Lake Conjola Entrance

Lake Conjola reaches the sea through a long sand channel between the Lake Conjola village side and Cunjurong Point. The entrance is an intermittently closed and open lake or lagoon: in some years it runs deep and clear with the tide, in others the sand closes it for months and the channel becomes a warm, still lagoon. Either way the sand flats, weed edges and channel drop-offs at the mouth hold flathead, bream and whiting, and the beach next door adds tailor. The spot is the entrance shoal below Cunjurong Point, where the channel meets the beach.

Walk the edges of the channel and cast soft plastics or lightly weighted prawns to the drop-off for flathead, working with the tide rather than against it. Whiting and bream take pumped nippers or worms on light running rigs over the sand on a rising tide. Luderick and tarwhine feed around the weed beds and any rock along the channel. When the mouth is open, the first of the run-out at dusk is the best window, and a live mullet or fresh squid after dark gives a shot at a mulloway. Spin metals into the beach gutters either side of the mouth for tailor at first light.

Dusky flathead are kept inside a 36–70 cm slot with a bag of 5. Yellowfin bream are 25 cm minimum and tarwhine 20 cm, sharing a combined bag of 10. Sand whiting are 27 cm on a bag of 20 across all whiting, luderick 27 cm with a bag of 10, and tailor 30 cm with a bag of 10. Mulloway are 70 cm minimum with a bag of one per person.

Find out whether the entrance is open before you drive — it changes the whole session. A closed lagoon fishes best for flathead and whiting on warm, calm days, with tide almost irrelevant. When it is open, the channel shifts after every big sea, so look for the darkest water along the bank and fish its edge. Pump nippers on the flats at low tide; saltwater nippers have a bag of 100. Summer brings paddlers, swimmers and kids to the shallows, so fish dawn and dusk.

From the Lake Conjola side, park near the Lake Conjola Entrance boat ramp and walk out along the sand to the channel; from the north, the streets of Cunjurong Point lead to lookouts above the entrance and the beach below. Both approaches end on soft sand with no formed platform. Caravan parks and holiday houses line the Lake Conjola side of the channel.

The channel is sheltered from swell inside the mouth but exposed at the beach end. A strong north-easter blows straight up the channel and chops it up; westerlies leave it calm. When the entrance is open, the run-out after a high tide is the trigger. When it is closed, water temperature and wind drive the fishing. Heavy rain can raise the lake and break the mouth open, which fires up flathead and mulloway but makes the channel dangerous.

When the entrance breaks open after heavy rain, the lake drains through it with a fierce current and the sand banks collapse into the channel without warning — stay out of the water and keep children well back from the edges. Even on a normal run-out the current through the mouth is strong enough to sweep a wading adult towards the surf. The channel moves after big seas, so a crossing that was knee-deep last month may be over your head. Conjola Beach outside the mouth has rips — swim only between the flags when it is patrolled.

It opens and closes. Lake Conjola is an intermittently closed and open lake, so the mouth can run with the tide for months or be shut by sand. Check local reports before you go — the fishing and the safety both change with it.

Dusky flathead, yellowfin bream, tarwhine, sand whiting, luderick and mulloway, with tailor on the beach at the mouth. Dusky flathead must be 36–70 cm with a bag of 5, and bream 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine.

From the sand along the channel at the mouth, below Cunjurong Point. Park near the Lake Conjola Entrance boat ramp and walk out, or come in from Cunjurong Point on the north side.

Only with care. When the mouth is open, the current through it is strong and the sand banks collapse, especially after heavy rain breaks it open. Don't wade or swim in the channel on a run-out tide.