Karratha

Crustacean smorgasbord

DAMPIER/KARRATHA

Troy

Honey August in Karratha, actually the whole northwest for that matter, certainly taught many anglers a lesson on the frustration that strong winds can bring. The Bureau of Meteorology officially declared there is a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, the first negative event in five years, which is known for bringing wet weather.

What is the Indian Ocean Dipole you ask? The Indian Ocean Dipole is a natural climate phenomenon that influences rainfall patterns around the Indian Ocean, including Australia. It’s brought about by the interactions between the currents along the sea surface and atmospheric circulation.

It can be thought of as the Indian Ocean’s cousin of the better known El Niño and La Niña in the Pacific. Essentially, for most of Australia, El Niño brings dry weather, while La Niña brings wet weather. The IOD has the same impact through its positive and negative phases, respectively.

Negative IODs, which we are now officially in, tend to be less frequent and not as strong as positive IOD events, but can still bring severe climate conditions, such as heavy rainfall, wind and flooding, to parts of Australia. While we are seeing heavy rainfall in the lower part of the Western Australia, the northwest has been impacted by strong, relentless winds and cooler days.

As challenging as it is to get the boat out on weekends and days off, there is still a smorgasbord of fishing experiences on offer in the Karratha region. What we have been seeing is strong winds in the morning, tapering off to nice afternoons and opportunities to get the boat out and chase some good fish.

The afternoons also present opportunities to chase some king prawns or blue swimmer crabs. A couple of articles ago I wrote about how the blue swimmers would be tapering off by this time of year and I am the first to admit I got this wrong. It was a late start to the blue swimmer crab season, and it is a season that is still going strong even now, which is totally out of the ordinary. Nickol Bay, Cleaverville, Dampier Harbour and Cossack are all still fishing well for blue crabs so don’t be hesitant in throwing a net or two out.

If you stay out after dark the crustacean fishing continues, with many people cleaning up on big numbers of king prawns in the bays. The trawlers are working the bays but that is no reason for the recreational fishers to miss out on enjoying this delicacy as well. The king prawns are being caught from land and boat, with the new moon offering the best catches. Those anchoring up in the bigger tides the new moon brings, who are using a prawn light under the water and long handled prawn net, are simply scooping them up as the tide brings them past the boat. It’s a great way to spend a few hours and come home with a very rewarding catch.

Unlike most crustaceans that run for cover in the full moon, the monster green mud crabs that are found in the Karratha region come out and feed, using the moonlight to assist them in the hunting process. Mud crabs can bury themselves in the mud for days at a time and alternatively, when they come out, can stay walking for days at a time, using the mangrove roots for protection during the day. It is during the full moon period that presents the best fishing time for mud crabs.

Last month I chose to target them on the last full moon when the wind was too strong to get the boat out. The full moon was a night moon, but I knew the crabs would be on the walk so I simply headed out to a local creek a couple of hours before high tide and placed my drop nets in the deeper holes over a widespread area. I used tuna oil soaked chicken wings as bait. By the time I had placed the last net in the water, it was time to start pulling the first net; 20 minutes is more than enough time to let the baits soak in the stronger tides of the full moon. On that first round of pulls I was hauling in monster size mud crabs that exceeded 1.5kg.

All the crabs caught that day were what I call a matt colour shell, rather than a shiny one. A shiny shell indicates that the crab has shed its shell recently, and is most likely not full of meat. The crabs I caught were full of meat and that generally goes hand in hand with full moon caught crabs. It was a great way to spend a day that was far too windy to get the boat out, and goes to show that it’s only a matter of exploring opportunities on these less than pleasant boating days to bring home an esky full of fresh caught treats.

On the neap tides in Karratha during August and September that line up with a couple of days of low wind, there is always the option of going for a dive for the prized tropical crayfish that are abundant in the reefs and shoals surrounding the archipelago islands of Dampier. High tide change generally sees the cleanest water, where visibility provides the perfect conditions to see the white tentacles sticking out of the crevices and ledges. All you need is snorkel equipment and either a good glove or crayfish snare to pry them out. Please be careful here as the eels and stingrays that like the same shelter can be an unwelcome find once latched onto your finger or speared through your forearm after reaching into the darkness the crayfish shelter in.

All the shallow reefs throughout the archipelago hold good numbers of crayfish, and it is not too hard to find them if you put the time and effort in looking around for nicelycoloured coral and bommies and have a paddle around with the snorkel equipment. Always be mindful of sharks when carrying crustaceans or fish in bags or on belt rings, as the sharks are out there in plague proportions. The odd tiger shark is about but the bronze whalers and bull sharks are definitely more problematic as they can become very feisty when lots of action is taking place in the water.

Blue swimmer crab, mud crab, king prawn and tropical ornate crayfish are all on offer in Karratha this month, and there are also shellfish such as oysters and pipis – and let’s not forget the cephalopods. Both large tiger and calamari squid are in abundance at this time of year behind the protection of the islands. Wind or no wind, there are so many options.

If you do grab a break and get out wide in the boat, this is the time of year to be chasing demersals such as saddletail snapper, red emperor, and rankin cod. Troll your way out and back in over deepwater reefs, around the ships and shallow shoals for sailfish and Spanish mackerel. Work the tides and target your species. It is not like down south where the tides are less than 1m, and you can fish all day on your favourite GPS spots. Most days offer two tide changes that can be fished in one session, so look at the wind, moon, either day or night and if it is either a falling or rising tide, set your route and target your fish. You will be rewarded with a significantly better result.

Using the full moon and high tide change, the author spent a few enjoyable hours on the banks of a local Karratha creek to bring home his bag limit of mud crabs, all over 1.5kg.

From page 100 you have the opportunity to fish these waters to the north of Broome, I recommend targeting the goldies as they are epic fighters, release well and also make one of the best table fish going. The population of this species is ever increasing in northern WA waters, which makes for a great sport to be enjoyed by everyone.

There are mud crabs galore in all the Broome creeks now and this will continue for the next few months. Mangrove jacks are also being caught in the local creeks, but you need to work to find them. The best place to start is to head as far up the creek as you can and work back from there. Most of the jacks will be found upstream, and a small tinny makes light work of fishing these areas. You can access creeks such as Dampier and Willie land based, and with a bit of searching there are tracks that will allow access right upstream. Just be prepared with a good 4WD and recovery equipment, or stop short and go it on foot. Take lots of water with you and always be very croc wise.

May to September is peak demersal fishing time in Karratha due to the cooler water. Reds and rankins of good size are mostly found in depths of 40m+, and finding a corally bottom over the large bommies is the key to catching good fish without high numbers of sharks.