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Types of Fishing enjoyed in the area
Beach/Surf Sheltered Beach Fly Fresh Water Sport Deep Sea
Beach / Surf
Fraser Island
Two words can say it all! Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, has long been recognised by Queenslanders as the holy grail of beach fishing. World heritage listing has added to its popularity to the point where it is now recognised world wide as a beach fishing Mecca.
Stretching some 122 km in length and from 5 to 25 km in width, Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island where the whole eastern beach is an endless fishing experience just waiting to happen, interrupted only by the spectacular headlands of Indian Head, Middle Rocks and Waddy Point. These headlands offer exciting sport and game fishing but the beach is what it is all about.
Every wave holds dart, every sand bar holds whiting, bream or flathead, and greatest of all, every gutter holds a visible school of large voracious tailor oblivious to the giant mulloway lurking below. Two hundred fisherman standing shoulder to shoulder with the obligatory six inch Alvey reel and fourteen foot surf rod casting and retrieving as fast as they can is a common occurrence when the tailor are running. The famous tailor run peaks from July to October but most species of fish can be caught all year round.
While the fishing is world class, the natural beauty of Fraser Island should not be overlooked. Crystal clear waters in the beautiful dunal lakes, long wide beaches that double as highways, magnificent and unique rain forests, massive sand blows, and freshwater creeks that pour millions of litres of the world's purest water into the ocean every hour. There are even unconfirmed rumours that some husbands tell their wives that they are going to Fraser Island to go fishing when, in fact, they are really going for the peace and relaxation associated with camping on the beach in one of the most beautiful and pristine wilderness areas on earth.
see also Fishing Tips: Fraser Island
Flyfishing
The Fraser Island flats have been well documented by Australia's leading saltwater flyfishers as being the best the country has to offer. Sightfishing for tailing golden trevally on the clear shallow flats has sparked an enormous interest from both local and overseas flyfishers. Local fishing guides Sid and Jarad Boshammer have been at the forefront of developing this exciting new fishery. Three of Australia's leading flyfishers, Rod Harrison, Dean Butler and Peter Morse, have been responsible for filming and photographing the goldens as they vigourously suck yabbies from their holes in the shallows. Their excitement at the discovery of this challenging fishery has ensured its popularity and sparked the search for other species.
Snub-nosed Dart may well be the next new discovery on fly. They are caught to 30lbs on bait from Fraser Island. Bonefish to 15lbs have also been caught in the waters to the north of Fraser Island whilst bait fishing.
The estuaries are home to other species - flathead, bream, whiting, threadfin salmon, barramundi, mangrove jacks and tarpon (2-3kg max) which can all be taken on fly (from small boats or from the shore.)
The offshore waters offer some magnificent saltwater flyfishing opportunities for species from marlin and sailfish to mahi mahi (Dolphin Fish), King Fish (Black and Yellowtail), Mackerel, Tuna, Barracuda and a vast number of Trevally species.
Visiting anglers are catered for by a modern fleet of charter boats and guided operations. A long-range mother shipping operation that specialises in lure and flyfishing will allow access to some of the more remote fisheries in the later half of 1998. Various small boat hire facilities also provide fishing opportunities for travelling fishos.
Gear required:
- (8-10wt rods) will handle most fishing situations; however 5-6wt rods are suitable for smaller species.
- w.f.f. ,intermediate and shooting head lines are all used.
- clousers, deceivers and most popular saltwater flies will all take fish.
- thick soled wading shoes and long clothing is a good idea.
Seasons:
- September to April (summer) is the best time for estuary fishing.
April to October (winter) is the best time for blue water fishing.
The inshore fishing (Platypus Bay) is a year round fishery but is best fished from 16ft plus boats
Freshwater Dams
There are some exciting fresh water fisheries available within the Fraser Coast region. Bass, barramundi, saratoga, eastern cod, yellowbelly and silver perch can be caught on bait, lures or fly in the local rivers and dams.
LENTHALS DAM - BURRUM RIVER
Forty minutes drive from Hervey Bay and 15 minutes north of Maryborough lies one of the best dams in the region. Australian bass to 4lbs are thriving in this picturesque stretch of water. The dam is teeming with fish and bird life. Barramundi have also been stocked with already the odd barra to 6lbs being caught. Yellowbelly, silver perch, spangled perch and eel tail catfish can also be caught on lures and bait. Fish can be caught from the shore but fishing from a boat is often more successful. Except for winter time, lure fishing is the most popular fishing method. Trolling with an electric outboard or petrol motor <6hp (max hp) is a successful method as is casting to the numerous clumps of water lilies that line the edges of the dam. Various small-medium minnow lures work best depending on the time of day (with shallow during low light and deep during the middle part of the day). There are bag limits on freshwater fish and most anglers return 90% of their catch these days as most of the species have relatively poor eating qualities and are more highly valued as purely sport fish. (Fish caught in still dams have a distinct weedy taste.)
BORUMBA DAM
In the upper Mary River, this is becoming famous as a fishery for fly and lure fishing enthusiasts for the saratoga. Bass, yellowbelly, silver perch and eastern cod have also been stocked. The dam is a 2 hour trip south from Maryborough via bitumen road. It boasts good camping facilities and is serviced by fishing guides.
