Steep Point – Where you can’t go any further west

This excerpt is from a story by Ross Cusack originally published in the May 1984 edition of Fishing World. Read the full article here.

Arthur Drage grabbed a firm handful of the young angler’s shirt to give him support as he leaned into an unseen heavyweight off Steep Point.

I peered through the camera’s viewfinder at the action and mentally added a new dimension to a time-worn phrase: “You can’t go any further west than that, young man.”

On reflection it was more a statement than a phrase – that angler was stretching his back muscles hard up against the most westerly rock in Australia.

Not even Danish adventurer Hans Tholstrup could have travelled that far west when he drove across the continent from its most easterly to its most westerly point – from Cape Byron to Steep Point. I imagine Hans would have parked his vehicle down near the lighthouse and walked out to the rocks where this dogged angler was now battling what was obviously a big shark.

As so often happens, he never saw what he was fighting… the fish eventually broke off, making life easier for the angler and his patient anchorman.

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Trying to evaluate Steep Point as a land-based game hotspot has provided me with problems which, I suppose, are all of my own making. Stock phrases . . . labels . . . spring to mind: “WA’s latest land-based game mecca…”

“It was Cuvier in the 70s, now it’s Steep Point in the 80s…”

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The first big plus is that the bite there can be just as hot as anywhere else if you’re there at the right time. The area is blessed with an impressive mix of temperate and northern species: Huge tailor, whopper narrow-bar Spaniards, shark macks to seven kilos, cobia, sails, sea kings, (Samsons) yellowtail kings and amberjacks (yes, all three), pink snapper and nor-westers (spangled emperor) and monster sharks.

The proliferation of trevally species which occurs farther north hasn’t been apparent on my visits, but that’s not to say they don’t show up there on occasions. Marlin are a real chance from the rocks out at the Point. “Rats” up to 70 pound have already been landed and bigger beakies have been hooked.

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The next big plus is that Steep Point is a great ballooning area. The prevailing southerly – or even a south-easter – sweeps balloons out into South Passage and ballooning is often the most productive way to fish – not just something to be tried when there is no spinning bite.

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Now, what of Steep Point itself? The area, I mean, personally, it’s not diverse enough for me. Quobba and Cuvier boast a host of prime fishable rock platforms and ballooning areas (Red Bluff), but if you don’t get a berth on the best couple of rocks at Point, you might as well not be there.

Arthur Drage’s group of six were on the westerly platform and there was a pine forest of rods (we counted 24) along the lower easterly side, facing into South Passage.

Some anglers regard this lower side as the prime LBG spot.

It goes almost without saying that there is nothing out at Steep Point – not a tree, not a blade of grass, not a flicker of shade. The wind blows 24 hours a day in the summer months, simply quartering from south-east to southerly and maintaining a constant 30-40 knots.

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Ironically – because there’s nothing at Point, and because the journey out there is rugged up and down sandhills the place is drawing enterprising anglers like bees to a honeypot.

Those who used to enjoy camping at Quobba and Cuvier in the early days now head for the Point to do their own self-contained thing.

You must take everything. . . Power, petrol, food, drink, water, the lot. Above all, you must have a reliable, powerful 4WD and you need to be able to drive it in heavy sand. And you should have mechanical know-how in case something goes wrong.

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