Located just beyond Corinella is the beautiful Coronet Bay, this area hosts a small town, dirt roads, and most importantly, fantastic landbased fishing opportunities! If you want to get down to a quiet location that receives very little fishing traffic but still produces, this is the place to be. In this guide we’ll be focusing on the stretch of Coronet Bay located at the end of Soldiers Road.
Species
Due to its shallow banks, weedy patches and abundance of food sources, coronet bay is frequently visited by a large variety of species, this area is excellent for bread and butter fishing, with whiting, garfish, squid and flathead all often caught here. Coronet bay also occasionally rewards the determined angler with the odd snapper or gummy shark, however, many rays visit the beach frequently so be prepared for plenty of by-catch.
Rigs and Tackle
Coronet Bay can be fished in many ways due to its abundance of catchable species, it is for this reason I like recommending the fantastic all-purpose paternoster rig. 1/0 circle hooks or size 6-8 longshanks are the hook of choice here. Tie your paternoster rig in 15lb fluorocarbon, as always, I recommend Black Magic Fluorocarbon. If you’re new to rigs or aren’t yet confident in tying paternoster rigs, grab yourself a Black Magic Whiting Snatcher, or if you’re fishing for variety, the new Black Magic Sandy Snatcher is also an excellent choice. A 1oz sinker will be more than enough to keep your bait where it needs to be.
Because the water isn’t overly deep throughout Coronet Bay, running sinker rigs will be most productive here. The bottom isn’t overly rocky, so 40lb monofilament trace should be up to the task, a twin-snelled 5/0 suicide hook or a single 6/0 circle hook is my recommended hook choice for this location.
Standard beach gear will be fine here for larger species, but swap the lighter rods for something sensitive and around the 7’ length, matched to a 2500 sized reel. Rovex make some excellent rods and reels for this type of fishing. As for mainline strength, 8-10lb should be plenty!
Baits and locations
The entire stretch of Coronet Bay offers excellent fishing, but if you can get there on a sunny day and spot the submerged weed beds and sandy patches, these are the places to fish. Ensure your rig is cast in these sandy patches as close to the weed beds as possible, fish such as whiting and flathead will be more comfortable feeding in area where they can quickly dart back into cover. These weed patches are also a great spot to cast a squid jig under a float, this is my recommended method for fishing jigs here, as the shallow water doesn’t allow your jig to stay in the strike zone for too long.
Pippies, fresh squid and sandworm are all excellent baits here, but due to the abundance of bass yabbies, it is highly recommended to bring a bait pump and catch your own bait straight from the beach. Bass yabbies are the reason these fish come to Coronet Bay to feed, so using the local food source will greatly improve your chances, and if you have no luck you can take them down to Powlett River to try your luck at bream and estuary perch! Plastics and hardbodies can also productive here, snook often cruise the area and good sized flathead are partial to plastics here too.
Coronet Bay can be a rewarding place to fish, it’s often tranquil and peaceful due to its plentiful fishing areas, add it to your list of weekend fishing spots!