Jump to content

Upper Brisbane River - Bream/Flathead on SP's


Plastic Fantastic

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone,

Well I haven't posted on here for a while now and for a good reason - soft plastics are absolutely slaughtering anything with fins in the upper reaches of the Brisbane River! I've fished at Kookaburra Park up to the Mt. Crosby Weir and everywhere in between and caught bream, flathead, tarpon and eel-tail catfish plus something that took so much line i thought i was done for before it straightened the hook :blink: man that hurt!

Basically I've found that small wrigglers from the Squidgy stable are producing the goods, with small hardbodies working wonders as well. The soft plastic colours that are catching the most fish have some degree of transperancy - colours like flash prawn, wasabi, fireworks and dusk have all produced the goods for me.

Colleges Crossing

Species: bream, flathead, tarpon, eel-tail catfish

Ok, colleges crossing is all about the tide. There must be sufficient water and sufficient current - about 2 hrs either side of high tide will do you justice. Fish the bank in between the boat ramp and the bridge and you can't go wrong.I have personally caught bream to 30.5cm and flathead to 53cm, as well as some nice tarpon in the evening as well as eel-tail catfish :S

The jig heads I use are either TT or squidgy with a #2 hook and a 1.5gram/1/16oz weight. Cast your plastics up current and slowly work it back with the tidal flow. Average size bream is 25cm-27cm

Karalee (Johnson's Rocks)

Species: Bream, Flathead

This is my favorite place to fish and arguably has the best average catch sizes; every bream I have caught here has been over 30cm, and the flathead range from between 45cm-55cm, with some truly massive lizards (75cm+) being lost at the feet due to 6lb bream leader :( . The place is called Johnson's rocks and although quite a large pool compared to the rest of the river,its majority is comprised of shallow rocky flats with one deep channel. This spot is kinda limited to a few hours before and after the low tide as wading is needed to reach the shallow sand bank adjacent to the deep channel. Once this sandbank is reached, cast your plastic into the current and hang on! seriously these fish fight like theres no tomorrow! Bream are the main target however every trip we catch at least 2 decent flathead.

And the condition of these fish? Let me say that these bream are THE healthest bream I have ever seen! they have beautiful colours and patterns and absolutely no fin damage or abnormalities! Seriously they are beautiful fish. This brings me to my next point. I no bream are a lovely table fish and these fish are definately healthy enough to eat however a few weeks ago whilst I was fishing at Karalee, three boats pulled up in the current and floated baits and every bream they caught they kept. Since then my catch rates haven't been as good as normal, however it could be the rain we've had so no accusations there. But please, don;t take too many, if any fish from these two spots, they are a great fishery and tremendous fun and I'd be good if they could remain that way for as long as possible.

Sorry about the length of this post, I'm just wrapped that bream and flathead on lures are just so close to home!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done Plastic Fantastic:) thats my local fishing spot for the last 25yrs, if you have a kayak or canoe there is some great fishing, with the fish that you mention, plus the BIG BASS. I was out there this afternoon upstream of colledges crossing, 3 flathead 48cm, 42cm, 20cm(babies), plus a bass 38cm, caught on sp minnow smelt and the bass on sp shrimp, all released, sorry no pics this time as it was a last minute decision to go and forgot camera.

Also about 8 years ago when there was more fresh coming down from the weir and it was clear enough to snorkel at colledges and believe me the place is loaded with bream (not that I would eat them).

If anyone is keen for some Kayak fishing out there give me a pm.

Matt

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sparksie wrote:

Matt

How come you wouldn't eat them...?

Polluiton..?

Username_Taken

"Probably so he can keep fishing there and not destroy the stocks?"

Firstly so there is always fish there, I,ve tried a flattie once from there but it tasted muddy even the flesh was brown(being brackish)and second, bream eat sh@#

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...