Burnett Heads - Fish for Dinner
Wayne Kampe

THE fly line hissed through the runners and rolled out in a tight loop of curling plastic-coated dacron. After the fly hit the water there was a five second delay to allow it to sink, then the ‘strip-pause-strip’ commenced. For perhaps eight seconds the retrieve continued, and then a swoosh of displaced water told the silent tale of a fish finding the fly. The rod ripped up as weight came hard and fast - too hard and fast maybe - and then the limp fly line told a subdued story of a fly, and fish, gone forever.

So what's this? Kampey fishing fly again? No. This was an angler flicking the long rod about the rocks at Burnett Heads just east of Bundaberg. I was visiting the location to suss it out as a holiday destination, and my attention was naturally drawn to the sight of a fellow fly angler fishing off the rocks. Sad about the trevally, but these fellows are always hard on fly gear, and never more so than around rock outcrops.

Burnett Heads is situated at the mouth of the Burnett River, east of Bundaberg, a major sugar and small crop growing area. Accessed via Bundaberg, the visitor will find Burnett Heads by travelling out of town in an easterly direction on the road to Bargara. A turn off on the left as one heads to Bargara Beach shows Burnett Heads quite clearly, and it takes only fifteen minutes of travel to enter the small locality.

Several things struck me as being outstanding about this holiday destination, not least that this place has some of the friendliest residents one could hope to find. I called at the Marina to say hello. About an hour later I staggered out under the load of information imparted to me by locals! Later in the day I dropped into the Lighthouse Caravan Park to seek a bit of information there. Again, the hand of friendship was extended and the talk ranged from fishing to the weather (things were darned dry when I was up there) and back to fishing. It seemed the biggest mistake I had made was not taking my boat with me, because the tuna were hot straight off the leads at the mouth of the Burnett River.

Overall, Burnett Heads is a very scenic place. Palm trees, clean sandy beaches, and rocks awash with suds and froth that, to me, spelled F-I-S-H just about everywhere I looked. The river is remarkably clean by just about any standards, and I noted that the water in the vicinity of the river walls was perfect for either lure or flyfishing. A local who was fishing at the time told me that a lot of tuna and some quality trevally had been working the river during the spring months. Bream on lures were more than just a possibility around the rock walls along the river too. Again, as is the case all over southern Queensland, a very small lure with a lively darting action is the key to success.

Visitors are well catered for, with regard to accommodation. There are two main caravan parks: The Lighthouse and The Oaks. At The Lighthouse there are forty powered sites available, and a host of un-powered ones as well. This camping ground is situated virtually within walking distance of the river. Several varieties of shade trees are well established within the grounds, and one would hope to find a shady camping site without much fuss. The open layout of these camping grounds appealed to me, as did the close proximity to the Burnett River.

As the visitor approaches Burnett Heads it would be hard to overlook the very tidy Oaks caravan park situated on the outskirts. This caravan park and camp ground offers ninety-seven powered sites, cabins, and of course a good number of un-powered sites as well. Pets may be taken there, by arrangement (with an emphasis on smaller dogs rather than those big blokes that appear to have been cross-bred with a Greyhound bus). One of the attractions of The Oaks is the adjacent Oaks Beach, just off the nearby esplanade.

Turtle watching is a big tourist attraction with visitors to Burnett Heads, and enquiries at this caravan park can be useful in steering a visitor towards a turtle breeding ground during the summer months. Nearby Mon Repos is well-known as a turtle nesting spot, but these creatures also come ashore in other areas to lay their mammoth clutches of eggs.

Local infrastructure includes the Lady Musgrave hotel motel (ph. (07) 4159 4202), a take-away food outlet, butcher, baker, convenience store, post office, bed and breakfast on the Esplanade, and other businesses including a real estate firm called Coastline Realty (ph. (07).4159 4202). The Blue Water Sports Club has enjoyable meals (ph. (07) 4159 4355). All other facilities are available at Bundaberg, which has the lot - major infrastructure including hospitals and specialist medical services - whatever one would expect to find in a city of this size.

The Burnett Heads Marina, with its associated tackle and chandlery store and boat ramp, is a natural attraction to anglers, especially ones with boats in tow. The boat ramp features four well-constructed and easily accessed ramps, and a lot of parking space has been set aside for cars and trailers, which is a very useful aspect of this launching area. Boaters launch into a quite sheltered boat harbour. From there, it's a short passage into the Burnett River, where one may travel either up or down river in pursuit of fish, or simply head straight out off the Heads to pursue more of the tasty and fast moving pelagics.

When I was in the area it was early spring, and the main species sought were flathead, bream, tailor, trevally, mac tuna, school and spotted mackerel, and northern blue-fin tuna. Those are the in-shore fish, of course. Out wide, one can fish the reefs for prized reef fish, and there is even some game fishing available in the Break Sea Spit area north of Fraser Island. Salty's Fishing Charters operate from the Marina, and a boat hire set up for river fishing is contactable on 0414 721 883. Access to the Great Barrier Reef is also available from charter boats in this area, and it would be fair to say that this is the southern-most access point to the reef.

The entire area from Moore Park to the north, to the town of Woodgate to the south (Burnett Heads is situated between both of these coastal towns), is classed as semi-sheltered water, due to the presence of Fraser Island to the east and south. True, when a stinking southerly is piping on shore a fair chop develops, but not to the extent that could be seen on the east coast of Fraser Island, for example. Smaller craft can easily launch at the Marina and head out for some offshore action in fair weather.

Burnett Heads is a picturesque holiday destination, with a friendly atmosphere. Anglers will be able to fish off the river walls, rock outcrops, or from their boats. Boat hire is available at the Marina for non-boat owners who would like to fish in the Burnett River. If you are in the area, this is one destination worth checking out.