Can I drive into Useless Loop?

No. Useless Loop is a private company town for the Shark Bay Salt operation and is closed to non-residents. The Useless Loop Road runs past the township to give 4WD access to Tamala Station, Carrarang and the Edel Land peninsula, but the town itself is signed and gated. Don't drive in.

How do I get permission to fish Tamala?

Book directly with Tamala Station — the station manages camping, beach access and a key system at locked gates. Check in at the homestead on arrival to receive your key and your camp allocation. There is no shop, fuel or mobile coverage on the station; carry everything in. Edel Land protected areas managed by DBCA are accessed separately.

Is the fishing as good as Steep Point?

Different rather than better or worse. Same Gascoyne palette of mackerel, snapper, emperor, samson and pelagics, with calmer beaches and lower rock platforms than Steep Point's lethal cliffs, so a wider variety of conditions are fishable. Steep Point's headline is balloon-fished mackerel off the world-class cliff platforms; Tamala's headline is a more relaxed mixed-bag camping-and-fishing trip with the same species available.

Do the West Coast demersal closures apply?

No — the country around Useless Loop and Tamala is in the Gascoyne Coast bioregion, managed separately. The Gascoyne mixed demersal daily bag is 5 fish with emperors capped at 3 within that total, plus species-specific size limits. Shark Bay inner-gulf pink snapper closures are zone-specific and apply on top of the demersal rules — verify which zone you are in with DPIRD before each trip, because the rules continue to evolve.

Bite Compass

Fish Activity

Useless Loop / Tamala (Outer Shark Bay)

Fri 31 Jan 2025 · Australia/Perth

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📍 Useless Loop / Tamala (Outer Shark Bay)

waxing crescent · 4%

Weather: Unavailable

★★★☆☆

Low Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

Solunar Minor windows

Water Temp —

Moon Phase waxing crescent — 4%

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Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

2:00 pm → 3:00 pm

First light

5:35 am

Last light

7:43 pm

Sunrise

6:00 am

Sunset

7:18 pm

Moonrise

7:32 am

Moonset

8:42 pm

Water Temp (°C)

Tue

28 Jan

28.2°

Wed

29 Jan

28.5°

Thu

30 Jan

—

Fri

31 Jan

—

Sat

1 Feb

—

Sun

2 Feb

—

Mon

3 Feb

—

Tue

4 Feb

—

Wed

5 Feb

—

Thu

6 Feb

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Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Current wind summary unavailable — see the wind chart above the map.

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

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