Dirk Hartog Island lies north of Steep Point, forming part of a north-south land barrier that creates Shark Bay.

The island is serviced by an airstrip and a single-car ferry across South West Passage.

Vehicle numbers on the island are capped.

The island has a homestead, six camping areas and limited upmarket accommodation.

At Dirk Hartog you must be self-sufficient. There is no drinking water.

Self-recovery is the only way if travelling alone and a satellite phone is a good idea.

The Overlander roadhouse 200km south of Carnarvon is the last fuel stop before heading to Steep Point.

It is about 41km to the turn-off to Useless Loop, then 170km to Steep Point. The barge picks you up from Shelter Bay in the morning.

Visit www.dirkhartogisland.com for more information.

How to fish Dirk Hartog

Depending on conditions, there is excellent fishing for everything from spanish flag to pink snapper, with huge popper-smashing tailor and spanish mackerel.

Urchin Point, 5km south of Cape Inscription, is a good platform in the right conditions.

It is a shallow reef with a rocky outcrop. There is a shack 30m from the beach.

Turtle Bay is beneath the lighthouse at Cape Inscription. The bay is accessed via a steep track that winds down loose sandy cliffs to a sheltered beach interspersed with reefs. There are countless fish.

Fishing with bait from the beach usually results in a feed of fish.

The Aquarium is about 20 minutes from Urchin Point via a track through tight scrub over some sharp rocks and diff-banging ledges. Expect reef fish and snapper to 6kg+.

Best results here are achieved drifting pillies down the cliff edges.

50 Cent Reef is a shallow reef washed by huge waves. Casting soft plastics produces smaller tailor and unstoppable runs by unseen bigger fish in water less than 1m deep.

Any of the island’s beaches can produce fish, especially those ending at headlands. The shallow bays inside the island have blue swimmer crabs.

Bait & Tackle

Take a cliff gaff and heaps of terminal tackle.

Take poppers and wire traces.

You’ll need long-life baits or frozen pillies if you have a freezer.

High-speed spinning reels on 3m rods are good for slugs and poppers, with longer rods for bait fishing the surf. Take a 15kg outfit for ballooning for pelagic species.

Shark Bay tides
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Spectacular Round Hill Head near Agnes Water and the town of 1770 have great fishing for landbased and boating anglers.

The area has a mix of tropical and sub-tropical species.

Beach fishing produces dart, permit, bream, tarwhine, mackerel, sharks, summer and winter whiting, and dusky, sand and bartail flathead.

Blue salmon, tailor, steelback and jewfish are also caught.

It is a relatively short walk from the carpark to the best rock platforms.

The rocks produce spanish and spotted mackerel, mack tuna, giant herring, golden and giant trevally, cobia, queenfish, jewfish kingfish and tailor.

Offshore, coral trout, sweetlip, emperor, snapper and cod abound – best in late spring/early summer.

The 1770 public ramp is useable on all tides for small boats, but half tide up is best for big boats.

National parks in this region have tidal creek fishing for barramundi, mangrove jacks and bread-and-butter species.

To reach Eurimbula National Park and Eurimbula Creek, drive out of Agnes Water along Round Hill Road for 10km and turn at the sign. A 14km track leads to Bustard Bay camping area at Eurimbula Creek mouth.

The track is sandy in places but standard vehicles with high clearance usually get through.

There are toilets and water at the camping area.

Eurimbula Creek is a crab sanctuary. It is OK for bank-launched cartopper dinghies but is not navigable at low tide.

Middle Creek is reached via a turn-off 6km from Round Hill Rd (9km before the Bustard Bay camping area).

The 4WD track is 12km, slow and impassable after heavy rain.

Deepwater National Park offers 4WD access to the coast, from Agnes Water drive south along Springs Road, turning on to Rocky Point Road.

The turn-off to Deepwater National Park is 1km down on the right and then another 2.5km by 4WD to the park. Tracks to the left give access to the beach, but before negotiating the steep drive down, check the track on foot.

Flat Rock is a long shelf along the beach that produces reef and beach fish.

Middle Rock has basic camping without facilities.

Wreck Rocks has camp sites, shower, toilets and water and is accessible from the south by sealed road.

Camping areas are popular in the holiday season with sites booked months ahead.

Town of 1770 region fishing GPS marks

It is about 32 nautical miles to the Great Barrier Reef and Lady Musgrave Island, where there is a large, safe anchorage.

It is about 45 nautical miles to Lady Elliot Island (a green zone).

Places of interest to fishermen and/or divers…

*Pinnacle at 24 06.794S 152 22.029E (26nm).
*Mackerel over contours at 24 06.511S 152 03.073E (10nm west) and 23 58.515S 152 01.818E (14nm n-w).
*The Wides 23 49.940S 152 00.497E and 23 50.624S 151 58.756E (20nm north)
*Boult Reef 23 44 100S 152 15.135E
*Lamont Reef 23 36.490S 152 00.970E
*Fitzroy Reef boat entrance 23 36.445S 152 09.440E
*Fitzroy inner shoal 23 42.787S 152 03.058E
*Banana Gutter 24 06.880E 152 11.100E
*18-Mile 24 07.630S 152 12.790E
*Mackerel Shoal 14.5nm s-e 24 15.999S 152 06.925E

*The Cetacea and Tranquility wrecks are just 7nm off Round Hill Head. See the North Australan FISH FINDER book for more wrecks.

Town of 1770 tides
Town of 1770 coastline
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Australia’s biggest barramundi are caught in Queensland’s stocked impoundments, but NT and WA wild waterways also produce 120cm+ fish regularly.

A history of line-class records show that Queensland’s Tinaroo, Monduran, Kinchant and Peter Faust dams produce most of the big barra.

Lake Awoonga also has a history of trophy fish.

Keep in mind that each dam is affected by floods and droughts, with big barra leaving dams when the walls breech, unless barrier nets are installed.

Here’s a few line-class records over the years …

23.7kg 117.5cm Lake Tinaroo 21 September 2011 Mark Hope
25.2kg 116cm Lake Tinaroo 24 August 2011 Mark Hope
29kg 132cm Lake Tinaroo 2 September 2014 Mark Hope
40.7kg 136cm Lake Tinaroo 28 July 2012 Mark Hope*
28.3kg 127.5cm Lake Tinaroo 7 January 2012 Mark Hope
29.85kg 127cm Lake Tinaroo 15 October 2000 Noel Ritchie
30.8kg 126cm Lake Tinaroo 4 September 2014 Jason Kuchel
41.5kg 135cm Kinchant Dam 14 October 2011 Willem Reichard
44.64kg 134cm Lake Monduran 21 December 2011 Denis Harrold
27.6kg 121.5cm Lake Tinaroo 2 September 2012 Mark Hope

In the NT, proven big-fish waters are the Daly, Mary, Adelaide and all Kakadu rivers.

Strangely enough, the NT’s stocked Manton Dam rarely produces fish over a metre.

In WA, the Ord and Fitzroy Rivers produce many big wild barramundi.

The Ord’s Lake Kununurra is stocked and produces fat 120cm fish.

For a shot at trophy wild barramundi in Queensland, the Fitzroy River is the logical choice.

Also, try Gladstone’s Boyne River after the Lake Awoonga dam wall has breeched, as escaped fish spread throughout the river and into Gladstone Harbour.

See the Monduran monster here.

The Mt Isa region also produces some monsters … see a 2022 report here.

*Note that the biggest Tinaroo fish listed above was caught in winter, and Tinaroo is a high-country impoundment. While warm to hot weather is always best for barramundi, they can be caught in cool weather.