Fishing in Eungella National Park

Eungella National Park sits in the Clarke Range west of Mackay, a high, rugged country where steep rainforest gullies feed a network of creeks and rivers draining off the range.

The park holds moving water almost exclusively — fast-flowing upland streams rather than still water — and that shapes everything about fishing here. Broken River is the water most visitors encounter first.

The riverside area near the Broken River picnic ground is better known for platypus than for fishing, but the river itself runs through the park and draws anglers working the pools and runs for native species.

Finch Hatton Creek, in the lower section of the park around Finch Hatton Gorge, is another named water within the park boundary.

Cattle Creek, Owen Creek, and several smaller tributaries — including Blackrock Creek and Massey Creek — drain the range through the park's extent.

Queensland does not require a general recreational fishing licence for freshwater fishing in rivers and creeks, so no state licence is needed to fish the park's running waters.

However, Queensland Parks and Wildlife policy under the Nature Conservation Act applies to fishing in protected areas, and the take of freshwater crayfish of the genus Euastacus is prohibited within the park.

Check current Queensland Parks and Wildlife rules before you go — regulations for protected areas can differ from general state rules. Eungella Dam lies roughly 27 kilometres along Eungella Dam Road past Broken River.

The dam is managed by Sunwater, not Queensland Parks, and fishing there requires a Stocked Impoundment Permit (SIP) issued by Fisheries Queensland. The dam is stocked and holds sooty grunter.

It is a separate destination from the national park's creek and river fishing, and worth treating as such when planning a trip. The creek fishing in the park rewards anglers willing to walk.

Access to most waters means following tracks into gorge country, and flows vary significantly with season — the wet season swells these drainages considerably. The fish are there because the country is intact. Fish it accordingly.