Simon Cardone ticks off a long held wish to fish the stunning Kimberley Coast with a few of his mates.

It was after lunch on day four of our Kimberley adventure. After catching several giant trevally on poppers up to 40 pounds in the last two sessions, my guide Gary suggested i “have a rest” from casting, and tied on a Halco Laser Pro for a troll around one of the many rocky outcrops that litter Montague sound. Given the brutal encounters that we had all experienced up to this point with the resident GTs, I gripped my E-Force 15kg rod tightly in anticipation of what was likely to happen next, within moments the lure was hammered by another GT that put on the after-burners as it headed for the safety of the rocks. Hanging on for all I was worth, Gary put the hammer down and pointed the boat in the opposite direction from the bommies, all the while the drag was screaming as 80lb braid ripped through the guides. Luck however was on my side and eventually my fishing buddy Ray could get a metre of black backed giant trevally safely in the net. After a quick photo session and release of the fish, I lay back on the casting deck shaking my head in disbelief. This was to become a regular occurrence on this trip.
Fishing up north, in particular the coastal waters between Broome and Wyndham at the top of Western Australia has always been on my bucket list. The Kimberley Region in general, was an area that I just had to experience for myself before I left this mortal coil.
PLANNING
Rewind roughly two years to a campsite along the banks of the Loddon River in Victoria, when over a couple of cold ones the idea of a fishing trip to the Kimberley Coast was floated by Ray, and it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t just idle chit chat – he was a man on a mission, and without doubt, we were going to get there sooner rather than later it seemed!
I was tasked with the planning of this epic trip for a group of four anglers from down south, no pressure, ha, I was tasked to deliver an itinerary that ticked all the boxes for the group, namely a good mix of bluewater and estuary fishing, a suitable mothership, spectacular locations, and apparently, I was expected to get the weather sorted as well!

MOTHERSHIP
There are quite a few companies that have ships that cruise the Kimberley coast, but in reality, only a handful really offer a serious fishing charter tour option. After several months of exhaustive research, I decided that Darwin Bluewater Charters offered the best itinerary for our needs. Owner/operator Mal Miles impressed me straight off the bat with his knowledge of the area and fishing credentials.
Hyland C is one of the smaller motherships which was also appealing in that he only runs tours for a maximum of six people at a time, along with three crew attending to the guests needs, and the bulk of the fishing done from two well equipped tender boats. As luck would have it, we ended up with only our party of four on-board for seven nights, with an extra crew member as well – talk about getting VIP treatment!
TIME and TIDE
The tail end of the dry season (August/September) provided the most reliable weather patterns for exploring and fishing the Kimberley coast, with light winds, temperatures in the mid-30s and low humidity the norm. Mal has the Hyland C stationed at various places along the Kimberley Coast for two months around this period. Groups of anglers are flown in/out via sea plane to the ship every eight days. The beauty of this system means that you are straight into the fishing action from the moment you step on-board to the moment you depart the mothership.
When booking your trip, Mal has each weeks fishing mapped out according to the tides, so you can get a fair idea of what’s on offer each week and select the itinerary that suits your group’s needs best. For example the estuaries fish better for Barra on neap tides and the offshore fishing for GTs is better on larger tides, so providing the wind plays the game, each week long adventure should give anglers a good mix of locations and species to target.
In saying this, Mal is very flexible to a group’ specific needs, e.g. if you want to chuck poppers for seven days then he will base your trip around that, or if the weather is inclement while you are out there he has the options up his sleeve and the flexibility to provide good fishing regardless. It seems there are no bad options in the Kimberley.
ESTUARINE TERRORS
The Kimberley coast is littered with bays, creeks and rivers that boast some fantastic fishing for barramundi and mangrove jack. The barra prefer the mangrove rivers and creeks, while the jacks prefer the bays primarily with a lot of rocky terrain. In saying this, there is an overlap between the two in some areas, as well as good numbers of jewfish, fingermark bream, threadfin/blue salmon and estuary cod likely to be encountered.
The average size of the Barra we caught was between 70-80cm, with the odd larger specimen. Casting large shallow diving hard body lures such as bombers and B52s at drains during the runout tide was the stand out method, as well as casting over rock bars with slightly deeper diving lures. Gold lures were used when the water was discoloured, green lures when the water was clearer.
The ‘Jacks’ obviously don’t see many lures out here, and double hook ups on fish over 40cm were common. Once a Jack hangout was found, we noticed that by changing lure types periodically would turn the lookers back into takers very quickly. Twitches and long pauses in between jerky retrieves were most effective.
KIMBERLEY THUGS
As I touched on in my opening paragraphs, the giant trevally fishery in the Kimberley is mind blowing. There are fish pushing 100lb out here, but a lot of luck is required to stop them as the terrain is brutal, as are the sharks. Graham, another member of our group, hooked 70 pounders in two consecutive casts, only to get busted off on the rocks by the first, and by sharks at the boat side with the second fish. Understandably tears were shed. It’s a brutal place out here.
Whenever the men in grey suits crashed the GT party, we quickly moved locations as one trophy fish lost is one too many. Mal is very conscious of this, and locations are only fished very briefly for not only this reason, but also to give the resident fish a rest so they can be enjoyed by another lucky angler, whether that be the following week or the next season.
Quality heavy spin tackle is used for all GT trolling and casting, with 8000-12000 sized reels loaded with 80-100lb braid/leader matched to 12-15kg 7ft rods being ideal. Kimberley GTs aren’t fussy with lures, but bigger is better, with poppers, stick baits and divers, 180mm or larger being eaten more than the smaller variants. Re-fitting lures with single hooks instead of trebles also speeds up the time taken to de-hook and release these magnificent creatures.
A nice side show to the GT madness is the XOS queenfish and Spanish mackerel which inhabit the same locations, with both species often spending as much time in the air as in the water.

