While difficult to get to, fishing in Port Clinton can be particularly rewarding, partly due to its remoteness. We had an epic session catching estuary cod on shallow diving lures – so much fun.
Port Clinton is a large estuary approximately 100 kilometres north of Rockhampton.
Unreachable by road, the area is part of the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area and access can be restricted. Particularly during the period from June to August.
The Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area represents the largest coastal wilderness between Nadgee in southern New South Wales and the Cape Melville/Starcke Holding Area on the Cape York Peninsula.
Before travelling to the area, be sure to check the Notice to Mariners (Capricorn Coast outside pilotage areas). These notices advise of all military training exercises and dates when access is excluded.
Anchoring up outside (but near) the exclusion zone provided anti-aircraft flares and other night-time entertainment.
Fishing Port Clinton
The area supports a range of fish species and habitats, including estuary cod, barramundi, jewfish, and grunter.
Fishing Port Clinton can be most rewarding and the area has very good deep-water access for anchorage.
The harbour is surrounded by headlands and provides good protection from all wind directions.
When fishing Port Clinton during rough weather, we headed up the creek and were rewarded with barramundi, jewfish and juvenile Qld. groper.
Crabbing can also be particularly productive in the warmer months.
The headlands near the mouth have good rocky spits that hold excellent numbers of live bait.
GT’s and other pelagics smash this bait and provide excellent sport on light tackle.
And we also had success fishing Port Clinton for jewfish using barra techniques.
The coastal headland country extends a long way in either direction, providing habitat for Fingermark, Jewfish and Coral Trout.
Not far from Port Clinton, we nailed these lovely black jew and tuna which made for a great catch and cook.
Gear used for estuary fishing at Port Clinton.
Sign up to download our gear and tackle cheat sheet. It includes a comprehensive list of rods, reels, lures and electronics, perfect for a trip to Port Clinton.
Port Clinton has good numbers of estuary cod – great eating.
Using our Scaleblazer lures, casting around the headlands produced good numbers of estuary cod and an epic fishing session.
It was actually my 56th Birthday, so we topped off the day by cooking some sweet fish on an open fire.
Check out the video of the day below.
Finding fish on your electronics is a big part of fishing success.
Our Big Picture sounder presentation is a free workshop to help you get the most out of your fish finder.
Casting shallow divers is a great way to catch good fish – and super fun!
REAL-TIME WEATHER CHECKS
Regular weather checks before and during the fishing trip are essential for staying informed. Leverage advanced weather forecasting tools to track changes in real-time. These are my top 3 tools, that I use to track those changes:
GEAR AND TACKLE CHEAT SHEET
My favourite gear, tackle, electronics and lures for barra can be found > here.
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