But have you looked at maps. Gives you an idea of the contour lines and areas that rise. When I am new to an area that is what I do, and at least you get a chance then.

Done this in Dampier, Exxy, Kalbarri, Perth waters years ago, and now Mandurah.

Hopefully someone will give you a direction, but probably not a point.

Neels

I have launched the dingy out of Canal Rocks a couple of times. I found it pretty barren, but then most places are when you don't know the area. After covering heaps of ground, both times I ended up south of Canal Rocks where there are a few cliffs and fished the contour lines a few k's out from there. We caught a few dhuies, no real size, but at least we got a feed. Plenty of fish get caugh close in between Canal Rocks and the Cape as well.

Most people seem to head out to the Coral Lumps. They are on all the charts, but probably more like 10 miles NW of the Cape.

If in doubt, get your chart out and look for where the contour lines are!!

Now that is not much, but that is all I got and probably as much as you will get!!

Thanks for your help guys, I will get my hands on a chart and start studying.

GDay Dasho,

I have been fishing from Cape nato a fair bit lately. Hit the 30's to 40's around the corner of the cape from dunsborough for your usual black bums and harlequin. Got some great size harlies here and they are obviously great to eat.  

Have fished the Coral lumps a fair bit and find it hit and miss. Plenty of Sambos and YTK's at different times of the year which make it a fun place to fish. I personally find it tough to find quality demersals there. Seems fished out.

Many boats fish on the grounds to the back of the lumps or in the 40m territory before the lumps. Trouble is- it stays 40-50m for 8 odd miles off the cape and like anywhere, you need to spend some time sounding around to find the good ground 

Been heading out to the early 100's lately directly west of the cape and at that depth been catching some stonker pinkies and some big black bums.

Struggling for Dhu's myself lately though so will be doing some solid sounding myself over the coming weeks.

Good luck mate!

Head north of the cape, read you chart and look for south west bank, north of Wright's bank. There is some heavy bottom on the east and west sides of it.

Straight out from Sugar loaf about 4 miles is a big lump that's pretty easy to find or keep going out to the Yallingup lumps but keep a close eye on the sounder because most of the fish are on small lumps or in holes that only show as hard bottom.

As stated before its pretty barren out in front of Canal until you get about 5-6 miles out

The ammount of boats fishing the new reef at easter time completely staggered me. I ended up fishing out deeper but the reports are that Sambo's had moved in and were just thick. Still trying to work out how to measure the catch for research purposes. 

Hi Dasho, i'll tell you right now that it is a hard area to find good bottom, made even harder that fact that there isnt the same level of Craypotting out there by Commericals like off Perth so you cant just 'ping' Pro Craypots :P

My advice is to make sure you have a good sounder. ALL my good Dhui grounds off Cape Naturaliste to Injidup are within 2-3 miles of the shore(to scared to go out further hahaha) and all of them have changes of depth no greater than 1m. What i look for is a change in the type of bottom which my sounder will read as a difference in density so sends a different colour and thickness of the bottom on my colour Furuno. So many of the bigger lumps are easily picked up by cheaper sounders or less observant fisherman and so are more readily fished. I hit the bigger lumps up from time to time but always do better on my 'flat' bottom areas, that are hard bottom flat reef. I guess there are lots of nooks, crevases, holes and ledges that the sounders cant pick up as they are so small and 'flat'. Just give it more time and more searching mate, you'll eventually find some good ones. I mean it took me 8 years of fishing off the Cape before i caught my First Legal Dhui!

Another way is if you ever pass a boat in the distance make a mental note of where he might be fishing and maybe next time your out if there is no one there go and have a sticky beak. *Please dont drive straight on top of another boat fishing a spot and mark where he is fishing on your GPS as i am sure you might have some verbal conflict to follow. In saying that alot of the locals down there are usually on the ball and if they see someone steaming straight towards them they will usually quickly move. Well i know i do if i see someone deadlining it towards me fast!  :O

Good luck mate and hopefully you have some fun being out there whatever your catching!

 I have a 4.1m tinny and canals is def my favourite spot there's ground around inj and ground between inji and wydup,I pretty much catch a feed every time I go out.theres ground I close to the boat ramp,have caught legal dhuis within 900 meters of ramp.goodluck

 I have a 4.1m tinny and canals is def my favourite spot there's ground around inj and ground between inji and wydup,I pretty much catch a feed every time I go out.theres ground I close to the boat ramp,have caught legal dhuis within 900 meters of ramp.goodluck

We launched from quindalup the other day and went strait out to the new artificial reef last week. Plenty biting there but not taking hook.

We didnt hang around for to long in one place as we had to be back in by lunch time.

If you look at your charts on your GPS there is a big horse shoe in the 30m contour. That had some good flare ups in that area and we pulled a few undersize pinkies and stuff from there.

We then headed out towards wrights bank. keep watching the sounder on the way out there as there was a few good flare ups and rises on the way that arnt marked on charts a few drifts around them for some more under size fish.

We moved out to a spot on the charts about 2m north west of wrights bank and pulled some good breaksea and plenty of good hookups and runs from there. Looked pretty good on the sounder but thats when we ran out of time.

33 28.925s  115 0.141e  North West of wright bank

33 31.993s  115 11.606e  Horseshoe

Thats the best i can help ya with. But if you start at them spots and sound around them areas you should be able to find something.

Good Luck

Was out there the other day just of wright bank. Found more ground the more we drifted in that area. Also south.
Oh to the bloke who came within 100m of my boat pinging ground I would advise if I see you again, there will be big pieces of lead coming your way

All good and well but if he comes wright upto you, sits in your drift line on purpose then I think its a bit rough. Plenty of ocean out there. Especially if he has been sitting a couple mile outside of you. A bit of etiquite goes a long way in my book IMO

Yes agreed, might go wider next time.

are you local? oh were you on holidays mate, i may be able to help you out

 Start working the ledges and contour lines mate. Pinkies and Nanny's are thick out there. Bloody well over Bagging out in the first drop. Use something oily like bonito strips or mullet. schools will sit 5-10 metres of the bottom and will look pretty thin this time of year. Another couple of months and we should get them schooling in mass triangles! 

if you dont get hit after a couple of drops out there move on and find another spot. Plenty of Great ground but can be hard work finding fish.

Thanks Jon. Will do