Karumba is the gateway to the rivers of the lower Gulf of Carpentaria and, for those with suitable boats, Cape York Peninsula’s south-western rivers.

Karumba is a gulf port 72km by sealed road from Normanton.

There are two boat ramps at the Norman River mouth.

The lower Norman River is not netted.

The main species caught are barramundi, threadfin and blue salmon, golden snapper (fingermark), grunter, black jewfish, goldspot cod and groper, mackerel, queenfish, trevally, catfish and mud crabs.

Also present but rarely targeted are pikey bream, flathead and whiting.

Grunter are hugely popular and mostly caught in the dry season, which ends with the onset of hot weather around September.

Mackerel are best in the dry season (winter months).

Jewfish are occasionally caught off the beach at Karumba Point.

Offshore structure is hard to find, but if you do find some you will catch golden snapper and jewfish.

Most action takes place along the channel edges and markers.

Big jewfish, barramundi and golden snapper are best around Karumba in Sept/Oct as the weather warms.

Unfortunately the winter tourists season is also the time of slowest barramundi activity.

Barramundi are best in warm, still weather.

A big wet season in the lower Gulf catchment will produce good fishing long after the floodwaters subside.

Poor wet seasons tend to produce poor fishing for the rest of the year.

A popular overnight trip from Karumba is the 26 nautical miles to the anchorage within the Smithburne River.

Travel between the mainland and Pelican Island only at high tide.

Grunter and salmon are caught out the front and along river mouth channels, and foreshores at high tide, jewfish are in the hole at the Norman mouth, with mixed species in the rivers.

Walker’s Creek is easily accessible as the crossing is on the sealed road between Normanton and Karumba.

There is limited access to the Leichardt, Flinders and Bynoe Rivers on the Normanton-Burketown Road.

The Flinders, Bynoe and other smaller waterways are all worth fishing.

Travelling up the peninsula by long-range boat is a true adventure, but this is truly remote country that requires careful navigation, as the coastal mudflats extend far out to sea, and on a diminishing tidal cycle it is possible to become stuck for several days.

Keep in mind the mouths of many Gulf rivers are shallow and constantly changing and should be entered only on a rising tide.

Plan the trip home for a rising tide or near high water.

Inland river crossings in this region can fish well for barramundi during flooding, but vehicles can become trapped if the floods rise to form an inland sea.

Detailed fishing maps for Gulf and Top End rivers are available in the North Australian FISH FINDER book.

Here is a list of recommended tackle for the north.

Book your fishing stay early at Booking.com

Karumba tides
QLD fishing regulations
QLD marine parks
GBRMPA marine parks
QLD stocked waters
QLD dam levels

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Weipa’s reputation as a barramundi hotspot is well known, but its offshore waters produce produce many other species, including sailfish and small black marlin.

There is also coastal sight fishing for the now infamous “blue bastards”, plenty of spanish mackerel, and tropical reef fish are easy enough to find on the shallow reefs.

Visiting anglers can catch more than 20 species in a week of fishing if both river and offshore areas are visited.

The installation of offshore FADs (link to Google map) further increased fishing opportunities.

The reason the fishing around Weipa is so good is twofold.

The main waterways – the Embley and Hey to the south, Mission and Pine to the north – are closed to commercial netting.

Secondly, the estuaries are vast expanses of flats and mangroves fed annually by a wet season monsoon.

This ensures a healthy bait cycle, including prawns, mullet, herring and sardines, which support barramundi, mangrove jacks , golden snapper, threadfin salmon, cod, jewfish, queenfish, grunter, pikey bream and more.

Rock patches along the Albatross Bay foreshores and offshore provide habitat for barramundi, mangrove jacks , golden snapper, cod and coral trout, as well as queenfish and trevally.

The shipping channel at the mouth of the Embley River can provide excellent fishing, particularly around Urquhart Point and near the lead posts that extend seawards for 10km.

Bait schools often shelter in the dredged channel, attracting mackerel, tuna, trevally, queenfish and cobia.

Circling and diving birds are good indicators of pelagic activity offshore.

Look out also for manta rays – they often are accompanied by mammoth cobia and golden trevally.

Cast tuna slices or lures trolled around the edge of the bait schools will bring results.

Good reef fishing can be found off Westminster, Pera Head and Duyfken Point.

Use livebait on the drop-offs in about 8m to 15m of water for best results.

Big jewfish are quite common off Weipa, with any structure in deep water around the port usually the best place to find them.

The offshore FADs have billfish, mackerel, dolphin fish and tripletail.

A detailed fishing map of Weipa is available in the North Australian FISH FINDER book.

Most Weipa visitors head straight for the estuary flats, fishing the low-tide gutters for barramundi, salmon and queenfish.

Mud crabs are seasonally abundant and large crabs are the norm.

Keep in mind that crocodiles are abundant around Weipa.

Weipa has open public access via 600km of road via Cairns. Much of the route is now sealed.

Here is a list of recommended tackle for the north.

Book your fishing stay early at Booking.com

Weipa tides
Weipa FADs
QLD fishing regulations
QLD marine parks

Email corrections, additions, pictures or video here.

The Bunbury and Dunsborough Artificial Reefs were installed in Geographe Bay in 2013/14.

The two reefs each consist of 30 purpose-built, 10-tonne concrete modules located within 5km of shore and almost directly in line with boat ramps, providing relatively safe fishing spots for boaters in Geographe Bay.

The reefs have pink snapper, dhufish, silver trevally, yellowtail kingfish, samson and more.

The location of the diving wrecks HMAS Swan (A) and Lena (B) are also shown on the map above.

There is good fishing elsewhere in this region. Busselton’s shallow beach has spotted and yellowfin whiting, flathead and flounder.

Boaters chase crabs and squid in the shallows.

Busselton’s long jetty is famous, with bluefin and yellowfin tuna, bonito, samson fish and mulloway all possible, with john dory around the pylons. The end of jetty is a sanctuary.

The Capel River river mouth has mulloway after rain.

The river has small bream, with tailor at the mouth. Peppermint Grove Beach south of Capel River produces tailor, whiting, herring, flathead, flounder and trevally.

Forrest Beach has most surf species, with mulloway after rain opens up the creeks.

Bunbury has The Cut at the mouth of Leschenault Inlet with landbased fishing for small mulloway, tailor, herring and salmon.

The inlet has blue crabs in summer, with spotted whiting, bream, flounder, flathead and herring. Harbour breakwaters have tailor and mulloway, with bream and whiting in the harbour.

Mulloway at night.

The Preston and Collie Rivers have bream.

The Collie has small mulloway.

Back Beach, south of the harbour breakwaters, has herring and tailor, with salmon in autumn.

Here is a list of recommended tackle for WA waters.

Book your fishing stay early at Booking.com

Bunbury tides
WA fishing regulations
WA marine parks

Email corrections, additions, pictures or video here.