Currimundi Lake Mouth

Currimundi Lake is a small coastal lake that breaks out to the sea across the beach, with bushland on the northern side and parkland on the south. When the mouth is open, the tide pours in and out over shallow sand and brings bream, whiting and flathead with it. The water is shallow, calm and close to the car, which makes it the coast's easiest estuary for children. When the mouth closes over, the fishing slows down until the lake breaks out again.

Cast light running-sinker rigs with worms, yabbies or peeled prawn along the edges of the channel as the tide runs in. Whiting respond to a bait slowly dragged across the sand, while flathead take soft plastics hopped along the drop-off into the lake. Bream sit around the rocks and any snags further into the lake. At dusk, a small hardbody worked past the edges may draw a mangrove jack in the warmer months.

Yellowfin bream (25 cm) and sand whiting (23 cm) each have a possession limit of 30, with bream combined with tarwhine. Dusky flathead must be 40–75 cm (possession 5). Mangrove jack are 35 cm with a possession limit of 5, and trevally have no size limit and a combined possession limit of 20.

The mouth opens and closes with the swell and the rain, so check it before you plan a trip around the tide. When it is open, the first few days of tidal flow are often the best fishing. Pump yabbies on the sand banks inside the mouth at low tide. A closed mouth means no tide at all, so ignore the tide chart until it breaks out.

Park at the reserves on the southern side of the lake mouth, off the Esplanade at Currimundi, where there are toilets, shade and picnic tables. It is a short walk on sand to the water. The shallows suit children, but supervise them near the channel when the tide is running out to sea.

The lake is sheltered from wind and swell, so it is a good fallback when the beaches are blown out. Heavy rain floods it with fresh water and often opens the mouth, and the fish move down to the entrance as it does. A big swell can close the mouth with sand. Calm, clear mornings are best for whiting.

When the mouth is open, the outgoing tide can run very fast through the channel to the surf — keep children out of it and never try to wade across. The beach side of the mouth is unpatrolled surf. Stingrays sit on the sand flats, so shuffle your feet when wading. Shark control nets or drumlines operate off Currimundi beach — stay more than 20 m from them; it is an offence to be inside the 20 m zone.

Yes. Recreational line fishing is allowed in Currimundi Lake under normal Queensland fisheries rules. The commercial netting closure listed for Currimundi does not apply to recreational line fishing.

Only some of the time. The mouth opens and closes with the swell and rain, and the lake has no real tide while it is closed. Check the mouth before you plan around the tide.

Yes. It is shallow, sheltered and next to parkland with toilets. Keep children out of the entrance channel when the tide is running out.

Bream, sand whiting, dusky flathead and trevally, with mangrove jack in the warmer months. Dusky flathead must be between 40 and 75 cm.