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The
Hervey Bay and Fraser Island area continues to live up to its
reputation as being prolific and safe for virtually every type of
fishing. Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Strait are a boat angler's
paradise. Within their relatively safe waters there are large and
small islands, tidal flats, mangrove creeks, reefs, sand flats and
a vast number of submerged ledges.
Hervey
Bay is situated at the southern end of the bay, at the entrance to
Great Sandy Strait. The best spot here to fish if you are a
land-based fisherman is the remarkable Urangan Pier, which
fishes well for whiting, particularly in the peak period of
spring. Baitfish - hardy-heads, garfish and herring - swarm under
the Urangan Pier and attract the pelagic fish. The outer end of
the pier is in deep water and the game anglers gather here,
baiting up with live herring, to cast for queen fish, school
mackerel, spanish mackerel, trevally and tuna. The whiting anglers
use local bloodworm and yabby baits. They fish the outer gutter at
low tide, and as the tide floods in, the fish move into the inner
gutter to feed. Land-based anglers can also catch whiting, along
with bream, from Shelly Beach, the Urangan Steps, just west of the
Urangan Pier, and the Great Sandy Strait Marina walls in fact
almost any beach from Point Vernon to Urangan.
 The
run out to the islands east of the Hervey Bay requires care at low
tide, as the northern entrance to Great Sandy Strait has shallows,
reef and sandbanks. Fierce winds can cause dangerous sea
conditions, especially if the wind is against the tidal flow,
which is very strong in this area. At the tiny Round Island,
between Urangan and Big Woody Island, the reef can be fished for
parrotfish, blackall, squire, sweetlip and snapper. The eastern
side of Round Island which is shallow at low tide can be fished
for whiting, bream and flathead. The main target for boat anglers
from Hervey Bay is Big Woody Island because of its locality and
proximity to the harbour.
On
the eastern side of Big Woody there are many reefs such as the
Graves, which are fished for reef species such as snapper,
sweetlip, morwong, parrotfish and mulloway. A little further to
the east there is a big artificial reef, which is a great
attraction for the same reef species. Trevally and mackerel are
among the pelagic fish outside the reef. Between Big Woody Island
and Fraser Island is Little Woody Island, with reefs on its
western side, and with a rocky area at its northern tip and the
long vein of reef of to the south of the island. On the eastern
side which is made up of mangrove and sand banks attracts
flathead, trevally, whiting and bream. There are a number of holes
and ledges around Little Woody Island, which are also worth
exploring.
Sandy
Cape, at the far northern end of Fraser Island, is fairly remote,
but its beaches fish well for whiting, bream, flathead, dart and
tailor. A large part of the north end of Fraser Island has been
closed to four-wheel-drive traffic, as part of the land management
of the Great Sandy National Park. The restricted area is from
Wathumba Creek on the west coast around to the Sandy Cape
lighthouse. Keen anglers will have to walk or get there by boat.
There is still vehicle access north of Ngkala Rocks, on the east
coast, subject to tides and sea conditions and this area is
classed as remote. At the north end of the Seventy Five Mile Beach
there are great fishing area called Indian Heads and then Middle
Rocks an Waddy Point which attracts tailor, dart, bream, mackerel
and whiting on the beaches. Boat anglers launch into the bay
behind Waddy Point to explore the offshore reefs and the Gardner
Bank, some 15 to 20 km's to the east.
It is the beach fishing
on the ocean side of Fraser Island, especially the northern half
of
the Seventy Five Mile Beach that attracts large numbers of
anglers. These beaches are famous for the northern run of tailor
between July and October-November. Anglers patrol the beach in
four-wheel drives, looking for good gutter formations. Although
this time of year sees a frenzy of fishing activity, there is good
fishing year round for bream, whiting, dart, mulloway and
flathead. Surf-worms and pipi (known locally as 'eugaries') are in
abundance along the beach.
Many
creeks break the beaches on the west of Fraser Island, facing the
Great Sandy Strait, and vehicle access is limited. The boat and
land-based fishing is fantastic all along the west coast.
