I had the chance to head up north with a mate to a remote area near Cape Levique, about 2.5 hours north of Broome by car. There was no shortage of fishing talent up there aswell, with Peter Tucker, Robert Vaughen and Mark Jones all up there with their families.

Day 1: We arrived in the afternoon, so didn't have enough time to go out on the boats, so we ended up casting maribou jigs along the flats. Although it was an outgoing tide, we still managed a fair sized queenie (81cm) and small flathead between the 3 of us, a bit slow but the fishing picked up over the next few days.

Day 2: We went wading in the bay early in the morning and managed many queenies and trevally up to about 3kgs. There were heeps of bust ups happening offshore so we were licking our lips when we got to take the boats out. We headed straight toone such bust up of mackiescrashing baitfish, but only managed a few small fish to about 3kgs. We headed off trolling and found a steep drop off, going from 13-18m. First drop had me calling it for a small reefie judging by the small taps, but the little 4-6kg rod with 20lb line buckled over with the reel going berzerk, before the inevitable ping on the reef. looking the drag pretty much exactly the same happened, except the tug of war lasted about 10 seconds before yet again another bust off. This continued on for about an hour, with not one of the monster reefies being landed, only a 6ft bronzie and countless goldband being caught along with a nice bluebone. we suspected massive fingermark (10kg) were the culprits, but we'll neve know.

The afternoon session proved productive, with birds crashing the surface we had mackies all around the boat, first cast yielded a hit, then second cast a hit then from underneath the boat a mackie smashes the jig right infront of my eyes, and then goes on a blistering run of about 50m, a second about 20m then it started circling underneath the boat. This was my first properly big fish and when it hit the deck it was high 5's alround. it went 101cm and about 8kgs, and tasted just beautiful. there was more action like this and then we headed back in and called it a day.

Day 3: We started the day throwing jigs at exposed bits of reef, with queenfish to around 50cm being the only fish showing up, along with a black trevally. We continued on to another reef with no results, then decided to go for a troll around the edge, which yielded a 10kg golden trevally within 10 seconds of the lure being in the water. we had to head in early due to going on a toor around the islands.

On the tour, we had a fishing rods there just incase, which was very lucky, as on the way back we saw an enormous bust up of tuna and trevally. We fired the jigs into the pack of fish and within 2 minutes I was on, and not long later a 5kg goldspot was in the boat. He was released quickly so we could get stuck intomore fish, and we didn't have to wait long, when i hooked up again to something a lot larger, and 10 minutes later after a solid fight, an 8kg goldspot hit the deck. With 2 ther mad keen fisho's who didn't slip a rod on board, I gave the rod up and let them get into the action, which lasted 15 minutes later wit another 3 fish being caught. Not one tuna was caught, but one followed a jig right to the boat. The others onboard went for a swim, while we retired to some rocks to try our luck, and the fish were biting. A stripy seaperch was cut up for bait,and a small bluebone was pulled up, with my mate being done up by something big. A school of juvenile gropers swam past, but failed to hook one. The scenery on the way back to camp was stunning, tall cliffs with tidal water rushing through it, and water draining off reefs.

Day 4: It was our final day and unfortunately the fishing had tailed off completely, with only a under size bluebone and coral trout being caught, along with a few reef fish. We trolled the jigs as they catch pretty much everything, but eventhey couldn't manage any fish, only a few cut offs from mackies. It was a dissapointing way to end such an extrordinary trip. It wasn't jus the fishing, the camp was really well set up and with the water being 30 degrees, we couldnit resist having a swim at shell island.

We also had a fish off the main jetty at Broome, with only a few snappers caught, but my mate having a massive run on a mackie, before the hooks pulled, probably a 15kg fish.

Gear used: FWA 4-6kg spin 7ft, Quantum energy 50 with 20lb braid

FWA 4-10kg baitcast, Shimano Caenan with 15lb braid

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