Steep Point - Shelter Bay
Hi all, a few of us have been itching to get away for a trip & have landed on a trip to Shelter Bay for about 8-9days late July to early August.
Have read through a few posts already but just looking to see if anyone has some recent feedback from the area. Any info on road, camping or fishing would be greatly appreciated.
plan is to tow the boat(s) to Denham & launch/drive down with a car or two/trailer with all the remaining camping gear. My boat is 6m glass centre console & will likely have a 2nd glass 5.3m cuddy cab too
fishing we are ultimately wanting to get out for demersals & pelagics, but with the weather undoubtedly being poor at some stage we will venture up within the Bay Area & look for squid, pinkies & diving for baldies/crays
is it too cold then for pelagics? & any tips for diving in the bay?
Looking forward to all your input
Cheers!
sunshine
Posts: 2639
Date Joined: 03/03/09
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Hope it assists
josh catches nothing
Posts: 34
Date Joined: 24/10/22
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Hey mate,
I haven't done the road in a few years as we usually take the boat across - make sure you have some decent weather to get across, and you know the channels (and follow it!) especially if you are thinking about doing it at night - as a few boats have sunk on the way over.
Diving on the inside is pretty rough for about the lower half of dirk hartog - we have dived most of it with very little fish and only a few places that can hold crays. - but if you do look in the inside their is some fish - baldies, tuskies, black snapper, big estuary cod, and always some school macks (with golden trevs, tailor and cobia also fairly prevelent), don't be afraid to fish/dive shallow, take your time - and a little bit if burley will go a long way. The ghost crabs on the beach make great bait and good fun for the kids. For deeper diving - try to sound up some ground - even little rocks can hold fish so don't be afraid to drop on them. Squid can be found in the weed beds about 300m out of shelter bay - just drift and cast (good windy day activity). pelagics will always be there, but at certain times of year they can shut down - but generally try trolling different lures - in areas with warmer water ( patches), bait or good current should yield mackies. YFT and wahoo if you find some good ground - troll around.
Plenty of other bottom fishing options if you know where to look - I highly reccomend fishing plastics along the cliffs in lower swell - but be careful as waves can break much deeper than you think - but great way to have fun and get a good mixed bag. - Baldies, endless pinkies, spangos, trevally, macks, kingfish, tuna, cod, rankin, coronation and heaps of others. generally you have to travel a fair way 10-20k+ up the cliffs to find fish in shallow, as generally too sharky and not many baldies. South of steep produces more fish as less people go south.
(make sure your camp is wind and rain ready too)
-Josh
jighead
Posts: 733
Date Joined: 03/02/12
OldMate adventures
Has some recent YouTube videos on this area. He's occasionally on this site so maybe give him a pm he may be able to provide some recent info.
Deano.9
Posts: 46
Date Joined: 20/10/14
Thanks
Thanks for the info & replies!
I have just watched the video from Oldmate Adventures, is good to know even if the wind is up you can still get a good feed of black snapper & squid
still yet to work out our camping arrangements but will try our best to get a few gazebos together with walls around. Have heard the midgee/sand flies can be pretty bad? Any remedies other than load up on bushman spray & burn a few candles/coils?
Trolling we will mostly have laser pros in varying depths until we work out what the fish want, but is it worth dragging skirts around? Mainly would be to try get a wahoo, or are they just as likely to hit a hardbody?
cheers!