Wow. Just have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread! Really interesting to learn how you guys fish! Must have been quite a treat to reel in that rainbow looking fish a few pages back.

This is a very cool thread. This whole experience looks very hardcore. Makes my bridge gaff setup look like a children's toy! Then again, I'm really just a kid in man's body!:rotf2:

really enjoying this thread Stax and Marc.....I must say that looks like fun.....

Its been a pleasure showing you all these pic's :)

Its also been great looking through this website , i would love to head over your ways someday.

Hopefully one day we may see youz down under or even at Steep point.

Steep point has been called the best land based game in the world with fish from spanish/shark mackeral to tuna, sailfish , big travally , and many more species.

The only problem you may have it getting there, you can only acsess steep point by 4wd and you have to take everything you need to survive like food, water.
There are no shops or doctors or showers for 3-4 hours its pretty remote, there is no power there so you have to take generators.

We take up a freezer on a trailer with generator to run it.

Its a great way to get away from the city for a week and not hear whats going on in the world, so relaxing fishing day and night for a week strait.

I have a few more pics i will post up for ya's ;)

Thanks! :cheers: Sick pix

absolutely insane.....beautiful scenery too :cheers:

Marc,
What you and Stax have shown us, and told us, it sounds like paridise.. taking a trailer, generator, and a 4X4 out there for 3 days,.. how great that must be! Reminds me in a different way of my days with the camper on the beaches here for 3 days at a clip...I hope a piping plover never lands in the midst of where you like to go and fish, and some special interest group trys to stop it for you nice folks.
Thanks for sharing that with us, Beautiful country and fish!.

Thanks Karl :)
It sure is a lovley spot, on some days iv even see whale sharks swim by like the pic stax put up of the whales. Manta rays and HUGE turtles aswell.
My biggest fear is that one day they will put a sealed road all the way to steep point and then power then shops etc then it will be to commercial.

Its a great retreat and only serious fisherman there that know how to fish.

Only problem is that it gets really hot up there but you can allways head down the beach for a dip. Just got to look out for sharks , sea snakes etc

While we are fishing we get these little guys watchin us!

They are everywhere up there.

This one refused to get off my hand even when i put my hand out and pushed it off, it then tryed to climb back on my hand

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/2864/1ws5.jpg

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/8995/2sk5.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4306/5ox5.jpg

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/9741/6rn7.jpg

Fresh bait?

Deep water
 

Stax, the water along the cliffs there looks mighty deep. I can't even imagine being able to catch fish like that from shore. Do you ever get tuna from those areas? Water that deep must draw them in nice and close at times. Thanks for sharing your fishing hole with us here in the States.:happy:

Do we get Tuna?

Yes we get Tuna, sometimes as they boil the water chasing the bait fish they can cover huge areas of water. And I seen 50lb's caught on a number of occasions. Yellowfin, Bonito, Striped and the odd Bluefin.
There are times that you actually give up trying to catch them as your arms are ready to fall off! I think about 16 in one hour is my record, with all 16 being returned. Great fun but these were only 5-8lb's. The monsters are a little harder to get up the cliff without using the cliff gaff.

Stax

Definitely cool ... maybe you should tie a rope to your automobile and repel down the cliff to that rock shelf that is below on the ovens ... then you can cast a spook, pencil popper or whatever :jester:

Thanks for sharing, my father has family from Perth ... my grandfather was a dentist for the allied forces in WWII stationed in Europe, he came from the Perth area, and my father has duel citizenship as a result ... never been there, but will have to make it a family retreat ... hope the wife won't mind the search for family members out on steep cliff :laugha: May have to spend a week, or two, there looking ... just in case one happens to stroll by ... you know ... and then of course, catching fish to feed the family in the process ...

Hi Finaddict :)

Yep Perth is a lovley City and pretty safe and clean. Lots of thinks to do and really nice beaches and wildlife.

Steep point is acually about 13 hours drive north from Perth though.

Its at a place called Shark bay.
Here is a map of the state and a zoomed on map of shark bay
http://i12.tinypic.com/2eb7nzl.jpg

http://i14.tinypic.com/434orrd.gif

Most western part of Australia

Tailor and Stax

Awesome, I guess no trip to Australia would be complete without a visit to THE CLIFF. I sense a need for a new DVD "Steep Cliff IS Wild". I see some boats in some of the shots, are the cliffs approachable by boat so that a diver might get some footage of what's going by --- with full respect to the anglers up top?

