Miaboolya Beach (Carnarvon)

Miaboolya Beach sits north of the Gascoyne River mouth outside Carnarvon, and it is one of the few beaches in WA that carries its own gazetted protection order. These waters were set aside as the Miaboolya Beach Fish Habitat Protection Area on 27 June 2003, and the reason is on the record: this is the only identified tailor nursery in the Gascoyne region. None of that closes the beach to anglers. The order has four clauses and not one of them prohibits fishing — line fishing is legal here, and what is restricted is netting in the creeks and the methods you may use on a crab. Behind the surf sits the Miaboolya Creek mangrove system, which is where Carnarvon's mud crab population lives.

Fish the offshore gutters — the management plan names them as the structure holding juvenile tailor, mulloway, yellowfin whiting, tarwhine and crabs, and that is as close to a local map as this beach gets. The water is often turbid, which is its normal state rather than a sign the place is off, so this is a scent-and-vibration fishery more than a sight one: fresh bait, movement, and lures with some thump in them. King threadfin and mulloway come off the same gutters out the front. Mangrove jack belong in the creek behind, not on the surf beach. Crabbing is a separate trip into the mangal, and the legal methods are tightly drawn.

Mulloway, tailor, king threadfin, flathead, yellowfin whiting, dart and mangrove jack are all recorded here, alongside goldspotted rockcod, western yellowfin bream and goldenline whiting that get no chip on this page. Green mud crabs are the headline invertebrate and blue swimmers share the same water. Expect undersize fish, and plenty of them — this is a legally recognised nursery and the management plan says outright that juveniles are abundant inside it. Tailor are 300mm with a bag of 8 and only 2 over 500mm; mulloway 500mm and 2 a day; king threadfin 450mm and 2; mangrove jack 300mm and 2; yellowfin whiting has no minimum size at all and a bag of 30. This is the Gascoyne bioregion, so the demersal mixed bag is 4 and the pink snapper minimum is 450mm. Blue swimmer crabs run 20 a day at 127mm with no seasonal closure, and mud crabs are 5 a day combined at 150mm for green and 120mm for brown.

Learn to tell a green mud crab from a brown one before keeping either, because the legal sizes differ — the green has more than one prominent sharp spine on the elbow and large, distinct claw spines, while the brown has one small blunt spine or none at all and reduced or blunt prominences. Crab rakes are expressly prohibited in WA, along with anything else you might be tempted to dig with. Netting in the creeks along this stretch is prohibited at all times under a 1985 notice, with narrow exceptions for prawns by hand trawl, hand scoop or dip net and for crabs by drop net and hand scoop net. And one genuine feature of the management plan, recorded here so nobody is caught out: nude bathing is permitted on the beach north of the car park.

Miaboolya Beach is reached from Carnarvon via Miaboolya Road, and the last of it is beach tracks leading to a small car park. The reserve is Crown land, Reserve No. 27137, vested jointly in the Shire of Carnarvon and the Minister for Fisheries. Beyond that the facilities here are simply not documented: there is no current published record of toilets, water, bins, fees or whether camping is still permitted, and the management plan's reference to the beach being used as a free camping ground dates to 2003. Ring the Shire of Carnarvon before planning a stay rather than trusting a camping app. Vehicle access is over beach tracks, which implies soft sand, though no source states a 2WD or 4WD requirement either way. Nothing about the site is documented as wheelchair-accessible.

The beach is fully exposed to the ocean, with no reef or headland in front of it to take the edge off. The water is often turbid and that is its normal condition, not a post-storm one, so plan for it rather than waiting it out. The offshore gutters are where the fish sit and they are the only structure worth reading. Wind directions, swell thresholds and tide behaviour are not on record for Miaboolya, so the forecast and your own eyes do the work. Cyclone season across the Gascoyne runs November to April, and that is the part of the calendar that actually shuts trips down.

This is a fully exposed ocean beach with a significant tidal range, and the beach changes shape through the day accordingly. Soft sand and beach tracks are the standard vehicle problem, and reckless four-wheel driving is listed among the documented threats to the site, so stay on the tracks. The mangrove creek behind the beach is mud, tide and mangal, and the same tide that lets you walk in will close the route behind you. Shark are listed among the catch at nearby Pelican Point, a few kilometres away. Crocodiles are unlikely here rather than impossible: the department's own line is that known crocodile habitat in Western Australia extends south to Exmouth, with occasional records further south again to Carnarvon. Be crocwise around the creek anyway — stay back from the edge, and clean fish somewhere other than where you have been standing. Cyclone season runs November to April.

Yes. The Miaboolya Beach Fish Habitat Protection Area order sets the waters aside for conservation but contains no fishing prohibition at all — its four clauses are a citation, a coordinate definition, the setting-aside itself and a statement of purposes. Line fishing is legal here. What is restricted is netting in the creeks and the methods you may use to take a crab.

A stretch of coast north of Carnarvon gazetted on 27 June 2003 for the conservation and protection of fish, fish breeding areas, fish fossils and the aquatic ecosystem. The reason it exists is that Miaboolya is the only identified tailor nursery in the Gascoyne region, and juvenile fish are abundant inside it. It does not ban angling, but it is worth knowing what you are standing in when you get a run of undersize tailor.

Yes, in the mangrove creek system behind the beach, and green mud crabs are what that mangal is known for. WA law allows only four methods: by hand, with up to ten complying drop nets, with a complying scoop net, or with a blunt hand-held wire hook. Crab rakes are expressly prohibited. The bag is 5 a day for all mud crab species combined, at 150mm carapace width for green and 120mm for brown.

Nobody can say reliably. The 2003 management plan records the beach having been used as a free camping ground, and there is a mapped campsite at the car park, but there is no current published record of fees, toilets, water or bins. Ring the Shire of Carnarvon before you plan a stay here rather than relying on a camping app.

Very unlikely, but nobody should write it off. The department's own line is that known crocodile habitat in Western Australia extends south to Exmouth, with occasional records further south again to Carnarvon — which is this town. The odds of meeting one at Miaboolya are very low, and the sensible response is still to be crocwise: stay back from the edge of the mangrove creek, do not clean fish where you have been standing, and do not swim in it.