Cape Keraudren (Pardoo)

Cape Keraudren is where Eighty Mile Beach starts — a rocky headland with beaches and mangrove creeks behind it, 150km north of Port Hedland and 13km west of the Great Northern Highway. The Shire of East Pilbara runs it as a coastal reserve with five camping areas, rangers on site and fish cleaning stations, which makes it one of the more civilised land-based fisheries in the Pilbara. The headland is the draw: at low tide it is a casting platform for bluebone, giant trevally and gold-spotted cod, and on the high it produces queenfish, trevally and mackerel. The beaches are a known threadfin salmon hotspot, and the creeks at the back of the reserve hold mud crabs. The Shire closes beach access at the Cootenbrand Creek camping area every year from November to March for turtle nesting, and whether that extends to the rest of the reserve is not published either way.

Tides run this place and everything else is detail. Headlands and beaches fish the high water; the creeks fish the neap lows, when you can walk in and cast at deep pools that are unreachable at any other time. Land-based lure work is the standard approach off the rocks — poppers, metal slugs and soft plastics worked quickly through the water, with a suspending Crystal Minnow, a Roosta Popper 160 and a Squidgies Pro Mongrel among the patterns named for this stretch. Threadfin come off the beaches on bait and lures alike. Crabbing is drop nets in the mangrove creeks behind the reserve, Cootenbrand Creek being the named one.

Threadfin salmon is the reserve's headline fish and the beaches are the place for it, while bluebone, giant trevally and gold-spotted cod come off the rocky headland, with queenfish, trevally and mackerel over the high tide. Barramundi, mangrove jack and blue salmon are on the list too, and green mud crabs are the reason a fair few people are here at all. This is the North Coast bioregion: the demersal mixed bag is 4 since 1 June 2026, and sharks and rays now sit in their own category with a mixed bag of 3 on top of the large pelagic 3. Two threadfins occur here and no source says which one the beaches produce. King threadfin is 450mm minimum with a bag of 2; blue threadfin, listed as blue salmon, has no minimum size and a bag of 4. Identify the fish against DPIRD's guide before you keep one. Mangrove jack is 300mm and 2, bluebone is 400mm and 2, and queenfish has no minimum with a bag of 8. Barramundi has no closed season anywhere in WA, but it does carry a 550 to 800mm slot, a bag of 2, a possession limit away from home of 2 whole fish or 4 fillets, and it must be carried whole at sea and in rivers and estuaries and landed whole unless it is being prepared for immediate consumption. Giant trevally counts as a large pelagic rather than a nearshore fish, so it sits inside the mixed bag of 3 alongside the mackerel.

Everything at Cape Keraudren revolves around a 4m tide, so start with the chart. Winter is the comfortable half of the year and the reports say summer fishes better, though the November-to-March turtle-nesting closure on the Cootenbrand Creek beach access takes a chunk of summer off the table anyway. Bring more insect defence than feels reasonable, because Mosquito Ridge is a campground name for a reason. Every vehicle must stop at the pay station on the way in, and the permit has to be displayed on the dashboard at all times. Take nothing from the mangroves; removal of any timber is prohibited, driftwood included.

Cape Keraudren Coastal Reserve is 150km north of Port Hedland on the Great Northern Highway, then 13km west on the Cape Keraudren Access Road. Entry is $15 per standard vehicle, $11 for a motorcycle, $15 for a boat and $50 for a large vehicle or bus carrying eight or more, with a $1.50 online booking fee. Camping is $15 per adult per night, free for children aged 12 to 17 with no rate published for under-12s, and $10 concession for Seniors Card, Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, DVA and Companion Card holders and Shire of East Pilbara residents. There are five camping areas: Cootenbrand Creek is 4WD-only and requires a chemical toilet, Sandy Beach is gravel with dump points and toilets, Boat Ramp Bay is grass with a dump point and toilet, Mosquito Ridge has a dump point and toilet, and Cape Camp and Col's Beach are rocky and need a chemical toilet. Water at the park entrance is non-potable and the nearest drinking water is Pardoo Roadhouse 13km east, and no electricity is provided. Fish cleaning stations, dump points and recycling bins are provided, there is a boat ramp at Boat Ramp Bay, and the maximum stay is 28 days in any three-month period. Rangers are on site on (08) 9176 4979, generators run 8:00am to 8:00pm only, dogs must be on a lead and cats are prohibited. Several camping areas are gravel or rocky and Cootenbrand Creek is 4WD-only, so mobility access is limited and undocumented; the free rate for children aged 12 to 17 is what makes the rest of it workable for a family.

