{{start}}

Gladstone is blessed with a lot of fishing options including iconic rivers such as the Boyne and Calliope rivers, Awoonga dam which is famous for its barra and of course expansive estuary waters including a 40 kilometer stretch of water between Curtis Island the Main land called The Narrows.

On top of that there is also the waters of Gladstone Harbor which offers a range of local fishing options including those described below.

Launch you boat at one of the boat ramps near the entrance of both the Boyne River and Calliope River at Gladstone Marina at the ramp adjacent to the Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) facility provides good access to the following locations.

Wiggins Island at the entrance of the Calliope River into the harbour has a rock wall adjacent to the coal processing terminal grounds.

During the warmer months the rock wall has a reputation of producing some good Barra and Mangrove Jack as well as the ever present Rock Cod. In the cooler months it's a great place to target bream and salmon. The Wiggins Island side of the river has plenty of shallow structure and you'll often come across bait fish being attacked by predators.

Tide Island

If you launch at the Calliope River ramps adjacent to the Power Station and head out of the entrance of the Calliope River Tide Island is the first island to the North just off you come to. I wouldn't suggest that you fish the main shipping side of Tide Island as this is a busy part of the port and consequently it can be calm one minute and dangerously rough the next as boats of all sizes pass. The dangers created by waves from passing vessels are exacerbate because of Ripple Rock just of the the left side of the island which is joined to Tide Island by a dangerous shallow rocky reef.

The waters between Ripple Rock and Tide Island does hold good populations of bream in winter and rock cod at other times but you will need to keep the motor running so that you can escape the wash from tugs and other boats that seem to turn up when least expected.

If you move around to the East or South sides of the island it's a different story with some deep holes of the NE end of the island and rocky points and plenty of structure at both ends of the North to South shore of the island. My preference is to fish these areas only on the building tides, ebb and fall of tides when the water is relatively clear or there are obvious colour changes between the clear and coloured waters that hold barra from time to time.

Picnic, Diamantina, Compigne & Turtle Islands

The waters around these islands all hold good populations of fish from time to time with the margins being made up of sand spits, rocky reefs, some mangrove, sandy and rocky banks.

My preference is to fish the various structures of these islands as the clear water of the incoming tide displaces the muddy water left from the outgoing tide or to prospect the colour changes as the outgoing tides cut into blue water. You can expect a range of species in these areas including Barra and Threadfin Salmon and demersal's such as Grunter. Fingermark, Bream and Cod.

Compigne Creek

Just north of Compigne Island you'll find the entrance of Compigne Creek. This is another area where I like to fish the colour changes in search of Threadfin, Barra, Mangrove Jack, Fingermark and Grunter in summer and Bream in Winter.

Tail Point

This the closest point of Curtis Island to Quoin Island. It's one of my favorite harbor fishing spots and I prefer it in neap tides when the run of the tide is not too fast and generally like to have either blue water coming in and mixing with coloured water or coloured water of the early outgoing tide mixing with blue water. You'll often find Herring schooled up in the eddy just behind the channel marker with predators such as Queenfish, various species of Trevally, Fingermark and Grunter not being far away.

Quoin Island

I don't fish the northern end or the west side of Quoin island as it's generally sandy and shallow. The southern end of the west side of the island is more interesting as it deepens up and as you go around the point there is a rocky tidal swept point that forms a deep sandy backwater or lagoon that holds all manner of species at different times. Then as you move along the west side of Quoin Island you'll come to big boulders just off shore that provide plenty of structure particularly toward the Tail Point end of the Island.

Farmers Reef

Moving out toward the north entrance you will pass Farmers Reef to the left of the channel. There are areas of deep water and structure throughout Farmers Reef where Threadfin congregate during their two peak periods. The lesser of the two peak periods is Autumn and the prime peak period is late Winter to early Spring. You'll also come across Queenfish and Trevally and other pelagics on the hunt in these areas particularly in summer.

North Entrance and Rat Island

I find these areas just too fast to fish on the bigger tides but on the neap tides all manner of fish as passing through and hanging about in these areas.

The back of Facing island

As the crow flies it's about 9 kilometers from North Point on the edge of the North Entrance of Gladstone Harbor to Gatcombe Head on the edge of the South Entrance of Gladstone Harbor. The back of the island provides a broad spectrum of fish habitats and plenty of opportunities to target pelagics and demersal species. As you move along that shore my two favorite areas to fish are the waters around She Oak and Bushy Islands and Manning Reef. Threadfin favour the mud flats between both of those locations and Facing island.

Barney Point to Tannum Sands

It would be amiss not to include these areas in the wrap up of fishing options in Gladstone Harbor. The areas in front of the South Trees Inlet entrance, the Lillies Entrance, the Boyne River entrance as well as the sandy shore provide some great fishing options depending on tides and prevailing winds particularly for Bream, Flathead, Whiting and predators such as Tuna, Trevally and Queenfish.

I have had some very exciting outings in these areas targeting Tuna and Queenfish that have been chasing baitfish schools moving in on rising tides and on other occasions fishing the shallow sandy margins of the shore side of the harbor for flathead.

Mangrove shorelines

We are fortunate that there is also a lot of the shorelines within the harbor that are line with mangroves. The mangroves provide habitats for baitfish species as well as prawns and other crustaceans. Barra, Threadfin, Fingermark, Grunter, Mangrove Jack and other species that predate on those baitfish and crustaceans are great targets for anglers using baits, lures and flies.

My preference is to fish as deep into the mangroves as I can for the last half of the rising tides and for the first hour or so of the falling tides.

{{end}}