After driving past many times on our way further north we finally decided to visit Shark Bay. Drive up to Denham was uneventful, arrived mid-afternoon and set about preparing for the next three days fishing. Weather forecast was looking mint so plan was to head to South Passage on Day 1, then head up to Turtle Bay for an overnighter on Days 2 and 3.

Day 1:

Up early and on the water before sunrise, with a brisk easterly blowing Denham Sound crossing was a little lumpy but the water flattened right off in the shallows and channels and before we knew it Steep Point came into sight. Fault line crossing was uneventful (thanks for the safety tips Beeroclock). With the easterly still up we opted for a troll north behind DHI. Water wasn't as warm as we had hoped (20.5C) but it didn't take long to get the first hit which turned out to be a nice Longtail, after a photo it was put on ice. The Longtail was followed by a Shark Mack and a nice Mack Tuna, both released, along with a couple of good runs that didn't stay connected. With the wind backing off decision was made to head west, we found some decent shows in the 90's so out went the sea anchor and down went the jigs, a minute later I noticed a squirt of black fluid from the front of the outboard, WTF is that??? Quick inspection and to our horror we realized the sea anchor rope had somehow tangled on hydraulic steering hoses and one of them was busted, no steering, shit! Put out a Pan Pan call on VHF 16 and luckily it was answered by Wendy who runs Denham ACRM base, we were glad just to hear her voice as at this stage we were 8nm west of DHI and drifting further out to sea! Wendy notified the authorities and Shark Bay VMR, in the meantime we put a rope around the outboard and started to slowly make our way back to South Passage while manually steering the boat with the ropes, I can tell you it is bloody hard work steering a 150hp 4-stroke using ropes! A couple of hours later Shark Bay sea rescue boat had located us and soon after we were under tow at nearly 30 knots, was a white knuckle ride! Back at the ramp we thanked the sea rescue crew for their assistance and asked whether there is anyone around town that may be able to assist, they gave us number for Jamie Morgan and suggested we give hime a call. That night beers flowed freely while we contemplated what had happened and what it meant for the trip, at this stage we're thinking a premature end is on the cards.

Dy 2:

8am I call Jamie Morgan, he runs Shark Bay Marine Repairs and Services, 10 minutes later I have the boat at his yard, two hours after that he has the boat fixed and just after 11 we're back on the water and headed for Turtle Bay, the fishing trip is back on! Took a couple of hours to get up to Turtle Bay, we first found a spot to anchor up for the night then headed off to the drop-off north of Cape Inscription. Found some good shows around the 50m mark so down go the jigs and shortly after up come a pair of good Pink Snapper, good start! We boated a few more, keeping the biggest, but the sharks moved in so decision was made to head further out. Charts showed some good structure in 70m a couple miles out from Cape Inscription so that's where we headed, unfortunately it turned out to be another phantom structure on the charts that's not actually there! Decided to head further out and found some good shows in the 80's. Down go the jigs, both get slammed and after a good fight up come a pigeon pair of 80cm Rankins, you ripper! These were followed by a nice Pearl Perch, an undersized Red Emp and a few Pink Snapper before things went quiet. We headed back to Cape Inscription drop off where we had a great session on good size snapper which were slamming on the drop any jig we cared to offer them. Sharks moved in again and with sun getting low on the horizon we decided to head into Turtle Bay trolling lures along the drop off. A huge hit on shallow diver followed by a blistering run had me thinking we had found a Mack, especially after it turned and started swmiing towards us, unfortunately the 2nd run never came and soon after we had half a good size Shark Mack on board, the tax man had found us once again! We continued trolling to the end of the drop-off for nothing before anchoring up in Turtle Bay for the night.

Day 3:

My tub is not really designed for overnighters so it was a less than comfortable night on board but the amzing star show made up for the lack of comfort. We did manage a little sleep, up at first light, turn on the sounder and damn, looks like a stack of fish under the boat! Look over the side and I can see small pinkies everywhere! Drop some squid in the water and up they come, smashing bait on surface, amazing! After feeding the fish for a while we topped up the boat fuel tank and headed off to the drop-off for another troll, donuts. While trolling we marked some huge shows in 30m so decided to give them a go, what followed was a hectic session on Pink Snapper with one after another hitting the deck, the bloody things were like blowies! We pushed out a little further into the 50's where we managed a decent Rankin and a good sized Amberjack but for the most part it was hard to get anything past the pinkies. Decided to head back out to the 80's in search of other species, unfurtunately it was really quiet out there with only a a small cod and a couple of small Grassies boated. By this stage the westerly had started to pick up so we decided to start slowly making our way back to Denham. On the way back we checked some lups inside the bay, mostly quiet apart from one which was loaded with ridiculuos amounts of pink snapper, I've never seen the sounder lit up like it was! Safely back in Denham it was an early knock off to catch up on some much needed sleep

Days 4-7:

A cold front came through the next day so after filleting our catch we took it easy as the wind howled outside. With the wind up the next few days we had a look around the national park and despite the wind managed to get out to do some some squidding in close, plenty of good sized squid around. I'm still amazed how the wind does not whip up big waves close to Denham, one of the squidding sessions was in easily the strongest winds I've ever been out in, but waves were only small and very comfortable on the boat.

Day 8:

Last day of the trip and the weather gods are smiling on us again, brisk easterly in the morning backing off to nothing in the afternoon. With unfinished business west of DHI from Day 1 we decided to head to South Passage again, bit lumpier than previous time we had crossed Denham Sound but not too uncomfortable. While waiting for the easterly to drop off we had a cast around Monkey Rock for donuts, then went for a troll south of Steep Point for more donuts, but with the spectacular coastline and whales all over the place we were not upset with the absence of pelagics as fishing almost seemed secondary to experiencing this amazing place. Early afternoon the wind started to drop off as forecst so we headed into the 90's and before too long the jigs were heading south again on good looking shows. A good size Red Throat came up first followed by a Pearl Perch, a Sambo then more Pinkies. Through the afternoon we managed to find a bit more ground which yielded a good Rankin, more Pearlies, a just sized Red, a Tomato Cod, still more Pinkies and some smallish emperors. With sun getting low on the horizon decision was made to head back, by this stage the wind had died to nothing and we flew back at 35 knots gliding over glassed off waters of Shark Bay, was quite a sight!

Was a great trip, saved of course by Wendy at ACRM, Shark Bay VMR, and Jamie Morgan, big thank you to them all! I must say I did not reflect and fully appreciate how remote we were until our destiny was no longer in our own hands and we had to rely on others to get us home. If you ever have any boat issues up there I would not hesitate recommending Jamie, the guy is a legend in my book, had this happened in the big smoke we would have been out of action for weeks, instead he had us up and running the very next morning! When Jamie did the repair he found the hoses had become very brittle due to years of sun exposure so was an accident waiting to happen.

On the fishing front we didn't get the pelagic action we had hoped for but it was July so not totally unexpected I suppose. We found Pinkies in plague proportions, especially up at Turtle Bay. Sharks were an issue in close with a number of fish lost in 20 to 50m, in 80+m we didn't lose any gear or fish to sharks. As far as jigs go there were some notable differences in effectiveness on different species between metal jigs and baited hybrid style jigs:

Emperors: 0 - 10 (metal - hybrid)

Pearl Perch: 6 - 0

Rankins: 3 - 1

Other cods: 3 - 2

Seriolas: 1 - 1

Pinkies: shit tons on both

Having fished the area once I can't wait to go back, next time I'll want to go when the water is warmer for better chance of pelagics, perhaps May will be the way to go.

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