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

Bite Forecast

Useless Loop / Tamala (Outer Shark Bay)

Fri 17 Jul 2026 · Australia/Perth

Change spot

←

17 Jul

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 18 Jul

📍 Useless Loop / Tamala (Outer Shark Bay)

waxing crescent · 6%

Weather: Sunny Wind: NW 310° · 23 km/h Swell: 0.5 m @ 9 s SW Water: 19.2 °C

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

Wind NW 23 km/h — Moderate

Solunar Major window active

Water Temp 19.2°C

Moon Phase waxing crescent — 6%

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:00 pm → 7:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

6:00 am → 8:00 am

Good

2:30 pm → 3:30 pm

Good

9:30 pm → 10:00 pm

30m

First light

6:47 am

Last light

6:17 pm

Sunrise

7:12 am

Sunset

5:52 pm

Moonrise

9:21 am

Moonset

9:02 pm

Low tide

9:08 pm

High tide

4:30 am

High tide

1:53 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

8am

☀️

20°

↖︎

317°

20 km/h

9am

☀️

21°

↖︎

311°

22 km/h

10am

☀️

21°

↖︎

307°

23 km/h

11am

☀️

21°

↖︎

308°

24 km/h

12pm

☀️

21°

↖︎

310°

23 km/h

1pm

☀️

21°

↖︎

312°

23 km/h

2pm

☀️

21°

↖︎

314°

23 km/h

3pm

☁️

20°

↖︎

315°

23 km/h

4pm

☁️

20°

↖︎

316°

22 km/h

5pm

☁️

20°

↖︎

316°

22 km/h

6pm

☁️

21°

↖︎

316°

22 km/h

7pm

☁️

20°

↖︎

310°

22 km/h

8pm

🌧️

20°

↖︎

294°

23 km/h

9pm

🌧️

20°

←︎

277°

26 km/h

10pm

🌧️

20°

←︎

267°

30 km/h

11pm

🌧️

20°

↖︎

322°

22 km/h

12am

🌧️

20°

↖︎

307°

18 km/h

1am

🌧️

19°

←︎

280°

15 km/h

2am

🌧️

19°

←︎

250°

16 km/h

3am

🌧️

19°

↙︎

231°

20 km/h

4am

🌧️

19°

↙︎

221°

24 km/h

5am

🌧️

19°

↙︎

216°

27 km/h

6am

🌧️

19°

↙︎

214°

29 km/h

7am

🌧️

19°

↙︎

212°

30 km/h

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.4° over the last 3 days

Tue

14 Jul

18.8°

Wed

15 Jul

18.9°

Thu

16 Jul

19.0°

Fri

17 Jul

19.2°

Sat

18 Jul

19.1°

Sun

19 Jul

19.0°

Mon

20 Jul

18.6°

Tue

21 Jul

18.5°

Wed

22 Jul

—

Thu

23 Jul

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 23 km/h NW (310°).

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

5:00 pm → 7:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

6:00 am → 8:00 am

Good

2:30 pm → 3:30 pm

Good

9:30 pm → 10:00 pm

30m

First light

6:47 am

Last light

6:17 pm

Sunrise

7:12 am

Sunset

5:52 pm

Moonrise

9:21 am

Moonset

9:02 pm

Low tide

9:08 pm

High tide

4:30 am

High tide

1:53 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Weekly Bite Forecast

Useless Loop / Tamala (Outer Shark Bay) + nearby Perth spots. Thursday 6pm — top windows, conditions, what's biting.

Free. Unsubscribe any time.