Baffle Creek is between Bundaberg and the town of 1770, about 440km north of Brisbane.
The tidal section is a wide, mostly shallow waterway, with a mix of drying flats, rockbars, holes and mangroves edges.
Baffle Creek is known for its mangrove jacks, but bream, whiting, flathead, tailor, tropical salmon, cod and grunter can all be caught in a day, along with mud crabs and prawns.
There are also queenfish, barramundi, trevally, tuskfish, flounder and tarpon, and occasional mulloway.
Fishing is seasonal, with barramundi and mangrove jacks best in warm weather and bream, flathead and trevally better in winter.
However most species can be caught all year.
The creek is generally quite clear and big tides (new and full moons) tend to make the fish more aggressive in their feeding.
Small tides can see the fishing become harder and requires using light tackle and fresh or live bait, or fishing at night.
The river is very shallow at low tide and newbie trips should be done on a rising tide to prevent stranding.
Great care is required to not hit rock patches in the upper tidal river.
A cartopper or yak is ideal for fishing the upper river, but keep in mind that big crocodiles may be present, although they are not commonly reported.
Heavy rain pushes marine fish and mud crabs downstream, while extended dry periods see them move back upstream.
The creek mouth usually has many fishable snags, which shift with rough weather and/or floods.
In from the mouth, the south bank between Boaga and Winfield has deep holes where bigger fish are caught.
Upstream of Boaga, the channel divides into three.
The northern channel has mangrove edges, rockbars, submerged trees and weedbeds which are worth fishing. There is a picnic area, a boat ramp and sailing club adjacent to the rockbars.
The middle channel has rockbars, weedbeds and mangroves. This channel runs along the north bank of Mackay Island, and is a good area to target mangrove jacks .
The southern channel is divided by a sandbar, with the Winfield boat ramp nearby.
There is a ramp at the Ferry Crossing, below the local school.
Bait, including prawns, herring and pike, is usually plentiful in the creek and ideal for using as livebait for barramundi, tropical salmon and jacks.
Nippers and soldier crabs are found on drying flats and are ideal bait for smaller species such as whiting and bream.
Jacks will respond to lures but on small tides livebait may be required.
Access through the sea mouth is best done on a high tide, with great care.
In suitable weather reef can be fished out from the mouth from about 2km from the sea entrance. Some of the reef is quite close to the beach, with mackerel caught from shore at times .
Fingers Reef is a known spot that produces reef fish, trevally and mackerel.
Note that a Green Zone starts 5km from the sea entrance to the north-east.
Also note that the dual mouth of Broadwater, Mitchell and Blackwater Creek lies 10.6km to the north-west, and this is also a good fishing area.
Baffle Creek tides
QLD fishing regulations
QLD marine parks
GBRMPA marine parks
Mouth of Baffle Creek National Park
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