Beating us up by 50 odd days! Please don't leave a mess :-P

I posted a thread on the exact same topic a few months back. Please update the thread when you come back as I am extremely keen to see how you go.

 Please use circle hooks. Mustad tainawa hooks are the go. Light and very few gut hooks. There are lots of small snapper and  gut hook ups are high if you use normal hooks. Big baits are the go I would reccomend mullet or our favourite bait is half butterfish which are plentiful and easily caught over the weed banks. Fishing around 2 hours up to high tide is the best. If you dont use big baits you will catch small snapper one after the other. Big baits let the small one pick at it and then a bigger one will come in and smash it. If your keen you can catch mullaway in the warmer months at night in the main channel, they are in big schools and come through around high tide. They are usually large fish around 10-15kgs minimun, they love whole butterfish.  Just remember possesion limmit is 5kgs of fillets per person at tea tree.

 Been there several times before, usually in September. First time we have been in first half of year. Good spot if it isn't windy, but, if it does get windy , is definitely more sheltered than most spots in the Bay.Tinny is all you need, uless you want to really explore further north or around in the other gulf.

 Will do swompa. Will be a report debrief. Don't stress were used to camping Warra and all rubbish leaves with us :) 

Cheers cruzy111. Yeh mainly fish with circles and much better on snapper IMO. Plan was to anchor in the channel west tea tree and try my luck. Is there much ground north of here? Looks a gravel shoal about 2nm NW on navionics? 

Ranmar850. U normally stay east or west (tip) camp? 

 Beware the new possession limits.  Check the fisheries page for more detail.  I am 99% sure possession limit in that area is 5kg per person.

 Tag lottery no more. been replaced with freycinet management zone. Randall u are spot on. 5kgs fillets or one days bag limit. Applies all fish. Not just snapper (of which u r allowed 2 per fisher per day)

read a heap about tamala through the forum but most is about prickly pt camp sites etc. Heaps of good info tho and YouTube shows a bit about the depuch loop. After info specifically about fishing or spearing nr tea tree if anyone has any ? 

Cheers

Harman
used to venture up there a bit to shark bay and tamala in june -aug
I have had good results from around mary anne island , baudin and the back of salutation
both launching from the tamala end and nanga station beach

I used a 3.9 metre tinnie back in the early 90s there , take plenty of fuel and watch the wind as the bay can get rugged , especially a southerly
we used to wait until the easterly had died off about mid morning often and then head south , or north depending on our launch site as the water glassed off

hooked a lot of good fish in the deeper trenches , unweighted big baits drifted way out from the boat , whiting/small lizards where our bait of choice & mulies

night time will have fish come into the beaches & channels as mentioned , or boat fish out on the mud flats for pinkys and mulloway

look out if it rains at all as the track in across from tamala can get wet/muddy quite quickly , in april though you should be ok

hezzy

 Hi guys heading to the station in April with a school group to do some kayaking. From your past experiences what tides have you used and and correction for the area.

Cheers 

 Nearest tidal station is Useless Loop, to my knowledge. About 22 nm further north. I actually have a specific question about that on here at the moment, no replies yet.  Mary Anne Island is now a sancturary , with an exclusion zone of 1 (?) km radius.

and others for the info. much appreciated.

Yeh ranmar850 is right - MA Isl. is now a sanctuary. 1.2km square radius.

Will pick up whiting for bait, and fish the depuch channel for mullas / pinkies. Might head further astray if weather ok.

yeh , id fogotten about the ''new 'sanctuary zone on mary anne

used to be one of our best spots on the deeper gutters eastern side for big pinkys

still leaves lots of ground to hunt though & all do able in a tinnie if you are mindfull of the wind

hezzy

 Mary island thanks for that.

 Just back from a week up there--I had earlier posted asking if anyone had any firm info on tides time differences to Useless Loop, which is the closest tidal station. Answer is, maybe an hour later than that, but HUGELY affected by local conditions. We were meant to have low morning high evening getting later, but the wind really threw that out. Two days of a screaming SSE-SE just saw the water disappear all day, and even the next morning , when it had gone around to the east, water was very low. The wind then went around to gentle NE, then N, and the water was flooding in, high in the morning and getting higher. In fact , on the Friday the tide was actually going out in the afternoon, but the water level at the camp just kept rising  

if you can find a school in the day and their only small go back at night and they turn into big ones.a single circle 4 or 5 fluoro beads then a spoon sinker as a running rig works pretty well.and as said they love big butterfish baits

 We did some sunset sessions which were always good. Certainly had no trouble getting our new bag limit. Lots of fish around 50 cm, be careful. I do a very careful 51 if I intend to keep them. Caught a few size baldies which are always a good challenge in skinny water. My wife had our one good chance at a big fish, middle of the day which was fairly boiling the shallow water around the boat before it got around the anchor rope. 20lb leader pinged.We tend to fish light as most of our fishing up there is with small SP's during daylight. We would rarely fish more than 2 metres of water. We did try in the main channel first afternoon late, absolutely murdered by tiny pinkies, they were so thick I couldn't catch a buttery on a baitchaser for a big bait. Big fish are certainly around. Certainly better snapper fishing than Kalbarri. Some caravanners near us were dinghy fishing in the evening not far away, saw a frame of a good 80 cm fish left at low tide. I wish they'd take their frames out and dump them well away from camp, most do.

swompa

if your fishing at night , look for the trenches with mud bottom
mulloway and bigger pinkies love to come out and play at night

hezzy

 You will certainly catch fish from the yak close to camp, I caught one 55 cm in the lee of the point in a fresh southerly from my hobie. Also caught some just trolling a SP behind the yak across sandy bottom, good fun.

We'll have to get serious one year and chase big fish, we just go there to have fun. Fish light during the day and have double and triple hookups when you find them.

This trip for us is purely to see what it is like. I have thrown a heap of new stuff into the camper (water tanks, batteries) from our last free camping trip though this will be our first where were are entirely self sufficient (well no shop within 30km)

Looking forward to forced relaxation and hoping the weather plays ball!

also remember there is no maximum size in shark bay region for pinkeys now as of approx. 6-8 weeks ago

 There is now a tank on a stand by the track just 1.5 k from the west end of Tea Tree. Water is tinged a little green, but is fine for washing and bathing, feels quite soft. A mate camped right up the east end, as he had a couple of dogs and wanted to avoid trouble-very sheltred from E and SE, but the bay is very shallow. Campsites scattered all the way from where he was to the point area where we were.

 he has a couple of heelers which aer a bit, ahem, unsociable. Kept on leads when other dogs and people are around. There was a dog in one of the caravans near the point. Easier for him to keep away so the dogs didn't have to be on the leads at all times, that's all.