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Bite Compass

Brisbane & QLD Fish Species Guide

The fish Queensland anglers chase, under their QLD names, with QLD seasons and the spots in our guide that hold them.

20 species. Size and possession limits are set by Fisheries Queensland — each guide links them.

Filter by habitat:
Tailor
Pomatomus saltatrix
A fast, toothy schooling predator of surf beaches, headlands and estuary mouths. Best at first and last light on...
Listed at 40 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best May–Sep)
Silver Trevally
Pseudocaranx georgianus
A deep-bodied, hard-pulling schooling trevally of jetties, breakwalls, reef and estuary channels. Comes readily to...
Listed at 11 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best May–Sep)
Mulloway (Jewfish)
Argyrosomus japonicus
A big, nocturnal predator of estuaries, river mouths, surf gutters and rock walls, and one of the most prized...
Listed at 30 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Apr–Oct)
Snapper
Chrysophrys auratus
A pink, blue-spotted reef fish with crushing teeth, prized for its fight and its eating. Taken on fresh bait or soft...
Listed at 15 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best May–Jul, closed 15 Jul–15 Aug)
Tarwhine
Rhabdosargus sarba
Tarwhine are the gold-lined, round-faced cousin of bream: a schooling fish of harbours, estuary mouths, rock walls...
Listed at 19 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best May–Sep)
Garfish
Arrhamphus sclerolepis & Hyporhamphus spp.
Listed at 4 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best May–Sep)
Queenfish
Scomberoides commersonnianus
Listed at 11 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Apr–Sep)
Giant Trevally
Caranx ignobilis
Listed at 28 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Nov–Apr)
Mangrove Jack
Lutjanus argentimaculatus
Listed at 29 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Nov–Mar)
Barramundi
Lates calcarifer
Listed at 11 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Feb–Oct (best Feb–Apr, closed 1 Nov–31 Jan)
King Threadfin
Polydactylus macrochir
Listed at 6 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Dec–May)
Longtail Tuna
Thunnus tonggol
Listed at 3 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Dec–May (best Feb–Apr)
Blue Swimmer Crab
Portunus armatus
Blue swimmer crabs are the sweet-meated crab of warm, sheltered sand and seagrass: caught in drop nets off jetties,...
Listed at 6 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Oct–Apr)
Swallowtail Dart
Trachinotus coppingeri
Dart are the hard-pulling silver speedsters of the surf gutters: compact, deep-tailed members of the pompano family...
Listed at 19 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Apr–Sep)
Blue Threadfin
Eleutheronema tetradactylum
Listed at 3 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Mar–Aug)
Spotted Mackerel
Scomberomorus munroi
Listed at 4 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Nov–Apr (best Jan–Mar)
Yellowfin Bream
Acanthopagrus australis
The east coast's everyday bream: a silvery, yellow-finned fish of estuaries, breakwalls, wharves and ocean rocks,...
Listed at 88 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best May–Aug)
Luderick
Girella tricuspidata
A schooling weed-eater of breakwalls, rock ledges, jetties and estuary channels, caught on a float, a long soft rod...
Listed at 10 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best May–Sep)
Dusky Flathead
Platycephalus fuscus
The biggest of the flatheads and the east coast's favourite estuary ambusher: lying half-buried on sand and mud...
Listed at 76 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Aug–Nov)
Sand Whiting
Sillago ciliata
A silvery, yellow-finned whiting of surf beaches, estuary flats and coastal lakes: fished with worms and nippers on...
Listed at 69 QLD spots in our guide.
QLD season Year-round (best Oct–Mar)

Fishing elsewhere? Western Australia species guide · South Australia species guide · New South Wales species guide · Victoria species guide