by Gavin Dunne
BREAKFAST CREEK/NEWSTEAD HOUSE
A lot of Brisbane River’s land-based spots hold good numbers of fish but the amount of structure or fighting area to subdue a big fish greatly reduces your chances. Breakfast Creek, however, is a river hot-spot where anglers can successfully target snapper, jew, cod and threadies.
So why is this area so good? It’s on a predominant bend of the river that receives excellent tidal flow and is on a junction of a creek and the main river. There is deep water within casting range and lots of structure, it has good fishing vantage points, can be accessed by everybody (it’s even wheelchair friendly) and there are plenty of lights that attract baitfish after dark. It’s one area that is known for producing big jew and threadfin salmon.
This area can be fished on both sides of the creek and the southern (Newstead House) side has the best vantage points. The southern side also has a jetty where anglers can gather live bait or fish off.
What to Expect
Most anglers fish this area with live baits but you can catch bream, cod and catfish with dead bait. Mullet, herring, prawns and just legal bream are the best live baits for the area. River perch also make great live baits if they are in the area.
Once you have rigged your live baits it’s just a matter of casting them to different depths and waiting. If you have two rods and work different depths or distances from the bank you can cover more ground.
When the tide slows around the creek mouth try fishing your live bait unweighted or under a float so the surface feeding jew and threadies have a chance to find it.
Rod and reel outfits for this area can be anything that holds around 10kg main line. I fish this area with long rock/surf outfits with Alvey reels but have seen anglers fishing with boat rods and hand lines.
Tides and boat traffic play a big part in whether fish will turn up or stay away. Night time highs after the City Cat stops and the kids go to bed seem to produce better fishing. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights are great times to fish.
Breakfast Creek is a great place for land-based anglers to wet a line with relative ease, with the chance of landing a monster.
This popular, classic article is from the Fishing Monthly archives. It was first published back in 2007.
