Do you need a permit to fish at Port Smith?

Not for the lagoon itself. The Karajarri Traditional Lands Association says a Visitor Pass is not required if you are only visiting Port Smith Lagoon, where fishing from a boat and from the beach is welcome. Pebbles Beach at the lagoon mouth, Cowrie Creek, Saddle Hill and Gourdon Bay are the other Karajarri Tourism Zone locations and need a Visitor Pass, bought online or at the Port Smith Caravan Park reception, and every other area is off limits. No fishing licence is needed from the shore; a powered boat needs a Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence.

What can you catch at Port Smith?

Threadfin, mangrove jack, bluebone and bream are the lagoon's regular catch, and mud crabs come from the muddy creeks at low tide. Estuary cod, flathead, whiting and the odd barramundi are also reported, with trevally and queenfish around the mouth on the high tide — ask at the park office what is running, and buy a Karajarri Visitor Pass before fishing from Pebbles Beach at the mouth.

Can you go mud crabbing at Port Smith?

Yes. The lagoon's muddy creeks are known for crabs, which come out of holes and from under snags at low tide. Take them by hand, with a blunt wire crab hook, a drop net no wider than 1.5m or a rigid scoop net. Green mud crabs must be at least 150mm across the carapace and brown mud crabs 120mm, the combined daily bag is 5, and berried crabs must go back. Keep well back from the water's edge — this is northern mangrove country.

Can you camp at Port Smith?

At Port Smith Caravan Park, which has powered and unpowered sites and cabins — ring (08) 9192 4983 to book. There are no camping sites in the Karajarri Tourism Zone at present, so the beaches, creeks and cliffs around Port Smith are day trips from the park.

How far is Port Smith from Broome?

About 170km south of Broome by road, with the last 23km on unsealed road off the Great Northern Highway. The road is usually in good condition in the dry season but the wet can make it impassable, so check with the caravan park before driving in.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Port Smith Lagoon (Purnturrpurnturr)

Sat 31 Oct 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 2:24pm AWST

Bite Alert

Change Spot

←

31 Oct

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 7 Nov

📍 Port Smith Lagoon (Purnturrpurnturr)

waning gibbous · 74%

Weather: Sunny Wind: W 256° · 17 km/h Swell: 0.6 m @ 4 s W Water: 29.2 °C Pressure: 1014.4 hPa ↓ falling Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

Email me when a High bite day is coming Free

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 4:30 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Strong flow

Wind SW 14 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 29.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 4:51 am Last light 6:22 pm

High 12:49 am Low 7:16 am High 1:22 pm Low 7:20 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 6:00 am

Good

6:00 pm → 7:30 pm

1h 30m

First light

4:51 am

Last light

6:22 pm

Sunrise

5:13 am

Sunset

5:59 pm

Moonrise

11:28 pm

Moonset

9:38 am

High tide

12:49 am

Low tide

7:16 am

High tide

1:22 pm

Low tide

7:20 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

25°

↙︎

244°

12 km/h

1am

☀️

25°

↙︎

243°

12 km/h

2am

☀️

24°

↙︎

244°

12 km/h

3am

☀️

25°

↙︎

245°

13 km/h

4am

☀️

25°

↙︎

244°

14 km/h

5am

☀️

25°

↙︎

244°

14 km/h

6am

☀️

26°

↙︎

240°

14 km/h

7am

☀️

27°

↙︎

237°

15 km/h

8am

☀️

29°

↙︎

233°

16 km/h

9am

☀️

30°

↙︎

236°

17 km/h

10am

☀️

31°

↙︎

240°

17 km/h

11am

☀️

32°

←︎

248°

17 km/h

12pm

☀️

32°

←︎

256°

17 km/h

1pm

☀️

32°

←︎

259°

18 km/h

2pm

☀️

32°

←︎

265°

17 km/h

3pm

☀️

30°

←︎

266°

17 km/h

4pm

☀️

29°

←︎

262°

16 km/h

5pm

☁️

28°

←︎

254°

17 km/h

6pm

☁️

27°

↙︎

245°

17 km/h

7pm

☁️

27°

↙︎

239°

16 km/h

8pm

☁️

26°

↙︎

244°

14 km/h

9pm

☁️

26°

↙︎

242°

12 km/h

10pm

☁️

26°

↙︎

242°

11 km/h

11pm

☁️

26°

↙︎

238°

11 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.5 m W

12am

Calm

1am

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

2am

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

3am

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

4am

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

5am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

6am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

7am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

8am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

10am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

11am

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

12pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

5pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

6pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

7pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

8pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

9pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

10pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

11pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 17 km/h W (256°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Open in the full fishing map →

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

4:00 am → 6:00 am

Good

6:00 pm → 7:30 pm

1h 30m

First light

4:51 am

Last light

6:22 pm

Sunrise

5:13 am

Sunset

5:59 pm

Moonrise

11:28 pm

Moonset

9:38 am

High tide

12:49 am

Low tide

7:16 am

High tide

1:22 pm

Low tide

7:20 pm

Nearby Spots

Barn Hill Station (Broome) 30.1 km

Species at This Spot

Keep Tabs on Port Smith Lagoon (Purnturrpurnturr)

Get an email when the bite score here hits High, and stop refreshing this page. Free account, takes a minute.

Alert Me When It's High Save This Spot

Weekly Bite Forecast

Port Smith Lagoon (Purnturrpurnturr) + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

Free. Unsubscribe any time.