BJELKE PETERSON DAM
Excellent bass and yellowbelly fishing. Self contained cabins, and camping. Hire boats and guided operations. 1/2 hours west of Maryborough near Murgon.
BOONDOOMBA DAM
Excellent bass and yellowbelly fishing. Good camping facilities, hire tinnies and guided services. Just over 2 hours west of Maryborough.
CANIA DAM
Bass and yellowbelly but also becoming a hotspot for Saratoga. Cabins and camping with hire tinnies and guided services.
The region's fresh water fisheries are fast becoming recognised as some of the best bass and saratoga fisheries within easy reach of Brisbane. A recent WILD FISH series explored just a few of these popular impoundments. Most tackle shops, booking offices and guiding operators should be able to steer you in the right direction.
Sportfishing
The Fraser Coast region offers some of the best sportfishing in Queensland, Australia and possible the world. Every day that sportfishers of Hervey Bay and the Fraser Coast region go fishing in the morning, they inevitably come home in the afternoon with stories of screaming reels, burnt out drag mechanisms and empty spools. They also come home with the ones that didn't get away. The reasons for this are as numerous and varied as the species caught, with the main advantages being:
- Accessibility of the sportfishing areas and target species is second to none. Land based sportfishing is popular and easily accessible from the famous Urangan pier and various other jetties as well as fishing from several headlands in the region including Double Island Point near Rainbow Beach and Indian Head, Waddy Point and Middle Rocks on Fraser Island.
- Boat based sportfishers not only have some of the most prolific fishing grounds on the coast of Australia but have the added advantage of being able to access these great waters under the protection of world heritage Fraser Island which provides shelter from the prevailing winds for most of the year. Sportfish can be caught close to most of the boat ramps with the most popular grounds all within half an hour's boat ride from any one of the many ramps in the area. The most distant grounds are less that 40 miles away and are still pristine, offering heart-stopping, mind- blowing excitement not even dreamed of by normal anglers.
- The interface in this region between warm northern and cooler southern ocean currents offers twice as many target species as are commonly found in other areas.
- Magnificent Fraser Island not only offers waters sheltered from the prevailing winds but also creates Hervey Bay, one of the largest protected bays on the coast of Australia covering thousands of square kilometres.
- Hervey Bay's seagrass beds (the second largest on the east coast of Australia) act as a nursery for many larger species as well as supporting a massive resource of bait fish, juvenile prawns and other crustaceans which are an irresistible attractant to huge and numerous schools of various pelagic as well as demersal species.
Species commonly encountered without a great deal of effort include school and spotted mackerel, Spanish mackerel, northern bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, Mack tuna, bonito, tailor, yellowtail kingfish, cobia, barramundi, barracuda, Wahoo, mangrove jack, sailfish, threadfin salmon, queenfish, golden trevally, giant trevally, blue spot trevally and dolphin fish.
As in most fisheries, local knowledge is essential to ensure a successful trip.
Various articles have appeared in publications like FLYLIFE and FISHING WORLD during the past few seasons. The WILDFISH television series has featured this area also and is a useful reference when planning a trip. The local major tackle shops will also be a useful source of information as would most of the local tour booking offices.
Accommodation from caravan parks to 4 star motels is available to suit any budget so come along and enjoy our magnificent temperate climate and fishing.
Sheltered Beach Fishing
Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Straits possess some of the best sheltered beach fishing available anywhere on the coast of Australia. Due to a combination of the protection offered by world heritage Fraser Island against the prevailing south easterly winds and the fact that Hervey Bay has over 30 kilometers of north facing beach from Burrum Heads to Urangan, which is also protected in the south east winds, the area offers hundreds of kilometers of sheltered and peaceful beaches, most of which are easily accessible from the mainland.
Hervey Bay is famous as the home of the whiting and for very good reason! Visitors have been coming back to Hervey Bay for thirty years and more, with third generations of the same families now coming to stay in the beach front camping and caravan parks as their parents and grandparents have done before them. Common just a few years ago, and still seen occasionally today, is the sight of anglers standing shoulder to shoulder on the beach while fishing for whiting. While the sand whiting is the more prized catch, its less sophisticated, but just as tasty cousin, the winter whiting [diver whiting], is famous for the large catches that can be made by even the most inexperienced of anglers. Bream, flathead, yellow tail pike and garfish are also quite common along the beaches while golden trevally to ten kilograms are not uncommon.
The famous Urangan pier is at the eastern end of Hervey Bay's beaches near the Urangan boat harbour and provides a magnificent platform for the fishing enthusiast. At the landward end the common beach species are found while the deep end of the pier is renown as one of the greatest land based game and sport fishing platforms producing a great variety of powerful adversaries from the smaller bonitos to the spotted, school, broad barred and Spanish mackerels, northern bluefin and yellowfin tuna, cobia [black kingfish], golden trevally and the XOS giant trevally up to fifty kilograms. While on the deep end of the pier you may just be lucky enough to see one of the resident groper estimated to be as large as three meters long and up to five hundred pounds in weight.
