queensland Brissy river bass slog

[Nickb]

Hi all,

First post on the forum, been a reader for a while now and gained a lot of valuable info from you all. Thought I’d share my trip today on the mid Brisbane river with the Kayak chasing some “wild” bass instead of my usual impoundment fix. Warning of extreme anti-climactic adventure ahead:

I’ve read a lot about a healthy bass population on the river closer to the Wivenhoe spillway so thought I would give it a go instead of my local water hole, Lake Manchester. 

I launched at Burtons Bridge at 8am (quite late in the day for my standards) and started my journey up stream, the water was probably about a foot deep for the first 50 meters with some faster flowing water but once it was a bit deeper I chucked a 1/4 spinner bait in to troll but had my doubts due to the heat/time of day/feeling that wild bass were probably more likely to be hiding in the shade and snags. Had to do a little bit on foot up some fast flowing shallow water but then the river opened up and was calm enough for me to slowly make my way along the banks flicking at every overhang and snag possible. 

My main setup was a 2-6lb 7” Samaki Zing Xtreme V2 paired with a 1000 Stradic with 6lb braid and a rod length of 8lb fluro. Being a bit nervous of snags I mainly ran 1/16 EWG Ned rig jighead with 2.5” SP grubs in dark colours

There was lots of visual life with boofs here and there, turtles, saw a lungfish cruising along, but no bass biting. Sounder was quiet, usually with the dams the bass come and sit under the kayak and leave big long lines on the finder but non of that today.

Hours past, sun burn set in and nothing.  Made my way through my tackle box with little hard bodies, blades, chatter baits, creature soft plastics, soft vibes, imitation shrimp, you name it it was on the end of my line. Throwing it in every single deep dark hole and tree overhang, every fallen tree, every piece of structure I could find. 

Got to 1.30pm and called it quits. Landed 2 40+cm forkies (still a pretty fun fight on such light gear) but no bass to be seen in the landing net. One of the forkies was from casting into an eddie on some fast flowing water which was quite fun until I saw it was a forkie but better than a donut I guess. 

My question to you wise and knowledgable folk, is the mid/upper Brisbane river still prominent for bass or was that all closer to the 2011 floods? Ive PB’d high 40’s in Lake Manchester but was excited at the prospect of wild bass. Would it be worth trying a little further up or is there anything you recommend for the next trip? 

Cheers,

Nick

[Jono4500]

Hi Nick 

Sounds like your all over it with the impoundments and can't help ya with the bris river, but still sounds like a good day out to me!  Maybe try the same strategy but a dusk or dawn though. Good luck next time!

 

 

[Nickb]

18 minutes ago, Jono4500 said:

Hi Nick 

Sounds like your all over it with the impoundments and can't help ya with the bris river, but still sounds like a good day out to me!  Maybe try the same strategy but a dusk or dawn though. Good luck next time!

 

 

Thanks mate yeah any day on the water is a good day! Will definitely try again with my regular program of being at the spot for first light. Hopefully as the sun will start coming up a bit later my alarm clock won’t start with a “3”. 

[Another Wazza]

Hi there Nick, excellent report on your day out fishing, 2 forkies still beats no fish at all.

Ive never fished the river by kayak before, but I did do a bit of land based just downstream from Wivenhoe spillway, and Mt Crosby weir, this was back in the late 90’s early 2000’s, so I really don’t know how well it fishes now.

Back then we did alright using spinner baits, and feeder crays purchased from a pet shop, there were plenty of quality Bass, and forkies to be caught, and on occasion, big Lungfish, the Lungies would leap like Barra once hooked and took quite some effort to subdue before being released.

All the best on your quest for a wild Bass, given the amount of effort you put in on this trip, it’s only a matter of time really, good luck.

[Nickb]

1 hour ago, Another Wazza said:

Hi there Nick, excellent report on your day out fishing, 2 forkies still beats no fish at all.

Ive never fished the river by kayak before, but I did do a bit of land based just downstream from Wivenhoe spillway, and Mt Crosby weir, this was back in the late 90’s early 2000’s, so I really don’t know how well it fishes now.

Back then we did alright using spinner baits, and feeder crays purchased from a pet shop, there were plenty of quality Bass, and forkies to be caught, and on occasion, big Lungfish, the Lungies would leap like Barra once hooked and took quite some effort to subdue before being released.

All the best on your quest for a wild Bass, given the amount of effort you put in on this trip, it’s only a matter of time really, good luck.

Thanks mate, i have also had mates pull Lungies out of the Mt Crosby Weir in the 2000’s and hear they are a wild time! I’ve been apprehensive about fishing between the new/old Weirs due to the no fish zones and the information I’ve managed to gather has been clear as mud about where you can and can’t go. I think paddling from colleagues crossing up to the old weir could be on the cards soon too. Cheers

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Nice work Nick. My dad and I are also keen on getting a Brisbane River Bass, although we haven’t given it a proper crack for ages.

I think there is a 200M fishing restriction zone from the weir above Colleges. Not 100% though.

Cheers Hamish

[Nickb]

16 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Nice work Nick. My dad and I are also keen on getting a Brisbane River Bass, although we haven’t given it a proper crack for ages.

I think there is a 200M fishing restriction zone from the weir above Colleges. Not 100% though.

Cheers Hamish

Thanks Hamish, yeah from what I can gather it’s a restricted zone between the Kholo Bridge and the new weir basically, as well as 200m downstream of the new weir, plus 50m each side of the old weir. When I was a teenager I did get a $400+ fine from being to close to the new weir wall but most signage had washed away in the 2011 floods. Was an expensive lesson!

[kmcrosby78]

Well written, easy to read report mate and glad you got a couple of solid catties to save the donut. I can't help with advice but hope you get 'em next time. Sorry I can't be of help with advice. Oh and welcome to the forum (well, being an active member ).

[Nickb]

10 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Well written, easy to read report mate and glad you got a couple of solid catties to save the donut. I can't help with advice but hope you get 'em next time. Sorry I can't be of help with advice. Oh and welcome to the forum (well, being an active member ).

Thanks mate, first time doing this sort of thing but thought it could be helpful to anyone else planning to fish the same sort of area (and vice versa if anyone here was a bit of a wiz in those parts). Always keen to gain more knowledge!