After being invited on a day trip to Double Island Point on the Sunshine Coast I had to get my act together and start doing some research. Below is the research I did as well as the end result.
When preparing for this trip to the unknown I researched:
Rules and Regulation’s
Queensland Parks and Forests and Queensland Agriculture and Fisheries I went to for up to date rules and regulations. For my trip as it will be during the day time, however some very useful information “if fishing at night, wear high-visibility vests and use glow sticks to alert approaching drivers.”
The area for this adventure will be located within the Great Sandy Marine Park. The fishing location’s I will be going to are not affected by any Conservation or Buffer Zones. To check for yourself You can go to the Great Sandy Marine Parks page and check out their Visitors Guide. This is also where you will find the required information on Permit’s.
With the intention of actually catching fish (fingers crossed), Queensland Parks And Forest advise “All rubbish from fish cleaning, including offal, scales and unused bait, should be buried at least 30cm deep just below the high tide line.” This information can be found here.
For all other fishing activities, it appears to be based on the standard rules and regulations for Recreational fishing. However some of the information is not as up to date at the time of writing this, so I’ll be taking my lead from the information found at https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/recreational with regulations changes in September of 2019.
Weather and Tides
My go-to weather site/app is Willy Weather, not only because the child in me giggles at the name every time, but also because it has been reasonably close in its predictions as well as being easy to switch between weather, tides and wind.
The tides for the trip had the low at 5 am and 5:30 pm and the high at 11:00 am. Which meant that an early morning start would have us, hopefully in a location ready to fish the incoming and outgoing tide. Then being able to use knowledge of possible gutters on the outgoing to traverse the beach.
The swell looks to be on the lower side of average for the past couple of weeks at predicted 1.3m. However, the weather and wind are what may put a dampener on a successful fish. The wind is predicted to hit a fresh 38km/hr at midday on the day and scattered storms to come around this time as well.
Weather can change, so I will be keeping an eye on this up until the day before to make a final decision on where to fish or to even head out.
Fish Types and Limits
Current size regulations should always be checked.
Fishing Spots website lay’s out what to expect at Double Island Point, which includes my chosen species for this trip in Whiting and Dart. Should I get onto a good Flathead (which can be caught all year round) I would obviously not be disappointed.
Whiting:
At the time of writing this, Sand Whiting had a minimum length of 23 cm and a Combined Possession total of 30 for all species. For the up to date information go to Recreational fishing rules and regulations – Whiting.
Swallowtail dart:
As I have never caught Dart before a little extra investigation was required. Luckily Fishing world has a page here about this very species. Interestingly from this article, Swallowtail Dart is most likely the species I’ll encounter and can grow to 3kgs in weight. They are part of the Trevally family and closely related to queenfish.
Swallowtail dart current has a minimum size of 30cm and a possession limit of 30. For updated size and possession limits you can check out Queensland Fisheries – Trevally listing.
Bait and Tackle
The first thought I had was to take a large, cumbersome 11″ beach fishing rod with heavy tackle and a paternoster rig.
After a little research, watching some Youtube videos and reading this article by Mike Sultana of Davo’s Tackle. I decided to take a smaller and lighter spinning combo with a running sinker to a swivel and a fluorocarbon leader to a small hook.
Tackle of choice:
- 7″ Shimano Sahara Graphite 7025P. 2-5kg
- Shimano Sahara 2500FE with 10lb braid
- 12lb Fluorocarbon leader
- Tru Turn 063 size 1 hooks
- Size 3 or 4 Ball Sinker
Bait of choice:
Pipis or Cockles will be the bait of choice with the ability to dig or shuffle these up with apparent ease, I’ll be giving this a try for sure. At low tide, the small mounds, that look like the side of an Easter egg, can be dug up to find the Pipi just under the surface. At other times you can shuffle your feet in the wash until you feel a Pipi underfoot. The possession limit of Pipi’s can be found on the fisheries website here.
I also have some Squidgies and metal’s that I’ll put in should I not be able to get any fresh bait.
End Result
SUCCESS!
After rocking up to the beach and taking a breathtaking drive along with the Oceanside all the way up to Double Island Point Light House, we finally crossed the point and settled into a spot with a nice channel for fishing and a pool to swim in.
Did not manage to get any fresh bait on the way up as we were pressed for time, so I used a dried pack of beach worms until another fisherman was leaving and kindly gave me some fresh ones to use.
This paid off well for me as I promptly caught a 20 – 25 ish cm Dart in the channel. After a short time, I then managed to catch whiting of approximately the same size.
Honestly, I spent more time relaxing in the water than planned, and by the time I went fishing had limited time. Still, with this, I had an amazing adventure and caught a couple of nice fish.
I do recommend, if you have a 4WD, the right equipment, and a sense of adventure, Double Island Point is a great place for a day trip to an overnight camping trip!