The list could be a mile long mate. If your on a budget I would think about an Alvey and a gutsy 10 foot rod with 50lb mono lo stretch line on it. That way you can use it for bottom fishing as well as ballooning. If you can get an overhead set up a tld 20-25 will be fine. Put it on something like a backbone elite 15-24kgs or something a little longer. If you use braid make sure you topshot it with mono. Rocks + braid =ping. For lures your penns should do the job ok, you'll probably need to get a bit heavier line on them. All rods used up there will need to have bit of grunt. Gardies are good bait for ballooning and for bottom fishing squid, occy, mulies and the little crabs you can catch on the rocks all make good bait. You will need a cliff gaff with 20+ meters of rope. Be warned that ballooning is expensive with the big 90cm ones $5 each, and then there is gas. I,ve seen people float a gardie out under a couple of party balloons with success. Mate take yourself a small rod up because if the wind is unfriendly there is some excellent whiting on the beaches (prawns). Lures, leadhead jigs, halco max and metal slices are good for casting and a couple of laser pros or the like are handy. Be wary of cheap no name lures off ebay cause they are light as impossible to cast and wouldn't hold a decent fish. Some lures aren't cheap and if a shark takes a liking to a fish you've hooked with a lure. Bye bye $20 one cast lure. Wire trace is a must at the business end on ya lures and balloons but won't stop the sharks. The thing is it can cost ya small fortune and quite a bit of gear can be lost up there. Mate like I said the list can be very long. Keep an eye out for quality second hand gear. It's a harsh area and you will need to be well prepared for the trip in, out and your stay. December will most likely be very hot so cover up and take bulk water. The one thing that can't be stressed enough is BE CAREFUL you go in off the rocks there is a fair chance you won't be coming back. Remember no fish is worth dieing for. I have a safety harness you can use if don't have access to one, PM your number and i'll ring ya.

GO BLUES.

As always on this site.( thanks guys ) I am going with my family at the end of Aug.

No boat but from what i have read there are a number of places you could have days  of fun at. Maybe hire a Kayak.

Still Learning

pm SENT

Hey guys check out another related post: http://fishwrecked.com/node/11747

there are a few on this site regarding Steep Point but also search for false entrance as they both require similar gear. Lure wise you cant go past Nils Master Invincible's and Mackbaits for a longer cast but they aren't cheap @ ~$20. You want at least 25lb line for spinning then something a bit stronger for your balloon rig, TLD will be perfect. As blue badger said, once you add up all the bits needed it gets pretty expensive so for a first trip it might be better to concentrate on one type of fishing if your budget is limited.

Without knowing what price range you are looking at for your spin outfit its hard to recommend something. I personally use a Shimano Sustain 8000 spooled with 30lb YGK Castman PE4 braid on a Daiwa Emblem 10.6" rod and think its fantastic. I don't take up a bottom bouncing rig but you will want an alvey with a big staunch rod for winching up the fish.

Monitor the for sale section on this site as theres always decent stuff up for sale.

hope you have fun mate, its fantastic up there.

Will be making an overnight stop in kalbarri, dont think the kids will handlw the 12= hrs trip. Looks like great place to get something for dinner on the night.

I will be taking just the simple stuff to fish from rocks or the beach. Maybe get onto a charter board for one day in Exmouth.

Still Learning

Sorry about my blabbering here guys i was unaware steep point was so far from Exmouth (where i will be going).

I am truely sorry Mulloway360

If anyone does have some info for me that would be great.

Still Learning

Mulloway,

Summer is the windy season up there, so although you have asked for tackle advice please allow me to give you some camping advice.

We made our first trip to Steep Point recently. We camped on the actual point, which we were not prepared for.

1)If you are camping on the actual point, please realise that there is only a thin covering of sand over sandstone.

What does this mean?

It means it will be difficult to get tent pegs into the ground. If you have small tents, you may be able to manouever the tents around into a spot where the pegs may all go in but if you have a large tent it will mean not being able to peg it down properly. Several other camps had various solutions. One camp brought a large power drill and drilled plugs into the rock and pegged into them (need a generator). Several camps used camper trailers where the frame did not rely so heavily on external anchors (ie tent pegs/guy ropes). Another camp attempted sand bags.

If you are camping on the beach, this is not a consideration; just make sure you purchase some sand pegs for your tent.

2) You need to be very self-sufficient.

If you have not been camping in a remote location where you need to be truly self-sufficient, then please plan very well. There is no power, there is no drinking water, there is nothing except what you bring. This may sound obvious but if you have not been camping in similiar conditions you will be surprised how we take so many life essentials for granted. Or how much water we waste at home (when you have limited resources, you will be amazed how much we actually used when you have to ration them out.) If you wish to take fish fillets home, nearly everyone I saw there had a generator powering a home-style chest freezer.

3) It would be ideal if one of the campers had first-aid experience. 

Yes, there is a ranger for help but remember you are 200kms from the closest town/civilisation. (Denham or Overlander). There are snakes and a large variety of ways to harm yourself to various degrees. Having someone who can take care of minor/moderate accidents until you reach civilisation will be much cheaper than trying to arrange first aid to come to Steep Point. A decent first aid kit would be great, as you may be able to help other campers out.

4) Make sure your camp is set for strong winds.

