80 Mile Beach to Exmouth

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80 Mile Beach is one of the best places we have been yet. Jac and Matt gave it 10/10. Quaint little caravan park nestled amongst a cattle station, along a small red dusty access road, right on the beach. The majority were powered sites, trees and GRASS!!! Jac was in heaven. The people staying in the park were almost all ‘grey nomads’ and extremely friendly and more than happy to give you some fishing tips. Next day we drove along the beach for 14kms to our own patch of private beach and setup our fishing gear at the bottom of low tide. Tides that day was about 8m of change. The incoming tide is the best to catch the famous threadfin salmon, so we cast in our frozen pilchards on our lines and waited. And waited. After moving our chairs many times up the shore, and a few serious bites that got away, we finally landed our first fish, a shovel nose shark. It took some surgeons fingers and we then released it back into the water, not before a picture. Next up Matt caught a catfish, nice sized one, but we threw him back in. After high tide had finally stopped, and all we had really caught was a tan, we headed back to base for burgers and talk of that BIG fish Jac let get away!!! Was it a shark or an elusive giant threadfin salmon? Whatever it was it was well fed that afternoon. After our lack of fish we all schemed up getting up at midnight and wandering onto the beach to catch the evening incoming tide. So at 12:30am we crawled out of bed and took the rods down to the beach. The Stars were amazing. Some other crazy people joined us down the beach as well, hoping the fish were on the bite. It was rather cold, I had my jacket and beanie on, and unfortunately the fish were not on the bite. So after a couple of hours of fish feeding we headed back in.
Next day we chatted with the ‘grey nomads’ about their catches. Not too many successes there, so we didn’t feel too bad. They thought we were crazy getting up for a night fish. They are all in bed by 8.30pm. Some of them have some awesome setups, quad bikes with rod holders and trailers, cb radios, the works! I was starting to feel inferior with my $30 K-mart special rod!!!
So with a few more tips we headed down the beach again to a different spot. We tried a new setup with the bait and sinker, “running sinker rig with no.5 star sinker and ganged hooks” (if anyone cares). It seemed the fish were still not on the bite. Jane had something that got away and with about 5 mins before we left I decided to try gaffa taping my pilchard to the hooks (they kept falling off), within 2 mins I had my first blue threadfin salmon, he was just bearly legal size, however he was coming home with us for dinner! We packed up and returned to base once again, with at least a few small fillets to cook alongside our rissoles.
80 mile beach is a must for anyone travelling around WA coastline. We would have been happy to spend more time there, maybe ALL of our time there. The place was very busy, however everyone was so friendly and welcoming, you didn’t want to leave. Some people just didn’t. On the 4th day we reluctantly left 80 Mile beach and headed West for Indee Station, just South of Port Hedland.
Stopping in Port Hedland for food at Woollies and the servo for fuel we headed ½ hour south to Indee Station. This is a quaint cattle station with over 1000 acres of land for cattle and a small van/accommodation section. It was very clean and the owners were very friendly. The kids were able to feed a 2 week old calf and a old Donkey who lived behind the station house. Every evening happy hour is put on for the guests. You are invited into the station house around the big old wooden dining tables. People get to chat about where they are going and where they are from etc. Ran into a guy whose family used to own all the land in the Angle Vale area. His family, the Robinsons, owned thousands of acres growing feed for the horses (pre-motor car). Small world. After a few beers and some snacks, Matt was able to ring the large cow bell which meant everyone out, time for the station staff to eat. Thoroughly recommend this as a stay before Karijini NP, that way you can get in early to the camp grounds for a site.
The morning we were about to leave for Karijini N.P. the heavens opened up, actually it rained throughout the night. We had heard that the park had preiously closed many of the attractions when there was rain, so we checked the BOM and sure enough, much more rain on the way and high winds. After a re-think, we decided to give the park a miss and head off for Karratha instead. Getting dressed that morning Ben requested if he could have his shirts ironed from now on …. “there are too many wrinkles!”. After we all called him “precious”, we got on the road.
Our new direction was the quicker route to Exmouth and we figured we might as well see Karratha and Dampier on the way through. We had booked Exmouth and we new it was busy, so Karijini … another time. A quick Google and we managed to get into the Karratha Balmoral Caravan Park, which is the overflow Aspen Caravan Park. It may not have had as many facilities, but it was the first time we had grass and a concrete pad and fantastic toliets/showers. Plenty of space too. Playground, TV room, BBQs, bitumen roads, no dust/dirt (smiles from Jac) and a pool. So we decided to spend 2 nights and see out this crazy cold and wet weather before pushing for Exmouth. First night had 40knot winds and rain, van took a battering but held up strong. Fishing was out the next day due to the rain and wind, so off to the shops we went. The Centro in Karratha has pretty much everything, so we looked at it all. In the afternoon the boys headed to the local skate ramp and had a blast scooting. Have to mention the spectacular crash between Matt and Ben (luckily not with one of the teenagers there). They scooted straight into each other at full pace. Matt’s hard head bounced off and poor old Ben had blood lips and a scratch to the face. Not funny ……. but funny. Can’t have been too bad … they both got back on again. War wounds to show Mum when they got back.

