Dusky flathead

Dusky flathead size and bag limit in QLD

Dusky flathead 40-75 cm slot, 5 per person. Other flathead (bar-tailed, sand, northern sand) min 30 cm, 5 combined. No closed season. That is a slot limit: keep only fish from 40 cm to 75 cm and release the rest.

Checked 8 Oct 2026 against the Queensland Government pages: size and possession limits and closed seasons.

Limits are possession limits: they count everything you hold, including any at home in the freezer. In yellow (conservation park) zones: max 2 lines and 2 hooks in total per angler. Green zones: no fishing. All QLD fishing rules

When to catch dusky flathead in South East Queensland

• P peak season
• S in season
• – off season
• C closed season for at least part of the month

Tide: The run-out on channel edges where bait drains off the flats, into the first of the run-in. Local reports also catch them on the making tide in the creek mouths, so keep the weighting modest.

Time of day: Daytime; early morning and late afternoon are best in clear shallow water.

Weather: calm or offshore wind and clear water suit them; rain makes little difference.

Seasons partly come from Coastwatch report mentions, not catch numbers.

Dusky flathead by area

Not in our guide for Offshore Sunshine Coast, Offshore Moreton and Offshore Gold Coast.

Around Scarborough and the Redcliffe Peninsula

Our local Redcliffe Peninsula notes come from local fishing columns and reports, and for dusky flathead they differ from the South East Queensland picture. Around Scarborough the best months are March to May and September to November, with June to August and December to February also worth a try.

Scarborough beaches and the Redcliffe/Scarborough Spit, Margate Beach, canal and creek mouths, the Pine River and the Ted Smout Bridge platforms; channel edges where water drains off the sand flats. Hays Inlet only outside the MNP11 green zone.

Tide around Scarborough: Run-out tide on channel edges, where water and bait drain off the flats (last of the ebb into the first of the flood). Reports differ: they also feed across the flats at high tide, around the high at creek mouths, and some reports favour the run-in.

When: Daytime, especially early morning and late afternoon off Redcliffe.

Spots in our local notes: Scarborough Beach, Queens Beach (north ramp), Margate Beach, Ted Smout Bridge platforms.

Where to catch dusky flathead in SEQ

Every SEQ estuary and sandy bay edge: Jumpinpin and the Gold Coast Broadwater (the best-known flathead water in SEQ), Pumicestone Passage, the Noosa, Maroochy and Mooloolah rivers, the Redcliffe/Scarborough beaches and Spit, Pine and Caboolture river mouths, and surf-bar gutters on the ocean beaches. Drop-offs where water drains off sand and weed flats; big females gather near the bars before spawning.

Catch Signal forecast areas that rate dusky flathead: Noosa River & Noosa Heads, Laguna Bay & Noosa offshore, Maroochy, Mooloolaba & Coolum, Caloundra & northern Pumicestone Passage, Bribie Island & southern Pumicestone Passage, Redcliffe Peninsula & Deception Bay, Bramble Bay, Pine River & Sandgate, Brisbane River, Central bay & Moreton Island west, Wynnum, Manly & Wellington Point, Cleveland, Peel & Straddie west, Victoria Point, Redland Bay & bay islands, Jumpinpin, Jacobs Well & Pimpama, Gold Coast Broadwater, Seaway & Nerang River, Burleigh to Point Danger, Ocean side of Straddie & Moreton.

Spots to try for dusky flathead

Picked because the water each spot reaches suits dusky flathead (our habitat match), not from catch reports. Each spot links to its place on the area page; tide times are for the place our forecast reads for that spot.

How to catch dusky flathead: best baits, lures and rig

Baits

• Live herring, poddy mullet or whitebait
• Whole pilchard or mullet strips
• Live yabbies on the flats

Lures

• 3-5 inch soft plastics hopped along the bottom
• Small vibes in the deeper channels
• Shallow hard-bodies trolled or cast over drop-offs
• Walk-the-dog surface lures over shallow flats

Dusky flathead rig

Light spin gear, 12-16 lb fluorocarbon leader, 1/8-3/8 oz jig heads; for bait, a running sinker to a 2/0-4/0 hook.

Good to know about dusky flathead

Spawn at surf bars (e.g. Jumpinpin) from about November to April; big females (most fish over 45 cm) gather near the bars from late winter. The Gold Coast Flathead Classic is held every September. Release fish over 75 cm horizontally.

Open in the forecast

See dusky flathead in the Catch Signal app: seasons for the area you fish, closed-season warnings and the best days this week.