Beach fishing spot selection can bring a certain amount of romance to the sport if done correctly. Listening to the waves while you wait for a bite could see you in love with beach fishing in no time. With huge expanse of the Australian coastline, there’s no shortage of beaches to explore. The most popular fish caught off beaches in Australia are flathead, bream, whiting, tailor, salmon, mulloway, mackerel, trevally and dart.
It's not overly complicated when it comes to spot selection for a beach fishing session. The most important objective is to find areas of deeper water to the surrounding area, these are called "gutters". These areas hold the highest concentration of fish life, while any structures such as rock islands or weed banks on the beach are also fish magnets. Alternatively, the areas between either gutters or structures along the beach can be the exact opposite and often resemble fish deserts or highways. A lot of time can be wasted without a bite if you get your spot selection wrong and put your bait in the middle of a desert. Whiting, bream, flathead, dart, mullet, salmon, tailor can all be caught within an easy cast of the shore, so you don't have to cast a long way to get a fish on the beach.
A good strategy for bait fishing is to fish the edges of structure or work the edges of drop-offs and sand bars rather than just set up and throw your baits into one spot and let it sit there for hours - a mobile set up involving a bait belt and a shoulder tackle bag can help cover more ground comfortably. Fishing quite close to the beach itself, with the shore break often dislodging food items, can be a surprisingly productive as many smaller species love to move along the edge of the shore break looking for their next meal. A bit of berley can further encourage fish to come in close, while concentrating them in your immediate area at the same time. It's not uncommon for a large Australian Salmon or Whiting to be pulled out from only a few metres off the sand. Additionally, reefy structures off the beach will also be a good bet, similarly lagoons and beach corners where sand meets rock can be places that fish hold up.