North Australian FISH FINDER forums

Thinking about shoal bay for the first time, any hints or things to watch out for would be a great help

Cheers

Be careful of the sandbars on a receding tide

The bay dries right out on most low tides, if you're prepared to spend the day out there find a decent hole with good snags and be prepared to be eaten alive by march flies, you gotta just keep casting as the barra wil often ignore everything thrown at them until they're good and ready to feed I've done hundreds of casts for nothing and then an hour or so before the incoming picked up half a dozen fish, keep an eye out for the first sign of water pushing into your hole (bahahaa) and make sure you're close to your boat as the fisrt push is pretty quick

You will need roughly 3.5-4m of water to get in and out off Buff ck. You can fishing it on the first push and get back to Buff in time, you won't need to spend the whole day there on a sand bank if you miss judge a deeper hole.

I'd fish the top the Hope Inlet or big Howard, given Shoal received 300mm+ of rain over Easter.

Just a tip, this is what happens when you don't find a deep hole in Hope Inlet before the water 'evaporates'. Mind you, still got onto some decent barra by streching the legs and flicking the holes on foot.

Go exploring too! There's a heap of skinny creeks you can push into. Landed most of my biggest barra in Shoal Bay flicking creeks in 0.5 - 2m of water with heavy snags.

How does the saying go – There are only two types of fishos in SWA, those who have been stranded and those who will

The basics - classics and bombers on the low around snags

Queasy wrote:Just a tip, this is what happens when you don't find a deep hole in Hope Inlet before the water 'evaporates'. Mind you, still got onto some decent barra by streching the legs and flicking the holes on foot.

Stranded.JPG

Done that a few times Queasy, hey thats my boat

Queasy wrote:Just a tip, this is what happens when you don't find a deep hole in Hope Inlet before the water 'evaporates'. Mind you, still got onto some decent barra by streching the legs and flicking the holes on foot.

Stranded.JPG

i no that spot




Full esky is a must on ya first few trips to

And if you go for a walk, watch out for snappin' handbags. And dont stray too far from your boat when that tide starts to come in. When it starts... it really does start

Keep em coming boys we know there is alot out there...

Lats wrote:And if you go for a walk, watch out for snappin' handbags.

On that day there were some other fishos, drinking heavily and standing waist deep in water flicking lures. Every now and again they'd get snagged and wade up to their necks to retrieve a lure. I've no idea why, fishing from the same spot after they'd given up I could hit the bank and snags on the other side with ease (they even left some barra for us). I know Shoal Bay isn't renowned for large numbers of big crocodiles, but still....

STANDY wrote: Done that a few times Queasy, hey thats my boat

And your photography work

Queasy wrote:

Lats wrote:And if you go for a walk, watch out for snappin' handbags.

Queasy wrote:On that day there were some other fishos, drinking heavily and standing waist deep in water flicking lures. Every now and again they'd get snagged and wade up to their necks to retrieve a lure. I've no idea why, fishing from the same spot after they'd given up I could hit the bank and snags on the other side with ease (they even left some barra for us). I know Shoal Bay isn't renowned for large numbers of big crocodiles, but still....

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Good luck to them I say. About 10 years ago way up the Little Howard I dried out on a big low. Went for a walk with a mate on a sand bank to catch bait with the throw net. 3-3.5m croc in a trap wasnt too happpy to see us. Plus I have seen smaller models in the subsequent trips and BIG ones up near blue holes/Gunn Point. It might not be renowned large numbers of big crocs but it only takes 1 to ruin your day and with the amount of food for them in there at times, they are there

Wadescott wrote:Thinking about shoal bay for the first time, any hints or things to watch out for would be a great help

Cheers

Don't go Wade - all silted up, much too dangerous, and no fish there anyways ..........