Redcliffe Peninsula is a great fishing area north of Brisbane, with many good landbased locations thanks to the abundant coastal reef and rubble.
Being located within northern Moreton Bay, with Moreton Island providing some shelter from the open ocean, Redcliffe’s coastline is a low-energy environment, with somewhere safe to fish in most weather conditions.
Redcliffe is reached by vehicle from Brisbane via the Hornibrook Highway bridge, which crosses the mudflat and channels of Pine River mouth and Hayes Inlet.
Hayes Inlet is a good fishing spot for boaters and landbased fishos, but note the green sanctuary zone.
There are two channels into Hayes Inlet. The southern channel that runs into a creek system inside the sanctuary is a particularly good area for bream and flathead.
Fish the channel for bream and flathead during the five or so hours of low tide.
It is possible to walk the channel edge at Hayes Inlet at low tide as the bottom is mostly firm.
Try walking out from the end of the street on the north side of the inlet.
Note that stonefish and stingrays are common in the shallows off Redcliffe, so don’t wade.
Immediately north of Hayes Inlet, Clontarf is one of the good fishing areas, with quality bream around the rocky foreshore at high tide.
Clontarf jetty is on the north side of the Hornibrook Highway bridge. This is a popular spot, but fishing either side of the jetty from land avoids the jetty crowd and produces bream, flathead and whiting, along with whiting, trevally and oxeye herring.
Squid are caught here and are best across Redcliffe in winter when the water is clearer. Both arrow squid and tiger squid are caught.
To the north, Woody Point has a long jetty that produces a variety of fish, along with sand crabs, squid and sharks.
Once again, good landbased bream fishing can be had over rough ground either side of the jetty during large high tides, which helps avoid the jetty crowd. The east side of the jetty foreshore can be fished on smaller tides for flathead.
North of Woody Point is Scotts Point, which has a sanctuary (no fishing) on the south side. The north side is an excellent landbased spot for bream, goldspot cod and small snapper, with plenty of bream and flathead from the beach next to the point.
Fish Scotts Point itself around the bottom half of the tide, including about the first two hours of run-in, as the rocks submerge at high tide. The rocks can be slippery.
Further north, Redcliffe jetty is popular at times, with plenty of winter squid. There are usually baitfish around the pylons, including pike, and bream around the rocky foreshores.
Both sides of the jetty have shallow reef, with bream, snapper, flathead and the chance of passing chopper tailor and school mackerel.
The Shields St platform north of Redcliffe jetty is a rocky spot that reliably produces snapper.
Further north, the Osbourne Point platform produces mainly bream. It has a boat ramp next to it for small craft (yaks and cartoppers).
Scarborough has a platform with a small-craft launching area. At high tide it is only a metre or so deep, and at low tide there is no water. Bream, flathead and snapper can be caught here on bigger high tides, and squid.
Scarborough reef is home to bream and small snapper. The author has dived this reef and seen very big bream, notably far more cautious fish than the many small ones.
Scarborough marina has a rock foreshore that is a good landbased spot in winter for tailor, bream and flathead, with bream and flathead in summer.
The spit at Scarborough is a great place to net hardiheads for bait.
Newport Canal mouth has a fishing platform nearby with barbecues and seats, it is not usually a red hot spot but it is pleasant and does produce bream. Note that heavy metals were found in part of Newport Canal sediment many years ago, the current state of flesh of resident fish is unknown, post a comment if you know more.
Snorkelling around Redcliffe reveals that mud crabs live in the crevices of some of the shallow inshore reefs, and there are big bream about that can be difficult to tempt on a line.
For boaters and landbased fishos, night fishing can produce excellent results on the shallow reefs.
Also, flathead can be seen lying among the rocks, these fish don’t just dwell on the flats.
Around Redcliife, mangrove jacks are caught from time to time, as well as goldspot cod, gold-spotted sweetlip, tuskfish (bluebone) and even cobia.
Great winter whiting grounds exist offshore in Bramble Bay and Deception Bay, with school and spotted mackerel and tailor often caught at the same time, just move around until you find a patch of fish.
The rock worms found around much of the Redcliffe foreshore are exceptional bait, and the small crabs found on foreshores are great bream bait.
Pilchard baits work well for flathead, and mullet and chicken gut baits work well on bream, but locally caught crabs are the better choice.
Lure fishing is best in winter when the water clears.
Further north, good fishing can be had in Pumicestone Passage and around Bribie Island.
Redcliffe tides
QLD fishing regulations
QLD marine parks
Moreton Bay boating map
Return to QLD fishing map
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