Cable Beach, Broome (Gantheaume Point Beach / north of the rocks)

Cable Beach is Broome's surf-fishing beach: king threadfin and blue salmon are the prize catches off the sand, with whiting and dart making up the numbers and queenfish working along the shore. It is the long west-facing ocean beach with the camel strings and the sunset crowds, and it fishes better than the postcards let on. It is also the most regulated fishing beach in town: the Shire bans fishing inside the red-and-yellow flagged swimming area, vehicles are confined to signed sections and seasons, and the northern ramp was most recently shut for the Walmanyjun foreshore rebuild. Walk away from the flags and the crowd and it is a proper surf beach on the edge of town.

Set up well clear of the flagged swimming area, find the gutters and sand banks the falling tide uncovers, then fish them as the run-in fills them, moving back up the sand with the water and never standing on a bank with a gutter filling behind you. For threadfin and blue salmon, cast a whole mulie or a strip of fresh mullet on a running sinker or long paternoster just past the first break, or work metal slugs and vibes through the same water; poppers and stickbaits find the queenfish, and prawn in the shallow wash takes the whiting and dart. North of the rocks, keep to the sand gutters — the limestone reef platform at Coconut Wells further up the coast is a separate, high-tide reef fishery. Shore anglers in the North Coast bioregion may run two attended lines with up to three baits or lures on each.

Threadfin are what Cable Beach is known for — king threadfin, also called giant threadfin, and blue salmon, the smaller blue threadfin. Whiting and dart are the everyday catch in the shallow wash, and queenfish come through along the sand as well. King threadfin carry a 450mm minimum and a daily bag of 2; blue threadfin have no minimum size and a bag of 4.

For the quieter middle of the beach between the surf club and Gantheaume Point, walk in through Minyirr Park, which runs from Gubinge Road to the sea, on one of its marked nagula (saltwater) trails, stay on the trail, and fish the gutters there. Lifeguards patrol daily from April to October, 9am to 4.30pm, and the flags move with conditions, so find them before setting up — fishing inside them is a $150 offence under the Shire's local law, which also bans fishing wherever signs mark a bathing area or a no-fishing zone, in any month. The same local law bans leaving dead fish or offal on any beach or in the sea within 200m of one, and bans shark set lines and blood or offal berley for sharks within 200m of a beach, so the frames go home with you. Give the camel strings a wide berth; a cast across their line of march ends badly for everyone. No licence is needed to fish from the shore, but a cast net for bait needs a Recreational Net Fishing Licence.

Park at the Broome Surf Club car park and walk down to the sand, or at the Turf Club car park at the Gantheaume Point end, opposite the 4WD ramp onto Gantheaume Point Beach. The northern vehicle ramp beside the amphitheatre, the drive-on route to north of the rocks, was most recently closed for Stage 2 of the Walmanyjun redevelopment, with no firm reopening date as of October 2026 and the project's official opening set for 2027. Check the Shire's Cable Beach vehicle ramp page before planning a drive-on session. Where driving is allowed it is below the high-tide mark only, at 15km/h, never in the dunes, and only in road-registered vehicles. Facilities are at the main foreshore, not along the sand, and soft sand defeats wheelchairs and prams — ask the Shire about beach-access options. The patrolled flags make this the easiest Broome beach for a family day, as long as the rods stay well outside them.

Fish the run-in to the top of the tide, when bait pushes into the shallows, and treat the first session as reconnaissance for where the gutters form. Cable Beach faces west into the Indian Ocean, backed by dunes, with the red rocks of Gantheaume Point at its southern end. Broome's spring tides run up to 9–10 metres, so the waterline travels a long way across flat sand between low and high and the gutters only exist for part of the cycle. The dry season, May to October, brings the settled weather, while the wet, November to April, brings cyclone risk, heat and stingers.

Saltwater crocodiles turn up on Cable Beach: in late August 2026 rangers caught a 3.5-metre croc about 100m offshore just north of the beach after the third closure in a few weeks, and in late October 2026 a 2-metre croc sighted at Gantheaume Point closed the point and Cable Beach — the eighth sighting around Broome that month. The beach is inside Broome's crocodile control zone, so a reported croc closes it and signs go up; obey them, don't wade out to land fish and don't clean fish at the water's edge. Lifeguards can order everyone out of the water after a shark or crocodile sighting, anglers in the wash included. Irukandji and box jellyfish are mostly reported from November to June, with cases recorded in every month. DBCA warns beach drivers about soft sand and the tidal range, and the heat can pass 40°C — carry recovery gear and at least a litre of water per person per hour.

Yes, outside the red-and-yellow flagged swimming area. Fishing inside the flags is an offence under the Shire of Broome's local law, with a $150 penalty, and lifeguards patrol the flags daily from April to October. The same law bans leaving fish or offal on the beach or in the sea within 200m of it, and bans shark set lines and offal berley within 200m. The beach also closes after crocodile sightings, so check for signs before you set up.

Only in signed areas. The northern ramp beside the amphitheatre, the route to north of the rocks, was most recently closed for the Walmanyjun foreshore redevelopment, whose official opening is set for 2027 — check the Shire's Cable Beach vehicle ramp page for the ramp itself. Drive-on access is via the ramp opposite the Turf Club car park onto Gantheaume Point Beach, within a signed vehicle area that runs well under a kilometre from the ramp (about 430m normally, extended while the Walmanyjun works run) and doesn't reach the main beach. Vehicles must be road-registered, stay below the high-tide mark and out of the dunes, and keep to 15km/h; once the northern ramp reopens, turtle-season rules close it at night in late spring and to all but essential vehicles from 1 December to the end of February.

Yes. In late August 2026 rangers caught a 3.5-metre saltwater crocodile about 100m offshore just north of Cable Beach, and in late October a 2-metre croc sighted at Gantheaume Point closed the point and Cable Beach. Cable Beach is inside Broome's crocodile control zone, so sightings close the beach and signs go up. Don't wade to land fish, and don't clean fish at the water's edge.

King threadfin and blue salmon are the prize catches, mostly on whole mulies or mullet strips fished on the sand. Whiting and dart are the everyday catch in the shallow wash on light gear and prawn, and queenfish come through along the shore. April to November is the best of the salmon fishing.