The ramp should be fine, we had no trouble with launching ,just need to watch your tides as it gets quite shallow, just watch the prop. as for the sails and marlin Adam is the one for a few tips ,but if you want to pm me your number i can tell you what i do know. We to got our first marlin this year and lost a sail .Am looking forward to next year.

should be fine mate.. just watch the tide.. we fished up with the fishin wa guys a cple yrs ago.. got our 8m seaquest stuck, was a misson..

Best bit of advice Wayne would be not to be to focused on catching that one species (i.e. billfish). Just be prepared for all situations and you may be surprised about what comes sniffing around when your a bit more relaxed and just going with the flow.

Then again you might have a burning hole inside you which can only be filled with a billie. If so, best of luck.

John

I head a little FURTHER NORTH each year,
Leave the cities behind, out of sight of mind,
.......

Cheers guys - Good to hear you had some success Paul! Yeah it's a new motor I've got (90 hp Opti) so I'll be watching my prop very carefully;)

Harro - how'd ya get it "un-stuck"? much damage to the boat?

Cheers John - yeah I'm just going through my outfits now... wanting to have one outfit for billfish trolling, one for bottom bouncing and a decent rig for spinning - my only concern though is whether my tld 25 will be able to withstand a decent sailfish or marlin!

I was also just reading an article about the "Tandabiddi steps"... does anyone know much about this area? The article mentions about cascading canyons rapidly decline from 150m to 850m". With these sorts of depths I'm guessing it's pretty far out!

In regards to launching at Tandabiddi - I've heard a few people mention to use "4wd tracks" on the ramp – I’m guessing these are just like a roll of tracks you lay under your tyres before retrieving?

Thanks again for your advice!

Cheers

Wayne

www.choiceoutdoors.com.au - landscaping & brick paving in Perth

I've just had a look at a "tide prediction" for when we are up there (see below)

from looking at this my initial feeling is that these tides aren't really suitable for launching at Tandabiddi in the mornings?  Would I be right?  I don't suppose you head out on a different channel to what you head in on do you?:)

Is it possible to still launch say 1hr either side of low tide or can you only really launch and retrieve on a high tide?

cheers

wayne 

Tidal predictions for Exmouth

Saturday 4th Oct 2008


2.33m @ 1:03 AM

0.33m @ 7:40 AM

1.93m @ 1:53 PM

0.74m @ 7:14 PM





Sunday 5th Oct 2008


2.25m @ 1:26 AM

0.43m @ 8:05 AM

1.82m @ 2:16 PM

0.83m @ 7:33 PM





Monday 6th Oct 2008


2.14m @ 1:47 AM

0.57m @ 8:31 AM

1.70m @ 2:41 PM

0.94m @ 7:53 PM





Tuesday 7th Oct 2008


  


2.01m @ 2:10 AM

0.73m @ 9:01 AM

1.56m @ 3:12 PM

1.06m @ 8:12 PM





Wednesday 8th Oct 2008


1.86m @ 2:35 AM

0.90m @ 9:45 AM

1.43m @ 4:04 PM

1.21m @ 8:34 PM





Thursday 9th Oct 2008


1.69m @ 3:12 AM

1.05m @ 11:20 AM

1.39m @ 6:46 PM

1.36m @ 9:28 PM





Friday 10th Oct 2008


1.55m @ 5:37 AM

1.04m @ 1:50 PM

1.55m @ 8:57 PM

You need to get hold of a nautical chart of the area Wayne. Don't have to go to far wide from Tantabiddi to hit deep water.

4wd mats are the steel ones that usually live on the side of the ramp. Don't try and be the hero who doesn't use them, only takes two minutes to put them down and after that as long as you keep your vehicle's tyres on them you shouldn't have a problem.

With those tides and an ali boat, as long as you launch around 6.00am on the first couple of days you should be fine. Might involve some dragging the boat over some shallow sand flats but that's all. Good tides for recovery though which is more important IMO.

John

I head a little FURTHER NORTH each year,
Leave the cities behind, out of sight of mind,
.......

Wayne, the winds that time of year as mentioned can be very unpredictable. Get a forecast periodically from the tackle shops up there (gold coin donation normaly appreciated) and pick your side (west or east) to suit the winds.

You can troll the 28-38 m contour at the back edge of the South section of Tandabiddi for sails. Troll South with a small zig zag up and down that depth contour as mentioned. Use garfish (circkle hooks) for sailfish.....have teasers also!

