The Gold Coast has a wealth of fishing opportunities.
Landbased fishermen and boaters can enjoy the labyrinth of tidal canals, where the species caught include bream, flathead, whiting, luderick, tailor, mulloway, cod, moses perch, trevally and more.
The Gold Coast has many waterfront parks and reserves on its rivers and canals, and some public parks front surf beaches and beach rock groynes.
These public parks often have amenities such as barbecues, toilets, tables etc, which makes them ideal for easy family fishing, and good fish can be caught.
Week days and night fish best in the rivers and canals as boating traffic drops off, and bigger tides tend to produce better fishing, especially within the canals.
Some parks are located near bridge pylons, which usually hold fish.
For boaters, constrictions in the canals create tidal eddies and rips which tend to hold fish.
See the best parks for landbased fishing here.
Some other regional Gold Coast fishing spots are listed here.
One of the best Gold Coast spots is the Southport seaway, with giant rock walls bordering deep water, and the nearby sand-pumping jetty.
Mulloway are caught here, along with flathead, whiting, bream, tailor, tarwhine, luderick and more, but you will need good gear to land big fish, including a drop gaff on the jetty and long-handled gaff for the sea wall.
The shallow, sandy Southport Broadwater is fished hard but still produces good flathead, whiting and bream.
For bluewater fishing, the reefs off Tweed Heads produce reef and pelagic fish, including seasonal runs of marlin and yellowfin tuna.
Game fish are seasonal, in summer.
The best boating weather tends to be in winter.
The best of the Tweed region reefs have been individually micro-mapped by the Australian FISH FINDER book.
More reefs can be found heading out in deeper water, these reefs travel north-south and produce pearl perch, emperor, pink snapper and more.
Note: You need a New South Wales fishing licence to fish south of the Queensland border.
Southport Broadwater tides at Southport Pier
Burleigh Heads on Beachsafe
Waterfront parks and reserves
QLD fishing regulations
QLD marine parks
Return to QLD fishing map
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