Great Oyster Bay
Bay · Salt water · in Tasmania
A large, sheltered bay on Tasmania's east coast between Swansea and the Freycinet Peninsula, mostly flat sand in ten to fifteen metres. Boats drift it for flathead. From the shore the articles report squid taken on jigs from the main piers at Swansea and Coles Bay, especially in the evening, with small Australian salmon, long-fin pike and mackerel off the same jetties, fishing from the western side beside the highway, and bream in the Swan River north of Swansea.
Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — can cause serious injury or death (general advice, not specific to this place).
FishingHQ describes what this place is, not whether you may fish it. Access, permits and who to ask.
What you can catch here
Documented at this place, grouped by how you would be fishing, with how strongly the sources support each one. This is what has been written down, not a forecast, and being listed is never permission to fish.
From a boat · 3
What these strengths mean
- Regular local target
- Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
- Recorded here
- At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
- How breadth is counted
- A fish documented at six marks is shown as six marks: breadth never raises the strength on its own. A fishery account describes the fishing; a recorded catch reports one specific catch. How evidence is weighed.
How people fish it
Practised here: Sea fishing.
Methods the sources name for this ground. Each one is explained in full on its own page.
- Drift fishing
Letting the boat move with tide and wind while fishing, so the tackle searches ground instead of waiting on it — and the decision that determines whether a boat session works at all.
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A large, sheltered bay on Tasmania's east coast between Swansea and the Freycinet Peninsula, mostly flat sand in ten to fifteen metres. Boats drift it for flathead. From the shore the articles report squid taken on jigs from the main piers at Swansea and Coles Bay, especially in the evening, with small Australian salmon, long-fin pike and mackerel off the same jetties, fishing from the western side beside the highway, and bream in the Swan River north of Swansea.
Through the year
The 2013 article describes flathead as fished all year with no slow period, best early in the morning, and squid as seasonal with a closed season in the bay.
Safety
Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death
General safety for this kind of ground, not a finding about this place.
Ocean rock platforms are swept by unexpected large waves, and anglers are washed off and drowned. The sets that cause it are not visible from the platform in advance, and the escape route is usually upward and slow.
What reduces it: Never fish rock platforms alone. Watch a mark for a full set cycle before going on it. Wear a lifejacket — mandatory in some jurisdictions for exactly this reason. Wear footwear with grip on wet rock, plan the escape route before you start, and never turn your back on the sea.
Rules and access
Particular to this water: This record rests on articles from 2008 and 2013 and describes what was reported then. Nothing here states that a spot is open or can still be reached. Tasmania's sea fishing rules, area restrictions and closed seasons are set by the state and change: check the current position with Fishing Tasmania before fishing. The 2013 article describes the whole bay as a reserve in which every shark landed must be returned, and size and possession limits for flathead; those are its statements as of its date.
Beyond what is stated above, FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Tasmania sets its own sea fishing rules: bag, possession and size limits that differ by zone for some fish, a seasonal closure for at least one species, shark refuge areas where sharks, skates and rays may not be taken, marine reserves where no fishing is allowed, and licences for some kinds of gear. The state also publishes health advice against eating fish or shellfish from named estuaries. All of it changes. Check the current position with Fishing Tasmania before going.
Who holds the answer:
- Fishing Tasmania, the state government's recreational sea fishing service, which publishes the rules, area restrictions and seasons.
- The state public health service, for advice on eating fish and shellfish from particular waters.
- Fishing Tasmania, the state's marine fisheries service, which issues recreational sea licences and publishes the sea fishing rules, seasons and area restrictions.
- Service Tasmania, whose shops sell both agencies' licences.
- Fishing Tasmania (Tasmanian Government): publishes the sea fishing rules, area restrictions and seasons for this water.
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- Schouten Passage and Schouten Island — 10–25 km · Sea area
Sources for this place
- Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News: Great Oyster Bay and Swansea — Tasfish.com (Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News), 2013 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: The 2008 and 2013 articles on Great Oyster Bay and Swansea: the fish they report, to species where they give one, how they are fished for and where.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-10-10.
Something wrong or out of date?
If something on this page has changed, email us from your own account using the link that fits, with a link to where you saw the change if you can. Every report is checked by a person before anything is changed, and a report never appears on the site by itself. Please don’t send exact private marks.
Before you go
- Fish documented here
- 3 at this place itself. See them.
- Getting there
- Not recorded. FishingHQ holds no sourced description of the way in.
- Rules particular to this water
- This record rests on articles from 2008 and 2013 and describes what was reported then. Source not tied: no recorded source has been matched to this statement.
- Nothing here states that a spot is open or can still be reached. Source not tied: no recorded source has been matched to this statement.
- Tasmania's sea fishing rules, area restrictions and closed seasons are set by the state and change: check the current position with Fishing Tasmania before fishing. Source not tied: no recorded source has been matched to this statement.
- The 2013 article describes the whole bay as a reserve in which every shark landed must be returned, and size and possession limits for flathead; those are its statements as of its date. Source not tied: no recorded source has been matched to this statement.
Nothing here is watched for change. Sources and who to ask.
- Hazards particular to this place
- None recorded for this place; the hazards of the wider coast or water still apply.
Check before you travel
- Whether you may fish here, and whether a licence or permit is needed — start with Fishing Tasmania.
- The tide times and the forecast for the day you go.
- Anything recorded here was true when it was read; it is not watched for change.