Port Smith - 28 July 2012
We got up at 6.00am and packed up the van ready to hit the road, but instead we left the van on the site and headed into town to check out the Broome Courthouse Market. Believe it or not, Sue actually bought nothing !!! Returning to the van, we hitched up and left for Port Smith, about 1½ hrs to the south.
Apart from one other private residence, that used to have a large aviary open to the public, the caravan park is the only thing at Port Smith. We were lucky enough to score a large shady site directly opposite the toilets, and while I set about getting the boat ready, Sue took Georgia and Kelsey for a walk down to the water.
Port Smith is a beautiful sandy, mangrove lined lagoon accessed from the sea via a channel about 300m wide. Large tides, around the 9m mark, flush the lagoon each day. This makes launching and retrieving boats very interesting over the sand banks left behind. You can’t launch your boat earlier than half tide in, nor can you retrieve any later than half tide out, so we would be restricted to fishing only over the high tide, or be faced with fishing through a full low tide cycle.
After the girls returned from their walk, we enjoyed happy hour before tucking into a nice feed of barra and jewfish for dinner. Georgia and I settled in on the bed to watch the Tigers play Carlton. It turned out to be a really close game and was looking good for a Tiger victory, until Carlton kicked a goal to take the lead and win the game in the final minute. Not impressed . . . .
Port Smith - 29 July 2012
Being a Sunday morning, pancakes were put on by the park, for the cost of a gold coin donation to the RFDS. I woke not feeling too flash, but Sue still dragged my sorry butt down to keep herself and Georgia company. I even managed to choke some down.
With the wind & tides not being conducive to a reasonable session on the lagoon, we decided to drive to a spot known as Little Creek, a few kilometres down the coast. Sue and I had fished here on a previous visit and done really well from the shore, casting lures to the resident mangrove jacks and bream, before I nearly cut my toe off on the filleting knife and had to race off for a bit of first aid. Today was different though, nothing was interested in our lures and all we could pick up on bait was small pickers, so we decided a bit of shell collecting on the adjacent beach would be more productive.
Returning from the creek, I chucked a couple of pieces of dead cow on a hot piece of cast iron while enjoying a coldie or two. Sue knocked up some veg & pasta and dinner was had.
Port Smith - 30 July 2012
We woke to another windy day, so had a lazy morning around the van watching the Olympics. After lunch, we drove about 10km to the north, to a piece of coast known as Gourdon Bay. Crumbly sandstone cliffs of about 10m high line the shore here, but as the tide was low, we were able to access the beach that would have been underwater had the tides been higher. We cast the rods in for a bit of fishing, but the action was non-existent. Even the pickers gave us a wide berth, so the girls decided the shells were the go, while I stayed behind to tend the rods and soak up the serenity. Well it was serene until a small doggie mackerel bolted off with half a pilchard and gave me a good stretch on the light gear. Unfortunately he was undersize, but a nice surprise from the sandy shore, where you wouldn’t normally expect to catch one. Of course the womenfolk didn’t believe I’d actually caught anything . . . . at least not until I showed them the photo of course.
Back at camp we suffered through yet another happy hour and knocked off some toasted sangers for dinner.
Port Smith - 31 July 2012
After breakfast we launched the tinnie into the lagoon at about 8.00am. We bait fished next to three other boats on a patch of reef and caught many small cod and other reefy bits and pieces, including some lovely lumps of coral for Sue. Then we tried trolling in the entrance channel. I got a nice little giant trevally (GT), so we trolled back through the same area and scored a double hook up on 2 more GT’s for Kelsey and Sue. On the third pass we picked up another double hook up, this time an 8kg queenfish for Georgia and a 7kg queenfish for me. Needless to say we were having a ball. We tried hard to get a queenfish for Kelsey but the tide beat us and we pulled the boat out at 12.45pm.
Kelsey with a small cod
Mutineers
Georgia's ripper 8kg queenfish . . . her first
Back at camp I cleaned the fish with my offside Georgia, while the other girls had some lunch. That evening we went down to the communal area and listened to a bush poet while we had happy hour.
Port Smith - 1 August 2012
We hit the lagoon a bit later this morning and as a result there was plenty of water around to launch. The wind was down, so we headed straight offshore and out about 5km, until we found a bit of rough bottom. The girls bait fished with pilchards while I played deckie. They caught many undersized cod and 3 stripeys that were big enough to keep. After a wind change, the fish went off the bite, so we headed back into the entrance channel and had some more fun with the trevally, keeping 3. I cleaned the fish back at the park and it wasn’t long before the afternoon was over and time for happy hour.
