Brisbane River revisited after hiatus

July 27, 2021

LIVING on the Discovery coast offers a diverse range of fishing options and I feel I’m blessed, but it was good to find myself back in Brisbane and flicking a lure around my old haunt on the Brisbane River. Unfortunately, I only had a small window of time to reminisce and try my luck, so I launched my tinnie at the Colmslie boat ramp.

The river is looking fantastic and my Garmin sounder was soon showing the reason why four trawlers were working the area around the Gateway Bridge for prawns. As much as I was out to enjoy the day’s experience, I was also on a mission to put together a feed of fillets for my mother while I was in town. Clarity in the water around the Gateway area was impressive, with bream clearly visible around the pylons. Brisbane River revisited

The first dozen casts around the structure using small deep diving cranks only provided the occasional half-hearted bump and not an aggressive hit. I thought the bream might have been gorged on prawns and the bump is more territorial than feeding. I was beginning to vary my retrieve and try a few stalls on the wind, trying to entice a strike, then suddenly a smile appeared as the first proper hit resulted in a nice 35cm bream sliding into the net.Brisbane River revisited

Casting the lure to the back of the pylon where the fish were escaping the tidal flow was proving the important ingredient. The strike zone appeared to be closer to the pylon, and if the offering passed in open water there was no attempt to chase. Why bother when your belly is full?Brisbane River revisited

Part of the joy of fishing is matching the hatch or having your own theories on success and I believe fishing artificial structures accentuates the need to think about what’s going on. Now that’s the Brissy River I remember so fondly. I continued to pull a few fish out of the pylons, but overall size was down, with only one of them stretching to 30cm.Brisbane River revisited

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