Fishing Pine River and Hayes Inlet
Tidal flows are extremely strong through the lower reaches, pushing clean oceanic water past the bridges and flooding the deep residential canal networks. Seasonal shifts bring a diverse range of target species, with winter welcoming outstanding yellowfin bream, tailor, and schooling Mulloway, while summer triggers explosive mangrove jack and giant trevally activity. Flathead remain highly consistent year-round residents, shifting their feeding positions along the shallow drop-offs in response to the changing lunar cycles.
Land-based anglers are incredibly well catered for with extensive parklands, boardwalks, and public fishing platforms along Shorncliffe and Sandgate. Wading the shallow flats surrounding Shorncliffe on a falling tide is a highly productive way to target trophy whiting and flathead on light tackle. Anglers must exercise extreme caution when wading near the main channels, as deep drop-offs and fast-flowing currents can easily sweep a footing away.
For boat and kayak anglers, the deep current lanes, bridge pylons, and rocky revetment walls provide endless tactical options. Navigating the canal entrances and current seams requires a high-quality fishfinder to locate the baitfish schools pushed up against the stone structures. The deep-water junctions drop to over ten meters, holding schooling Mulloway that feed aggressively during the brief slack water high tide window.
Top 10 Species
Landbased
- Ted Smout Bridge: Cast heavy chrome spoons or weighted soft plastics directly into the deep current lanes parallel to the concrete bridge pylons. Work the lure with a fast, erratic hopping retrieve to trigger aggressive strikes from giant trevally and tailor. Focus your casts during the twilight periods of dawn and dusk when baitfish concentrate close to the structures.
- Pine River Mouth: Lob unweighted baits of local prawns parallel to the rocky training walls on a rising tide. Let the bait drift naturally with the run-in current without any split shot. Keep your drag set tight to prevent large flathead and bream from reaching the structure.
- Brighton Park Flats: Wading the sandy mudflats in front of the old Hornibrook Bridge on a rising tide is highly productive. Walk quietly on the sand to avoid spooking active schools, casting ultra-light fluorocarbon leaders and live yabbies directly over the sand ridges. Focus your efforts on the small channels where the current accelerates to target whiting.
- Hays Inlet Shoreline: Present live yabbies on light running sinker rigs along the shallow sandy ripples in front of the mangroves. Retrieve with a slow, steady twitch for sand whiting. Fish the first two hours of the run-in tide when clean water comes in. Zone check: the top end of Hays Inlet (around Saltwater Creek) and the mangroves along the western shore down to Freshwater Creek are a green zone, so no fishing or crabbing there. The rest of the inlet is a yellow zone: up to 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks each, and up to 4 crab pots. Check the Qld Marine Parks app before you go.
- Bald Hills Creek Mouth: Cast light jigs and small soft plastics parallel to the mangrove edges during the run-out tide. Let the jig head bump the bottom to kick up visual puffs of silt. Target flathead feeding on the incoming tide along the sandy transitions.
Offshore
- Bramble Bay Mudflats: Check your mark first. Green zone warning: a big block in the middle of Bramble Bay (MNP13) is closed to all fishing. It runs from 500 m off the Brighton, Sandgate and Shorncliffe shore out to about 153°06.4′E, between 27°16.97′S and 27°20.57′S. You can fish the 500 m strip along the shore (yellow zone: 2 rods and 2 hooks each) and the open bay east of the green zone. Check the Qld Marine Parks app. Only drift here if your mark is outside the green zone. Then drift the rubble and weed beds with soft plastics on light jig heads for snapper, using light fluorocarbon leaders.
- Pine River Junction: Position your boat up-current of the deep ten-meter junction and use a GPS-lock motor to hover. Deploy live poddy mullet on heavy running sinker rigs using a size four-zero circle hook. Target the brief thirty-minute window of slack water high tide for schooling Mulloway.
- South Pine River Junction: Troll deep-diving hardbody minnow lures parallel to the mangrove-lined channel edges at three knots. Select lures that dive to three meters to bounce along the muddy bottom transition. This is a highly effective tactic for targeting active summer flathead.
- Deepwater Bend Hole: Anchor your vessel just outside the main current run and cast weighted squid baits down-current. Use a heavy ninety-gram pyramid sinker to keep the bait pinned securely along the muddy channel floor. Focus your fishing during the peak run of the tide.
- Hays Inlet Channels: Slowly troll deep-diving hardbody lures parallel to the bridge structures on a high tide. Target the current seams and rocky points where mangrove jack wait in ambush. Use forty-pound fluorocarbon leaders to survive the sharp rock structures. Zone check: the top end of Hays Inlet (around Saltwater Creek) and the mangroves along the western shore down to Freshwater Creek are a green zone, so no fishing or crabbing there. The rest of the inlet is a yellow zone: up to 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks each, and up to 4 crab pots. Check the Qld Marine Parks app before you go.