Tide is the dominant variable on this coast rather than swell — the range runs to about 4m and the creeks change character completely through the day. The headlands and beaches fish the high water, and the neap lows are what open the creeks up for walking and casting. Winter, roughly May to September, is the comfortable weather window, and the fishing reportedly improves in summer at the cost of heat, cyclone risk and a closed beach. Wind directions and swell thresholds are not on record here, and on a tide coast like this one they matter less than the chart does. Cyclone season is November to April.

The 4m tide is the realistic danger here, not the wildlife — creeks change significantly through the day, and getting cut off on a run-in tide is how a good session becomes a rescue. The Shire puts the responsibility for monitoring tide heights on the visitor for launching and retrieving, which is the right framing for walking in as well. Crocodiles have been seen at Cape Keraudren, though it is described as extremely rare there, and the cape is well inside known crocodile habitat, which the department puts as reaching south to Exmouth with occasional records further south again to Carnarvon. Keep well back from the water's edge in the creeks, and clean fish somewhere other than where you have been standing. Sandflies and mosquitoes are relentless here, and the mangrove camps are the worst of it. Beach access at the Cootenbrand Creek camping area is closed every year from November to March for turtle nesting, and cyclone season runs November to April. The Kurtamparanya Sanctuary Area, where all fishing stops, begins about 2.6km east along the coast; shore fishing at the cape itself and at Cootenbrand Creek is permitted, with no marine park zone within 300m of either, but boundaries elsewhere along this coast are invisible from the sand, so carry DBCA's Eighty Mile Beach Marine Park zoning map for the wider park. The reserve is remote, 150km from Port Hedland, with drinking water 13km away at Pardoo Roadhouse.

Yes. A check against the gazetted Eighty Mile Beach Marine Park order found no marine park zone at the cape at all, and none at Cootenbrand Creek, so shore fishing at both is permitted. The nearest no-take water is the Kurtamparanya Sanctuary Area, which begins about 2.6km east along the coast. Zone boundaries are invisible from the sand, so carry DBCA's zoning map for the park rather than guessing.

At Cootenbrand Creek, yes. The Shire of East Pilbara states that beach access there is closed annually from November to March for turtle nesting, and it publishes that under the Cootenbrand Creek camping area rather than as a rule for the whole reserve. Whether it reaches the other beaches is not published either way, so ring the rangers on (08) 9176 4979 before planning a summer trip. That window is the northern wet and cyclone season regardless, which makes the practical visiting window roughly May to September.

The Shire of East Pilbara charges $15 entry per standard vehicle, $11 for a motorcycle, $15 for a boat and $50 for a bus or vehicle carrying eight or more, plus a $1.50 online booking fee. Camping is then $15 per adult per night, free for children aged 12 to 17, and $10 for concession card holders and Shire residents. The Shire publishes no rate at all for under-12s, so ring the rangers on (08) 9176 4979 if you are pricing a trip with younger kids. The maximum stay is 28 days in any three-month period.

They have been seen here, but it is described as extremely rare. The cape is still well inside known crocodile habitat, which the department describes as extending south to Exmouth in Western Australia, with occasional records further south again to Carnarvon. Be crocwise regardless: keep back from the water's edge in the mangrove creeks, don't clean fish where you have been standing, and treat every creek as if one lives there.

No. There is no barramundi closed season anywhere in Western Australia. What does apply is a slot limit of 550 to 800mm, a daily bag of 2, a possession limit away from your principal place of residence of 2 whole fish or 4 fillets, and a requirement to carry the fish whole at sea and in rivers and estuaries and to land it whole unless it is being prepared for immediate consumption.