# Brisbane River Tactics



## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

So myself and two mates headed out last Sunday on the Brisbane River. We started off at Northshore Park just down river of Portside around 6am, fished the wharves and gradually made our way down to the Gateway Bridge and back up. All up about 4 hours was spent throwing soft plastics, dropping Squid and trolling lures. End results was no hits, not even a piece of Squid nibbled on by a filthy catfish! (which I know will surprise ArWeTherYet). There seems to be a lot of great water, structure and holes in just that short stretch of river and I saw plenty of arches but just no interest. Just around the old wharves alone there's 6 - 14 metres of water and all that structure and yet not a scale to be found.

Does anyone have any tactics that have proven more successful in the river? Could we have fished a better time? Is that area of the river just not known for it's fish?


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## mehi (May 25, 2009)

Go and fish it again and again, that way you can work out the best tides and the feeding paterns
of the certain species that congregate in the area. I noticed you only fished it for four hours fish it
for 6 or 7 hours fish the the whole tide cycle, you might of missed the hot bight time by 15 minutes,
most fish feed at a particular time in regards to tidal influence


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## sitonit (Dec 29, 2006)

HI the best resource for the river is ausfish there are guys who regularly target that area. I have launched from Boggy Creek and headed out that way where I have had the most success with flathead and school jew the sunken wall is the obvious target at pinkenba any of the supports or posts in the river around there will hold fish at times the people on Ausfish do seem to like finding dropoffs in the river bed check some of the pics on that site and you can get in the general area and your sounder should do the rest livies (prawns and mullet) are the best bait with lures being sp's and metal vibe styles. I have also launched from Breaky creek caught small bream and the catfish you are looking for, the bridge at the mouth can hold school jew to just fish the right ortions of the tide. The wharves are good but be aware of regulations regarding those.


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## Bruteal (Jan 24, 2010)

Don't mean to Hijack a thread here, but just wondering if it is safe to eat anything caught in the River?


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## sitonit (Dec 29, 2006)

The smell of petrol in the area the fact that someting like 7 treatment sites pump waste from primary to secondary level dependent upon conditions etc into the river, 150yr of industrial use on land around there, farming upstream. Of course its fine to eat. 
Seriously I dont think its too much of a problem I know lots of people that eat loads of crab and fish from the river and they appear to be healthy.


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## AJD (Jul 10, 2007)

Livies re the gun bait by far. Fish structure on the top or the bottom of the tides for best results. The water movement is pretty strong at other times and I've found a lot of fish concentrate on laying up in eddies etc and aren't really on the chew during peak flows. Night time or weekdays also helps when the boat traffic is lower. cheers Al


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Hey this has me sinking into recollection.. hope you dont mind the unorganised and rambling response!

Fish in the Brissie stinker are fine. Any old hands will tell just how much cleaner the river is now compared to 20 or 30 years ago. Industrial stuff hasnt actually improved all that much I dont think, but the removal of the Darra cement barge has simply changed the river.

The Hamilton reach (through to Brekkie Creek) stretch never did much for me. Though Brekky Creek itself could be productive. Brekkie to Norman Creek sometimes had reports of Threadies, but all I managed was catfish, and some undersize bream in Norman creek itself. That area you fished up to the Gateway was always meant to be good. I never really hit it much because it was half way between my two main launch points (Bulimba Park and White Island). Bit surprising that you had little luck all and all.

Aquarium passage is another spot that is meant to harbour threadies - I would have tried early morning starts at lowish tides casting into the flats - if I had ever got myself organised enough to join AJD on his famed quest.

My main methodology was to launch from White Island - and generally head the other direction. High Tide was normally a better bet than low and always running into and past sun up. Sunset never really did me much good, nor fishing in the dark for that matter, though evening yakking did result in a couple of bumps from smallish bulls. :shock: Or maybe it was just shovel nose - who knows, I wasnt jumping in to find out! For low tide I would head the other direction (from White Island) down the boat passage. Bit of a nursery, but hooking up never seemed a problem. Sometimes some nice frogs and tailor. Or shoot across the stinker to the sunken wall and Boggy. And the gas terminal thingie - caught some sensational fish under that. Keep going to the poop chute for that matter - when it fires it can be a hoot.

