Our Favourite Fishing Spots to Base a Caravan Trip Around

We booked a fortnight at Streaky Bay and stayed five weeks, mostly because the King George whiting off the jetty would not stop biting. That is the thing about basing a trip around fishing: you stop chasing the next town and start learning one patch of water properly. Over six years of laps I reckon the best spots are the ones you sit in long enough for the local at the ramp to start telling you where the fish actually are, and that trust takes a week or two to earn. Here are five towns we keep going back to, and why each one is worth planting the van for a while.

Streaky Bay, South Australia

Out on the western side of the Eyre Peninsula, Streaky Bay is whiting, snapper and Australian salmon country, and the jetty alone will keep the grandkids busy for a week when they visit. The foreshore caravan park drops you a short walk from the water, and a tinny gets you onto the whiting grounds when the wind lays down of a morning. The bay is protected enough that you can pick your days without needing a big boat or a big budget. Run up the road to Smoky Bay for a feed of oysters straight off the lease and you will understand why nobody around here is in a hurry to leave. We met a couple on their eighth winter in a row there, and they still had not fished it out. It makes a natural leg of a longer Big Lap itinerary, and the Eyre Peninsula rewards anyone who slows down.

Mallacoota, Victoria

Tucked into the far east corner of Victoria against Croajingolong National Park, Mallacoota is all inlet, estuary and quiet. Bream and dusky flathead work the edges of the lakes, and on a calm day you can get out towards Gabo Island for something with a bit more shoulder on it. Land-based anglers do well off the jetties and the lake edges, so you do not even need a boat to eat well. It is a friendly town that rebuilt hard after the 2019 to 2020 bushfires came through, so a few weeks of your caravan money is welcome and well earned by the folk there. The park behind the foreshore books out over summer, so go in the shoulder season when it is cheaper and quieter anyway. This slots neatly into an east coast run.

Karumba, Gulf of Carpentaria

Karumba is where the barramundi and king salmon live, and where you sit on the point of an evening and watch the sun drop straight into the water at the top of the country. It is a barra town first and last, and the whole place runs on the tides and the fishing reports. One serious word before you get excited: the Norman River and the estuaries here hold big saltwater crocs, so do not clean fish at the ramp, do not toss scraps in the shallows, keep children and dogs well back from the edge, and camp only where you are told to. A croc will sit and watch a routine for days. Get the wet season timing wrong and the roads in are cut, so plan your run across the top carefully. Karumba sits on the eastern arm of the Savannah Way if you are crossing the north, and it is worth the detour off the main drag.

We had a bloke at the Karumba ramp point out a four-metre croc that had learned the cleaning-table routine, and it sat off the ramp most evenings waiting for scraps like a dog under the table. That is exactly why the local advice is to move your fish cleaning well away from the water and to vary where you do it. Land your barra, take your photos back from the edge, and never wade in after a snagged lure. The fishing is worth every kilometre of the drive up, but the Gulf demands you respect it, and the folk who live there will tell you the same thing over a beer at the pub.

Bermagui, New South Wales

Down on the Sapphire Coast, Bermagui punches well above its size. Snapper and kingfish off the rocks and the close reefs, flathead on the drift over the sand, and the famous Blue Pool cut into the rock platform for a swim between sessions. Nearby Narooma runs charters out to Montague Island if you fancy tangling with a kingie or watching the seals haul out, and Wagonga Inlet is a soft option when the swell is up. It is easy towing country on good sealed roads, and the caravan parks sit right on the water so you can watch the weather from your chair. We have wintered here more than once for the cheaper rates and the whale watching thrown in for free.

Coral Bay and Exmouth, Ningaloo

On the other side of the country, Ningaloo Reef comes almost to the beach at Coral Bay, which is rare and wonderful. Spangled emperor, coral trout and trevally are all within reach of a modest boat, but you must read the marine park zoning map because the sanctuary green zones are no-take and they are actively policed by rangers. Get the seasons right and you can snorkel with a whale shark of a morning between March and about July, then drop a line in the afternoon. Sites are tight in peak season and the town is remote, so book ahead and stock up in Exmouth. This is a highlight of any lap of the country, and worth building a fortnight around.

Tackle that covers most of it

You do not need a boot full of rods to eat well on a lap. I carry two outfits that between them cover nearly everything you will meet. A light spin rod rated around 2 to 4 kilograms is perfect for whiting, bream and flathead in the estuaries at places like Mallacoota and Streaky Bay, and it is genuinely fun on light line. A heavier outfit, something with a bit of backbone in the 6 to 10 kilogram range, handles the snapper and kingfish down south and the Gulf barra and threadfin when you get up to Karumba. Add a landing net, a fillet knife, a bucket and a small tackle box of hooks, sinkers, swivels and a few soft plastics, and you are set for most of the country without filling the van.

Bait or lures is the old argument, and the honest answer is both. Fresh local bait, a feed of pipis you have pumped yourself or a servo pack of pilchards, is hard to beat off the beach or a jetty. Soft plastics and hard-bodied lures shine in the estuaries and let you cover water and stay mobile rather than sitting on one spot. My tip after six years of it: buy your bait and half your local knowledge at the tackle shop in whichever town you land in, because the bloke behind the counter knows what is biting and where far better than any forum does, and a bag of the right bait is cheap insurance against a blank day. Line up the services you will need, from boat ramps to the nearest servo, with a good camping and travel app, then get out on the water.

Basing up properly

The trick to any of these towns is to slow right down and let the place teach you. Learn the tides, walk the beach at low water to find the gutters and holes where the fish hold, and ask at the ramp rather than trusting whatever a forum said the bite was doing last week. Local knowledge beats an app every time. Sort your licences too, because the rules differ by state: New South Wales needs a recreational fishing fee, Victoria requires a licence for most anglers, South Australia has no general recreational licence, and Western Australia requires one for some species and boat-based fishing. Buy the right one online before you cross each border and keep it on your phone. If you are stretching the budget between towns, our guide to free camping rules by state and the parks directory will help you find a cheap night between the good bites.