Maaroom

Maaroom is a small village on the mainland shore of the Great Sandy Strait, south-east of Maryborough, where a mangrove creek runs out past the boat ramp onto wide sand and mud flats facing K'gari. There is no pier and no crowd — just the creek mouth, the flats and the strait beyond. Flathead and whiting work the channel as the flats drain, grunter and jacks hold in the creek, and mud crabs are the local currency. The busiest thing in town on most days is the tide.

Fish the creek mouth by the ramp on the run-out, casting soft plastics or baits onto the channel edge for flathead and bream. As the tide turns, follow the water back in and fish yabbies or worms in the gutters for whiting. Grunter take prawn and yabby baits in the deeper creek bends, and jacks want lures cast tight to the mangrove edges at dusk in the warm months. Set your crab pots on the creek edges and check them on the tide.

Dusky flathead are 40–75 cm (5) and sand whiting 23 cm (combined possession 30). Yellowfin bream are 25 cm (combined 30), barred javelin (grunter) 40 cm (10) and mangrove jack 35 cm (5). Mud crabs are 15 cm with a possession limit of 7, and female mud crabs are no take.

The creek mouth and the flats are in the Great Sandy Strait conservation park (yellow) zone of Great Sandy Marine Park — max 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person, and no more than 4 crab pots or dillies. Just north of the village is the Maaroom seasonal shorebird closure area: no entry from 1 March to 30 April and from 1 September to 31 October, so stay off that stretch of shore in those months. Crab pots need a tag with your surname and address and a marked light-coloured float. Never break or prune mangroves to reach the water.

Maaroom is about 30 minutes' drive south-east of Maryborough. Park at the boat ramp beside the creek mouth; the flats are walkable at low tide. Facilities are limited, so bring water and supplies.

The strait is sheltered from the ocean by K'gari, so Maaroom fishes in most weather. The tides are big and drain the flats a long way on a spring low, and the creek runs hard mid-tide. North-easterlies blow straight across the strait onto this shore.

Wading means soft mud, stingrays and oyster-covered rocks — shuffle your feet and wear footwear. Don't get cut off on the flats by the rising tide. Marine stingers, including Irukandji, are a risk in these waters, especially November to May. Sandflies and mosquitoes are fierce around the mangroves at dusk.

The Maaroom seasonal shorebird closure area, just north of the village, is closed to entry from 1 March to 30 April and from 1 September to 31 October.

Flathead, whiting, bream, grunter, mangrove jack and mud crabs around the creek mouth and flats.

Up to 4 crab pots or dillies per person in the conservation park zone, each tagged with your surname and address and with a marked float. Female mud crabs are no take.