Hornibrook Bridge Fishing Platform

The old Hornibrook Bridge carried cars from Brighton to the Redcliffe Peninsula from 1935 until the Houghton Highway opened beside it in 1979, then walkers and cyclists until the Ted Smout Bridge took over in 2010. Most of the old bridge was pulled down, but the heritage portals and a short section at the Clontarf end were kept and turned into a fishing platform that reaches out over Hays Inlet. The tide pours through the gap between the new bridge and the mangrove-lined inlet, so flathead, bream and the odd mangrove jack use the pylons as ambush points. It's a rare piece of heritage engineering that now exists mainly to be leaned on by people waiting for a bite.

Fish the run-out tide, when bait drains out of Hays Inlet and the predators wait along the edges of the flow. Soft plastics and small vibes bounced along the bottom near the pylons account for most of the flathead. For bream, use a lightly weighted prawn or a yabby drifted back toward the pylons. In summer, a live herring or a prawn fished close to the structure around dusk is the best chance of a mangrove jack. You are limited to 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total here, so pick your rig with that in mind.

Dusky flathead are the main event, especially in spring when the bigger fish move into the inlet mouth. Yellowfin bream are reliable year-round, and sand whiting feed on the adjacent sand flats in summer. Mangrove jack and grunter turn up in the warmer months, tailor pass through in winter, and a mulloway is an occasional night-time surprise. Dusky flathead 40–75 cm (possession limit 5), bream 25 cm (30 combined with tarwhine), mangrove jack 35 cm (5), grunter 40 cm (10), mulloway 75 cm (2), mud crab 15 cm males only (7).

The platform and the water around it are in the Hays Inlet–Bramble Bay conservation park (yellow) zone of the Moreton Bay Marine Park: maximum 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person. Hays Inlet is also a declared Fish Habitat Area, so no digging tools other than a hand pump for bait. Female mud crabs are no take, and crab pots are limited to 4 per person and must be tagged. The run-out tide is the bite; on the run-in, the platform mostly provides excellent views of the new bridge.

The platform is at the Clontarf end of the old bridge, off the foreshore near the Houghton Highway at Clontarf. There is parking in the foreshore reserve, and the Moreton Bay Cycleway runs right past, so many people ride in. The platform is flat and railed, though it is a short structure that fills up quickly.

Hays Inlet is sheltered, so most winds are fishable, though a strong north-easterly makes casting awkward. The tidal flow is strongest on the big spring tides, which suits lure fishing for flathead. After heavy rain, the inlet runs dirty from the creeks, which slows the flathead but can bring jacks and bream on.

The tide runs hard past the platform, so don't climb down to retrieve snagged gear. The water here holds bull sharks and stingrays, so stay out of it. The platform is close to the bike path, so keep tackle clear of passing riders. Watch children around the rails on the outer section.

Yes. The surviving section at the Clontarf end was kept as a fishing platform when the old bridge was demolished. It is in a conservation park (yellow) zone, so the limit is 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person.

Dusky flathead and yellowfin bream are the main species, with mangrove jack, grunter and whiting in summer, tailor in winter and the occasional mulloway at night.

The run-out tide, when bait drains from Hays Inlet past the pylons and the flathead and bream feed along the edges of the current.