Nanga is a long drive from Melbourne, about 4300 km in fact. Nanga Bay Resort is situated on the eastern shore of Shark Bay west in Western Australia just over 50 km south of the township of Denham and almost 800 metres north of Perth.

The boat ramp at Nanga is definitely a 4X4 proposition. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

Nanga is famous for the catches of snapper taken here by recreational fishermen, most of whom fish the southern area of Shark Bay west which is known as the Freycinet Estuary in spite of the fact no significant fresh water flows in here. In fact the water is so salty here salt readings sometimes exceed 50 parts per thousand.

West Australian Fisheries scientists seem to believe that recreational fishermen have caught most of the snapper from Shark Bay West and released a stock assessment in 2000 indicating that only thirteen tonnes of breeding snapper remain in the Freycinet area of Shark Bay west.

Considering recreational fishermen launching at Nanga regularly catch more than that each year and have been doing so for many years something smells fishy. Why, last year alone, by WA Fisheries own estimates, recreational fishermen took some 37 tonnes of snapper from this area, and with a minimum size limit at the time of more than 40 cm (now it is 50 cm), these were certainly all breeding fish.

Prior to that commercial fishermen made a good living both hooking and beach seining for snapper in Freycinet. Now, officially - at the time of writing this article at least - there is no commercial fishery in Shark Bay, east or west, which targets snapper and recreational fishermen are currently controlled by daily catch limits of two fish over 700 mm and two fish from 500 to 700 mm. I say currently, because WA fishing regulations change with the wind.

Big snapper is the reason why people visit Nanga. Here is Geoff Howard with a beauty around the 10 kg mark we released.

Nevertheless, in July 2000, on the basis of that stock assessment, the WA government announced that the Freycinet or southern part of Shark Bay West, that is south of an imaginary line drawn from Goulet Bluff, east to the shore opposite, would be closed to the taking of snapper from August 15 till September 30 and that law was passed shortly thereafter.

Geoff Howard and I arrived at Nanga on August 23, stayed till September 2 and during that period caught at least fifty snapper from an estimated 4.5 kg to an estimated 10 kg, mostly from the closed area. Naturally these fish, and quite a few smaller ones, were returned; that's apart from four fish which were kept under an arrangement with WA fisheries personnel who were collecting gonad samples and otoliths.

On the basis of WA Fisheries stock assessment, Geoff and I, fishing with rod and line from our five metre boat, caught something approaching 3% of Freycinet's entire breeding stock of snapper in less than 40 hours of fishing; an utterly ridiculous proposition.

Accommodation at Nanga was basic but comfortable, admirably suited to those like Geoff and myself who were here to see just how good the fishery was - and those who already knew - some of whom had been coming here for twenty years or more and returning with enough fish in their freezers for many a meal. All Geoff and I would be returning with would be photographs and memories.

Using tuna circle hooks, it was usually a simple matter to take hold of the fish with the Boga Grip and twist the hook out with a pair of pliers.

Conflicting reports about the Nanga boat ramp were a worry, but thanks to the excellent vehicle supplied by the Nissan Motor Company the difficulties we encountered when the tide was out were easily overcome in four wheel drive. Yes, the Nanga boat ramp is presently a 4x4 proposition: Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

When the tide is either in, or out beyond the ramp, you may very well be able to launch and retrieve a small boat with a standard vehicle as John and Robert Coon, also from Victoria, did on a number of occasions, but for boats of 4.5 metres or more, power to all wheels is required, particularly when the tide is out. However, we found the other anglers staying at Nanga so helpful and friendly I could almost guarantee you wouldn't be stuck for very long.

Looking at our first three days fishing at Nanga is a worthwhile exercise. We had some idea of where to go because Terry Hayden of Hayden Reels had visited Nanga with brother Phil and father Les, in August the previous year, and - on his return to Geelong - announced he had found the snapper capital of Australia, and what's more, he had the photographs to prove it.

It was totally dark when we launched at the deserted Nanga boat ramp on the Thursday morning of August 24. The sea was flat calm, and it could be almost guaranteed that a similar day on Port Phillip would not have been very productive at all.

Whiting Heads were readily available from the Denham Fishermans co-operative and made great bait for snapper. These were immersed in tuna oil in an attempt to keep them from going off.

Well it wasn't productive for us on Shark Bay either, not at first. Where we were anchored, in around 8.5 metres, some seven or eight kilometres south west from the boat ramp, we caught several WA butterfish, an attractive looking little fish from 15 to 25 cm in length, or at least that's how big those we caught were, a number of juvenile baldchin groper, a type of tusk fish found in WA, and some small fish I identified from Hutchins and Swainston as "gobbleguts," a small variety of cardinal fish.

