Tag Archives: Bream fishing at Bribie Island

Bribie – the old oyster jetty flats – 10 December 2013

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Tuesday

I arrived on the mainland side of the Bribie Bridge at 4.30 am, just after first light. I waded straight out to the area just south of the old oyster jetty, where I had done well on the flathead, during my last session.

The tide was on its way out. It had been a 1.8m high, at about 3.30 am. There was not much flow as the moon was in its first quarter. It was a building northerly blowing with a stronger, south-easterly forecast to take over, later in the day.

There was not much weed moving around, so I decided to give one of my DUO hard-bodied lures an outing. My latest favourite is the Realis Shad 59 MR. This is a shallow diving, suspending, 59mm minnow, with a great rattle and the usual superb DUO finish. It is perfect for fishing over the weed beds and I was keen to try it with the new G.Loomis TSR series light spinning rod that I am now using. I picked out a gold/ bronze coloured one and tied it on.

The sun broke over the horizon just before 5.00am. There were a few mullet jumping around and as a few cormorants flew over, they spooked a large school of whiting/ mullet in the shallows. I started casting the Realis Shad 59 MR all around in a semi-circle in front of me.

I felt a few nudges and a couple of real bites. After about ten minutes a fish attacked hard and swam away with it. It too a bit of line but soon settled. It was a nice Bream – about 30cm long that had been cruising above the weed. About 10 minutes later, there were a few more knocks on successive casts and I hooked another smaller one.

I had made my way south, towards the green channel marker. It was just about 6.00 am and I could now cast over the edge of the major weed bank that runs along here. I felt an angry bite and then another. I pulled the trebles home and saw a Pike leap out of the water. I pulled it up close and shook it off the hooks.

The tide was now lifting a lot of sea grass so I decided to switch lures to a soft plastic. I chose the GULP 5” Jerkshad in the Watermelon Pearl colour. I loaded it on to a 1/8th ounce, 2/0 jighead and started fishing it along the edge of the weed.

I waded back towards the bridge but did not get a bite for more than hour. About 60 metres from the end of the old oyster jetty, I felt a grab, but I did not hook up. I cast back in the same spot six more times – slowing my retrieve down to a crawl. On number seven…. thud. I dropped the rod tip and slowly counted to ten. When I lifted it, I felt the hook slide home and I had a flathead on the line. This one was a keeper, about 45cm, but I was releasing everything today. It was just before 8.30 am.

A fantastic start
Bribie Bream on DUO Realis Shad MR 59
DUO Realis Shad 59 MR – a quality lure
DUO Realis – tough construction – great action
Even the little ones chase the DUO Realis Shad 59MR
If I could only have one hard body – this would be it
The pike can’t resist a DUO lure
A welcome sight
The GULPs paid off today
It was still and calm close to the shoreline
It soon turned around when it got close
Lurking in the sandy breaks between the weed
They do not need much water
The best fish of the day – about 60cm
This was the most productive area today
A handsome fish

Five minutes later and ten metres closer to the jetty, I found another slightly bigger one. Just before 9.00 am, I cast into the shallows – between me and the mangrove lined shore and the line went tight, immediately. It was the best fish of the day, about 60cm long. It was diminishing returns from then on. I caught two more fish, but both were around 35cm long.

By 10.00 am, the wind was blowing hard and I had Christmas shopping to get on with, so that was it for the day.

Bribie Island – The old Oyster Jetty & Buckley’s Hole drain – 17 July 2011

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Not much to say – a crap mornings fishing. I started about 6 am. I waded down to the big sandbar south of the old oyster jetty. Low tide had been at 4.15 am – so the tide was running in, strongly. The wind was low at first but gradually built to a 15 knot south-westerly as the sun came up. It had been blowing a south easterly the day before and we had had a bit of rain. There were tufts of algae weed floating around everywhere.

It was the day after full moon. The Bream should have been in full swing and there should have been a few Flathead and Tailor around. But after 3 1/2 hours of fishing, I had only had one serious bite, which I think was a Chopper Tailor. I was fishing with my trusty GULP soft plastics and tried every colour and shape in the bag. The weed and wind did not help and perhaps the ABT competition, the day before, may have slowed things down, but it was no fun at all.

I eventually gave up and went for a coffee and a bacon sandwich – scoring a duck is never a good feeling!!

Bribie Island – Buckleys Hole – Tailor, Bream, Flathead – 10 July 2011

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Sunday

Unfortunately the requirement to feed my family (they want to eat something other than fish) has resulted in a pause in my fishing reports. This morning I had an opportunity to get back out there and even though the wind was up (south-westerly at about 15 knots) and it was only 5 Celsius , I drove up to Bribie Island in search of fish.

I had a couple of casts under the bridge, on the island side, just before dawn with a GULP 2” Shrimp soft plastic, but got no touches. As the sun started to light up the sky, I headed down to the mouth of the tidal lagoon in front of Buckley’s Hole. I waded out towards the drop off at about 6.30am. I carried on fishing with the GULP 2” Shrimp in the Pepper Prawn colour, mounted on a 1/6th 1 hook jighead. I was using 10lb Fluorocarbon leader tied on to 10lb breaking strain braid.

30cm Bream

I could not find the Flathead but at about 7.00 am, just to the south of the mouth of the drain I caught a good Bream, around 30cm long. I few casts later I caught another, smaller Bream. The Pike seem to have disappeared from this area at the moment – not sure why.

20cm Bream

I waded further south. The wind was very cold but was beginning to drop off. The tide was running out strongly – high tide had been at about 4.30 am. I waded, casting all around, all the way down to the corner with Red Beach. After about an hour, all I had caught were a couple of 20 cm Flathead, so I turned around and walked back to the north.

30cm Flathead

I soon found myself back at the mouth of the Buckley’s Hole drain. The tide had slowed down and I had switched to a 3” Minnow soft plastic in the Pepper Prawn colour, rigged on a lighter, 1/8th 1 hook jighead. I felt a couple of hard hits and then I hooked a fish. The rapid rod tip movement showed it was a Tailor. I unhooked it and took a quick picture before releasing it. It was just under the legal size at about 28cm. Over the next hour I caught three more that where all around the same size. They took both natural and brightly coloured plastics. It seemed like a small school was moving up and down along the coffee rock ledge, which runs parallel with the shore at this point.

30cm Tailor

By 9.30 am I was too cold to carry on, so I packed up and drove back to Brisbane. I released all the fish today.