A nice stripey for Georgia . . . matching her wardrobe beautifully
Kelsey with her first giant trevally
Sue locked up solid on a good trevally
Port Smith - 2 August 2012
Hit the water at about 8.45am today and as the wind was down, so we headed straight offshore again. We had intended to head 10km south of the entrance but half way there the wind sprung up, so we changed our plans, heading about 10km offshore.
We drifted a patch of reef with a couple of other boats and were straight onto better fish. Sue caught a painted sweetlip of about 2-3kg, but as they are not a good table fish it went back. Sue and Georgia got a few nice stripeys, which we kept, and Georgia and I both caught bluebone which were just under size. Kelsey got a few undersize stripeys and Georgia caught a really nice blue lined emperor of about 1.5kg.
Georgia with another trevor from trevally alley
Georgia with her nice blue-lined emperor
On the way back, just before we reached the entrance channel, in only 6m of water, we came across two humpback whales sunning themselves on the surface. We stopped the boat about 50m away and they came over to investigate. For the next 10-15 minutes they frolicked around, and under, our tinnie. It was a bit unnerving at times, but I sensed they were aware of our vulnerability and didn’t get too close. We had seen so many whale pods over the previous three days, many, many more than we ever saw in our previous travels. I suppose it’s a good sign for the species that there were so many around. Finally we left the whales and returned to the entrance channel. Tide and time were against us, so no trolling trevally alley today. We retrieved the tinnie and returned to camp to wash up and clean the fish.
Being a Tuesday, it was fish night at the communal area. The park puts on a big fry up every Tuesday for the cost of a $5 donation to the RFDS. They also have an Aboriginal band that comes in from nearby Bidyadanga, to entertain the punters while they eat. The band are all members of one family and very good entertainers. The night went quite late as we waited for the raffle at the end, but unfortunately didn’t win anything. We got back to our van around 10.00pm. A late night for the girls.
One of our whale friends alongside the tinnie
Sue got some good footage
That tail got awfully close
Two incoming subs over the stern quarter
Nasty case of acne there
Back at the ramp after the whale adventure
Port Smith - 3 August 2012
Sue did a bit of laundry in the morning, so we hit the water at about 11.30. The tide was very high and we launched from above the area where we’d previously parked the car. With the tide so high, and the water gin clear, we did a little sightseeing tour around the lagoon, spotting fish and turtles around the mangrove edges. Then we went back to trevally alley and cleaned up again. Sue got 3, Georgia 2, myself and Kelsey got 1 each. Kelsey also caught her first queenfish. We pulled the boat out at around 2.30pm and had a lazy afternoon while the kids played in the van and the car.
Port Smith - 4 August 2012
The wind was up this morning so we decided to stay on land and drove about 15km to the south, to False Cape Bossut Creek. We drove down onto the sand at the mouth and set up the fishing gear. The water was crystal clear on the incoming tide, but unfortunately we couldn’t pull a fish out. The girls tried catching bait in their buckets, while Sue went for a walk and collected some shells.
We packed up the gear after lunch and followed another track around the end of the headland, where we came across some quite high cliffs. Here we spoke to another crew of fishos, who hadn’t had much luck. They told us the day before there had been fish everywhere. We left them to it and walked along the adjacent beach collecting some shells.
With the afternoon still early, we headed back to Port Smith and continued on to the north, to another area of cliffs that Sue and I had visited previously. The last bit of the track in was quite soft, so we left the car behind the dunes and walked over for a look. As the tide was out a bit, fishing wasn’t possible, but it was still in far enough to prevent us walking the beach. We went back to the car and returned to a side track that we had noticed earlier. We followed this track in around behind the salt pans and mangroves, where it became quite narrow and soft. I jumped out to have a quick look over the dunes and realised we were only about ½ km from the entrance channel, where we had previously seen cars parked from the boat. A retreat was made due to the soft sand and we returned to the park at about 4.30pm.
Port Smith - 5 August 2012
It was Sunday and pancake day again, so the girls and I went down for another feed. When we got back Sue did some laundry while I packed up the tinnie and all the gear. After lunch I continued with the packing up, while Sue put on her teacher’s hat and attempted to educate the brats
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