I believe Michael Folkes did a well-deserved tribute to your extreme form of surf/cliff fishing…the only thing missing was an element of underwater footage showing some of the fantastic pelagic fish that swing by the point.

I’ve been fortunate enough to make it a point to hit the extreme ends of a number of islands including Bermuda, Walker’s Cay, Bimini, Key West, Midway Atoll, Japan, Siberia, but my dive off the cliffs at the southern end of the big island of Hawaii came closest to what you guys are doing. They get plagued by tiger sharks there…are they the predominant shark pest in your area?

I feel a road trip coming on. Very cool website BTW.

Mike

If any members of this forum register on the "Steep Point" forum and get message saying that they can't join please PM me and I'll get it sorted out. Our forum has had a lot of problems with people setting up bogus accounts for spam and advertising.

Fish Eye
Yes I have seen a few divers at the base of the cliffs, not my idea of a good time, but there are some great caves and holes under these cliffs with plenty of Crayfish.
In regards to the common sharks in the area, there are two predominant types.
The Bronze Whalers, huge monsters up to 400lb and the Black Tip Reef Sharks, they are much smaller only 20-40lb. There have been reports of Great Whites and I am sure they have cruiser past on many occasions. It’s the Sailfish and Marlin that can make this place unique as both have been hooked from the cliffs. Not too many Marlins landed though!
As you saw, Tailor Marc caught a beauty sailfish from the rocks. A very hard catch indeed.
When the seas are calm the water can be clear and blue with fantastic visibility letting you see the natural world swim past. Dolphins, Whales, Turtles, Manta Rays, Huge Schools of Narrow banded Mackerel, Tuna fish in plague numbers, 15 feet long Bronze Whaler Sharks (we call these Sharks “Noah’s”) picking off anything that’s a bit too slow,
Garfish (I think that’s what they are called in the US) 5 feet long and weighing in at 8-10lb’s (Long Toms here). The list keeps going on.

Watching a 30-40lb Narrow banded Mackerel that you’ve taken 3 hours to hook getting chased by a monster brown shape and knowing that you’ll lose to these buggers every time. Catching a fish head is common. Mind you it is a sight to see and it’s still worth the watch.

I travel the 1200 mile trip as often as possible, or as often the wife lets me anyway. I feel like I’m home whenever I return to Steep Point. It’s truly a hidden Jewel.

Stax

Nice pictures. One of the best threads going so far. TCTFN possible site?

So jealous!!! :crying: :drool:
But very happy to see you guys having a time of your life... :bounce: :cheers:
Atleast we all here in the States can live off of you guys.. Thank you for all the Great Pixs!!!! Keep them coming please... Winter is long here... :beat: :wave:

Yep there are some bloody HUGE sharks! Iv seen with my own eyes 15ft+ tiger sharks cruising the surface on the cliff edge vurtually on its side lookin up at ya waiting for one of us to fall in. It was such a concern last time the my uncle who is in the "Tactical responce group" Very similer to your S.W.A.T rigged up a special rope with a set up so it you fell in you would swim over to the rope and attach it to ya and you could be winched up. This was all because there was a monster tiger shark hangin around smashing any fish we were trying to gaff and if any of us fell in while gaffing then we would be lunch.

Here are some pics to give you and idea on how close to the cliff you camp

This pic is of the toilet, we camp to the left or right of it
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4...dtoiletks7.jpg

This next pic is lookin from the cliff edge to the camp site, you can see there is a big hill in the behing the campsite
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/860...inatcamxl4.jpg

This next pic is lookin from the top of that hill at 5.00am i the morning
Lovely site to wake up to
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/1...dcliffsmn3.jpg

Mates (if I may use that term) this thread is awsome.

As you say I hope that they don't put a sealed road out there. Over here there would be a host of companies that would try to put a sealed road out there to reap the profits and ruin it as well. Either that or the special interest groups here would find some obscure reason to shut the area down.

Do fisherman do a good job of making sure they or others don't leave trash in the area? Over here we have some, not many but they ruin it for the rest, that feel its ok to just leave there trash on the land where they fish and it starts to ruin the enviroment. Hopefully that does nto happen there.

Please keep the pictures and posts coming. I've already bookmarked your site and wish I could someday get over there to fish that way.

