come say hi and I will give you a few starting points .I will be in a 6.2 kevla cat with kevlacat written down the sides in big letters.you need to go either 20ks north or south to avoid the sharks nowadays if chasing reds .goldys we ok straight out in 100 plus sharks we not to bad last year in that depth

I usually get Reds 60-80m but think you can get them deeper too. Squid can be found around 5 fingers and south of there. Hopefully the sharks aren't as bad as when I was there in May.

 I'll be up there from 27th for a week. Depends what you're after and depths. 60-80 is typically depth you'll work for reds. 100s for goldies and 200-500 for rubys

Was there for 5 weeks in April/May.
The sharks were often horrendous and really very big.
I personally lost 26 sinkers to sharks so take plenty of tackle. I also lost braid.
Most of those fishing there at the time experienced similar problems.
Most of my red spots are now totally unfishable because of the shark problem. What concerned me most was the apparent increase in Bull shark numbers and they seem much more aggressive.
Hope you all have a good trip.

We got reds in 80m out of the south passage when we went a couple of years ago. The sharks were a pain - Lost sinkers, braid and had rods snapped. We found that we would get 1 drop at best on a spot before they moved in.

The charters seem to still do well on goldband etc out wide so I guess the sharks arent as bad out there.

As for the squid we did well in 3-4m over the weedy patches near the 5 finger reef, had tripple hook ups at times.

 Just got back from 2 weeks there...sharks the absolute worst i have seen in the many years we have been going there...General observation while there and after talking with all other fishos there, sharks where horrendous 30m to 100m mark, started to land more tha

n lost after 110-130m for reds. Plenty of goldys where caught in 140-150m. good luck, take plenty of rigs.!!

This shark situation is bullshit, we should do something.

Everyone needs to do their bit and make sure all sharks are "released" in the appropriate manner.

Since I have started running long mono wind ons I end up hooking and landing some of the sharks that steal my fish.

Some are only small but its still hard work pumping them out of 60-100m.

Some are so big I end up losing the rig anyway cos I don't want to loose my arm....

 throw a heap of fish frames in the water and move several miles away. that should give you some time 

We didnt start getting the good stuff till after 140m. May have lost a lot to sharks but we were pretty successful. :)
I think i caught my Goldband at 130 and the reds were caught in 140-160 i think they said.

 We are heading up to Coral Bay this year (14 July for a week) for our old boys trip (first time). Can anyone comment on how safe is it heading out of south passage, max swell??

 Hahaha I was asking for same advice a couple of months ago on this site. What Spence says is spot on. I had bad experience in tinny 5/6 years back that gave me nightmares haha. This time paid a lot more attention to tides more so than swell and had a good look and watched the sets roll in before heading. It was easy as. Even had to come back in through there with no steering because cable snapped 7 mile out... holding onto outboard and steering was a little hairy

Ian,  definately watch the sets. not just one or two as the pattern can change a bit due to other contributing factors. generally the sets run in 3 but the distance between can vary. pic your gap and go for it without hesitation as you may get caught out. heard of boats comming to grief there. if your not comfortable with it its best to go north passage altho you need to watch your tides as it can get shallow in places and there is big bombies all around you. i have gone both ways .key thing is pay attention 

 Yep up Gnaraloo right now and out on a 2.8m swell today. Only reason we went was an incoming tide and coming in pretty well on high tide, still hairy through the bay but doable.