Great catches, whatever the tide does

Ever heard the fishing phrase “no run, no fun”?

And who says big tides are a waste of time for fishing around Broome?

Those days are well and truly outdated.

I used to get despondent when the big tides came to town.

Scary big and scary fast tides made fish hard to find and it was even harder to co-ordinate finding bait.

From what I saw throughout the the Threadfin Shootout last weekend, anglers will now have many opportunities to get fishing regardless of what the tide is doing.

The action along the eastern shores of the bay on the flooding and ebbing tides was a sight to behold.

The fishing on the incoming tide for masses of tailing threadfin was hard going.

When they’re focused on small jelly prawns, it can be hard to get them to look at anything else.

I threw practically every lure in my box at them for an hour without any success.

I’m amazed at my composure, as my rod didn’t get thrown in as well.

The turn of the tide was very slow by most accounts, while the draining tide seemed to flip a switch.

Many anglers we amazed at the voracious appetite they had.

One angler commented they could have caught them on a well-presented brick.

It’s such a great success to see a second year of what is set to be outstanding numbers of threadfin.

Anglers have even been taking good numbers of barramundi throughout the bay.

Some have even been taken in areas I’ve never really heard have produced anything worth a cast.

So has the Government acquisition of the gill net licences in the bay been worth it?

If the activity through the fishing club over the last weekend is anything short of an anecdotal measure, I think it definitely has.

The club had an amazing turn out for the Threadfin Shootout at the weekend, perhaps even better than last year.

I’ll post details of the competition results next week, but at first glance the numbers of fish caught for a single day of competitive fishing could rival the catch taken over the two days of fishing last year.

All in all, the competition was a huge success.