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Top 5 Central QLD Land Based Fishing Spots

By Nickfish

Nickfish shares five of his favourite Central Queensland land-based fishing spots, why they make the list and tips for fishing them.

Recently I have been having a few troubles with my outboard motor, making it difficult to get out to my secret honey holes. So, I've been stuck to fishing land-based locations and have been making the most of them. Here are five of my favourite land-based fishing locations in Central Queensland.

5. Ross Creek

Ross Creek is only really fishable during the last two hours of the incoming and the first two hours of the outgoing tide as the creek completely drains out, making it literally impossible to fish as there's simply not enough water to hold fish. (Unless you plan to walk up the back; but with a resident crocodile, it is not recommended.)

When fishing out the front there's a small playground for younger kids to play and toilet facilities there as well. Around here frozen prawns are great bait and with a simple running sinker rig and longshank hook you'll catch plenty of bream, whiting, flathead, and grunter.

There is often an abundance of mullet and prawns here during the first part of the run-in tide, so a cast net will be a great option for gathering live bait if you’re here early enough in the tide. Live bait will also help filter out smaller bream and give you more chance of a big flathead or creek trevally. As well as a cast netting, there is also a small yabby bed on the creek side of the bridge, however it is hard to access. There are also some mangrove jack on the creek side in a few of the deeper holes and around overhanging trees.

4. Bangalee Beach

Bangalee Beach is a great spot for the family and large groups of people as there's plenty of room to find your own little spot on the beach. Unfortunately, you will need a 4WD to access and get around on the beach. There is an abundance of dart and whiting available when fishing from the beach, which are great fun with a light spin combo and for younger kids.

What sets Bangalee apart from the others is the fact that you can catch sandworms on the beach. Once you've mastered the seemingly difficult task of catching them, this will give you some great bait for whiting and dart.

If you keep going down the beach, you'll come to an entry of a fishy creek. At the mouth you'll find plenty of flathead and big bream. As you move into the creek further, you'll find some deeper pockets of water with mangroves. When there is clean water, you'll find yourself in some honey holes for barramundi, fingermark and mangrove jack. Fishing in these pockets a ZMan 4” DieZel MinnowZ, 5” DieZel MinnowZ or ZMan HerculeZ is the go and live bait works great as well.

3. Rosslyn Bay

Rosslyn Bay fishes best during an incoming tide and with a packet of prawns you'll catch hundreds of bream, cod and Moses perch, which is great fun on a light combo. Often, during the incoming tides, there will be thousands of herring that come into the bay, and this is good for a few reasons. The herring make great bait, so when they're in the bay it's not a bad idea to gather some fresh herring for the bait freezer. When the herring are thick, they’re easy catch and my favourite technique is using a simple bait jig. Bait jigs are great because they don't ruin the integrity of this fish, making them better live and dead bait. Bait jigs are also better than a cast net because you can control the number of fish that you take a lot more effectively than when using a cast net.

Other than bream and other estuary species, just on the other side of the bay, Rosslyn allows access to fish the rocky outcrops of the ocean. During winter a variety of mackerel species move close to shore, making them accessible to catch from the banks of Rosslyn Bay Harbour.

One of the great things about fishing here is that you don't need a lot of fancy gear to catch these mackerel. All you need is a 4000 to 6000 size reel, loaded with 30lb braid and either a herring or pilchard on a float, rigged with 80 to 100lb leader. Another option is spinning with a TT Hard Core metal lure or Fish Inc. 115 Flanker sinking stickbait.

2. Causeway 

The Causeway Lake, much like the Rosslyn Bay has two main fishing locations. The beach side fishes best during the bottom and the first two hours of the incoming tide. Once the water is too high in that location there is simply too much water, and the fish disperse out of schools to feed on the sand flats.

Prawns work just fine here, however there are yabby beds on each side of the beach and live bait will almost always out fish your frozen baits. A simple running rig with a small longshank hook will catch plenty of the whiting and flathead that litter the causeway.

On the lake there are hundreds of different species to be caught just off the bridge. Bream, cod, Moses perch and even small sweetlip can be caught on yabbies or frozen prawns. When the incoming tides are over four metres the water runs over the bridge, which is known as a run through. During these times hundreds of mullet, herring, silver biddies and other baitfish get flushed into the lake, attracting the interest of many different types of predatory fish, including queenfish, trevally and barracuda. These fish can be seen busting up bait and cruising around the top.

On the bottom, hiding in the eddies, there's cod and Queensland grouper, grunter, flathead, barramundi, and the seemingly elusive mangrove jack. During a run through you'll need to have a large sinker to hold your bait on the bottom, where the fish are hiding, and be prepared for some tight fishing action. You’ll want a strong fishing combo here during the run through and I fish a 6-10kg Okuma Delta spin rod and 4000 size Okuma ITX Carbon reel, loaded with 20lb braid. This is plenty to stop these fish.

1 Tannum Sands

Tannum Sands has some of the best land-based flathead fishing out of anywhere that I've been. It offers great fishing on a dropping tide, fishing in the deeper holes with live herring or hardy heads, rigged with a circle hook. This will produce some good flathead and the occasional bream as well.

Once the tide drops you can fish the holes with some prawns to catch bream. On the mangrove edges and sand edges you can find some smaller flathead and plenty of whiting. During low tide you can also walk the banks to find a yabby bed, with yabbies making a great bait for bream and whiting. Tannum Sands also has a caravan park, making it a great place for a weekend holiday with the family.

These are my top five land-based fishing spots for Central Queensland. These spots are great places to take the family out and still get onto some quality fish. Remember, whenever fishing land based in CQ, there is always the chance of seeing some of the wildlife that inhabits these areas as well, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled and remember croc safety.

Cheers, Nick