Shortly after sunrise, one of my rods bent over and the reel growled as something took a metre or so of 14 pound Fireline from the spool under the reasonably firm tension I had set on the drag. It turned out to be a small shark which bit through my 30 pound, Berkley Fireline trace, beside the boat. Soon after that a similar size shark was alongside, this time the Boga grip found its mark and the matching pair of tuna circles in its mouth showed it was the same shark which took my bait earlier; a small bronze whaler as best I could judge by its shape and colouration.

The sun was up by now, and with no snapper we were disappointed having such high hopes after our long journey. But then one of Geoff's rods loaded up to the howl of the reel. Unfortunately the whiting head he was using for bait just came back crushed, hanging in shreds from the conventional Octopus pattern hook he was using: Fish heads are tough baits and do need to be presented correctly or fish will be missed.

The sun was soon rising in the sky over a glassy sea with no other boats in sight. It didn't look good for snapper, so we pulled the anchor and took a run south toward a large rocky outcrop marked on Admiralty chart 748 as White Island, some ten km or so to the south east from our present position, with the sounder going.

West Australian Butterfish made excellent live baits for snapper.

As we came to within about two kilometres of White Island, the bottom gradually dropped away into 11 metres or so, and then, dropped quite suddenly into 13 metres, at which point the sounder lit up with fish in tight aggregation just above the bottom. Over went the anchor, closely followed by the light lines baited with pieces of pilchard.

The fish were small snapper, any amount of them. Naturally the snapper rods were then cast out as well and I soon caught a snapper of about 3.5 kg on a strip of the shark I'd caught earlier. This was followed by another of around 4.5 kg, and Geoff followed those two with yet another of about 5.5 kg, all of which we released. This was where we intended going the following morning.

Now with no GPS aboard, re-locating the spot we found the previous morning was more difficult than anticipated. Not only could we not find our spot in the pre-dawn darkness, but after crossing the first patch of fairly deep water out from Nanga, we could find no water deeper than about 8.5 metres and no fish, and I mean no fish at all: Nothing showed up on the sounder.

Eventually, after driving around for some time in the dark with the sounder going, we put the anchor down, cast out our lines, and as dawn lit up the sky, I put over a light line baited with pilchard, but there were no enquiries whatsoever; we may as well have been fishing in a desert.

We were discussing whether to leave and search for the spot we'd found the previous day, when one of Geoff's rods wrapped over and his 14 pound Fireline screamed out against the kilogram, or so of tension he had set on the drag. It was a nice fish of around 6 kg which we released: Not bad for fishing in a desert. Then about half an hour later we caught another about the same size, all the while nothing showed on the sounder and a pilchard bait suspended under the boat remained untouched.

We caught and released another four snapper over the next couple of hours, all about the 6 to 7 kilogram mark, before heading back to the ramp well satisfied with the morning's fishing.

Even fish of around five kilograms took live butterfish.

The wind was up and blowing early the following morning so we stayed ashore to see how the day would shape up. By 3.00 pm or so the wind had dropped to a little over ten knots from the south west: Again we headed south to White Island and anchored about two kilometres to the north where we caught and released eleven big snapper that evening. By our best estimates, these ranged in size from around five to 10 kg.

The first fish was beside the boat shortly after we arrived at 4.00 pm, the last just before 8.00 pm. By this time, the wind was gusting to more than 15 knots so we headed back toward the lights of Nanga only to find the tide way out past the ramp. Luckily we had plenty of rope and a four wheel drive vehicle, or the boat would have remained anchored offshore till the following day.

Leo Massey is a regular visitor to Nanga, in fact he and wife Pat have been coming for 20 years or so and has caught some awesome snapper, one or two bottoming out his 18 kg scales, I'm not kidding. Now Leo is a helpful sort of guy who was only too pleased to give us one of his "big fish" marks. Not only that he suggested we use live WA butterfish for bait and indicated the best place to find those in quantity was in one of the numerous sand holes among the luxuriant sea grass meadow in front of the resort.

Now we had already tried for squid out on the sea grass, using stem jigs baited with pilchard so were a little wary of going out into water any deeper than around 3 metres. Why? Because any deeper than that and hoards of small snapper would show up with such voracious intent, the bait, any bait, including that on the squid jig, would be taken immediately. A handful of pilchards thrown over the side had them boiling on the surface like piranha, and from then on they would just follow the drifting boat in ever growing numbers in the hope of more free meals.

Mackerel were eager to take pilchards on ganged hooks.

We put the anchor down in the first sand hole from the beach, something over 100 metres out. Here, the water was about two metres deep, perhaps a little less. A handful of poultry pellets soaked in tuna oil, followed by a few pieces of pilchard and the little butterfish were on the bite and coming aboard one after the other on size 8 hooks. We guessed we had caught a dozen or so, but a quick count showed we'd actually caught 17, so off we went to the mark Leo had given us which was considerable more to the west than we had been fishing previously.

