im up ther ein April too :) late april early may for me for 2 weeks!

Bets time of year weather wise...appparently.

Pretty shore Lighthouse bay is now a sancturary zone. You can fish off the beach but not in a boat. Would pay to get lastest info on different zones in Exmouth from fisheries. There are quite a few no fish areas now.

Lots of good spots in the gulf that arent too far out. Have a look at some of the shoals marked on a chart. Another good spot to take the kids in the boat would be inside the reef on the west side. Heaps of small trevs and snappers.

Will be there late april myself.  Good luck.

Thanks Seaguest,

                         Fisheries it is. how do you go, do you use a chart yourself or just go off your GPS, and if you think we need a chart where in Perth would you pick one up, only there for 10 days over School hoildays start of april hopeing the Weather stays Sweet for us. thanks again

you can't go wrong staying inside the reef, just watch the sanctuary zones and the tides if they are getting low. There's always small emperors over the reefy stuff and you'll see trevally on the flats. Plenty to keep the kids happy and there's plenty to see if they're game enough for a snorkel. Other options are some squid along the coast in the Gulf.
Good luck
Tim

launch your boat from tantas if you have a 4x4 as its a must there, along the inside of the reef you can get trevs , spanglies and other stuff . you can anchor and burley but there is a chance that will bring in sharks. if your going to go for a snorkle head down to the oyster stacks as it is nice and safe for the kids with plenty to see, torquise bay is also good from what i have been told but there is a bit of a current. for land based stuff there , take the kids down to learmonth jetty, you can get yellow fin bream , queenies and other fish there , nice and safe

Faulkner? tants ramp?

Ive seen pictures which doesnt look too bad??

interested to know what the ramp is actually like, am i going to have any issues putting my 26ft console in and out?

Cheers

You will have to pick your tides and make sure you come in whilst there is water level is up as the ramp becomes exposed on low tide and it a real hassle to get bigger boats out.

Last time i was there we took out our 21ft and came in on low tide onlyt because we had two 4x4. If you have two 4x4 available load the boat onto the trailer, make sure the car towing is on bog mats and attach a snatch stap to the other vehicle waiting at the top of the ramp and snatch the boat and car stright out. 

If you dont do it like this with the bigger boats you will run the risk of churning up the sand at the bottom of the ramp  and not only make it hard for yourself but for everyone else after you... There was F250's struggling to get out.

This method works for us... but essentially its just alot easier coming in on a higher tide.  

I am going up in April and will post some pic for you guys.... Actaully I think I may  have some from the last trip ... 

Theres a good chance you will have trouble bodie.

Monday 26th Apr 2010


1.06m @ 2:48 AM

2.29m @ 9:12 AM

0.92m @ 3:39 PM

2.15m @ 9:51 PM





Tuesday 27th Apr 2010


0.99m @ 3:37 AM

2.49m @ 9:55 AM

0.68m @ 4:30 PM

2.23m @ 10:45 PM

For example, I wouldn't be fishing tanta's these days with your boat.  Low tide in the arvo, hard work for a boat your size to be pulled out even with the bog mats.

Friday 7th May 2010


1.83m @ 4:44 AM

1.46m @ 9:56 AM

1.89m @ 4:12 PM

1.23m @ 11:16 PM





Saturday 8th May 2010


1.84m @ 6:11 AM

1.50m @ 12:15 PM

1.78m @ 6:04 PM

These tides a week and a bit later are much more favourable, as are earlier that week, will save you a lot of hassle. Rule of thumb, especially for bigger boats and mainly fibreglassed is an hour and half either side of high tide, pushed to 2-2.5 depending on the tide height.  Also look for 1.5m of water (tide) but that varies as well.

Always plenty of fish Irish Broome, inside the reef is good for the kids, but going to the murions will be fine in your boat if you pick your days, really good fishing over there.

Cheers,

Adam

Launching and retrieving on higher tides will be a piece of cake, the car will still be on the cement. Retrieving on the lowest low tides however can be pretty tricky. My boat is only 4.3m and I've had to lay down the bog mats before, not always though. Most bigger boats will run out of water depth before they even get to the ramp if you leave your run home too late. If you want to launch bigger boats at Tanta's you just have to be prepared to work around the tides, simple as that.

Bodie you will have to check the tides as we have had to push our trailer out approx 20mtr and then winch it on by hand then bring the car down quickly and drop it on the hitch then get out of there. this was a 5 mtr boat & a one off as we were green to the area. it was also the lowest i have ever seen the area. i always try to arrange my trips with the high tide in the afternoon.

Is the water at the end of the ramp deep?

With my trailer i can actually keep it a fair way otu of the water and still manage to push the boat up.

Or if the water levels are low are you still on sand anyway?

I spose at the end of the day if the water is too low, can just anchor up and wait yeah?

I've got a 7.5m ali boat and have been caught out a few times at tanta,s. Had to wait for the tide to come in. Coming in on a high tide sux because thats when you really want to be fishing.

