The Tin Can Bay Experience

By Paul Chew

In this article Paul Chew introduces us to the quiet coastal region of Tin Can Bay, a location that sits within the Gympie and Fraser Coast Regions and offers visitors plenty of opportunity for relaxation, leisure activities and a variety of fishing options. Tin Can Bay is situated on the peninsula between Snapper Creek and Great Sandy Strait, approximately 218km from Brisbane and in close proximity to World Heritage listed Fraser Island. The area is also a wetland of international importance and important bird area of Australia.

So, being born and bred in the Wide Bay and having lived less than an hours easy drive away, you would have thought it a no brainer that I would have discovered the picturesque holiday paradise that is Tin Can Bay earlier than this year. I think I went for a drive many years ago and drove in, drove out and that was it. Earlier this year though I wanted to catch up with a great Brissy mate and his family, so Tin Can was the chosen destination.

We had a fantastic weekend, albeit with not much fishing, though we managed a quick arvo session landbased near Crab Creek where we managed a flatty and Steve hooked some braid, which had a feisty stingray attached that we released after a bit of a struggle. It was a great weekend and I vowed to go back and do some further exploration, which leads me to this story. To set the scene, we were to head to Tin Can Bay on Friday morning, so on Tuesday I got the boat of the shed to start loading it up. We had found a dog friendly AirBNB, so we only needed fishing gear, clothes and the dogs.

Tuesday afternoon I arrived home from work to find that one of the loved puppies had chewed through the new trailer light plug and left it on the ground. Having a slight tantrum, that was it, the boat was staying at home. I'd just fish landbased and just enjoy the holiday. The car needed a service, so Thursday arvo I came home from work and replaced the plug. Happy days. Jode drove me up to pick up the car and we were gone literally 10 minutes... when I returned home to find the plug chewed off again!

This boat sits in the yard a lot throughout the year and here it was having had the plug replaced three times in a week! Get a dog they said, it'll be fun they said. I just sat down quietly and replaced the plug... Again! Anyway, Friday lunchtime saw us arrive at TCB in the face of some adversity.

For those that don't know, Tin Can Bay is about 3 hour's drive north of Brisbane and 50 minutes from Maryborough, nestled between Kauri Creek and Rainbow Beach. It is one of the last places where you can feed a wild dolphin or two. With our eldest son and his mate arriving later in the afternoon, we unpacked and went and grabbed provisions for the week. After our last weekend here, we knew that everything we needed could be found here, with a well-stocked IGA, hotel and service station in Tin Can Bay, and with a Woolworths, a bottleshop and Mitre 10 at Cooloola Cove, only 5 minutes away.

The bakery has the best pies I have had for a long, long time, and the butcher has a great range of products, including a great selection of small goods that are great value. We grabbed a coffee from the bakery most mornings and it was great (did I mention the pies), but also had coffee at most of the other shops and could not complain. The bakery was within walking distance of the house, so was great for an early morning walk with the dogs. While on that subject, there is kilometres of pathways along the foreshore for those wanting to walk the dogs or exercise and everyone we met was exceptionally friendly.

So, let's tell you about the fishing.

Not knowing what to expect fishing wise, I packed just the one baitcast combo, four spin rods and the Okuma LRF that I set up recently with Platypus mono for whiting fishing.

Being the first week long holiday that Jode and I had managed to have together for a couple of years, my plan wasn't to fish super hard, rather to just relax and fish when I felt like it. I had heard stories that there wasn't much left at Tin Can, and a feed could be hard to find. To be honest, I found it the opposite and I didn't fish that hard. We put the crab pots in one arvo, checked them the next day and had plenty of crabs in the pots.

While the boys were down the weather was rubbish, with strong Sou Easters and rain, so we just baited the pots and had a bit of a fish along the boats moored in Snapper Creek, with some pillies drifted along and I landed a few pike on the ever-reliable ZMan 2.5" GrubZ in Copper Penny colour. Callum scored a near legal squire just before the rain came back in, we called it a day and went and tried the local schooner outlet.

After the weekend and the boys had left, it was time to get out the yabby pump and try to get a feed. There seems to be yabbies to dig on most exposed banks at low tide and we dug plenty up the creek, out on the flats straight out from Bream St, as well as on the flats opposite Carlo Point for those with a boat.

The yabby beds in front of Bream Street would be worth a fish on an incoming tide, with a wading bag, as I am sure good whiting and flathead would push up over there as the tide rises. Not having any local knowledge, I used satellite images as I normally do. I looked for drains coming off the flats and areas that may concentrate the fish into somewhere where I could catch a feed. Half tide down to half tide up is when I fish this sort of area and then on the high tide I fished the banks where I dug my yabbies for bait. Drifting over them proved the best method. This easy style of fishing is what I am really enjoying these days, with most days only fishing a couple hours of a morning. That is after grabbing a coffee and a pie, I then fished until the dogs got too hot and then we headed in to enjoy a fire in the backyard, a couple of drinks and a leisurely walk along the foreshore.

As mentioned earlier, without any knowledge of the place I thought I would struggle, however in the end I found myself limiting the fish I brought home. There was a great sample of summer whiting, with a lot close to 30cm, along with some good pan sized flathead. Bream and tarwhine were literally everywhere, finding ourselves having to move to get away from them on several occasions. It was good to see Jode get the chance to catch a few fish and I found it hard to extract my new Okuma LRF whiting rod from her hands after the first day.

It's a great whiting rod, with a super flexible tip and is very forgiving for the novice angler. Coupled with some 6lb Platypus Platinum mono, it made for a good fun setup to catch plenty of fish. I found ten or so fish was plenty to clean and eat while on holidays, so often spent quite a lot of time exploring after we had a feed. On the next trip I will do some serious crabbing and hopefully nab some of the big muddies that the place is known for.

There were plenty of squid being caught, drifting jigs through the boats in the bay, and I did hear of a few jacks starting to show up, so I will return when it's warmer. There was also plenty of tarpon and a few small trevally along the fishing boats at the marina. I landed a few small trevally and jumped a couple tarpon off one morning on a ZMan 2.5" GrubZ. As you can see in the photos, one morning on the ebb tide we had a visit from one of the local dolphins. This was amazing, however a little awkward as I didn't want to start the outboard and startle it. In hesitating, we almost ended up stranded on the flats, however it was still a fantastic experience.

The Wrap

So, for the ChewCrew, Tin Can Bay has everything. As mentioned above, we were lucky to have found dog friendly accommodation, with a great little deck and fire pit out back, and within walking distance to everything we need. The morning walk to the bakery for coffee (and a pie) and a treat for the girls was definitely a highlight, and the laidback vibe of the place is something that we have been searching for, for a while. The people we encountered were friendly, business owners very welcoming and boat launching facilities were great. While the quiet feel of the place might not be for everyone, we found after the week that we didn't want to leave, wishing that we had more time. There is so much we have yet to explore that it won't be long until we head back for another week or two and enjoy the fantastic holiday destination that is Tin Can Bay.

Cheers, Chewy