The drive out of Darwin was uneventful & we soon realised just how much there was to see within a 150km radius of Darwin. We drove past many signs that were very enticing to turn off into like Berry Springs, Tumbling Waters & Crab Claw island resort, but today's destination was to be Dundee Beach.
The road in was probably 80% bitumen with patches of good dirt & only took just over an hour to get there. We had planned to stay at the Lodge Dundee, which has a camping area & also some accommodation right on the beach, it is essentially a fishing village. As we rounded the corner near the lodge, we were once again struck by an amazing coastline. Red cliffs, red sand & green water. It wasn't as spectacular as some of the WA coastline, but still very beautiful. There were people fishing everywhere & boats all over the place. We booked in for an initial 2 nights, but had a feeling we would stay longer. It was $10 per person per night, with typical caravan park amenities & also a pool. We got a spot out the back in their huge open campground, just a short walk to the beach. We quickly set up & then headed to the beach to check out the fishing. There were heaps of people fishing, but we didn't see anyone catch anything, after a look around we headed back to camp with the idea of going fishing once it cooled down a bit. In the end we got to lazy & just relaxed around camp, the fishing would have to wait until tomorrow.
The next day after a leisurely Sunday breakfast we hit the beach with our fishing rods, finding a good looking spot on one of the rock ledges. We used bait & lures & got a few bites, but sadly no dinner. Back to camp for another relaxing afternoon of reading & beer drinking. It's a hard life.
The next day we went for a drive into the town of Dundee Beach itself, the whole area reminded us a lot of Stanage Bay near Rockhamptoon, it had that same fishing village feel. There are lots of blocks & houses for sale, if you lived in Darwin it would make a great holiday or weekend spot. After that we went for a drive behind the Lodge, we had been told you could get down to a creek mouth. After negotiating the tight windy track, we finally found the creek mouth, it looked perfect for a fish. There was one other guy fishing with 4 lines in, so we though we were in with a chance. We started just back from the creek mouth & had a few bites but couldn't hook up, so headed a bit further up the creek to a break in the mangroves. As soon as we started fishing here, we got smashed on the bait lines. It took a while, but eventually we each both got a good sized bream for dinner. We also caught small fingermark, cod & Mat caught some weird fish (photo below) no idea what it was, I need to get the fish book out. We ended up using up the bait we had & decided to call it a day as it was 1.30pm.
Near Dundee Beach town
Fishy little creek?
Weird fish??
We drove back to camp & had to call in to extend our camping for another couple of nights. By this time it was 2pm & we were starving so we decided to have lunch at the Lodge. They have an amazing beer garden overlooking the water. So after a burger & seafood basket & a couple of beers, we were just deciding whether we should stay to make an afternoon of our amazing beer spot or head back to camp, when a guy came into the bar area sweating profusely asking who wanted to make $100? He had got his 4WD stuck down on the beach & couldn't get out & had jogged the 15 minutes back to the lodge. Poor guy, no one seemed keen to help so Mat offered, telling him he didn't want his money & just buy him a beer. So off they went, it was actually the guy that was fishing at the creek mouth that morning. He had moved to a new spot & got stuck. Half an hour later Mat was a back having pulled him out with the winch. They guy had continuously offered Mat the money, saying that it would of cost him $200-300 to get someone at the lodge to drag him out with their tractor. Mat said it was way to much & just buy him a beer, the guy didn't want to hang around, so gave Mat $50. Still to much, as we always try to help people out, you never know when you will need it in return.
Beer garden views
So with the $50 burning a hole in his pocket, it was decided we should stay on at the bar making the most of the view & free beers. So as we spent the afternoon watching the view, the fishing charter boats started to come back in. They had obviously had a good day, as there were fish everywhere on the filleting tables. Mat had been keen to do a proper charter for a while now, so I suggested why didn't he go & ask if they had any free spots for the next day. After talking to a couple of different companies, he had his spot booked with Darwins Barra Base fishing charters the next day. As he had to be ready to go at 6.30am, it was time to leave the bar to go to bed to get up early the next day.
The next morning Mat was very excited about his charter & as I watched him go I was pretty excited to have the day to myself. I spent my day reading, catching up on the blog, that had been very neglected & having some quiet time!
So here is Mat to tell you how his day panned out:
Had been on the lookout for a fishing charter for the last month or so, having heard plenty of fisherman's tall tails about the quality of fish around Dundee Beach this seemed like a good place to take the plunge.
Having been burnt on a few previous charters where very few fish were caught and the guide/charter company didn't seem to work all that hard for their customers we were a bit cagey with who we spent out hard earned cash with. After speaking to a few guides at the boat ramp (which was conveniently only 50m from the pub!!) I booked a full day charter with Darwins Barra Base Charters. These guys have a big presence in the top end charter scene, running charters out of a number of places. They had 3 boats working out of Dundee when we were there.
Having had the chance to meet Paul, the guide and the crew I would be fishing with the night before, I was pretty confident that if nothing else it would be a fun day. The other 4 blokes on the boat had bought an old beat up Limo in Swan Hill and drove it to Dundee for their annual Fishing Trip, they had been out with Paul the day before as well, and were keen to have another day out as their first had been pretty good.
We were out on the water by 7:30am with the first couple of spots returning a few mixed reef fish including a good sized Fingermark (Golden Snapper in the NT) for me. The next couple of hours were a little quiet, with the guide following his bosses instructions and heading to a couple of local Black Jewfish holes that turned out to be total duds for us.
Keen to put us on to the fish, Paul kept working through a number of reefs and pinnacles marked on GPS, with a few more reef fish helping to keep the boys interested. Late in the afternoon the call was made for one last big move to try and find quality fish, with Paul taking us to a mark on a reef called "Long Lost". This last move would mean we covered nearly 200km for the day looking for fish. Luckily the last spot delivered. All the boys started picking up good reef fish and after 30 minutes or so the Mackerel turned up and the fun really began. Over the next hour we put 9 Spanish Mack's in the boat with everyone on board landing at least one. Credit has to go to Paul for how hard he worked to put us in the right spot.
After the run back to Dundee, however things took a bit of a bad twist, Paul's boss (the owner of the Business) was stomping around the boat ramp carrying on that we had been out for too long, and should have been in hours ago. The final insult was when he told Paul (in front of all of us that had been paying customers that day) that he was "meant to go out to the Jew Holes, and then when we didn't catch anything just come back in" needless to say this wasn't all that well received by any of us. All in all a great day out, but a bit taken way from by one idiot!
So as Mat returned to camp that night sunburnt & buggered but with lots of fish fillets! we decided to stay one more day at Dundee beach, which was spent catching up on odd jobs & Mat complaining about his muscles hurting from catching to many fish, poor thing.
We really enjoyed Dundee Beach & would recommend it to other campers, thanks for the great advice Troy & Jackie!!
Campsite
Mathew if we had $50 for every time you got bogged we would be rich.
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