Wallaga Lake Bridge (Paynes Island)

Wallaga Lake Road crosses the lower lake on a causeway and a short bridge, and Paynes Island — the picnic island at the southern end of that bridge — puts you on the channel that drains the lake towards its ocean entrance. Wallaga Lake is a hot spot for whiting, bream and dusky flathead and produces all the estuary favourites, luderick included. The water here is the Wallaga Lake Entrance habitat protection zone of Batemans Marine Park, where line fishing is allowed. It is also the park's southern edge: the boundary runs to Murunna Point on the south side of the entrance, and Bermagui, 7 km south, is outside it.

Fish from the island's edge and the causeway banks beside the bridge, working the channel where the tide runs under the span. Whiting feed on the sand flats on the island's eastern side and come to live nippers or worms on a light running sinker, or to a small popper skipped across the shallows in summer. Flathead lie along the drop-off where the flats meet the channel, so a soft plastic hopped back down that slope is the best search tool. Bream sit around the bridge pylons and the causeway rocks and take peeled prawn or a small grub, while luderick want green weed under a float on the cooler-month tides.

Sand whiting are 27 cm on a bag of 20 shared across the whiting, and yellowfin bream 25 cm on a bag of 10 shared with tarwhine. Dusky flathead may only be kept between 36 cm and 70 cm, with a bag of 5 — the big fish over 70 cm, nearly all breeding females, go back. Luderick are 27 cm with a bag of 10. Rays are protected in the park's habitat protection zones, so release any that take a bait on the flats.

Do not follow the shore east from the northern end of the bridge: the mangrove mouth of Merriwinga Creek, a few hundred metres east, is a sanctuary zone where all fishing is banned, and the Snake Island special purpose zone further up the lake is no fishing except by permit. Pump nippers on the open sand flats on a low tide for whiting bait, but leave the cunjevoi alone — collecting it is banned in every habitat protection zone of the park. Fish the run-out for flathead on the channel edge and the flood for whiting on the flats.

Pull into the Paynes Island picnic area off Wallaga Lake Road, which has parking and toilets, and fish from the island's edge a short walk from the car. The island's grassed edge and sandy shoreline are easy going and suit families, while the causeway banks are rock and need more care. The road bridge carries through traffic with little room on the shoulders, so fish the island and banks rather than the bridge itself. Bermagui, about 7 km south, has the nearest shops.

The lake is sheltered and fishes in most weather, although a strong north-easter or southerly blows across the open water and makes light lines hard work. Wallaga is an intermittently closed lake — its sandy entrance opens and closes with floods and swell — so tidal flow at the bridge is strong when the mouth is open and close to nil when it is shut. Check the entrance before a session, because the tide predictions mean little when the lake is closed. After heavy rain the lake runs brown and the flathead often move down towards the entrance.

Traffic is the obvious one — the bridge and causeway carry Wallaga Lake Road, so keep rods, kids and casts off the road. The channel under the bridge runs fast and deep when the entrance is open, and the drop-off from the flats is sudden, so do not wade it on a falling tide. When an intermittently closed lake breaks out, the entrance channel can scour quickly and become very dangerous — stay well back from a breakout. Rays lie on the flats in summer, so shuffle your feet if wading, and respect the sanctuary zone at Merriwinga Creek.

Yes. Wallaga Lake is in Batemans Marine Park, and the water around the bridge and Paynes Island is a habitat protection zone where line fishing is allowed. It is a hot spot for whiting, bream and dusky flathead. Merriwinga Creek is a sanctuary zone, and the Snake Island special purpose zone is no fishing except by permit.

Paynes Island picnic area at the southern end of the Wallaga Lake Road bridge is the easy option, with parking and toilets beside the channel. Fish the channel edge for flathead and bream and the sand flats for whiting, and keep away from the Merriwinga Creek mouth east of the bridge, which is a sanctuary zone.

Not always. Wallaga is an intermittently closed lake, so its entrance opens and closes with floods and swell. Tidal flow at the bridge is strong when the mouth is open and almost nil when it is closed, so check the entrance before relying on a tide time.

No. Batemans Marine Park ends at Murunna Point on the southern side of the Wallaga Lake entrance, so Bermagui is outside it, while Wallaga Lake itself is inside the park.