Expeditions
With locations available including Arnhem Land, The Tiwi Islands, The Wessel Islands, The Perron Islands and beyond, not to mention the wilds of the Kimberley Coast, the places we can’t take you aren’t worth fishing. Whether it’s mackerel or mud crabs, bottom fish or barramundi, if it swims with fins, you’ll catch it with us.
Darwin Bluewater Charters is a Northern Territory and Western Australian licensed fishing tour operator. We have 3-4 crew on board at all times who are fully qualified and experienced. Our week long adventures are the ultimate fishing and social holidays especially for small groups of no more than 7 clients with our preference being for 6. You can organize your own group or join a share charter and once you step on board you don’t have to worry about another thing. We provide a service that is all inclusive of meals, soft drinks, snacks and all your fishing tackle.
All our charters are uniquely tailored to each group to ensure that
you get the most out of your trip. Below we have listed a couple of sample itineries to whet
your appetite. These itineries all include a flying option which helps to maximize your time
on the water and fishing, with the added bonus of being an adventure in itself. If this is not
for you, never fear, we have plenty of adventures where you can float both ways. If you choose
to book with us you will be provided with our standard, high level of personalised service in
creating an experience to suit your needs. Just contact us for further information.
Melville Island Adventure
This is a fly in, float out option which maximizes fishing time in the zone and
minimizes boat travel. Due to the remoteness of the north coast of Melville Island there is still an
element of boat travel that has to be undertaken but it is well worth it. Best times for this area
are late March to mid April and then October to November.
Day 1
Charter flight from Darwin Airport to
Vashon Head, Coburg Peninsula. 8am beach pickup before boarding the 16.5m (56ft) MV Hyland
C. We then depart Vashon Head and travel west to Melville Island, taking up anchorage in
Yuanti Bay (40nm) where we deploy the barra boats for an afternoon assault on the small creek
in the bay for barra, mangrove jacks and mudcrabs.
Day 2
In the wee small hours of
the morning we progress further around the north coast, having a reef fish at Point Jahleel (10nm)
over breakfast and hopefully nailing a big jewie and some stud goldies before moving a further
15nm along the coast to anchor in front of the fabled Jessie River. The remainder of the day
will be spent fishing the Jessie River. Expect barra, mangrove jacks, giant trevally and threadfin
salmon.
Day 3
This morning you will wake up at Madford Shoals, 7 nm Northwest of the Jessie River. From here you have the option of spending the morning chasing bogan GTs, queenfish, big spanish macks, maori sea perch, coral trout and golden snapper over the shoals or doing a 7nm high speed dinghy deployment to Goose Creek searching for the prehistoric Saratoga and more Barra before returning for a relaxing luncheon rendezvous in the airconditioned retreat of the saloon of the Hyland C. Once refreshed, mid to late afternoon and sunset will again be spent targeting all the estuary species of the Jessie River.
Day 4
Madford Shoal for the morning, tackling more mean and nasty pelagics. Then we trek back 10nm having a brief fish in the picturesque Robinson Inlet before anchoring at the mouth of the mighty Johnston River for the evening. A sunset jewfish is definitely on the cards.
Day 5
Johnston River all day. Primary target...BIG BARRA!…BIG THREADIES!
Day 6
Johnston River all day… Big Barra and some!
Day 7
Fish the Johnston one last time in the morning . Midday, depart the Johnston River and head for Camp Point on the south side of Melville Island.
Day 8
Depart Camp Point and make our way
back to Darwin having a quick fish at the Vernon Islands Jewie Hole along the way.
Sample Kimberley Adventure
The mighty Kimberley in Western Australia. It is one of Australia’s most
pristine regions with so much to offer in the way of scenery, history and of course, world class
sportsfishing.
The Zone
This trip will provide a fantastic mix of both first class sport fishing and awesome scenery. The fact it is all one way travel means every day will be a new adventure. Upon leaving the majestic King George River we will traverse Napier Broome Bay, Vansittart Bay, Admiralty Gulf, the Mitchell River, The Institut Islands, Bigge Island, Prince Frederick Harbour and the Hunter River. If desired there will be options to visit ancient Aboriginal rock art sites and historic early Australian explorer and World War II sites. Alternatively we can forget about all those and just concentrate on the fishing. The choice will be yours.
The fishing
The Kimberley is one of the last few ‘hardly touched’ frontiers in the fishing world today. Expect Giant Trevally of all size dimensions, and lots of them, Queenfish up to and over a metre in length, Spanish Mackeral and Longtail Tuna. For the dinner plate the target species are Coral Trout, Golden Snapper, Black Jewfish, Barramundi, Threadfin Salmon, Mangrove Jacks, Mudcrabs and Blacklip Oysters.
We would plan to spend a day or two up the Mitchell River targeting Barramundi and all the other estuary species and probably a day up the Hunter River. The remainder of the time would be headland and island hopping, focussing on the bluewater sportfish with a spot of bottom fishing thrown in on some offshore reefs.
Our Kimberley charter licence doesn’t allow us to stockpile fillets for clients, so apart from what we catch for dinner whilst on board, the bulk of our fishing will be catch and release.
We run a very flexible gameplan and can focus on any style of fishing you would like so if you want to spend more time targeting barra then we will. We will often change the game plan to suit the conditions at hand to optimize your fishing opportunities
Itinerary
Day 1
7.20am Depart Darwin on Air North Flight to Kununnurra. Arrive in Kunnunurra at 7am (WA time) to connect with 2 Seaplanes (3 pax in each) for a charter flight to the King George River with a scenic orbit of King George Falls (the biggest falls in the Kimberley) before a 9.30am rendezvous with the mothership, Hyland-C. Spend the remainder of the day fishing and exploring the King George River and Koolama Bay with an optional hike to the top of the falls.
Day 2-Day 9
We trek west across the North Kimberley coast over the next 9 days fishing and exploring along the way. There is so much to see and do it is impossible to list it all here! We will ultimately end up travelling around 250 nautical miles which will find us situated in the mega-remote Hunter River.
Day 10
Spend the morning fishing the Hunter River. After lunch (1pm) your group will fly off the boat via 2 choppers enjoying a 30min scenic orbit of the Mitchell Falls en-route to the MPFPI (Mitchell Plateau Float Plane Interchange). Once here you will connect with a twin engine 9 seater charter plane for a 2hr direct flight back to Darwin. Arrive in Darwin no later than 4pm.