trolling and casting. By the end of the trip, there
wasn’t a rod in the boat that didn’t have a
Transam tied to it.The logistics
There were substantial logistical issues to
overcome in undertaking such a trip. An
obvious one was fuel because, in such a remote
location, you definitely don’t want to run out.
It pays to have a good knowledge of your fuel
consumption. Pete had no worries with his
boat, but given we had no prior experience with
our hire boat we had to rely on what Alex had
told us. His advice turned out to be spot on, but
it still caused us some additional anxiety.
We carried three 20l jerry cans between the two
boats, but to cover more than 600km we needed
to access more fuel along the way. Thankfully
there’s a fuel barge in Dog Leg Creek that is set up
to service the nearby iron ore mine on Koolan
Island, but also sells fuel to the public. Be warned
though,they’ll sting you $700 for a 200l drum- yep, $3.50 a litre. As John pointed out, though,
that’s cheap fuel if you haven’t got any.
On such a trip, securing a supply of drinking
water also requires some forethought. We took
a 160l cooler containing 14 plastic 5l bottles,
each filled with water and pre-frozen. Initially
we used these frozen bottles to keep our food
cool. Then, as they melted, we used them for
drinking water. When that ran out we had to
make regular visits to creeks to refill the bottles.
Generally the creek water was good, but to be
on the safe side we sterilised our drinking water
with a UV steriliser pen. We also had another
large cooler full of block ice that we only
opened to remove a block for the food cooler.
By being vigilant about this we had ice nearly
until the end of the trip, despite temperatures in
the high 30s. We also had an Engel electric
fridge which we ran off the boat’s battery.
Dealing with the massive tides in this region
represents another logistical issue. With tides of
up to 12m, your boat can be stranded quickly.
At best this means waiting several hours until the
next high tide. At worst, you could wait days for
enough water to free your vessel. With an
incoming tide, you need to continually bring
your boat closer to shore as the water gains
height. Then, when the tide recedes, you need to
let your boat out. The strong tides also meant
that someone had to sleep on the boats. Each
night we anchored out beyond the low tide
mark, but it wasn’t worth the risk of having an
unmanned boat break free.
Another thing to keep an eye out for is
crocodiles. While there are not as many in the
Kimberley as, say, the NT, they are here and
they have taken people. One of the highlights
of the trip was having an eight-foot crocodile
visit the back of our boat while we fished, but it
was also a stark reminder that it isn’t a place formucking around in the water. You
can’t avoid getting into the water on
such trips, but you should take care.
To sum it up, it was an incredible adventure.
I won’t call it the trip of a lifetime because I’m
sure it won’t be long before we are planning our
next one. It’s not something to be taken lightly
but, for me, the DIY aspect of the expedition
made it all the more rewarding. Great fishing,
great weather, great scenery and great company
... what’s not to like?66 | fishingworld.com.au | March 2015
TOP: John Nilson caught
this scarlet sea perch on
a knife jig. It provided a
tasty dinner!
Mooring on one side, a
swimming hole on the
other. Cool hey?DESTINATIONS: THE KIMBERLEY, WA