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Golden Flats
The fabulous fishing found in Hervey Bay has a lot to do with its geographic location, offering a truly unique variety of both warm & cool water species side by side. Having world heritage-listed Fraser Island on the doorstep is another one of its great assets. Stretching over 120kms in length and 5 to 25 m in width, Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island; interrupted only by the spectacular headlands of Indian Head, Middle rocks & Waddy point. You could write a book on the fabulous beach & rock fishing found on Fraser Island alone. In this article we will cover the fishing options & seasons for the sheltered waters of Hervey bay & the Great Sandy Straights on the western side, which run between Rooney’s Points in the North & In-skip point in the South.
Sid Boshamer pioneered the Hervey Bay flats fishery back in the early 90’s. When exploring the shallows with renowned saltwater fly angler Dean Butler they came across large fish tailing on the flats inside Moon Point – these turned out to be golden trevally. In order to explore & promote this unique fishery it was decided to hold a fly-fishing tournament in 1995. Some of Australia’s most experience fly anglers attended these tournaments over the next few years including, Dean Butler, Peter Morse, Rod Harrison, Allan Philliskirk, Kaj Busch, Leeann Payne and others.
This sort of experience really opened up the potential for Hervey Bay as an important fly-fishing destination. It was during the second tournament that a few switched on anglers headed to the top of the Island after working out the boat traffic had put the golden’s off the flats back in the bay after day one. While exploring the flats up around Roony’s point they came across longtail tuna cruising the flats in only a few metres of water. I believe it was Peter Morse & Allan “fish” Philliskirk who first found these fish & used their tally to blitz that comp. Paul Dolan (Hervey Bays longest working guide) has also spent a lot of time on these northern flats & has added large Queen fish , cobia , Giant trevally & permit to the list of species encountered on these vast flats. There are even large threadfin salmon to be found down through the Great Sandy Straight & in the main rivers which feed this amazing section of water.
So where do you start when chasing Golden’s on the flats around Hervey bay? Firstly time of year and water temperature is the key. We are just coming into the start of our season which runs from around November to March each year – the best fishing is when we have the water temperature on the flats above 22C for the best numbers. There are some spots where we wade for them – but most fishing will be done from a boat with an electric motor or staked out with a Power Pole.
Next are tides, which correspond with the best light conditions. Forget chasing them all together on the flats if it overcast with low light – you’ll just wind up frustrated! I prefer to have a low tide in the morning from 7am – 11am. This will ensure you will have a making tide which brings the fish up onto the flats during the best light period. Generally the best light will be in the mornings as clouds tend to build over Fraser Island during the day and the light becomes hard on the flats after 2pm.
So what do you throw at them? You can chase Golden’s on both spin & fly tackle – although I personally prefer fly. There are not too many things better than sight fishing for any species in clear shallow water and our local “tailing” golden’s are fantastic. The average size of the Hervey bay fish is also up there averaging 6-8kgs with enough fish up around 10kgs to keep you on your toes.
For fly I use a balanced #9 wht combo consisting of a G.Loomis NRX 1089-4. Your reel needs to hold at least 100 metres of backing and have a smooth drag. My favourite line is a Scientific Anglers Saltwater Textured Clear Wet Tip, which is a floating line with intermediate sinking tip. This allows you to pick up & recast quickly when needed while allowing you to keep your fly down. A standard 9-12 ft salt-water tapered leader will suffice with a 10kg tippet. Favourite flies include Clouser Minnows – natural/yellow over white, and tan over white. Small baitfish patterns will also work at times – however it appears that yabby’s or nippers are their favourite food items when feeding up in the skinny water.
If you wanted to try conventional tackle I suggest a balance 7ft spin combo with one of my favourites being the Terez 72MH matched with a 4000 size reel like the new Aero SPFA or Stradic FJ series. Spool these up with Power Pro Super Slick in 20lbs and run a rod length of 10kgs Fluorocarbon as a leader. Lures we have done well with include the Squidgy 95mm Pro-Lobby’s and 140 mm wrigglers.
Make sure you wear a quality pair of polarised sunglasses & hat with dark peak to improve vision as seeing these ghost like fish is the 1st step to catching one!
Sid Boshamer pioneered the Hervey Bay flats fishery back in the early 90’s. When exploring the shallows with renowned saltwater fly angler Dean Butler they came across large fish tailing on the flats inside Moon Point – these turned out to be golden trevally. In order to explore & promote this unique fishery it was decided to hold a fly-fishing tournament in 1995. Some of Australia’s most experience fly anglers attended these tournaments over the next few years including, Dean Butler, Peter Morse, Rod Harrison, Allan Philliskirk, Kaj Busch, Leeann Payne and others.
This sort of experience really opened up the potential for Hervey Bay as an important fly-fishing destination. It was during the second tournament that a few switched on anglers headed to the top of the Island after working out the boat traffic had put the golden’s off the flats back in the bay after day one. While exploring the flats up around Roony’s point they came across longtail tuna cruising the flats in only a few metres of water. I believe it was Peter Morse & Allan “fish” Philliskirk who first found these fish & used their tally to blitz that comp. Paul Dolan (Hervey Bays longest working guide) has also spent a lot of time on these northern flats & has added large Queen fish , cobia , Giant trevally & permit to the list of species encountered on these vast flats. There are even large threadfin salmon to be found down through the Great Sandy Straight & in the main rivers which feed this amazing section of water.
So where do you start when chasing Golden’s on the flats around Hervey bay? Firstly time of year and water temperature is the key. We are just coming into the start of our season which runs from around November to March each year – the best fishing is when we have the water temperature on the flats above 22C for the best numbers. There are some spots where we wade for them – but most fishing will be done from a boat with an electric motor or staked out with a Power Pole.
Next are tides, which correspond with the best light conditions. Forget chasing them all together on the flats if it overcast with low light – you’ll just wind up frustrated! I prefer to have a low tide in the morning from 7am – 11am. This will ensure you will have a making tide which brings the fish up onto the flats during the best light period. Generally the best light will be in the mornings as clouds tend to build over Fraser Island during the day and the light becomes hard on the flats after 2pm.
So what do you throw at them? You can chase Golden’s on both spin & fly tackle – although I personally prefer fly. There are not too many things better than sight fishing for any species in clear shallow water and our local “tailing” golden’s are fantastic. The average size of the Hervey bay fish is also up there averaging 6-8kgs with enough fish up around 10kgs to keep you on your toes.
For fly I use a balanced #9 wht combo consisting of a G.Loomis NRX 1089-4. Your reel needs to hold at least 100 metres of backing and have a smooth drag. My favourite line is a Scientific Anglers Saltwater Textured Clear Wet Tip, which is a floating line with intermediate sinking tip. This allows you to pick up & recast quickly when needed while allowing you to keep your fly down. A standard 9-12 ft salt-water tapered leader will suffice with a 10kg tippet. Favourite flies include Clouser Minnows – natural/yellow over white, and tan over white. Small baitfish patterns will also work at times – however it appears that yabby’s or nippers are their favourite food items when feeding up in the skinny water.
If you wanted to try conventional tackle I suggest a balance 7ft spin combo with one of my favourites being the Terez 72MH matched with a 4000 size reel like the new Aero SPFA or Stradic FJ series. Spool these up with Power Pro Super Slick in 20lbs and run a rod length of 10kgs Fluorocarbon as a leader. Lures we have done well with include the Squidgy 95mm Pro-Lobby’s and 140 mm wrigglers.
Make sure you wear a quality pair of polarised sunglasses & hat with dark peak to improve vision as seeing these ghost like fish is the 1st step to catching one!