I speak from experience. Make sure you have good-quality, strong tents, lights and whatever else you bring. I would say that canvas frame tents would be great, good-quality polyester tents may be fine but beware of bringing cheap polyester tents with midget poles and dodgy pegs (unless they are tiny, backpacker-style tents). Your large tent is just a giant sail in the wind up there; if your poles/tie-down points/pegs are not strong enough to handle it, you will not have a lovely camp for long. (For the record, the "standard" Oztrail 3x3m gazebo (the second-most expensive one) will not stand up to how strong the winds are up there. The Deluxe I believe, may do.) Our last trip's casualty list: All of my tent's poles, Oztrail gazebo, Gas lantern, my 4WDs batteries (will get to that soon).

5) Make sure you have reliable power.

If you are wanting to freeze and keep your fish fillets, make sure you have a reliable source of power. The most common item for that I saw there was a 2.0kVa generator. Other ways, such as a good solar setup, may be effective; just make sure you match your output (the power draw of your electrical appliances) to your input (the amount of power you get from your setup).

Remember, Steep Point gets HOT during that time, so expect your freezer to be close to it's peak power draw (it will be using close to it's maximum power wattage). For frame of reference, most 12V Car fridges will use approx 60watts maximum (if they use the Danfoss Compressor- the most commonly used 12V compressor). Please factor this if you are using solar.

6) Make sure you have plenty of fuel.

It is a 400km round trip from closest fuel to Steep Point and back. Some of that is also through slower sand sections where your vehicle will be working harder than normal. Add that to extra weight from your camping gear and you have a recipe for poorer than normal fuel consumption (especially if you are driving a petrol 4WD). Have you checked how much fuel your vehicle will get on a full tank? What about when it is loaded? When you are driving on sand? Also, make sure to leave a reserve when calculating. You don't want to leave what you estimate to be just enough to make it, when you find out just enough was not.

7) Make sure to take your standard recovery stuff.

Also, a tyre gauge. There is a liable fine of $45 if any of your tyres are found to be over 20psi. Shovel, snatch strap, etc.

8) Spare tyres/repair kit.

One of the other camps suffered two damaged tyres on the way in. Do you have the ability to withstand that, whether through spares or ability to repair?

I will try to edit later with anything else I can think of, as I am out of time. Hope this was of some help, both to Mulloway360 and anyone else thinking of making the trek out to Steep Point.

David.

Get on....

http://www.steeppoint.com.au/newforum/

lots of hepful info there.

Go heavy tackle, i have seen too many people take up light line etc and loose loads of fish.

Good bottom fishing so be prepaid to loose lots of rigs.
One $ saving trick is to take old spark plugs with you. They make good sinkers ;)

Be safe

There have been some good suggestions for tackle here already. Maybe I can add what I saw experienced fishers using there?

BALLOONING

For Ballooning, they were using big fibreglass rods about 9-10 feet long with a decent-sized overhead reel (maybe a TLD25 size?) and mainly mono line. A local tackle store near me have a great-looking rod for ballooning: a custom Gary Howard 9' rod rated at 24-37kg. If I remember correctly, the design is new and allows you to deadlift a 9kg snapper up the rocks (an indication of the strength). They were about $300. The same tackle store had a recent clinic on ballooning but I was at Steep Point spinning so I could not attend. They have a ballooning combo there set up (ie spooled and rigged), ready to go and the guy in charge of the tackle area has been around for a while. If you want to know which store, PM me and I can send you the details. The same guy mentioned that some of the ballooners are switching to spooling mainly with braid and then having a length of mono before the hook for shock resistance.

Other than that, I don't have any experience in ballooning.

SPINNING

Spinning, most of the guys had graphite rods about 9' long and a medium-sized spinning reel spooled with braid. I used to use a Fibreglass/graphite composite rod (like ugly-stik, silstar power-tip, et al) and a big-sized spinning reel (90 size) running a lot of mono line for my spinning off the rocks (Garth Rock, Quobba, etc). It worked well enough and was strong but there is no comparison to a lightweight (but still strong) combination of graphite rod and medium spin reel with braid. The combo I use I can cast and retrieve all day and not feel any fatigue; the same can not be said about my old gear (which I keep for backup). The newer gear also casts a mile without the effort. 

That is not to say the older gear would not work well enough (and the Ugly-Stik style rods would be much tougher in terms of dropping the rod on the rocks, etc) it is just that the newer stuff does it much easier.

I will give you a quick snapshot of what I saw (spinning gear)

Reels:

-Shimano Saragosa (About 6000-8000 size) (Reel of choice for a guy that had been going for 20+ years)

-Ryobi/Penn Applause 8000 size (My reel, as well as the companion of the above guy)

-Okuma V System High-Speed model

-Saltiga Dogfight (!!!)

-Ryobi Safari

Rods:

-10' Okuma X-Factor. This caught a decent mackerel and the user lost several others. It looked like a good rod. It got a good test on a big YellowTail Kingfish and looked to have performed well.

-9' custom graphite rods. I am not sure of the blanks. The guy using these rods owns a camping and fishing store and is well-known to build rods, apparently. If you PM me I can send you details of which store if you want to chat to him. He is the same guy I mentioned above as having been going to Steep Point for 20 years.

Graphite rods don't have to cost a lot, either. I personally saw a 16kg Longtail Tuna caught on an $80 graphite rod (9', rated 6-14kg). I can give you details via PM, as well. There is a new rod that looked good, as well, when I was in the tackle store. I don't want to seem like a salesman, so if you want to know, reply and I can let you know.

I hope this is of some help.

PM sent

I believe you need to treat graphite to nice for a hard session on the rocks. Not to say you can't use it but you need to be careful with it. I've seen some snyderglas rods that have been to hell and back and are still going strong.

GO BLUES.