Fitzroy River (Willare Bridge / Camballin / Fitzroy Crossing)

The Fitzroy — Martuwarra to the Nyikina people, Bandaralngarri to the Bunuba — runs 733km from the Kimberley ranges to King Sound south of Derby, and it is one of the two rivers WA anglers mean when they say barramundi. Good barra holes run the whole way from the tidal reach below Willare Bridge up to Geikie Gorge above Fitzroy Crossing. The salty stretch below the bridge is where Broome and Derby locals go, the pools around Camballin and Telegraph Pool are the station-country middle, and Fitzroy Crossing is the freshwater top end. It is also described as the world's last stronghold for the critically endangered freshwater sawfish, which means sharing the river with something older and rarer than your boat. Metre-plus barra come out of it every year, which is either motivation or a long-running practical joke.

Live bait does most of the damage in water this dirty — cast-net mullet off the mud banks, or fish live cherabin under a float so the barra can't walk it into a snag. Lure anglers work hardbodies and soft plastics tight to the timber: white or natural paddle tails, RMG Scorpion 125s and Barra Classics are the local standbys, and bright pink and bleeding-mullet patterns have their followers. Troll bibbed minnows along the deeper holes when casting goes quiet. After dark, switch to a surface fizzer with a nose propeller and work it slowly with long pauses. Dead baits catch fish too, but mostly catfish.

Barramundi are the reason anyone makes the drive, and metre-plus fish are the talking point. The tidal reach below Willare adds king threadfin and blue salmon, with mangrove jack on the snags, while cod, catfish and small sharks turn up on bait. Freshwater sawfish are caught by accident and are fully protected — unhook them in the water and let them go at once. Cherabin (freshwater prawns) are bait first and dinner second.

Treat the build-up and the run-off as the barra windows and the dry season as threadfin time. Live bait outfishes lures in the coloured water, so spend the first hour at low tide throwing a cast net before you chase barra. Most of the good river access crosses pastoral stations such as Yeeda, so get the landholder's permission before driving in, and take every scrap of rubbish out — access here is a privilege stations can take away. Carry spare lures, because the snags keep plenty of them.

Willare Bridge carries the Great Northern Highway over the Fitzroy about 57km by road south of Derby and 170km east of Broome, and the Willare Bridge Roadhouse 1km north has fuel, meals, a riverside caravan park and unpowered bush camping, with a free rest area by the bridge. Tracks off the highway to the Camballin reaches, Telegraph Pool and Langi Crossing run through station country — 4WD and dry-season only, no camping facilities, and permission needed before entering. The riverbank opposite the roadhouse is the Pandanus Park Aboriginal Community, and Camballin and nearby Looma are Aboriginal communities too, so stay on the roadhouse, rest-area and highway side unless invited in — Pandanus Park and Looma are declared liquor-restricted areas where bringing in any alcohol is an offence. Fitzroy Crossing is about 400km east of Broome over a new, higher highway bridge opened in December 2023, and Danggu Geikie Gorge, 20km north-east of town, is 2WD, free and day-use only, with a car park and toilets. Flood recovery works have closed the gorge at short notice, most recently from 7 August to late September 2026, and its boat tours have been shut since the January 2023 flood, so check DBCA park alerts before driving out.

This is a wet-and-dry river first and a tidal one second — the tide only matters below Willare, where it moves the salty water and exposes mud and sandbars. The dry season brings low, clear-ish pools and passable tracks. The wet turns the Fitzroy into one of the biggest floods in the country: in January 2023 flow across the 15km-wide floodplain at Fitzroy Crossing was estimated at 60,000 cubic metres a second, among the largest flows ever recorded on an Australian river. The build-up and run-off either side of the wet fish best for barra but are the hardest months to get in. The water is turbid for most of the year, so fish structure and moving water rather than sight-casting.

Saltwater crocodiles live in the tidal lower river around Willare — at night the torch picks up a lot of eyes — and freshwater crocodiles are common upstream. DBCA says saltwater crocs are not known to occur at Geikie Gorge but that this may change, so treat all Fitzroy water as croc habitat: don't wade, don't clean fish at the edge and don't camp on low banks. The river floods violently in the wet, cutting roads and tracks for weeks and carrying crocodiles into unexpected places. Turbid water hides snags and shifting sandbars, the midday mud flats are dangerously hot, and sandflies and mosquitoes are relentless. Freshwater sawfish are fully protected, so cut the line or unhook them in the water rather than dragging them ashore. This is remote station country, so carry water, fuel, recovery gear and a way to call for help.

The most popular stretch is the tidal reach below Willare Bridge on the Great Northern Highway, about 57km by road south of Derby, which Broome and Derby locals favour. Upstream, Camballin, Telegraph Pool, Langi Crossing and Yeeda Creek are well-known station-country spots, and there are barra holes all the way up to Geikie Gorge above Fitzroy Crossing. Most off-highway access crosses pastoral stations or Aboriginal community land and is 4WD only, so get the landholder's or community's permission first.

Fishing from a boat is prohibited within the gazetted Danggu Geikie Gorge waters under a 2021 Ministerial order. The park is free to enter and day-use only, but recovery works close it at short notice (most recently August–September 2026) — check DBCA park alerts first — and its boat tours have not run since the January 2023 flood. Check with DBCA rangers before fishing from the bank, keep in mind the gorge holds protected freshwater sawfish, and treat the water as croc habitat. Freshwater crocodiles are resident.

Barramundi in WA have a 550mm minimum and an 800mm maximum size, a daily bag limit of 2 and a possession limit of 2. That possession limit can instead be 4 fillets when you are away from home. In rivers and estuaries barramundi must be carried and landed whole, although gutting and gilling is allowed. Check DPIRD's current Recreational Fishing Guide before keeping one, since rules change.

Yes. Saltwater crocodiles live in the tidal lower river around Willare Bridge and down to King Sound, and freshwater crocodiles are common further upstream, including at Geikie Gorge. Don't wade or swim, don't clean fish at the water's edge, and don't camp on low banks. Floods can carry crocodiles into unexpected places, and in 2023 a large freshwater croc was found walking through Fitzroy Crossing.

Not for line fishing from the bank — WA's freshwater angling licence only applies south of 29°S, well south of the Kimberley. Throwing a cast net for mullet or cherabin bait does need a Recreational Net Fishing Licence, and only mullet, cherabin, garfish and small baitfish may be kept from the net. If you fish from a powered boat, you need a Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence, and bag and size limits still apply, including the barramundi slot of 550–800mm. You also need a pastoral station's permission to reach most of the river away from the highway.