AFTER the stress of a missed flight and last minute rearrangements it was nice to be greeted with a cold beer and and positive attitude. “No problems, only solutions on the Cannon,” said Captain Benny Sambrooks as we climbed aboard.
And that succinctly summed up the ethos that goes with a trip on Cannon Charters.
I’d been on a Cannon trip before where we had fished the western edge of the Northern Territory and its creek systems – a wild and remote area where the barramundi are at times ludicrously abundant.
But this trip we were going one step further – leaving from Darwin we were destined for the Kimberley, with our travelling happening at night and every day being spent fishing with our guides at a new location.
To say I was looking forward to it was an understatement. I’ve fished a lot in my time but nothing gets me more revved up than fishing new places, especially when those places are as fish rich as any in the world. But it wasn’t just the fishing I was looking forward to.
To put it simply a Cannon Charter is the sort of trip that you do when you really just want the best wilderness fishing experience money can buy. It makes no pretence to being anything else and for most people it exceeds expectations. With six staff and eight clients on each trip it’s hard not to feel spoiled.
The fishing is done from four separate tenders with two anglers and one guide per vessel. Depending on your wishes you can head into creek systems or, if the weather is co-operating, into the bluewater.
I must admit to being more a bluewater than a creek angler, though on this trip my travel partner, Steve Anderson, was a barra nut so I was expecting to be doing a lot of that sort of fishing. C’est la vie.
So with the stress of missed plane flights behind us we were adventure bound. We awoke the first morning to find ourselves anchored off Cape Scott on the west coast of the NT.
The first morning of any trip is filled with unbridled enthusiasm and this one was no different. A tropical fog was covering the water when we awoke which only added to the ambience.
We opted to do a bit of inshore reef fishing for the first bit of the morning and within 15 minutes of launching we were into the action. Using soft plastics we soon had a succession of big fingermark, trevally and tuskfish coming to the boat. We tried a few different spots and soon had enough fillets in the bag for the boat’s dinner and, as the fog cleared, we headed further inshore to flick lures for something a bit more “sporty”.
We found them too, with Steve and myself getting into trevally and queenfish in the shallows – fish that pulled hard and jumped high. It was a great way to start but looking back on what we were to experience later in the trip that first session almost feels dull now.
After lunch (which was a three course affair) we set off again in the tenders for the afternoon session. More fingermark, more tuskfish and more exploring the remote shoreline.
As we sat down for dinner that night the skipper made the call – due to the weather forecast we were doing the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf crossing ASAP…or we might end up stuck here on the west coast of the NT!
We awoke the next day with the Kimberley shoreline coming into view in the dawn light. It’s hard not to be impressed by any Kimberley vista and, as we made our way to the mouth of the King George River, it got even better. It’s really hard to put into words the sheer rugged beauty of this place. I guess the best word could be pulchritudinous. Or maybe not.
Following a stupidly good breakfast we were off again. Within 100 metres of the mothership every tender boat was hooked up. Big brassy trevally and huge queenfish were taking every lure on offer and, if you could beat them and get a lure to the bottom, big fingermark were lurking beneath them.
Despite this hot action so close to the mothership, Steve soon convinced us that we should go and chuck lures in a nearby creek. This creek fishing affliction is something I’ve never got my head around – but in the interests of fairness I went along with it.
For some people barra and mangrove jack are better than big offshore beasts – I was happy to sit and watch though. It’s very easy to be a contented spectator in the Kimberley.
That afternoon we made our way to the King George Falls, speeding through the windless gorges in the tenders. It was well worth a look and Steve managed a big mangrove jack at the base of them. Typical of freshwater jacks it was a deep, vibrant red and at around 2 kilos it was a solid specimen. Not everyone realises that even at this size these river jacks are all juveniles and are only getting big enough before they head out to the offshore reefs to begin “adulting”.
We made another brief stop where we climbed a precarious cliff to reach an isolated billabong and waterfall where, away from the crocs, we cooled off and then the afternoon session began. We spent the last of the day fishing in front of a multi coloured and spectacular backdrop of cliffs that lit up with the sinking sun and turned our world into one big mesmerising canvas. The continual, non-stop action on trevally and queenfish was a bonus.
That night the Cannon made its way to Low Island where we were going to spend a morning session chasing shallow water blue bastards on the flats before checking out the local Bradshaw paintings. The blue bastard, a fish only scientifically recognised in 2015, is well known for the degree of difficulty involved in catching them. And with the wind up we ended the session blue bastard-less, though we did get quite a few of the usual suspects, including a nice shallow water GT for myself.
The Bradshaw paintings though were something else. Our guide that morning actually had aboriginal heritage and to view and discuss these pieces of ancient art with him was a privilege. The Bradshaws are a style of art that are only found in the Kimberley and their unique nature has caused a lot of controversy. Check out the Wikipedia entry on them if you want to be educated on a fascinating part of Australian heritage.
During lunch we made the steam to Eclipse Hill Island. That afternoon turned out to be one of the greatest fishing sessions I’ve ever experienced. It started off slowly until we found a little rocky outcrop in shallow water where we had an hour or so of action on big brassy trevally and small queenfish.
As the wind dropped though we made our way out wider to a distant breaking reef that was surging with the raging tide and the aggregation of fish there was simply unbelievable. For two solid hours we experienced non-stop surface action on huge queenfish and giant trevally. Almost every cast had fish chasing our poppers and stickbaits with intent. In the end I put down the rod and just sat on the camera as all around me people caught and released an endless procession of them. It really was sportsfishing heaven being in the middle of nowhere and experiencing it all.
These days fishing for GTs has a cult following. The Kimberley is one area that is not yet on the radar amongst this fraternity. It’s surprising this is the case given what I experienced on this trip. We found GTs almost everywhere we went and quite a few over 20 kilos were boated, even by the less experienced anglers on the trip.
I could have easily done more sessions like this but it was not be on this trip. We still had to get to the Mitchell River for the last two days fishing before being flown out on a Mallard Flying Boat – which is an experience in itself.
Truth be told, I was actually looking forward to fishing the Mitchell as it was known to be a Mecca for big saltwater barra. In the end we did quite well there on barra, big black jewfish and giant threadfin and some of the places the crew took us were simply beautiful – which is pretty standard for the Kimberley. Lunch at one Mitchell River waterhole stands out. The effort the crew took to deliver our hot meal there was beyond what would be considered reasonable. But that is the sort of thing that happens on Cannon Charters.
I was still hoping to get out to the renowned Cassini Island for a bluewater session to round the trip off but the weather didn’t co-operate. When the Flying Boat arrived on our last morning to take us back to Darwin I was grateful to have experienced what I had over the last seven days but also disappointed to be leaving. It didn’t help that once back in Perth I got a satellite phone call from Captain Benny Sambrooks telling me that the day after I left they had made it to Cassini and, between the four tenders, they had caught and released 24 sailfish.
But like most of the Cannon’s clients I will be back. It’s that sort of experience. I love my fishing. I also love sightseeing in wild and remote places. To be able to do both at the same time while living like a king is as good as it gets.
