Bribie Island Bridge (Bongaree)

The Bribie Island Bridge has crossed the Pumicestone Passage between Sandstone Point and Bellara since 1963, and its pylons are the main structure in this part of the passage. The tide funnels between the pylons, scouring holes that hold bream and the occasional mulloway, while the sand and weed flats either side are some of the best flathead ground in the southern passage. Land-based anglers fish from the Bongaree foreshore beside the island end of the bridge, where the footpath meets the water. It is a spot where the flathead are reliable and the mulloway stories get bigger every year.

Work the edges of the flats on the rising tide with soft plastics or small hardbody lures for flathead, casting up-current and letting the lure swing back across the drop-off. Bream and grunter take prawns, yabbies or mullet strips on a running sinker fished toward the bridge's shadow line. For mulloway, fish a live herring or a fresh squid toward the pylons on a dark night around the change of tide. Pump your own yabbies on the nearby flats at low tide for the best bream bait in the passage. The water around the bridge is a yellow zone, so it's 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person.

Dusky flathead are the signature catch, with big females on the flats in spring. Bream are present all year and best in winter. Whiting and grunter feed on the flats in the warmer months, tailor and squid move through in winter, and mulloway are an occasional night catch. Dusky flathead 40–75 cm (possession limit 5; fish over 75 cm go back), bream 25 cm (30, combined with tarwhine), whiting 23 cm (30), mulloway 75 cm (2), tailor 35 cm (20).

The foreshore itself is in the Bribie Island (west) habitat protection zone, but the passage under and around the bridge is the Pumicestone Channel–Godwin Beach conservation park (yellow) zone: maximum 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person. A hand pump is the tool for yabbies, and the only digging tool allowed in the Pumicestone Channel Fish Habitat Area further south. Raw prawns, yabbies and marine worms must not be taken out of the white spot movement area unless cooked. Don't fish from the road deck; the foreshore is safer and closer to the fish. The bridge pylons are excellent at catching fish and even better at catching sinkers.

Park along the Bongaree foreshore at the island end of the bridge and walk to the water along the shared path. The bank is a mix of sand, rock and grass, and is easy to reach but uneven in places. Shops, toilets and Bongaree Jetty are a short drive south.

The bridge area is sheltered from ocean swell, but strong northerly and southerly winds funnel along the passage and make the current harder to read. The run-in tide brings the cleanest water from Moreton Bay. After heavy rain, the passage can run brown from the creeks to the north, which slows the flathead but can improve the bream and mulloway fishing.

The current near the bridge is strong and the bottom drops off quickly from the flats, so don't wade out past knee depth. Stingrays are common on the flats, so shuffle your feet when wading. Bull sharks use the passage, so stay out of the water at dusk and after dark. Watch for cyclists and walkers on the shared path.

Yes, from the Bongaree foreshore beside the island end of the bridge. The passage around the bridge is a conservation park (yellow) zone, so the limit is 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person.

Dusky flathead, yellowfin bream, sand whiting, grunter, tailor, squid and the occasional mulloway around the pylons at night.

Dusky flathead have a slot limit of 40–75 cm and a possession limit of 5. Fish over 75 cm must be released.