As for marlin, you can fish the 65-100m with pushers, I use the small Richter version ie Oscar JNR & Zulu small with black & lumo my fav colours. Run South and be patient!

The mackys & YFT are on the same back edge of Tandabiddi but troll the 15-25m with deep running minnow and a few mid divers ie Halco & Rapala!

The chart as John pointed out is good, following someone else out for the first time helps. I dont worry to much about tides for fishing but I like to be back at Tandabiddi say 2-4 hours before the low!

The sailfish are in the Gulf in a big way so use the garfish & teasers and fish the shoals out there.....good time of year for it! 

All the best! 

* Oceanside- Advice, Knowledge, Experience....that's our difference *

Owner/Operator "Oceanside Tackle & Marine"
364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth Ph# 9337 5682

Pretty quiet on the marlin up here in Oct, better off going for sails.  As Ryan has pointed out, good places to start.  But yes, definately keep an eye on the forecasts, can turn ugly pretty quickly up here, specially when your 14 mile out at Exmouth reef and a 25 knot south wester comes from no where, not a nice place to be!

Cheers John.  I have a Navman GPS with an aust wide C-map chip in it so I think I’ll push the boat out the garage and study the map for a while:)

John - with the 4wd mats are they always near the ramps or would I be better taking up a spare pair myself?

Ryan - would you say the seabreeze forecasts (http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/wa4.asp#Exmouth ) are reliable?  If so I was thinking of ringing up the misses each evening and getting an update (that's assuming my mobiles out of range and I can't download it via that).

We have taken bit of a punt by staying at Yardie Creek Homestead.  A good thing is it puts us very close to Tandabiddi boat ramp, though on the flip side if we do have to go over to the gulf (marina) it may take us some time to drive there.  Though again we are there to FISH so we'll do what's needed to get the results:)

To be honest I would be just as stoked to catch a sailfish - would be frig’n unbelievable if we did!  With what's been said I think we'll start by focusing on these...

Btw Ryan - do you have the lures you've mentioned in stock?  I might take a drive down and have a chat....

Adam - I just read this on one of ya other posts;

"When it’s blowing strong from the south east, head to the west side and stay inside the reef. Vice versa goes for a strong westerly. If its anything under 10 knots all day in any direction, go for goooold."

This seems like a good rule to follow for the winds - though how bout the swell for tandibiddi?  What swell would start making tandibiddi hard to go out through?

Whilst were on boat safety - is there a sea rescue post in Exmouth that you can login with when going out?  If so does anyone know the call sign?

Cheers guys!

Wayne

Wayne,

Adam will probably answer this one better ie if Seabreeze is more accurate but I use Bouyweather as that's what Bluewater Exmouth use!

http://www.buoyweather.com/wxnav6.jsp?region=AN&program=nww3BW1&grb=nww3&latitude=-22.0&longitude=113.75&zone=8&units=e

Yeh I have all the sailfish/marlin lures as recommended, PM me if your coming down and i'll make sure i'm here to catch up with you!

I've stayed at Yardie and yes very close indeed to Tandabidi but a drive when going into town for supplys or the East side......pro's & cons. The matts have always been there generally, no need to bring. I struggled to get mobile range at Yardie but Rob the owner if I remember correctly may be able to help re internet forecast?

Cheers

* Oceanside- Advice, Knowledge, Experience....that's our difference *

Owner/Operator "Oceanside Tackle & Marine"
364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth Ph# 9337 5682

Wayne,

was there last week mate, and launching and retrieve from tantas no probs at all..ramps seems to be in good nick atm!

even though i was only in a 4.2m, there were other boats in the 5.5-6m range retrieving at almost dead low and they were getting out fine but it wasn't a low low tide, our lows were around the 0.6-0.9m mark...

The mats weren't there last week...only saw a few bits of scrap metal on the rocks to the side of the ramp, which were the remains of them. 

I'm sure you'll be fine mate, if in doubt just get a tide chart from bluewater for a gold coin donation as mentioned and put in and pull out on a mid-high tide 

cheers
sam

g'day fellas - been off the net for a while so haven't had chance to reply!

cheers for the link Ryan - will check it out.  Will also Pm you when I'm heading down that way.

Sam - good to hear you didn't have any probs!  I was just reading ya other post about what you caught - nice work!

Yep, Tantas has been dug out, pretty easy to launch and retrieve on either low or high tide.