Live bait in brisbane river

[G1V]

Hi team,

Me and my Son have started fishing in the port region of the brisbane river. I’ve been trying to source decent areas for live bait casting but most places I head to have barely any baitfish around. 
 

I’ve been trying creek mouths, jetties and along the banks but best I could do was a couple herring and mullet. 
 

my question is, does anybody have a consistent spot to gather live bait in this area. (Around Pinkenba boat ramp)

im aware I may get the. “do better or learn to find bait” talk and yes I’m trying. Hence asking this community instead of just bumbling along. 
 

is jigging in the river viable?

thanks in advance everyone. Look forward to some responses!

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi,

You can normally catch lots of herring and occasionally some pike on small sabiki jigs around jetties in the river, but some days you just won't get anything. Normally you can cast net schools of herring around jetties off the front in deeper water, silver biddies and mullet towards the bank, or decent amounts of prawns at night. I never fish around Pinkenba though, only upstream from the Gateway. 

Cheers. 

[G1V]

Someone has suggested breakfast creek, but with casting laws making freshwater illegal to cast nets, is it considered fresh or brackish water?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

The Brisbane River is tidal (salt) all the way up to Colleges Crossing/Old Mt Crosby Weir, so you're definitely allowed to cast there. I'm not sure where Breakfast Creek becomes freshwater though, but where it's still tidal you can normally catch lots of bait.

[mangajack]

6 hours ago, G1V said:

Someone has suggested breakfast creek, but with casting laws making freshwater illegal to cast nets, is it considered fresh or brackish water?

You can't get far enough up breakfast creek in a boat for it to be fresh water.

[rayke1938]

The pontoon at the boat ramp at colmsie ( May be sign that says no castnetting) and luggage point outlet usually reliable.

[Memsmullowayhunter]

Honestly it seems most jetty's hold bait but not consistently, me and my partner where at Colmslie and we would be lucky to get a live bait every 4th or 5th cast on the net. Nek minute, one of the casts ended up with at least 50 Herring. Sometimes when the bait is scarce the sabiki jig with a tiny bit of bait works better.

[charlie.hans.fishing]

I agree with what others have said. 

Definitely give jigging a go off of recreation hubs or deeper water in the river. 

I've managed to scout out big schools of bait when others couldn't because I was wearing polarized sunnies. If you're going to be casting for live bait perhaps invest in these. 

A cheap sabiki rig will go a long way - I've had instances where I've pulled up a full string of good sized herring or gotten close to it. 

Be careful of snags but so long as you give it constant movement you should be fine. They're only a few dollars each, anyway. 

I've never used a sabiki rig with bait like @Memsmullowayhunter said, but I suppose if the 'fish skin' flashy things on the hooks aren't working on their own, chuck on some little cubes of pilchard or mullet. I reckon using some flesh baits with skin instead of prawns are less prone to falling off the tiny hooks as easily. 

 

Hope that helps.

Charlie 

 

 

[Bretto77]

A little "actual" bait on a sabiki can be helpful sometimes. Only a tiny bit though.

[G1V]

Amazing thank you everyone for your input. Great to hear the suggestions snd I will be sure to try them out. I’ll post my results here once I get out tomorrow.

[Kat]

Try throwing a few chook pellets around where you are casting a few minutes beforehand