Point Vernon (Gatakers Bay)

Point Vernon is the rocky western headland of the Hervey Bay foreshore, and Gatakers Bay on its northern side is a run of flat rock ledges that reach out across the bay on a low tide. Where the rest of the Esplanade is sand, this is rubble, rock and weed — proper bream, sweetlip and cod country within a short walk of the car. There is a picnic ground on the foreshore and a view across to K'gari to justify the drive. Bring sandwiches; the fish here have a long lunch too.

Fish the last of the run-out and the first of the run-in from the outer edge of the ledges, where the rock drops into deeper water. Lightly weighted baits of prawn, squid or fresh strip, drifted into the gutters between the ledges, find bream and sweetlip. Work a bait or a soft plastic tight to holes and overhangs for cod, and cast a little wider over sand patches for grunter. Retreat ahead of the incoming tide; it fills the ledges faster than it emptied them.

Yellowfin bream are 25 cm (combined possession 30 with pikey bream and tarwhine). Grass emperor (sweetlip) are 30 cm with a possession limit of 10. Estuary cod have a 38–120 cm slot and a possession limit of 5 combined with all cods and groupers. Barred javelin (grunter) are 40 cm (10), and trevally have no size limit but a combined possession of 20.

The ledges and the water off them 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. Gatakers Bay is also a no-anchoring area for boats, which doesn't affect land-based fishing. The Hervey Bay recreational netting closure starts at the eastern tip of Point Vernon and runs east to Urangan, so check which side of the point you're on before using a cast net. Pialba Reef, further east off Pialba, is a green zone with no fishing at all.

Gatakers Bay Foreshore Reserve is off the Esplanade at Point Vernon, with parking, picnic shelters and grass above the beach. Walk down the beach and out onto the ledges as the tide drops. The rock is flat but uneven, with weed and shallow holes.

Hervey Bay's tides are big — a spring tide moves more than three metres — and the ledges only fish properly on the lower half of the tide. The point faces north-east, so it is sheltered from southerly weather but takes chop on a north-easterly. Light winds and a big low are the day to be here.

The ledges are slippery and the incoming tide floods the gutters behind you quickly — plan your retreat before you walk out. A lifejacket is strongly recommended on the outer ledges (AS 4758 level 50S or higher for adults). Marine stingers, including Irukandji, are a risk in Hervey Bay waters, especially November to May. Wear footwear for oysters and sharp rock.

Yes. The rock ledges at Gatakers Bay and Point Vernon are in a conservation park (yellow) zone of Great Sandy Marine Park, where line fishing is allowed with max 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person.

Around low tide, when the ledges are exposed and you can reach the deeper edge. Head back as the tide turns.

Bream, grass emperor (sweetlip), estuary cod, grunter and golden trevally off the rock ledges.