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)

Thu 05 Nov 2026 · Australia/Perth

Forecast updated 2:01pm AWST

Bite Alert

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5 Nov

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Today Tomorrow Sat 7 Nov

📍 Port Smith Lagoon (Purnturrpurnturr)

waning crescent · 23%

Weather: Sunny Wind: N 360° · 18 km/h Swell: flat Water: 30.1 °C Pressure: 1009.5 hPa ↓ falling Sheltered water: wind direction matters less here

★★☆☆☆

Low Fish Activity

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▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 8:00 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Night

Tide Moving

Wind NW 9 km/h

Moon waning crescent all day

Water temp 30.1 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 4:48 am Last light 6:24 pm

Low 1:23 am High 7:39 am Low 1:43 pm High 8:10 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

7:30 pm → 9:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

8:00 am → 9:00 am

First light

4:48 am

Last light

6:24 pm

Sunrise

5:11 am

Sunset

6:01 pm

Moonrise

2:17 am

Moonset

2:33 pm

Low tide

1:23 am

High tide

7:39 am

Low tide

1:43 pm

High tide

8:10 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

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28°

↖︎

328°

12 km/h

1am

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28°

↖︎

308°

12 km/h

2am

☀️

28°

↖︎

294°

12 km/h

3am

☀️

27°

←︎

285°

11 km/h

4am

☀️

26°

←︎

278°

8 km/h

5am

☀️

26°

←︎

274°

5 km/h

6am

☀️

28°

↖︎

320°

1 km/h

7am

☀️

30°

↗︎

48°

5 km/h

8am

☀️

32°

↗︎

48°

8 km/h

9am

☀️

33°

↗︎

34°

11 km/h

10am

☀️

34°

↑︎

18°

14 km/h

11am

☀️

34°

↑︎

9°

17 km/h

12pm

☀️

34°

↑︎

360°

18 km/h

1pm

☀️

33°

↑︎

351°

18 km/h

2pm

☀️

33°

↑︎

344°

18 km/h

3pm

☀️

32°

↑︎

340°

19 km/h

4pm

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31°

↑︎

339°

20 km/h

5pm

☀️

30°

↑︎

338°

19 km/h

6pm

☀️

29°

↑︎

338°

17 km/h

7pm

☀️

28°

↖︎

337°

12 km/h

8pm

☀️

28°

↖︎

337°

9 km/h

9pm

☀️

28°

↑︎

340°

8 km/h

10pm

☀️

28°

↑︎

342°

8 km/h

11pm

☀️

27°

↑︎

346°

9 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.5 m W

12am

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

1am

0.5 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

2am

Calm

3am

Calm

4am

Calm

5am

Calm

6am

Calm

7am

Calm

8am

Calm

9am

Calm

10am

Calm

11am

Calm

12pm

Calm

1pm

Calm

2pm

Calm

3pm

Calm

4pm

Calm

5pm

Calm

6pm

Calm

7pm

Calm

8pm

Calm

9pm

Calm

10pm

Calm

11pm

Calm

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.7° over the last 3 days

Mon

2 Nov

29.4°

Tue

3 Nov

29.6°

Wed

4 Nov

29.8°

Thu

5 Nov

30.1°

Fri

6 Nov

30.4°

Sat

7 Nov

30.5°

Sun

8 Nov

30.7°

Mon

9 Nov

30.9°

Tue

10 Nov

30.9°

Wed

11 Nov

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 18 km/h N (360°).

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

7:30 pm → 9:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

8:00 am → 9:00 am

First light

4:48 am

Last light

6:24 pm

Sunrise

5:11 am

Sunset

6:01 pm

Moonrise

2:17 am

Moonset

2:33 pm

Low tide

1:23 am

High tide

7:39 am

Low tide

1:43 pm

High tide

8:10 pm

Nearby Spots

Barn Hill Station (Broome) 30.1 km

Species at This Spot

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