shark shield 1m above top hook

Just spent a couple of weeks in CB and the sharks were unbelievable.  Sharks were taking the fish at the top of the water colum, sharks were taking everything seconds after hooking up.  Impossible to jig (had to be skull drag everything with max heavy gear).  gone are the days of bringing up a head now its just taken whole.  not one head recovered.  eeverything bitten off whole.  

We fished shallower areas 60-80m ...Sharks were all over us.  we fished deeper areas for gold band ......sharks were all over us.  guys we spoke with fished 250m for rubys....sharks were all over them.  one guy said he got so pissed off he put down the electric deep drop 100lb rig with wire and a huge hook something took it ...couldn't retrieve any line and ended up loosing everything.

Only thing I can say is find new ground and once the sharks are there move and don't go back for at least a couple of weeks.  

Cobia seem to be the only thing sharks were not taking and we got plenty.  

 sounds like it is getting like exmouth, waste of time bottom bashing there and only go now for the game fishing. Hope coral bay isn't going to end up the same 

Well, there goes my plan to try and get up there this year ! Bring back the jap shark boats, that might clean some of the bastards out.

 Thank mate its getting out of control. Just need to find a way yo get past them

 worst its been in over 10 years and will continue to get worse as they breed

we all need to get off our butts and write individual letters/ emails to the minster for fisheries, im sending mine off tonight

Minister for Water; Fisheries; Forestry; Innovation and ICT; Science

8th Floor, Dumas House 
2 Havelock Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005 

Phone: +61 8  6552-6100  /   Fax: (08) 6552-6101 
e-Mail: Minister.Kelly@dpc.wa.gov.au

 Don't skull drag it fires up the sharks.

Hook the fish and hold them just off the bottom until you drift away from the area then slowly retrieve.

This will work more times than it doesn't.

 Wont the sharks follow??

 And this isn't a new thing. back in the late 80's we were fishing Ningaloo, where we fish now, and, if you went back to the same area several days running, they would definitely build up. One of those spots, which we used to call the corner store, is now renamed Sharknado--just impossible to fish. Great structure, the fish are still there, but you just can't get anything past them. Same thing happened off karratha--all the hotspots had real shark problems in the nineties, get away to a lightly fished area and problem largely gone.  I've seen this behaviour for decades, now, both fishing and crayfishing--when crayfishing, they would stack up in huge numbers on popular edges during the whites, waiting for unused bait to be discarded.

So, as someone above said, you need to work away from the mob and the popular spots, to give yourself a chance. sad that it has come to this. One reason we troll offshore for bills more nowadays up there--our only losses have been a couple of sails that were hooked in the sort of depths they are thick, and the ground heavily trolled for mackerel and fished for demersals.

We don't personally have shark issues even fishing 14 lines at a time. I think we lost 1 fish to sharks all of last week. My tips to help. Fish smaller shows, you will get better fish cause unlikely to have been hammered and always less sharks than big shows. I know it's easy for us to say but try not to fish the same spot over and over, if we pull good umbers off a spot I will try not to fish it again for a year or two. Get fish off the bottom strait away, I know it takes the sport out of it a bit but the winches we use get the fish off the bottom and into the boat quicker. IMO this is the main reason we don't have shark issues. If you get sharked more than once move. I know it's hard to do ityou can see a good show and hooking good fish but once they get stirred up that's it.

In saying this, I do agree the sharks have gotten worse. My list of spots not to bother fishing because of them is getting bigger and obviously every second boat complaining about them can not be wrong. But the problem is simple. More boats than ever catching fish and less than ever (none) catching sharks. And the fact that most people take 10 good fish to get their bag of 5 because of them is only making the problem worse. Not sure if catching the sharks will fix the problem but don't worry if they decide that's what we need to do don't worry, I have no issue with it and will be the first to put my hand up to do it, already got a plotter full of shark infested spots ready to go.

 I went out yesterday and copped it from the sharks. We had no trouble with them taking rankin and cobia as we got plenty of them but reds were a different story.

We only got two reds. 600 and 630 but lots of times we lost fish that we were calling as reds. One that I did get had a shark chasing it near the surface and I had to give a big heave on the rod to get it away from it right at the boat. When I was cleaning it I noticed two 15mm nicks at the base of it's tail so I got a bit lucky I think.

Still pretty happy to be be here.

 Been fishing at Coral Bay 12 years running. Usually 5 weeks twice yearly. 

This year the shark problem is really bad. Not only in number but in size. Getting a decent red to the boat is almost impossible. 

The quantity of equipment being lost is really staggering. 

In my limited experience the shark problem here is increasing yearly. 10-12 years ago seeing a large shark was not that common. Now it is rare not to see many on a daily basis. Yesterday a 9-10 foot bull shark chased a spangled emperor right to the boat and actually leapt at the remains right at the boat side. 

One group here for two weeks assured me they had lost 80 sinkers to sharks during their stay. One of my friends lost or damaged 30 terminal rigs and every 24oz sinker he brought up. 

It’s still a beautiful place. 

 If you are coming up here bring a truckload of hooks and sinkers, you will need them.

can anyone recommend what size sinkers to use up there. 60 metres is probably deepest I will fish in. Obviously depending on conditions but I was thinking 8 - 12 oz? 

 We tend to use 16 oz mostly going down to 12 oz in really good conditions. That is using 50 lb braid.

 Same as Crano, try to stick to around 10 depending on drift and wind.

 Ok cool thanks fellas 

 On our way home from coral bay right now. Bring a shitload of sinkers if you want to fish under 100mts...