I always found that the terminals reputation weren't deserved, but maybe I just never cracked it. Supposed to be some serious reds there, all I got was pesky bream. Along the mud bank on the other side from the terminals generally seemed better. And I didnt mind getting real shallow and close in there. Let the tide give you a drift and try stealth "finese fishing" - SPs anyway, snapper style, casting ahead of the drift. Leave a pillie out the back on double hook with a chance of a decent frog.

The stretch around from (is it) Nudgee Beach (?) in front of the airport across to the river mouth gave me little other than catfish - though sometimes big buggers that were fun to play and get a tow. Pity cause there are some deep bits/mini channels there (if you hunt for the deep spots hard enough) in among the shallow mud, they just feel like they should be good. Bet it is good, just didnt crack it. I did learn the hard way that the Nudgee Beach launch point was probably not the best way to get to the coffee pots - tide/current could really stuff you around.

Runing down past Fisherman's Island (you're getting into occassional dolphin terrirtory) when you get past the terminals you could start hooking up small fish. Or tailor sometimes at good size, though not likely to be PBs. Possibly trevs too. Get to the end of Fishermans Island, throw SPs from the lightest kit you have available, any tide, and have fun. Probably wont score a meal but I have had serious entertainment here. Sometimes chasing my way around those bulls hitting the same fish. Entertaining to watch while you snag grinners, pike, moses pearch and try to keep them clear of the hungry noahs.

And for the adventurous you have that part of Moreton Bay just beckoning - the coffee pots across to Mud could sometimes kick off - I'll bet it's sensational if you can get out early enough (I could never quite manage to paddle that far before the sun started coming up - naturally lazy bugger I know). Ive seen tuna boils like nothing Ive seen before in that area. It was rare, but happened. Never hooked up of course.

Keep getting adventurous and play from the boat passage across to Green - wont bore you details, but I always enjoyed that trip, even though Green never really cut it for me.

You are in a simply fantastic playground! Enjoy! My info is 6 months old - but I do know you are playing in gods fishing garden in that part of the world, easily comparable (in it's own way) to say Longie, or my current favourite spot - Botany heads. Enjoy.


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

Thanks everyone for the info and advice. It always surprises me how forthcoming you guys are when a question is asked 

Will keep trying, different times, tides, etc. and see if we can turn things around.

Interestingly, my Uncle works around the wharves sometimes and he drops over a bag full of bread. He said that some days, the Bream would be there in huge numbers and just swim around the bread, not touching it and others, they would be ravenous for it. So some days/times, there must be something that makes them collectively go off the chew.


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## pelicanyak (Dec 2, 2009)

Great response Dru... all the information that could ever be required.


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## tomca (Dec 1, 2007)

I fish the river alot and get heaps of squire, threadies and estuary cod around there. On the change of tide around the rocks on the north pylon of the new bridge is a snapper producer, most times. The rock wall along the golf course: troll lures in tight, but use 40lb leader and cross your fingers when a cod grabs it. By catch there is usually flathead and grunter, and the occasional jack. 
Launching at the poo chute, there is a sunken wall about 50m out that produces some monster bream and good tailor when the tide is running, and at the end of the fisho's wharf you may encounter a couple of freight trains in a session as well as a lot of squire and school jew. 
Threadies love livies, and anywhere along the river for those. My favourite spot is around Corinda and Karana Downs, but expect a few sharks as by catch.


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Wondered how long before Tomca turned up on this thread - probably the Brissie River yak specialist (I'd say guru but I doubt he'd like it). In terms of resources this is the one I rate seriously beyond anything else:

http://www.brisbanefishing.com.au/

All the best to you guys in gods own fishing state.


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

Great! Now I'm addicted to more forums, thanks guys


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## tomca (Dec 1, 2007)

There's a few kayakers on the other forum Gavin, and the stinkboaters get jealous of our reports over there :lol: If your interested in a river bash in the near future, drop me a PM and we'll organise some snapper and tailor for you


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

tomca said:


> If your interested in a river bash in the near future, drop me a PM and we'll organise some snapper and tailor for you


Definitely am interested. We were trying to pick a Friday or Saturday night to head out using the criteria of no moon and small high tide but nothing lines up for the next several weekends. What are your thoughts on a good session time?


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## tomca (Dec 1, 2007)

for snapper I find the ebb tide at sunrise is a reliable producer, and as long as there is some sort of run, any time of day for flathead, cod and salmon


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