Arriving in Exmouth we made our way to the Cape where we stayed at the Exmouth Lighthouse Caravan Park. If you are not interested in town too much, this is a great little place to stay. Has the cheapest fuel in Exmouth right opposite the beach where you can fish, surf or swim. There are so many good fishing spots within 5kms. The sites here are good with concrete pads, no grass and plenty of trees. The water is very salty though. They have some rainwater available for drinking. We decided to give the fishing a miss in the afternoon and just chilled with a beer or two and some snacks …. And make a break for it early. Getting up at 5.30am, we headed to the Northern point of the Exmouth Cape where the wreck of the Mildura is located, just 50m out on the reef, rusting away slowly. The fish were on the bite, however with a reef below, we only seemed to be losing our rigs on the rocks below. The guys next to us caught a few Spangled Emperors and a Snapper and then a Turtle!!! This poor turtle was hooked through the throat. Once he got him close we picked him up, 2 man job, removed his hook and popped him back in. After losing plenty of line and sinkers we headed back after the Turtle man promised us some of his catch. Finally some fish for dinner! Returning to camp with found out from the locals that the Valsz beach was the go for many reef species, so we drove into town to restock the fridge and the tackle box. Tomorrow morning we will be out again. The fish cooked up on the BBQ was great. After dinner we drove down to Jansz beach to watch the sunset and check out the beach for tomorrow.

Next day we hit the beach pre-dawn, pre-high tide. We hauled in a “Snook” or “Cobia” (long looking version of a threadfin salmon), 2 threadfin Salmon and 2 Golden Trevalies. Jac managed to land most of them although I was not completely put to shame, hauling in a nice size GT. The kids tried and tried … it was mainly Jac hauling them in. Guts! It was a lovely beach, with the sun coming up, we called it quits about 10.30am and headed back to clean our (Jac’s) fish and a big breakfast. There are many nice beaches I Exmouth to swim at, but I would have to recommend Jansz beach for fishing on the Western side.
That evening we headed up to the lookout at the lighthouse on the point and watched the sunset. WA has the best sunsets. Caught up with our neighbours, they joined us for snacks and beer watching the sun go down. Of course the conversation soon turned to Jac’s giant haul that morning, our friends had also been there fishing and caught nothing!!!
Tomorrow we are fuelling up the car, purchasing some snorkels in town and heading for Coral Bay then 2 nights in Waroora Station, right on the beach …… can’t wait …
RJJMB

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Photos

80 Mile Beach
Just pull up and pick your own spot!

Threadfin Salmon
He's a keeper!

Matt hooks up!
A CATFISH! Where is the Salmon?