Urangan Boat Harbour Wall

The eastern rock wall of Urangan Boat Harbour runs north along the edge of the channel at the top of the Great Sandy Strait, with a service road down its length to a memorial to local fishermen near the tip. The rocks drop into deep, moving water on the outside, so it fishes much like the end of Urangan Pier without the long walk. Bream and trevally live along the rocks, queenfish and mackerel come through on the run, and jacks patrol the wall in summer. Every boat leaving the harbour passes within waving distance, and most of them will ask what you're using.

Fish the outside of the wall on the run-in and the top of the tide, when the current pushes bait along the rocks. Float a peeled prawn or a strip of mullet down the rocks for bream, and cast metal slugs or soft plastics across the current for trevally and queenfish. Jacks want a lure or live bait worked tight to the rocks around dusk in the warmer months. The bottom of the tide is slower, so use it to re-rig and re-think.

Yellowfin bream are 25 cm (combined possession 30 with pikey bream and tarwhine). Trevally have no size limit but a combined possession of 20; queenfish are 50 cm (5) and school mackerel 50 cm (10). Mangrove jack are 35 cm (5), and dusky flathead 40–75 cm (5). Queensland limits are possession limits and include the freezer at home.

The harbour and the water within casting range of the wall sit outside the Great Sandy Marine Park zones, so standard Queensland gear rules apply here (up to 3 lines and 6 hooks in total per person). The Great Sandy Strait conservation park (yellow) zone starts several hundred metres out and covers the water off the end of Urangan Pier and most of the strait — max 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person there. The wall marks the southern end of the Hervey Bay recreational netting closure, which runs from Point Vernon to the seaward end of this wall; recreational fishers must not use or possess a net inside it. Stay off the harbour entrance channel side when boats are coming through, and keep clear of the navigation beacon at the tip.

Reach the wall from Buccaneer Drive at the Urangan boat harbour, past the marinas and the fish market. A service road runs along the eastern arm, with parking at the harbour. The rocks themselves are big and uneven, so pick a flat one well above the water line before you set up.

Hervey Bay's tides are big — a spring tide moves more than three metres — and the current along the outside of the wall is strong mid-tide. The wall is sheltered from southerly weather by K'gari, but a fresh north-easterly puts chop straight onto it. Glassy winter mornings are the pick for surface action.

Rock walls are slippery and the rocks move underfoot; wear grippy shoes and fish from above the wet line. A lifejacket is strongly recommended on the wall (AS 4758 level 50S or higher for adults), especially on big tides. Marine stingers, including Irukandji, are a risk in Hervey Bay waters, especially November to May. Watch for vehicles on the service road.

Yes, from the eastern rock wall, reached by the service road from Buccaneer Drive. Keep clear of the harbour entrance channel and the navigation beacon, and wear a lifejacket on the rocks.

Bream, golden trevally, queenfish, school mackerel and flathead most of the year, GTs in late winter and spring, and mangrove jack in summer.

Not within casting range: the harbour and the water just off the wall sit outside the Great Sandy Marine Park zones. The conservation park (yellow) zone, with its max of 2 rods or handlines and 2 hooks in total per person, starts several hundred metres out.