SEA OF SAILS
We were lucky enough to have a clear weather window during our trip which enabled us to steam further afield for a day and a half assault on the sailfish at one of Mal’s hot spots.
The technique used was to troll garfish baits (one rigged as a skipping bait, the other as a popper) and a teaser from both tenders until a fish was raised. If a sail popped up on the teaser, this was quickly removed, and hopefully the fish diverted its attention to the baits.
As I was soon to witness, the sailfish normally trail the bait for a moment or two before deciding to eat it. This moment is indicated by the sailfish turning at right angles to the bait. This is where things start to get tense as the angler then has to free spool the bait so the sail has time to swallow it. Once the skipper thinks the fish has swallowed the bait the angler then engages the reel to see if he has weight. Hooks do not need to be set by the angler as the circle hooks will neatly pin the fish in the corner of the mouth simply through the water pressure and forward movement of the boat.
While working the sailfish grounds, we kept a look out for bird activity to help indicate the presence of predatory fish. Normally a couple of birds diving indicated sailfish, whereas a flock of birds feeding indicated tuna.
Two hours of no bird or fish activity went by, and then all hell broke loose as we raised three sailfish at once. My bait got attention first, but unfortunately after free spooling to the fish twice he eventually spat the bait. The other two fish momentarily disappeared and we thought that was going to be it for the day. As Matt and I wound our lines in for inspection the other two fish returned and one engulfed his garfish and this time it stayed connected.
Another sailfish session in the morning saw a couple more fish raised but no hook-ups apart from the odd queenfish and mackerel. Finally, my reel screamed into life as my bait was hit by an unknown assailant. Line began disappearing at warp speed before a massive fish jumped twice way out the back, and the leader was severed. Mal, Graham and I were all in shock by what we had just witnessed. A large black marlin had decided garfish was on the menu and he was in no mood to stop and chat with us. Now we had seen it all!
REEF MADNESS
We had been anticipating the prospect of ticking a few reef species off our personal bucket lists, and Mal did not let us down, with virtually all his drops inshore and offshore producing thumping golden snapper, brassy trevally, jewfish, salmon, queenfish and assorted emperors. Jigging large jerk shads was very effective, but the fish went absolutely nuts for strips of fresh tuna.
THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT
Fishing aside, the Kimberley Coast is worth a visit just for the stunning scenery alone. A landscape forged over millions of years that is perfect, untouched & beautiful in every way. Chances are you will have the place to yourself, just as we did. To be able to swim in crystal clear freshwater rock pools (safely out of the reach of crocs and other things that bite) overlooking the floodplains is simply breathtaking. Every sunrise and sunset is unique as the rock formations light up and take on brilliant hues of orange and copper.
Apart from the ever-present saltwater crocodiles, we had frequent encounters with sea eagles, brolgas, jabirus, giant turtles, dolphins, humpback and pilot whales.
It would be fair to say that the four lads who embarked on this adventure in September 2017 have come back with a slightly different view of the world. Those of you have been to the Kimberley will know what I’m talking about. Those of you haven’t been, should do what you can to experience it.

Simon Cardone lives on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia with his wife and two young children. Simon loves nothing better than hooking up the tinny and heading for destinations far and wide to chase Murray Cod, Golden Perch and Trout in the fresh, or Estuary Perch, Bream and Whiting in the salt. Simon is an advocate for Jarvis Walker Brands and Kingston Lures.