Four-wheel drives legally cannot travel any further north than
Wathumba Creek. There are good campsites beside Wathumba, Awinya
and Bowarrady creeks and plenty of yabby patches for bait along
the entire coast.
Hawks
Nest, just north of Moon Point, has great fishing for sand
whiting. The reefs (The Pinnacle, Moon Ledge and Sammy's) and
ledges around Moon Point have to be fished by boat. They are
heavily fished for sweetlip, blackall, cod, morwong, parrot,
snapper and other reef species. Moon Creek, Bridge Creek, Bridge
Gutter, Christies Gutter, Bogimbah Creek around to Poyungan Creek yield
whiting, bream and flathead as well as mackerel and reef fish on
some of the small ledges and rocky points. This area also is very
good for the mouth watering Mud Crab. Directly east of
Little Woody Island, some of the best land-based fishing spots are
Bogimbah Creek, which has mangrove jack and cod, and Urang Creek,
with whiting, bream and flathead the possible catches from the
banks near the sea.
South of Big Woody Island, near the Kingfisher Bay
Resort and Village, is good fishing for bream, whiting,
trevally and flathead especially around the jetty at Kingfisher
Bay Village itself. Like wise just south of Kingfisher in
Mackenzie's jetty which also provides good fishing for whiting,
bream, flathead and tailor when in season. The main north-south
channel of Great Sandy Strait is well marked with port and
starboard beacons. On both sides of the narrowing strait there are
fascinating mangrove-lined creeks, the domain of bream, javelin
fish, cod and threadfin salmon. There is always the chance of
catching the more elusive mangrove jack.
Dotted along this coast are the small settlements of
Tinnanbar, Poona, Tuan, Boonaroo and Maaroom, which all have boat
ramps. The target fish in the channels next to the sandbanks is
whiting, and they share the water with bream and flathead. Some of
the best whiting fishing is at Poona Point, Boonooroo Point, in
the channels around Boordye Point, and the southern end of Turkey
Strait, which is to the west of Turkey Island, but all sandbanks
with flowing water at their edge are good prospects.
 The,
middle section of Great Sandy Strait is studded with
mangrove-covered islands and mudflats, and has a tidal range of
over 3 m on the spring tides. This has a significant effect on the
one true estuary in the Hervey Bay system, that of the Mary River
and its tributaries. The Mary River has a huge estuary, which is
supplemented by the much smaller Susan River. The estuary breaks
into mangrove creeks, with sand flats and islands, creating
recognisable fishing places but also creating navigating
difficulties. If anglers lose track of time and tide, there is the
possibility of being stranded high and dry. The estuary has bream,
cod, flathead and whiting at its entrance, near the boat ramp and
ferry landing at River Heads. You will only need to move the boat
a few yards from the ramp to get to some prime fishing water,
between the ramp and the beacon in the middle of the river. There
is a hole here, close to the low water mark that carries big
mulloway.
The
Susan River branches off to the right just inside the mouth at
River Heads and winds through islands and sand flats, which
provide ideal conditions for threadfin salmon, barramundi, bream,
flathead, whiting, mangrove jack and mulloway. At the junction
with the first creek, Bensons Gutter, there is good fishing for
javelin fish, mulloway, barramundi and threadfin salmon. Little
Susan Creek is a narrow, mangrove-lined section joining the Mary
and the Susan rivers, can be fished for bream, javelin fish
mangrove jack and barramundi.
Mangrove-covered
islands in the Mary River create stations for flathead and javelin
fish. They can be easily reached from a boat ramp at Beaver Rock
on the south side of the river. Channels that run through a maze
of sandbanks and low mangrove islands are the norm from River
Heads to Urangan, and they can be drifted for bream, flathead and
whiting, with a possible diversion for catching sand crabs or
yabbies for bait. The waters between River Heads and Big Woody
Island can be trolled or drifted for mackerel and trevally. The
sand banks around the Picnic Islands can be explored for bream,
school tailor, whiting, flathead, trevally and javelin fish. Reef
fish like coral bream, cod, sweetlip and squire from the rocky
ledges that surround the islands.
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