Fishing Southern Moreton Bay Islands
Tidal flows are extremely strong through the passage channels, pushing clean oceanic water past the islands and flooding the expansive upstream sand flats. Seasonal shifts bring a diverse range of target species, with winter welcoming outstanding yellowfin bream, tailor, and schooling snapper, while summer triggers explosive mangrove jack, giant trevally, and sand whiting action. 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 Victoria Point and Cleveland. Wading the shallow flats surrounding Point Halloran 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
- Coochiemudlo Island Jetty: Cast fresh mullet strips parallel to the wooden piles on a rising night tide to target bream. Let the current wash the bait naturally through the structure without using any split shot. Run a twelve-pound fluorocarbon leader to survive the sharp barnacle-encrusted timber.
- Thompson's Beach Flats: Present live yabbies on light running sinker rigs along the shallow sandy ripple zones. Retrieve with a slow, continuous twitch to target sand whiting feeding along the sandy drop-offs. Focus your casts during the first two hours of the run-in tide.
- Karragarra Sandy Point: Wading the shallow sandbars on the southern tip of the island on an incoming tide is productive. Cast soft plastic grubs parallel to the channel edges, focusing on the small sand ridges where flathead wait in ambush.
- Russell Island Groyne: Cast heavy chrome spoons or drifted baits directly into the deeper current seams on a rising tide. Work the lure with a fast, erratic hopping retrieve to trigger active tailor and giant trevally. Target the twilight periods of dawn and dusk when baitfish concentrate.
- Macleay Island Ledges: Slow-roll three-inch soft plastic paddle tails parallel to the rocky ledges on the northern end during the last of the run-out tide. Let the jig head bump the bottom to kick up visual puffs of silt. Focus your casts around the isolated weed clumps where flathead wait.
Offshore
- Peel Island Ledges: Drift the low-lying gravel patches in fifteen meters of water casting seven-inch soft plastics on light jig heads. Work the plastic with a slow lift and drop retrieve close to the bottom to target snapper. Use light fluorocarbon leaders to fool the wary fish in this shallow water.
- Coochiemudlo Gutter: Position your boat up-current of the deep muddy channels 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 flathead.
- Karragarra Channel: 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. Watch your sounder for large arches holding near the clay ledges.
- Russell Island Gutter: Anchor your vessel just outside the main current run and cast weighted squid baits down-current. Use a heavy pyramid sinker to keep the bait pinned securely along the muddy channel floor. Focus your fishing during the twilight periods of dawn and dusk.
- Potts Point Gutter: Slowly troll deep-diving hardbody lures parallel to the sandy drop-offs on a high tide. Target the current seams where the sandy channel drops away into the deep passage. Run a forty-pound fluorocarbon leader to survive the sharp snags when a big mangrove jack strikes.
Hot Spots
- Point Halloran Flats: Sandy beach and shallow flats offering outstanding wading access for sand whiting on a rising tide.
- Coochiemudlo Island Jetty: Public timber jetty providing direct land-based access to deep current channels.
- Peel Island Ledges: Low-lying rocky structure renowned for shallow-water snapper and grass sweetlip.
- Russell Island Gutter: Deep mangrove-lined channel holding quality bream and flathead.
- Karragarra Channel: Intricate mangrove-lined gutters holding outstanding flathead and highly productive mud crabbing.
Local Bait Tips
- Yabbies: Pumped using a stainless steel yabby pump on the intertidal sand flats near Point Halloran or Thompson's Beach at low tide. Hook them through the tail and up the body for whiting.
- Poddy Mullet: Cast-netted along the shallow mangrove margins of the island channels 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 Victoria Point jetty on high tide. Pin them through the nose to keep them swimming naturally in the current.
Boat Ramps
- William Street Boat Ramp, Cleveland:
William Street Boat Ramp: Located at William Street in Raby Bay, this multi-lane concrete ramp features central pontoons and ample parking, providing protected all-tide deep-water access.
- Colburn Avenue Boat Ramp, Victoria Point:
Colburn Avenue Boat Ramp: Located at Colburn Avenue in Victoria Point, this dual-lane concrete ramp requires caution as reversing too far back will strike shallow waters. Features include a central boarding pontoon and plenty of parking spaces near the VMR, serving as a high-density mainland commuter link.
- Weinam Creek Boat Ramp:
Weinam Creek Boat Ramp: Located at Weinam St / Banana St in Redland Bay, this four-lane concrete ramp is a high-traffic commuter facility and busy island-transit node. It features a sharp and sudden bathymetric drop-off at the ramp end where trailer axles can bottom out, and is shielded and protected from the wind until entering the bay, but lacks tie-up space or a temporary boarding pontoon, requiring a minimum of two operators to launch.
Bait and Tackle
- REDLAND BAY BAIT & TACKLE: Stradbroke St, Redland Bay QLD 4165 | Phone: (07) 3829 1455
- BAYSIDE BAIT & TACKLE: Shop 10, 127-131 Colburn Avenue, Victoria Point QLD 4165 | Phone: (07) 3820 9581
- GEM BAIT & TACKLE: 281 Stapylton Jacobs Well Road, Stapylton QLD 4207 | Phone: (07) 3287 3868
Emergency & Safety
- Volunteer Marine Rescue Victoria Point: 2 Colburn Ave, Victoria Point QLD 4165 | Radio: VHF 16, 67 | Phone: (07) 3207 8717
