The road to Cape Domett is about 180km and takes 3 - 4 hours depending on the condition of the track. It is a fascinating drive that takes you through some classic Kimberley country. Some of the limestone rock formations that are encountered along the way look like they have recently crashed to earth from another planet.

I recently had an opportunity to spend three nights at the cape. It will most likely going be the last opportunity for me to camp with a group of blokes that were previously my neighbors. These guys have been in Kununurra a lot longer than me and during my time here have shown me some locally kept secrets. For that I am in their debt. Cape Domett is no secret but it is a special place to spend a few days with a few mates....especially when you have the whole place to yourself!

The tides were very neap, which is much less than ideal for land based fishing from the beach and rock bars. On the first morning, after an unsuccessful first session Bill and I decided to search for crabs in the rocks. Gidgey in hand we wandered around the rocks for hours. I sort of forgot about the crabs as I we wondered around, although we did find a few small ones. The variety of life and colours encountered in the different pools was enough to keep my easily amused mind well and truly occupied. Of course we tried to nail a few fish with the hand spears as well, but that was about as successful as the fishing had been in the morning.

The afternoon fishing season was a bit more interesting than the morning, all be it only marginally. One school shark and two shovel nose was the tally for the day.

We searched the rocks again after dark. The theory being, the crabs would be easier to see in the torch light. Once again I got a bit pre-occupied with my surroundings and wasn't really keeping my eye on the tide. All of the sudden the tide was at our feet.....sh.t!....this can't be good! I looked up for the glow of the campfire but all I could see was sheer darkness. We had wondered a lot further than we had realized. Now the tide was in we could not walk back along the beach so had to traverse the oyster covered rocks. Amazingly the only real causality was one of my thongs, which pulled a plug in the first bit of mud I trod in. The rum can I cracked back at the camp fire was one of the best tasting cans of rum I have ever had.

Sunrise and we're into again. The tides were getting bigger and I was feeling optimistic despite the previous days lack of success. Catching bait was a major challenge. At one point we had four blokes wondering the shallows chasing bait for about an hour. We came up with about a dozen baits for this effort. This resulted in a few powertails, shovel nose sharks, saw sharks and a pretty cool looking ray....that hopefully some one can identify for me!

A few hours of this was enough for me. The tide was in now and I was keen to flick a few lures off the rocks. Which I did as well as put out some small chuck baits in the hope of catching a bream.....or anything that I could cook on the fire. The beers were starting to catch up with a few of the boys by now and the enthusiasm for fishing was slowly waning.....Bill and myself were the exceptions! We continued to fish hard with out luck.

I had to leave on the Wednesday, while some of the crew were staying until Friday. As I drove up over the dune and looked out across Westward creek to the needles I began to reflect on the previous few days. I didn't catch one decent fish for the trip (rays and sharks don't count) but had an absolute ball giving it a crack. Cape Domett is place that makes you feel privileged just to be there and that's exactly how I felt..... privileged!

Cheers,

CK

Great report mate,

"Leopard ray"? so called not for its spots, but because it is a really fast runner!

Amazing country, great to see the pix

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Was out that way early in the week, had a 75 metre swim at 1.00am out from a beach close by. Details will end up in the mag in an edition or two's time.

I'm sure there was a reason for the swim Dick, I'm just glad it was not one of us.....walking straight was challenging enough at that time of night!

Nice time of the night to go for a swim Dick...haven't heard anything around town about that one can't wait to read the article..Cape Dommet's a great place to be when you have it to yourself unfortunately too many people know about it now...have had some great barra sessions there off the beach..usually always take a boat but we always end up catching more fish off the rocks or beach

Cool, really enjoy these recent Kimberly posts!

Hard lines Keighto........great you put up a report even thought he fishing was hard work..

Cheers
M

Hey Dick...does this mean your in the market for another boat..got one for sale if your interested.