Boambee Creek Reserve

Boambee Creek Reserve is a shady picnic reserve on the lower Boambee Creek, just inside the creek mouth between Sawtell and Toormina, run by Reflections Holiday Parks. Its fishing platforms sit near the deep stretch locals call the jewfish hole, and the creek suits beginners and kids. Boambee Creek is one of the stand-out mangrove jack creeks around Coffs Harbour. Shallow sand flats for whiting, a deep hole for jewies and snags for jacks, all a short walk from the barbecue — it's hard to design a better family estuary.

Whiting and flathead are fished over the sand on the run-in tide with light running-sinker rigs and live nippers, worms or prawns, or with small surface lures and soft plastics on the flats. Bream take baits fished close to the bank structure. Jack anglers cast lures or drift live poddy mullet and herring tight to snags and rock edges around dusk and after dark in summer. The jewfish hole rewards live bait or fresh strip baits on the tide change at night.

Sand whiting (27 cm, bag 20) and dusky flathead (36–70 cm slot, bag 5) are the summer staples. Bream are around all year. Mangrove jack (bag 5, no size limit) are the summer prize, best from December to March. Mulloway (70 cm, bag 1) come from the deeper hole at night, and luderick and trevally fill in through the cooler months.

Fish the run-in for whiting on the flats and the last of the run-out for jacks and jewies around the structure. The reserve is popular with swimmers and paddlers on warm days, so the quiet hours — dawn, dusk and after dark — fish best and keep everyone happy. Bring bait or pump your own nippers on the flats within NSW bag limits. Jacks bust light line in seconds near snags, so step up your leader before you need it.

Enter from Sawtell Road at Toormina, just north of the Walter Harvie Bridge. The reserve is run by Reflections Holiday Parks and charges a day-entry fee at the gate. Inside are parking, picnic shelters, barbecues and public toilets, with flat grassy access to the water's edge. Dogs are allowed on a leash, and the calm, shallow water makes it one of the best places on the coast to take young kids fishing.

Sheltered estuary water, so wind and tide matter more than swell. The run-in brings clean ocean water over the flats and is best for whiting; the run-out and the tide change suit jacks and jewies. Heavy rain colours the creek for a few days. Strong north-easterly sea breezes on summer afternoons make lure casting harder — mornings are calmer.

This is a calm estuary, so the hazards are small but real: slippery banks, oyster-covered rocks, and swimmers and paddlers sharing the water — cast away from them. Keep an eye on children at the water's edge, especially near the deeper hole and the creek channel where the current runs on the tide. The road bridge carries traffic; fish from the reserve, not the bridge. Bring insect repellent for dusk sessions.

Boambee Creek Reserve's fishing platforms sit near what's locally known as the jewfish hole, on the lower creek just inside the mouth between Sawtell and Toormina. Enter the reserve from Sawtell Road. A NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is required unless you're exempt.

Yes. Boambee Creek Reserve is run by Reflections Holiday Parks, which charges a day-entry fee at the gate.

Sand whiting, dusky flathead and bream are the regulars, mangrove jack are a summer target — Boambee Creek is one of the area's best jack creeks — and mulloway come from the deeper hole at night.

Yes. The reserve has calm, shallow water, shady picnic shelters, barbecues and toilets, and whiting and bream bite on simple bait rigs. Watch children near the deeper channel and swimmers in summer.