Where do I launch at Dampier?

Hampton Harbour Boat and Sailing Club is the main public ramp, with a sealed multi-lane ramp, floating pontoon, fuel and wash-down. It fills early on weekends in the dry season — be there at first light. There is a smaller ramp at the Dampier Public Jetty for tinnies, and the Karratha boat ramp on Nickol Bay, 20 minutes east, covers the inshore creeks.

What's the fishing like in the Dampier Archipelago?

It's a reef and pelagic fishery — forty-two islands within a 30-minute run of Hampton Harbour holding coral trout, spangled and red emperor, rankin cod, Spanish mackerel and big GTs. Drift the shoals and bommie edges on the tide for demersals, troll the island edges for mackerel, and cast stickbaits at the wash for trevally. The archipelago is inside a marine park with sanctuary zones — check DBCA rules before each trip.

Are there crocodiles at Dampier?

Occasionally. Saltwater crocodile sightings are rising across the Pilbara, but the open Dampier Archipelago is lower-risk than the back creeks and mangroves — those, and the Karratha creeks next door, are where to be cautious. Treat any mangrove creek or tidal margin as potential croc habitat, don't clean fish at the water's edge in the creeks, and check City of Karratha and DBCA alerts.

Does the West Coast demersal closure apply at Dampier?

No. Dampier is in the North Coast Bioregion, well north of the Kalbarri boundary that triggers the West Coast demersal closure. North Coast rules apply: a 5-fish demersal mixed bag with emperors capped at 3, plus species size and bag limits. Marine-park zoning around the Dampier Archipelago overlays additional restrictions including sanctuary zones — verify current DPIRD and DBCA rules before each trip.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Dampier (Hampton Harbour / Dampier Archipelago)

Sat 11 Jul 2026 · Australia/Perth

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11 Jul

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📍 Dampier (Hampton Harbour / Dampier Archipelago)

waning crescent · 14%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 171° · 8 km/h Swell: flat Water: 22.0 °C

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

Wind S 8 km/h — Light

Solunar Major window active

Water Temp 22.0°C

Moon Phase waning crescent — 14%

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 am → 10:00 am

4h 30m

Good

5:30 pm → 7:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

1:30 pm → 3:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

8:30 pm → 10:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

6:26 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

6:49 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

3:17 am

Moonset

2:18 pm

High tide

5:43 pm

Low tide

11:25 pm

High tide

5:57 am

Low tide

1:08 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

8am

☀️

18°

↙︎

204°

8 km/h

9am

☀️

18°

↓︎

194°

10 km/h

10am

☀️

17°

↓︎

183°

11 km/h

11am

☀️

17°

↓︎

186°

12 km/h

12pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

171°

8 km/h

1pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

162°

7 km/h

2pm

☀️

15°

↘︎

150°

7 km/h

3pm

☀️

15°

↘︎

114°

11 km/h

4pm

☀️

18°

↘︎

117°

12 km/h

5pm

☀️

20°

↘︎

113°

12 km/h

6pm

☀️

22°

→︎

105°

13 km/h

7pm

☀️

24°

→︎

95°

13 km/h

8pm

☀️

25°

→︎

78°

14 km/h

9pm

☀️

26°

→︎

71°

14 km/h

10pm

☀️

26°

↗︎

63°

12 km/h

11pm

☀️

26°

↗︎

52°

12 km/h

12am

☀️

25°

↗︎

36°

9 km/h

1am

☀️

24°

↗︎

24°

4 km/h

2am

☀️

21°

↑︎

2°

6 km/h

3am

☀️

20°

↑︎

354°

5 km/h

4am

☀️

20°

↖︎

326°

1 km/h

5am

☀️

19°

←︎

248°

1 km/h

6am

☀️

18°

↓︎

197°

2 km/h

7am

☀️

18°

↓︎

189°

3 km/h

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.5° over the last 3 days

Wed

8 Jul

21.5°

Thu

9 Jul

21.9°

Fri

10 Jul

22.0°

Sat

11 Jul

22.0°

Sun

12 Jul

21.9°

Mon

13 Jul

21.9°

Tue

14 Jul

21.8°

Wed

15 Jul

21.8°

Thu

16 Jul

21.7°

Fri

17 Jul

21.6°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 8 km/h S (171°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Open in the full fishing map (beta) →

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 am → 10:00 am

4h 30m

Good

5:30 pm → 7:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

1:30 pm → 3:00 pm

1h 30m

Good

8:30 pm → 10:00 pm

1h 30m

First light

6:26 am

Last light

6:11 pm

Sunrise

6:49 am

Sunset

5:47 pm

Moonrise

3:17 am

Moonset

2:18 pm

High tide

5:43 pm

Low tide

11:25 pm

High tide

5:57 am

Low tide

1:08 pm

Nearby spots

Karratha (Nickol Bay / Hearson's Cove) 9.9 km

Species at this spot

Weekly Bite Forecast

Dampier (Hampton Harbour / Dampier Archipelago) + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

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