Hot Spots
- Ted Smout Bridge: Massive concrete bridge structures creating current eddies holding giant trevally.
- Hays Inlet Flats: Sand flats for wading and chasing sand whiting on a rising tide. Zone check: the top end of Hays Inlet (around Saltwater Creek) and the mangroves along the western shore down to Freshwater Creek are a green zone, so no fishing or crabbing there. The rest of the inlet is a yellow zone: up to 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks each, and up to 4 crab pots. Check the Qld Marine Parks app before you go.
- Pine River Junction: Deep river junction dropping to ten meters, holding schooling winter Mulloway.
- Bramble Bay Mudflats: Shallow ground that can hold snapper and grass sweetlip. Green zone warning: a big block in the middle of Bramble Bay (MNP13) is closed to all fishing. It runs from 500 m off the Brighton, Sandgate and Shorncliffe shore out to about 153°06.4′E, between 27°16.97′S and 27°20.57′S. You can fish the 500 m strip along the shore (yellow zone: 2 rods and 2 hooks each) and the open bay east of the green zone. Check the Qld Marine Parks app.
- Deepwater Bend: Deep river bend holding resident flathead and Mulloway.
Local Bait Tips
- Yabbies: Pumped using a stainless steel yabby pump on the sand flats near the old Hornibrook Bridge or Brighton Park at low tide. Hook them through the tail and up the body for sand whiting.
- Poddy Mullet: Cast-netted along the shallow mangrove margins of the river banks on a rising tide. Keep these hardy live baits in an aerated tank to attract flathead.
- Live Herring: Cast-netted around the vertical concrete structures near the bridge pylons on high tide. Pin them through the nose to keep them swimming naturally in the current.
Boat Ramps
- Wyampa Road Boat Ramp, Bald Hills:
Located at Wyampa Rd in Bald Hills, this single-lane concrete ramp provides local estuarine access.
- Pelican Park Boat Ramp Clontarf:
Located at Pelican Park on the Hornibrook Esplanade in Clontarf, this single-lane concrete ramp provides direct access to Bramble Bay and Hays Inlet with nearby public toilets and a wide sandy rigging beach.
- Woody Point Boat Ramp:
Located at the southern end of Oxley avenue in Woody Point, this concrete ramp provides convenient launching into Bramble Bay and is highly popular for local tinnies.
- Mabel Street Boat Ramp, Margate:
Located at Mabel Street in Margate, this concrete launching ramp provides beach access.
- Jetty Street Boat Ramp, Shorncliffe:
Located at Jetty St in Shorncliffe, this dual-lane concrete ramp is highly active and busy on weekends due to close bay access.
- Allpass Pde Boat Ramp, Shorncliffe:
Located at Allpass Pde in Shorncliffe, this concrete ramp provides local access to Cabbage Tree Creek.
- Queens Beach Boat Ramp:
Located on Flinders Parade opposite Griffith Road in Scarborough, this dual-lane concrete ramp offers reliable access to Moreton Bay with a fish cleaning station and adequate lighting.
- Scarborough Boat Harbour Ramp:
Located at the end of Thurecht Parade in Scarborough, this major four-lane concrete ramp is highly protected inside the marina and features a central floating walkway and adjacent concrete pontoon.
- Coast Guard Boat Ramp Scarborough:
Situated next to the Redcliffe Coast Guard headquarters off Bird Opassage Parade in Scarborough, this excellent four-lane concrete ramp features a wide central pontoon and temporary mooring.
Bait and Tackle
- STRATHPINE BAIT & TACKLE: Gympie Rd, Strathpine QLD 4500 | Phone: (07) 3205 3344
- TACKLE WORLD LAWNTON: 2/640 Gympie Road, Lawnton QLD 4501 | Phone: (07) 3205 7475
- THE TACKLE SHOP: 1754 Gympie Road, Carseldine QLD 4034 | Phone: (07) 3862 9015
Basecamp & Accom
- Oaks Redcliffe Mon Komo Suites: 99 Marine Parade, Redcliffe QLD 4020 | Phone: (07) 3283 0000
- Bells Caravan Park: 39 Thompson Crescent, Clontarf QLD 4019 | Phone: (07) 3283 2317
Emergency & Safety
- Volunteer Marine Rescue Brisbane: Allpass Parade, Shorncliffe QLD 4017 | Radio: VHF 16, 67 | Phone: (07) 3269 8888