Thanks

Best thread in YEARS...Hey Flap, I think we gotta get the Magazine to send us on a shoot.

I'm kicking myself for not going to perth when I was over there a couple years ago. Chit, that looks amazing.

Do you get baramundi on that side? I did more spear fishing than anything else but I remember on frasier island they were as popular as striped bass are here.

This is a great post! Thanks again for sharing!

:claps: Great pictures - I enjoyed them all. Thanks also for converting from metric for us who are a little slow!

I agree with this being probably one of the greatest posts ever. You guys have made me sick with envy. Thank you ever so much for sharing your pics and stories. Your website seems to have a good bunch of dedicated fisherman also.

I did have one question for you though... have you seen or heard about anyone actually taking a fall??

Hi outnumberd!

Yep we all that head up there do our best to keep ther area clean and never discard old fishing line into the water. Steep point isnt really a place most people from W.A can just decide to go see and head there.
This is a spot that you would mainly head there with someone who has been before because it is a place so remote and you cant afford to break down or forget basic nessesitys like enough water etc.
So if your heading there with someone whos been before he will give you the rundown on keeping the place clean and tidy.

Infact on the Saturday or sunday that we leave we do a complete walk around the cliff and pick up all rubbish like drink cans etc left on the rocks.
Im pretty sure most people who go there do the same aswell because we all know this place need to be looked after and cared for.

My Family has been going to Steep point since the 60's just about every year:kewl:

Yes , im not sure if it was a rumor but the person who told me is a gunuine bloke.

There is a location called False entrance only a hour away and can be just as good fishing but not as much room to fish and there is a ledge below. Its about the same hight as steep point and apparently he fell while gaffing and smashed into the ledge below then got washed in, he then swam back onto the ledge where he layed waiting for help.

It took about 3 hours of laying there with broken ribs and lots of fractures without any morphine because the nearest helicopter is at a town called Dehnem * see map of sharkbay i posted a few posts above*.
It took that long because there was no phone coverage at false or
steep point and after the long drive to the rangers etc.

I have seen people jumping from steep points lower cliffs on a 46 degrie day but you wouldnt catch me doing that.

There has been people die up at the point over there years but i dont know the storys

A few years ago, a large group, know as “the scroungers” visited Steep Point with there normal group of 15 people. They stay for about 8-10 days. They arrived at Steep Point and set up camp near the Ovens. There prized possession for this trip was the 75 cartons of beer that they had brought with them. That’s 1800 cans of beer. One whole trailer carried just beer, wine and spirits. 100 cans had already been drunk on the trip up.
Anyway on the 3rd or 4th day, late into the evening, it was totally dark, one of the fisherman caught a large Mullaway. Whilst trying to gaff this fish the gaff-man, who was not in good shape having consumed a large amount of the beer, fell in. All hell broke loose. Being a large group helped at this point as many torches shone over the cliffs edge keeping the gaff-man in sight. Many ropes were thrown at the floundering gaff-man and eventually he was able to grab one. Being slightly more sober now than only a few minutes earlier he was able to secure the rope around himself. We 14 people now slowly hauling the hapless gaff-man up the cliff face it would still have been a scary place to be, both for the gaff-man in complete darkness and his 14 mates panicking about their mate’s safety. As the gaff-man made his way to the cliffs edge, about 30 feet above the water, he was only able to extend one hand to his now hero mates. Over the edge he came, totally bewildered as to what all the fuss was about. His group of mates were looking at the drowned gaff-man there was total quite. The gaff-man still had the large Mullaway under his arm. He had not let it go and for some reason was not at all shaken up.
The following day the gaff-man realized what had happened the night before and was a bit of a recluse for the rest of this trip.

This is probably the best of the worst tales from Steep Point; however there are I believe two deaths directly related to Steep Point over a very long period of time.

These cliffs are dangerous for the careless fisherman, or drunken fisherman, but with a little bit of care and constant attention you should be OK. Most people do have some sort of a recovery plan to get someone out of the water, but it is not an easy task.

Stax

This is the track going in. There is about 35 miles of track like this, most of it is easy in a modern 4x4.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8514/trackgo0.jpg

Now this is a Shark! 40 feet long...

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5291/shark1ae9.jpg

And a Manta Ray with 15 foot wing span

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5097/rayez9.jpg

Stax