Fishing in Drysdale River National Park

Drysdale River National Park sits deep in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, roughly 2,168 kilometres northeast of Perth.

It is remote country — open woodlands giving way to broad river systems, pools, rugged cliffs, and the kind of wet-season side creeks that only exist for part of the year.

The fishing here is inseparable from the landscape: you are sharing the water with freshwater crocodiles and saltwater crocodiles, and that shapes how you move and where you wade. The Drysdale River is the park's main waterway.

Below Solea Falls, barramundi are present, and that stretch is where most fishing effort is concentrated.

The river mouth involves several miles of sandbars, which affects how you approach it by boat — anchoring off and running a tender in is one way people have handled it.

Fish were reported jumping at the river head, which tells you something about the activity there during the right conditions. Access to this park is genuinely difficult.

It is the kind of place where a collapsible rod or handline makes practical sense alongside heavier gear, simply because of what it takes to get in and out.

Bushwalking routes follow the Drysdale River and its wet-season side creeks, and fishing happens opportunistically along those corridors. Western Australia state fishing regulations apply inside the park.

Check current rules with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions before you go — the remoteness here means there is no correcting a paperwork problem once you are in. The crocodiles are not incidental.

They are part of the water here, and anyone fishing the Drysdale system needs to treat that seriously at every bank and pool.