For the bream fishermen the rocky headlands at Point Vernon and the Mary River Heads provide enough incentive to leave a nice warm home on a cool evening to try their luck during the winter bream run. Large flathead are commonly found while flicking pilchards or lures around the edges of any rocky outcrop or other obvious structure.
The western beaches of Fraser Island have long been the ultimate getaway destination for campers and boaties looking for solitude and relaxation while also providing more than a ready supply of delicious fish for breakfast lunch and tea. The times when campers would not see another person for days at a time have gone but it is still possible to find your own patch of beach where you will be alone for most of the day and there is more chance of meeting a native dingo than another human being. Places like, Wathumba Creek, Coongal Creek, Moon Point, MacKenzies and Ungowa have long held a legendary position with the local fishing fraternity. Access to Fraser Island's sheltered beaches is limited to boats and barge transport. Those with a four wheel drive can explore many miles of pristine white sandy beach to the north of Moon Point while those without a four wheel drive are at no great disadvantage as some of the best fishing is to be had just where the barge pulls up on the beach. Family picnics at Moon Point, using the barge to drop off in the morning and pick up in the afternoon, are a popular day trip for the whole family with mum sunbaking, the kids exploring and playing on the beach and dad catching a variety of fish for dinner including flathead, bream and the ever-present whiting.
While Fraser Island's beaches are accessible by boat, barge and 4WD, the multitude of islands within the Great Sandy Straits are only accessible by boat but these also offer some excellent beach fishing. A little known secret [until now] has been the trick of using a boat to gain access to these areas, but then to park the boat and fish from the shore, as most of the common species are caught a short cast from the beach.
One island that is accessible without a boat is Round Island about 1 km from the Urangan boat harbour at Hervey Bay. This island, while being very popular with the boating fraternity, is also serviced by a tour offering coral viewing and fish feeding as well as being within easy reach of the hire boats that operate out of the boat harbour.
To the south, Inskip Point near Rainbow Beach is also famous for its sheltered waters, great camping and whiting fishing that dreams are made of!
The Fraser coast region is blessed with a large number of excellent tackle shops that not only specialize in top quality equipment and bait tailored to this area, but are also a great source of up to the minute information on which fish are biting where and when and on what bait or lures. When in the region smart anglers save themselves a lot of time and trouble and make the tackle shop their first port of call [quite often before checking into their accommodation, much to the annoyance of their spouse!]
Deep Sea Fishing
Hervey Bay offers some of the most magnificent and practically untouched deepsea fishing in Australia, and possibly the world. Warm northern waters meet cold southern currents. This creates an overlap of warm and cold conditions bringing with it a doubling up of warm water and southern cooler water species. Just some of the much sort after and world renown species include Coral Trout(17Kg), Red Emporer(22Kg}, Estuary and Maori Cod, Red Throat Emperor(79Kg), Snapper, Parrot and Tusk Fish, King Snapper (Rosey Job Fish), Kingfish(22Kg), Giant Trevally plus many more.
Not only does the Fraser Coast region produce the greatest variety of deepsea species in Queensland (and possible the world), but it also produces some of the largest specimens ever caught. These include; Scarlet Sea Perch, Red Throat Emporer, Jew Fish, Moses Perch and Coral Trout(66lbs).
Not only does the Fraser Coast region produce the greatest variety of deep sea species in Queensland (and possible the world), but it also produces some of the largest specimens ever caught. No fisherman ever forgets the first time they see colour from a magnificent Red Emperor of over thirty pounds [and up to fifty pounds] nor do they stop talking about their first double hookup on a pair of fifteen pound plus Snapper. In most places in the world these are things that dreams are made of but on the Fraser Coast they are just a fact of life.
Fishing the deeper waters to the north and east of Hervey Bay and Fraser Island is not suitable for the small boat brigade but for those with bigger trailer boats, or people wishing to take one of the very professional and popular deep sea charter trips, the rewards make it all worthwhile. Areas such as the 25 fathom hole, Rooney's, and the Southern, Northern and African Gutters are the areas closer to the mainland but it is the continental shelf that is the ultimate attraction.
Anglers with medium to large trailer boats do have access to the deeper waters of the continental shelf and the famous fishing grounds of the Gardner Banks if they are willing to go to the effort of towing their boat to Waddy Point on Fraser Island and spend a few days camping and fishing in paradise. From there they can beach launch from the sheltered lagoon area under the protection of the Waddy Point headland and then it is a relatively short trip to the Gardner Banks and not much further to the untouched magic of the continental shelf which is at its closest point to the Queensland coast.. While this can be an experience of a lifetime it should not be attempted without adequate planning and preparation and preferably after talking with someone who has done it before.
Beach launching of trailer boats can also be done at Double Island Point where Wolf Rock, a pinnacle rising out of thirty meters to break the surface, can offer some very exciting sportfishing on the way out to the still very productive deeper waters in that area.
Where ever you decide to fish in the deeper waters in the Fraser coast region, the results are always rewarding as long as reasonable precautions are taken and planning is done.
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