I don't like to brag but I am a real fisherman, not a bait soaker. I use lures, or occasionally live bait, but mainly lures. Prawns, squid and the other frozen muck you get from the local store are for novices and wannabes. Sure you'll catch fish, but they will mainly be undersized bream and other little nuisances. If you want to catch good fish without the bother of countless pickers you need to learn the art of fishing with lures.
Don't get me wrong, bait has its place. Its great for kids who are too impatient for lure fishing. Teach your kids to thread a prawn onto a hook, and shake off the little pickers they will inevitably catch, and they will stay happily occupied while you wander off with your lures in search of real fish.
And that was how it almost happened when we chanced upon the delightful little dot on the map south of Broome called Port Smith. All the way north from Port Headland the landscape was unrelentingly dull. Out here, every small rise in the land is called Mt Something. Broad, scrubby plains stretch to the horizon on three sides and to broad mangrove swamps on the other. The land doesn't so much meet the sea as merge uncertainly into it. And the big tides run fast, sometimes faster than you can walk, gobbling up the land and stranding unsuspecting anglers.
Port Smith contrasts delightfully with this dullness. It boasts a beautiful big lagoon fringed by beach, mangroves and rocks, and promises bags of fish. It is also blessed by a lovely little caravan park where the campsites are spacious, shady and cheap, the service is friendly, and the toilets are clean. All in all, a nice place to spend a few days chillaxing on your way around the country.
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| Spacious and shady |
There is no port here. Just a property that used to be owned by pearlers. Now there is just a caravan park and a homestead.
So after a leisurely brekkie, we headed down to the lagoon armed with prawns for the kids and Nic, and a small selection of lures for me. I set the girls up on the beach, then left them to the pickers while I headed for the rocks and mangroves in search of mangrove jack.
It is always a proud pleasure to watch your kids succeed at something you have taught them, but I am sure there is another valuable lesson in this story, if only I could find it. In the meantime, if you are heading this way be sure to check out Port Smith.
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| One last cast |
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| Looking back on a great day |
We'll see you when dust settles.
Ha! so nothing's changed, the girls catch the fish and the boys - try hard wannabee lure heads. At the beginning of that story I was beginning to wonder who was actually writing. And as for Port Smith - how is Smith? Nice fish... girls.
ReplyDeleteThe truth can be cruel, can't it?
ReplyDeleteActually in the afternoon session the tables turned but I didn't want the facts to get in the way of a good story. I got a couple of big longtom on metal lures while the beautiful bait soaker caught nothing. Longtom are great fighters but very boney so I let them go. So the girls still get the credit for putting dinner on the table.
So glad you actually caught something (besides a little pink lure in the leg) this time though. Way to go girls, out fishing Dad like that!
ReplyDeleteThe abundance of marine life in the lagoon at Port Smith was absolutely AMAZING - large schools of fish big and small, turtles, big mud crabs, sand crabs, soldier crabs, hermit crabs, stingrays, mudslingers ......................and then there was the birdlife.
ReplyDeleteAs I waded through the turquoise waters of this wonderland, it felt like this was the aquatic equivalent of an old growth forest - untouched and oozing with wildlife. I pondered ............ this is probably what the estuaries on the north coast were like before colonisation. For the first time ever I could really appreciate the impact we have had on the estuarine habitats of the north coast. Sure, Port Smith is located in a bioregion characterised by high diversity, but unlike any estuary on the north coast this unique place 'feels' pristine. How lucky I am to have experienced this - hopefully I have only left footprints.
Wilderness experiences are supposed to make you happy about remaining wilderness not depressed by all the bits we've ruined. i stumbled over a report from early surveyors on the north coast (maybe Clement Hodgkinson?) made me wanna cry. But i still occasionally Long for the verdant floodplains with there blanket of kikuyu and emergent camphors.
Deletedear Geoff ...... you should get yourself on to a charter fishing boat for a treat and revel in some real fishing. Am enjoying your travelogue.
ReplyDeleteHe has to make a submission in triplicate to the Finance Minister and at this stage it is highly unlikely to be approved.
Deletei just got a message to say they might have just done that - says they are 14.568s, 125.84e which, if true, means half way to East Timor - should be nice fishing out there!
ReplyDelete