Marine Stadium (The Spit)

Marine Stadium is the sheltered bay tucked inside The Spit, separated from the open Broadwater by the sandy finger of Moondarewa Spit. Being just inside the Seaway, it gets a flush of clean ocean water on every run-in tide, but none of the swell or rock-hopping that comes with the walls. The sand flats and channel edges hold whiting and flathead, bream patrol the moorings, and trevally push in on the tide. It is the Seaway for people who'd rather keep their shoes dry and their sinkers.

Walk the beach along the spit and fish the edge where the sand drops into deeper water, casting a light running sinker rig with a yabby or worm for whiting on the run-in tide. Flathead sit along the same drop-off and take soft plastics hopped slowly back along the bottom, or a small whole bait. Bream feed around the moorings and pontoons and take peeled prawn or mullet strip. Trevally chase bait across the flats at dawn and dusk; a small metal slug or popper can find them. Pump your own yabbies on the flats at low tide.

Whiting and flathead are the main targets on the sand, with bream and tarwhine around structure. Trevally arrive with the warmer months, and sand crabs are an occasional bonus. Sand whiting are 23 cm with a possession limit of 30; dusky flathead 40–75 cm (5); bream and tarwhine 25 cm (30 combined); blue swimmer crabs 11.5 cm (20), and female blue swimmers are no take.

Marine Stadium is a busy boating area with jet skis, moorings and anchored boats, so keep casts clear of moorings and swimmers. Crab pots and dillies are limited to 4 per person, tagged with your surname and address, and inverted dillies are banned. Any yabbies left over at the end of the session go back on the flats; raw bait can't be taken out of the white spot movement area (Caloundra to the NSW border) unless cooked.

Park along Sea World Drive on The Spit or at Muriel Henchman Park, which has a boat ramp and a public pontoon, and walk down to the beach. Doug Jennings Park to the north adds more parking and facilities. The sand is easy walking and suits families. Weekends bring a flotilla of boats and jet skis, so early mornings are the quiet time.

The run-in tide brings clean water from the Seaway and fishes best, particularly the first half of the flood. Strong north-easterlies blow straight across the bay and chop it up. Clear, calm mornings are prime for whiting on the flats. After heavy rain the water discolours, which suits flathead and bream.

Boats and jet skis move through Marine Stadium, so don't wade out into the channel. The sand drops away sharply in places, and the tide runs harder near the Seaway end. Bull sharks use the Broadwater, so don't clean fish at the water's edge or wade at dusk.

Yes. Fishing from the beach and edges of Marine Stadium is allowed. It is a busy boating area, so keep clear of moorings, boats and swimmers.

Whiting and flathead on the sand flats, bream and tarwhine around the moorings, trevally in the warmer months and the occasional sand crab.

Yes, with a hand yabby pump on the tidal flats. Saltwater yabbies have no possession limit, but raw yabbies can't be taken out of the white spot movement area unless cooked.