Unlike the whiting heads and other baits, which were just wolfed down by the snapper, it was soon back of the boat. Not fighting or anything like that, just hanging on. Now that's something I've not seen before but I had been told this does happen occasionally in this part of the world.

Snapper were so predictable you could wait with the camera for a bite. This is the before shot.

Taking fish for the table necessitated a run up past Goulet Bluff several kilometres to the north west. John and Robert Coon had been fishing this area since the closure and experienced no shortage of fish. In fact the day before Geoff and I left for Nanga, John had phoned to ask for some wire leaders because, something had been biting through their monofilament leaders. Fortunately we did not experience that problem, not with snapper anyway.

Turns out, they had been fishing along the edge of a shallow bank in around 8 metres of water and could see the snapper down near the bottom, the water was that clear. Now that is something you would be most unlikely to experience on Port Phillip Bay, but such was the case. The fish, although plentiful, were generally smaller here, but from 3 to 6 kg, quite respectable all the same and excellent table fare.

And this is after.

Now the great thing about Shark Bay, or at least our experience of it, was that we caught snapper each and every time we went out fishing for them, in fact Geoff and I caught at least 50 fish which would have made double figures prior to metrication, and quite a smaller than that as well. In fact, the fishing was so dependable I sometimes sat with my camera on my lap just waiting to take a photo of a rod bending over as a fish took the bait. By that time of course the fish was well and truly hooked and at the mercy of the angler.

The tuna circles proved their worth beyond all expectation, and - after missing a couple of fish on conventional hooks in whiting heads - Geoff was using them as well. Of the various circles I had with me, all took fish. However, the Mustad Demons with their narrow gap between point and shank were preferable because they invariably took hold on the lips or jaw hinge which made releasing hooked fish easy using the Boga grip and pliers. In fact we only dropped one hooked fish using circles during the whole trip.

That was on Friday September 1, our last night. The new moon had passed by three days and the fishing was slower than we had become accustomed to. In fact we waited more than two hours for a run while the sounder showed hoards of small snapper beneath us from the bottom almost to the surface. Any doubt that they were snapper was soon dispelled by dropping a piece of pilchard over the side and watching them come up and devour it in seconds, or even less than that.

Whiting Heads were fished most effectively when tide to a tuna circle hook with hat elastic.

It was 6.34 pm when one of my rods buckled over to the howl of the reel, heralding a snapper of around 8.5 kg; a darn good fish. Then my other rod wrapped over as the line unloaded from the reel. It felt like a big fish but it was hard to say how big because these shark bay reds pull a bit harder than their cousins in Port Phillip, something both Geoff and I remarked on several times. However, it was only when it stopped and began to pump it back that I realised this was a very big fish indeed.

I'd gained nothing, no line at all, when it gave a couple of heavy nods then swam off again taking the 14 pound Fireline out steadily against a fairly firm drag for a surprisingly long time before stopping again. Once again the rod loaded up as I pumped the fish back, and once again it nodded heavily once, twice, three times and line was coming off the reel once more. I was about to ask Geoff to be ready to bring the other rods in when the hook pulled.
We caught another three snapper that night, but the feel of that big fish will stay with me for a long time I'm afraid, long after memories of the we fish we caught have faded, but that's the way it is with fishing: It's the big ones which usually get away.

The Freycinet area Shark Bay West is the most prolific snapper fishery I have ever seen. Just how many fish are here could be hard to say, but if WA Fisheries figures are correct, and anglers pulled 37 tonnes of snapper from here in 1999, the breeding stock has to be several hundred tonnes, but I suspect the entire breeding stock of snapper in Shark Bay West, an area of some 2000 square kilometres (about the same size as Port Phillip Bay) could easily be a thousand tonnes or more.

Fact Box: Nanga Travel Guide

Accommodation
We stayed at Nanga Resort on Shark Bay West which is owned and managed by Bev and Trev Atfield, Phone 08 9948 3992, Fax 08 9948 3996. Email: nangabay@wn.com.au Website www.nangabayresort.com.au

Accommodation at Nanga ranges from basic fishermen's huts to very comfortable motel units. Amenities include BYO restaurant and take away, shop and liquor store, tennis courts, and artesian spa. Freezing facilities for fish are available at 40 cents a kilogram, and no dogs are allowed.

Boating facilties
The boat ramp at the resort does need upgrading, but now that the West Australia department of Conservation and Land Management has purchased Nanga Station, the tract of land on which the resort is situated, it should only be a matter of time before facilities for fishermen in this area are upgraded.

Tides
Unlike places on the east coast of Australia which get two high and two low tides on most days, Nanga - which is not only on the west coast, but well inside the gulf or Shark Bay West - seems to have only one high and one low tide of significance during the same period. Apart from the tides, wind direction and duration seems to have a significant bearing on water levels inside Shark Bay, so much so that predicted tide levels may not be relevant.

Geoff Wilson