Mulloway (jewfish)

Mulloway size and bag limit in QLD

Min 75 cm. 2 per person. Must be kept whole on a boat. No closed season.

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 mulloway in South East Queensland

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

Tide: The slack/turn of the tide on deep drop-offs (Brisbane River, seaways); on beaches the top of the tide into the run-out at night.

Time of day: Night and the first and last light.

Weather: not fussy about wind; rain and runoff help.

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

Mulloway by area

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

Around Scarborough and the Redcliffe Peninsula

Our local Redcliffe Peninsula notes come from local fishing columns and reports, and for mulloway they differ from the South East Queensland picture. Around Scarborough the best months are September, October and November, with December to August also worth a try. For tide, our local notes give no clear preference; across South East Queensland the best tide is the change of tide.

Around Scarborough, the northern wall of Scarborough Harbour, the Newport canal mouth, jetties, rocky points, beaches and inshore reefs; the Pine and Caboolture rivers; the Hornibrook Bridge at night.

When: Early morning and after dark.

Spots in our local notes: Scarborough Boat Harbour walls, Redcliffe Jetty, Woody Point Jetty, Reef Point / North Reef, Scarborough Beach.

Where to catch mulloway in SEQ

Bar entrances and seaways at night (Jumpinpin inside the Pin Bar, Gold Coast Seaway walls, Mooloolah and Noosa river mouths), the Brisbane River (deep drop-offs, Port of Brisbane, lit areas), Pine and Caboolture rivers, ocean-beach gutters at night (Caloundra/Kings Beach, Bribie, Moreton, Stradbroke, Teewah), the bay artificial reefs and wrecks (Peel, Curtin, Macleay Island wrecks) and offshore reefs (Gold Coast 12s-24s, Arkwright Shoal).

Catch Signal forecast areas that rate mulloway: 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, Offshore: Gold Coast.

Spots to try for mulloway

Picked because the water each spot reaches suits mulloway (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 mulloway: best baits, lures and rig

Baits

• Large live herring, mullet, yakka or pike
• Live banana prawns
• Fresh squid, tailor or mullet fillets
• Beach worms on the beaches

Lures

• Big paddle-tail soft plastics
• Soft vibes worked slowly on the bottom in the rivers

Mulloway rig

Running sinker to a 6/0-8/0 hook (or two-hook snell) on 40-60 lb leader for live bait; 1/2-1 oz jig heads in the river.

Good to know about mulloway

Coastwatch mentions peak May-Sep across SEQ, with river fish in the Brisbane all year. Most fish caught are under 75 cm: release carefully. Do not confuse with teraglin (concave tail).

Open in the forecast

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