and the first outlooks are in, which are predicting a promising amount of rain for the West Australian northwest region. If the predictions are on the money, we will see a couple of CAT 4/5 strength systems, which hopefully do not cross the coast but travel offshore adjacent to the coast and bring plenty of rain to the Pilbara and Kimberley.

The predictions also include 2-3 less powerful systems and a couple of CAT 1 or 2 systems that cross the coastline lower in the Pilbara of Gascoyne. Water temps will be average, as well as surface temps for the season.

So, it is sounding like we are going to have a good season, fingers-crossed no large cyclones hit any towns or cities. Now is the time to start planning for the change in fishing from the dry season target species, such as demersals and sports fish like sailfish and marlin to wet season species such as flathead, threadfin,

The water is starting to warm up and with it the blue bone action. The author caught his bag limit in under two hours up the Burrup Peninsula last month fishing land-based and using fresh caught rock crabs as bait.

Not to be outdone, Ricky Mclean gets amongst the mud crab action with Harper.

barramundi, mangrove jack, whiting, queenies, bluebone, mud crabs and very big GTs. Now, all these species can be caught year round, but it is the warmer water temps of the wet season that really brings these species to fire up. The end of the wet season has seen the great Spanish mackerel run in Karratha prove itself to be as healthy as ever, along with many captures red emperors, rankin cod, big coral trout, blueline emperor and long lasting blue swimmer crab season.

The sailfish have been a bit on the light side this season in terms of numbers, which is more than likely

contributed to a fairly windy last few months that kept fishing days to a minimum. It was an overall strong finish to the 2022 dry season and lining up to be a very exciting wet season, which we will cover this and next edition to assist in arming everyone up.

One dry season species that has already hit top gear is the beautiful table fish threadfin salmon. Threadies are being caught in good numbers on lures, vibes, and baits, such as live mullet and cooked prawns. Local creeks such as Airport and Nickol are fishing well, along with both ends of Cleaverville and along the beach at 40 Mile.

Fishing the low tide lock in is producing the best results in the creeks. By this I mean locking your tinny in the creek in a deeper part of the system for when the tide runs out and traps the fish in that body of water with you. Best results for this are on the larger tides but be prepared to be out there for many hours as access is generally on both the high tides which will spread across 10 hours or so for when it is high enough to get out of the boat ramps and into the creeks. If you are fishing land-based along the beaches for threadies, fish the incoming tide a few hours before high tide as the first foot of water comes in over the crustacean laden mud flats. The threadies follow the tide in and can be caught in less than 6” of water.

The barra have been a bit quiet in October around Karratha but once the water temperature rises above 29ºC they should be hitting lures in all of the creeks. The same goes for flathead which are also a high water temperature fish. Flathead can be caught up here in Karratha year round but rarely in the cooler months. Flathead are often a bi-catch by those casting or trolling lures for barra. The barra are a much more spectacular fish to catch, but the flathead leaves them in their dust when it comes to table fare.

Whiting are another species that are commonly targeted in the wet season in Karratha. They can be caught on bait, lures and now the more popular method being tiny poppers cast in the shallows around creek mouths and along the sandy beaches, such as 40 Mile

and Cossack. I really look forward to this time of year when I get to head out to fish an incoming spring tide at sunrise casting poppers for whiting. They are an aggressive little fish and if you fish on those silky smooth and still wet season mornings as the sun is just cracking over the water, the sight of the popper doing its thing and a group of five or more whiting taking turns to strike is something special. I highly recommend it.

If it is a feed of mud crabs you are chasing then this is the time of year to dig out the hooks, booties and nets and hit the creeks all around the region. Full moon spring tides are generally best

as the crabs will come out and go on the walk hunting at night in the moonlight. New moon springs are also good especially if you intend hooking the low tide banks and tidal flats. Karratha is home to the large green mud crab and there are some absolute monsters over 2kg often caught with the average crab around the 1.5kg weight range. Dropping baited nets from your boat in the creeks works just as well as hooking, get your nets in before the high tide change and fish as long as you can before the tide drops to a point where you can’t get back to the ramp. Use fish frames, preferable fresh mullet, chicken pieces or lamb necks, they all work well. If the crabs are around, they will take anything. Spring tides are always better for muddies than neap tides when the water isn’t high enough to soak the banks and flats, so they won’t tend to come out and walk for a feed.

We will go into depth on the GTs and queenies next issue as the teams of anglers armed with high poundage gear head out to the shoals to cast their big poppers into the white water in search of great northwest Australian back breaking fights.

Harper Mclean with another thumper Karratha mud crab.