On the 25th March, Stu and myself set out on a trip deep into the jungles of West Papua in search of the mighty Black Bass in some river systems that have never really been fished except for the local villagers in the area.
This was a trip of epic proportions with months of planning and 3 days of travel to reach our destination.
Our journey seen us fly to Bali and then Makassar where we spent the night in a motel and then we boarded another plane at 2am to fly across to Biak where we met up with our local mate Teddy.
We were supposed to jump on another plane the next morning for Serui on the island of Pulau Japen but bad weather seen all planes and ferries cancelled so we sat this out for 2 days.
This gave us a chance to have a look around Biak so we could visit the local fish market and check out the different sights around the city.
On the
On the second day we got to hike deep into the most beautiful valley that you could ever wish to see to catch a Spot Tail Bass but unfortunately the fishing was very quiet.
The scenery and the waterfalls were just spectacular to see and not catching any fish here really did not matter.
Some local villagers that lived downstream paddled their way up river in their dugout canoes and picked us up and took us downstream through a series of rapids and log jams to where they had a long boat waiting to ferry us out of this insane prehistoric looking valley.
The scenery was absolutely spectacular with heavy rainforest reaching right to the water.
As dark fell, the fire flies came out which was just amazing to see.
On the third day, we decided to jump on a fast passenger ferry to Serui instead of flying over due to the excess luggage and camping gear that we had to take with us.
This was a 5 hour boat trip and it gave us a chance to see some of the local islands and coastline which was a very enjoyable part of the trip.
We finally arrived in Serui where we arranged a driver with a small truck to run us around to find a motel for the night and to do the necessary food shopping and fuel purchases that we needed to arrange.
After purchasing 1200 liters of fuel and enough 2 stroke oil for the trip and a ute load of food and water, we had dinner and then headed back to the motel where we settled in for a hard earned rest before the huge trip into the jungle the next day.
Life in Serui is vastly different to other parts of Indonesia that we have travelled through.
The rubbish and filth around the city is unimaginable and really has to be seen to be believed.
No one uses a rubbish bin or takes their rubbish home, they just drop it where they have finished with it and the water’s edge around the small harbour was a tip site on its own.
It is one place that I would be very happy to never see again.
The following morning we struck our first major hurdle when the guy supplying one of the boats went missing so we were left with only one boatman with his 6.5m long boat to take us fishing for the week.
We loaded this poor boat up with all the camping gear, food, water, fuel and 6 people and I estimated that we had over a 2 ton payload all up but she went like a rocket ship with the twin tiller steer 40hp Yamahas.
Our boat trip was around 150km to where we wanted to camp but our plans changed when our boatman grew up in a small village on an adjacent waterway.
It just happened that they also owned the river system that we wanted to fish in so on our way into the jungle we stopped at the village where he grew up so he could introduce us to the chief and also so he could catch up with his family and friends.
After meeting the chief and the other village elders over a coffee, the chief invited us to stay the night in his house with his family.
As it was getting late in the day and with no chance of reaching our campsite before dark, we kindly accepted his offer and we spent an amazing night with some of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet.
Up bright and early the next morning, we headed off through this long and narrow waterway where we eventually popped out into the river system that we wanted to search for the elusive Black Bass.
Spread throughout the river system were these little fishing shanties on stilts over the water that the villagers have built for their fishing trips and we were offered the opportunity to use any of these that we wanted.
We checked one out down near the river mouth but it was a bit small for us all so we ventured further back up river where we found this amazing little shack sitting proudly over the river with its own little jetty at the front door.
This was now going to be our campsite for the week so we unloaded the boat and then ventured off to have a look around and to have an arvo fish.
We ventured upstream into a small lake system that was 3.5km long and it had 5 separate entrances from the main river.
These creek entrances all held Black Bass, Mangrove Jacks, Trevally and Tarpon and then inside this lake was hundreds of small palm islands, trees and stumps, which many had good numbers of fish around them.
This was an amazing little waterway to begin our week of Black Bass fishing.
The next 2 days were spent down around the river mouth in the pure salt water looking for the bigger Black Bass.
We fished many miles of creeks and anabranches and even the adjacent river system but sadly we couldn’t find any fish down in this area.
They would have to be there as the water looked good but they were either shut down or maybe there at another time of the year.
The next few days we decided to stay well up river in the lake area where we caught our fish on the first day.
This proved to be a bonanza with many fish being hooked, landed and lost.
Most of the fish caught this trip were on the topwater using mullet poppers and just a few were caught on deep divers.
Tarpon were everywhere this trip and were fun to catch when the bass fishing was quite.
You could see the schools of Tarpon finning on the surface and their bubble trails in the water everywhere.
A quick cast over their heads soon stirred multiple strikes at the popper.
The last day we had some bad weather coming in so we decided to get out of the jungle and start the journey back to Serui.
We spent the night in a boatmans hut at the village again as the spring tides had made the creek too shallow to navigate in the dark.
After a good nights sleep, we headed off at 4.30am to beat the falling tide.
This time we hit many stumps and also had to drive the boat over whole trees to reach the deeper section of the creek.
Once out it was full stick down the river and across the bar to the open water where it was quite choppy for the first 50km.
About half way back to Serui we pulled into a small village where our boatmans wife lived so we managed to get a nice jug of hot coffee and buy an extra drum of fuel to complete the trip.
Hugging the coastline to avoid the choppy waters, the trip back was beautiful as we navigated through a series of tropical islands and over some shallow coral reefs.
Once back to Serui, we found a motel for the night and we all enjoyed a good feed and a few cold Bintangs.
The next morning we boarded the ferry for another 5 hour journey back to Biak
Here we stayed another night at Teddy’s house before the final 2 day journey back home.
Overall it was an amazing trip and venturing so deep into the jungle with no support and no idea of what to expect added to the thrill of this adventure.
The people we met and the places we got to experience will be something that all of us will never forget.
