Currumbin Creek Mouth

Currumbin Creek squeezes out to sea between the entrance wall on the Palm Beach side and Currumbin Rock, with The Alley surf break running along the channel. All that water moving through a narrow gap on every tide makes it one of the most reliable land-based spots on the southern Gold Coast. Whiting and flathead feed on the sand edges, bream and luderick hang off the rocks, and trevally run the channel chasing bait. It is also a swimming hole, a stand-up paddle highway and a favourite of every grandparent with a bucket, so the fish have seen everything.

Fish the wall on the run-in tide, when clean ocean water pushes into the creek and brings bait with it. A light running sinker rig with a yabby, beach worm or pipi cast onto the sand edges finds whiting, and a soft plastic or a whole small bait worked along the bottom of the channel picks up flathead. Drop baits close to the rocks for bream, or float green weed along the wall for luderick in the cooler months. Trevally take small metal slugs or soft plastics worked fast through the channel at the change of light. The current is strong on the middle of the tide, so use just enough lead to hold bottom.

Whiting and flathead are the bread and butter, best from spring into autumn. Bream and luderick are around the wall year-round, with better numbers in the cooler months, and tailor push into the entrance in winter. Trevally hunt the channel in the warmer months, and the odd mangrove jack lives in the rocks. Sand whiting are 23 cm (possession 30); dusky flathead 40–75 cm (5); bream 25 cm (30); luderick 30 cm (10); tailor 35 cm (20); mangrove jack 35 cm (5); trevally have no minimum size, with 20 combined.

Further upstream, around the highway bridges, Currumbin Creek is a declared Fish Habitat Area, where a hand yabby pump is the only digging tool allowed. Yabbies pumped from the creek flats can't leave the white spot movement area (Caloundra to the NSW border) unless cooked. Shark control nets and drumlines operate off Currumbin beach — stay more than 20 m from them; it is an offence to be inside that zone. The sheltered lagoon inside the mouth is a popular swimming spot, so keep casts well away from swimmers.

The entrance wall is at the tip of the Palm Beach sand spit, on the northern bank. Park at the southern end of Palm Beach, off the Gold Coast Highway near Jefferson Lane, and walk about 600 m through Rockview Park and along the spit to the wall. The Currumbin Alley car park off Duringan Street is on the opposite (Currumbin) bank, beside the rock and the surf club, with toilets, showers and cafes nearby — don't try to wade across the channel to the wall. Both sides fill early on summer weekends and school holidays.

The run-in tide gives the cleanest water and the best fishing, especially the first two hours of the flood. After heavy rain the creek runs dirty and the fish go off the bite until it clears. A big south-east swell can break across the entrance bar and make the outer wall wet. Light westerlies and an early morning run-in tide are the ideal combination.

The channel current runs hard on the middle of the tide and can sweep a swimmer or wader off the edge of the sand — don't wade the entrance. The wall rocks are slippery, and a big swell can wash over the outer end; a lifejacket is strongly recommended there (AS 4758 level 50S or higher for adults). Watch for paddleboards and swimmers in the channel. Bull sharks use Gold Coast creeks, so don't clean fish at the water's edge or wade at dusk.

Yes. Recreational fishing is allowed at the mouth and along the entrance wall.

The run-in tide, especially the first couple of hours of the flood, when clean ocean water and bait push into the creek.

Yes. A hand yabby pump is fine on the flats, and it is the only digging tool allowed in the Fish Habitat Area upstream. Saltwater yabbies have no possession limit, but raw yabbies can't be taken out of the white spot movement area unless cooked.

Whiting, flathead, bream, luderick, tailor in winter, trevally in summer and the occasional mangrove jack around the rocks.