Stanage Bay sits at the top of the Shoalwater–Broad Sound coast, reached by about 100 km of unsealed but usually graded road from the Bruce Highway at Marlborough (no four-wheel-drive needed in the dry). The ramp is at Plumtree, on Thirsty Sound, the estuary Cook named in 1770 when he came ashore and found no fresh water, and it launches into a maze of some 35 creeks, with the islands of the Sound and the outer reefs beyond.
The ramp is two lanes of concrete with a floating pontoon between them. It is not all-tide: the local advice is to launch and be off the ramp within about three hours of high tide, and for anything bigger than a tinnie to wait until the water reaches the second pylon. There is a concrete obstruction off the end of the ramp that has grounded boats on the ebb. Ten marked bays, no facilities at the ramp; the Plumtree Store a few hundred metres back has fuel, gas, ice, tackle, basic groceries and the Crab Pot Bar, and there is a camping area with toilets.
Fishing runs to mud crab December to July, jewfish October to March and mackerel through winter. The tides here are among the biggest in Australia and the currents through the Sound are strong; plan every leg around them. Carry everything you need: the nearest town is Marlborough, the nearest hospital Rockhampton. A volunteer coast guard operates locally and Marine Rescue Queensland covers the coast on VHF 16. Crocodiles are present.