Now I have a heavy duty car winch on my boat trailer with an extra long winch strap. Use the winch to drag the boat over the shallow sand. By doing this and keeping the trailer as dry as possible I have been able to lauch and retreive in low tides. Always helps to have a second 4x4 as well.

Good luck Brodie. Will problable see you up there. I'm heading up on the 23rd of April for 2 weeks.

get got 2 4WD's how ever there is no way im winching my glass boat over the sand and no way i would be able to either :)

But saying that, if you fish to high tide, then come back in on the out going shouldnt be too much of an issue? (unless your at the 2nd half of the out going tide)

These tides seem better

Fri 30

0015 2.28
0535 0.90
1149 2.75
1835 0.41

Sat 1

0053 2.25
0609 0.91
1224 2.72
1912 0.46

Sun 2

0128 2.19
0642 0.95
1258 2.64
1945 0.55

when we onced stayed at yardie homestead there was an 8 or 9 mtr cat which was going out from tantabiddi and they would just go fishinng to suit the tides. some days they would get back and leave the boat on anchor and go and retrieve it at night once the tide was high enough, or even come back at night. i was actually at exmouth yesterday for work (didnt have any time for fishing) and managed to pick up the actual tide chart for tandabiddi 2010 as im going there in march. can forward you a copy if you want.

when retrieving your boat i would just make sure that your trailer is on the bog mats and wouldnt put your car off the ramp if you dont have a 4wd. take the time to get the bog matts right otherwise you will have to push the boat of the trailer and set it up again if not on the matts. i have had to this before. i have also smelt some burnt clutches there as once the sand wraps around your trailer wheels if not on the bog mats it takes some grunt to get it moving with the boat on.  

Is there an issue with using engines to assist (im assuming there is) looking at the pics of the place

Is there any truth to the rumour that Tantabiddy is getting a ramp upgrade?? If so when? From what I can gather Bundegi has already been done and it makes launching a lot easier for bigger boats, but Tanta's is still a smaller boat/tide related launching ramp. I have a 22ft glass boat and I wouldn't even entertain the idea. In saying that I'm fairly green to the Tantabiddy ramp except for launching small tinnies there. I would be keen to know.

where is the Bundegi ramp?

I'm sure others will be able to describe it better, it is obviously at Bundegi, to the uninitiated, it is almost at the top of the cape, but instead of turning left to head towards the Lighthouse caravan park keep going until you see the Bundegi turnoff. I must reuterate that I have not launched there and don't know how easy it would be for large glass boats. Myself personally, I would launch at the marina and fish the deep water at the back of the Murions and the Peak Island areas. I think as long as you've got range, you'll get into some great fish. Being someone who has a lot of respect for the preservation of my boat, this is what I'd do. If you are with someone who has plenty of knowledge of the area, maybe trust them. Also I'm sure others from this forum will point you in the right direction.

Bundegi ramp is near the navy pier. Launching from here I think is roughly 10kms shorter to reach the murions than the marina.

with a boat the size of yours, if I was heading to the Murions and beyond I'd launch at the marina. Bundegi is a nightmare for line ups on nice days, we've waited over an hour just to retrieve. It's a single lane ramp and a bit of chaos with some people trying to pull out who don't really have much idea. If you're doing 50nm plus in a day, a few more to run from the nice town ramp isn't going to make much of a difference.
You definitely see the best and worst of boat handling and ettiquite at the Bundegi and Tanta's ramps in April-July.

are either tantas or Bundegi able to drive on trailer??

Put out a few feelers to see if i can snare a mooring for the couple of weeks we are up there, see how we go on that front

Bundegi you can drive on no probs, Tantas maybe depending on tides but if you do you might tick off others waiting behind you to retrieve as well.

was thinking that myself,

But from some reading Ive done people seem to get more annoyed by having to wait!!!
winching my boat takes some time....heavy thing it is.

Cheers

Bodie

Tanda's tide and how deep the launch hole is will detemine the capability to drive on the trailer, in most cases excluding high your up against it with a 26foot'r!

Bodie we aways drive our boats on at tantabiddi when there is enough depth. i have hired the 6.5 mtr boat in town and my mate has a 6.7 mtr mantaray in which we drive on. the thing i have always found at tantabiddi is that you have to be quick like one person backs the car down, the other sorts out the bog matts, while the skipper stays in the boat ready to drive the boat straight on the trailer when its deep enough. we always keep the driver of the car in the car so as soon as we secure the boat he just drives straight up of the ramp. the other advantage of driving on is that you dont have to struggle to keep your boat of the shore if the southerly is blowing hard.  

With a boat your size just launch at the marina. By the time you drive to Bundegi and stuff around waiting to launch it is quicker from the marina, its an easy run to the Murions and if you want to target billfish drop your lures in out from lighthouse c/v park and work down to Tantabibbi.Saves all the hassles and gets you fishing quicker.

last year i drove my 6.7m on the trailer almost everyday, even on some of the lowish tides, just a matter of making sure the trailer is in the water enough and being quick in and out.