rivers around bunbury

 Hi all, ive recently moved to bunbury and im wondering if anyone could share some info about fishing the local rivers. I had a quick flick in the collie river the other arvo near the bridge and pulled a couple of bream from the shore using plastics (22cm and 35cm). Ive had a hunt around online but cant find much info on fishing the preston river. Im targeting bream and redfin. Curious as to whether they are actually in the preston or not, and how far upstream i would need to go for redfin? Im a stones throw from the preston but dont want to waste good catching time if theres nothing there. If thats the case i will drive to harvey, waroona, stick to collie or go down the beach.

Cheers in advance. Tim 

 

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carnarvonite's picture

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Date Joined: 24/07/07

Preston river

Sat, 2015-01-03 14:34

Going back to the early sixties when we moved to Bunbury, I've never seen or heard of anyone catching anything decent from the Preston river.
Collie river is quite different though expect it to be under more pressure from when I fished it last. Used to do well at the junction of the Brunswick river, mouth of Millars creek and around all the snags where the road bridges cross.

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Date Joined: 06/05/14

 I always see big mullet

Sat, 2015-01-03 14:43

 I always see big mullet swimming in the Preston under that eelup roundabout bridge

Dale's picture

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Date Joined: 13/09/05

Sat, 2015-01-03 17:47

 Was it a blind one???

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turtl3tim's picture

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Date Joined: 01/01/15

oh well, i suppose even

Sat, 2015-01-03 17:56

oh well, i suppose even mullet is good sign of life down there, and mulloway love mullet fillets right? ive never actaully caught a mullet. any tips? i might just wander up and down the banks one day and see what happens. might turn into a new secret hotspot ;). if thats the case i wont report back haha jk.

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carnarvonite's picture

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Date Joined: 24/07/07

Stuffed it up

Sat, 2015-01-03 18:09

They stuffed the Preston up when they straightened it up after it flooded in 1965. There used to be good holes that were popular for swimming and fishing just south of the bend in Moorlands ave? where the road curves away from the river. Wasn't unusual to get mulloway and black bream in the deep holes but they got scrapers and dozers in and removed the bends to allow floodwaters to have a straight run down to the mouth. Then the mouth was directly under where Alcoa storage silos stand and opposite the hot water outlet from the power station not in to "slaughterhouse bay" where it is today

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Date Joined: 06/05/14

 Yep your totally right

Sat, 2015-01-03 18:36

 Yep your totally right carnarvonite. Moorlands ave. your memory is tops. Best tips for catching mullet is square hooks haha. 

carnarvonite's picture

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Date Joined: 24/07/07

Swing

Sat, 2015-01-03 20:15

We used to live opposite Marist Bros gate and later in King Road and could be found with up to 30 odd school kids who lived local at any of about 4 decent swimming holes along that stretch, best of all was the big tree with swing attached just off Moorlands or further down behind the Allens house about 100 metres downstream from Moonlight bridge [the old one lane wooden one that the new concrete jobby replaced]

turtl3tim's picture

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Date Joined: 01/01/15

ok. so from the feedback im

Sat, 2015-01-03 20:57

ok. so from the feedback im getting, im gathering not to bother with the preston river at all? i know bream love structure and clearly its all gone now since they scraped and dozed it all to allow the "flood" waters to flow easier.

what about redfin?

how far upstream would you have to go to find them? in regards to water salinity and whatnot? might seem like a stupid question but im relatively new to freshwater fishing.

On another note. has anyone beach fished down past dalyellup where 5 mile brook comes out recently? and where/what are the tracks like getting in there? curious as to whether i could go it alone or whether its a multiple vehicle venture.

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Date Joined: 16/12/14

I lived in Australind during

Sun, 2015-01-04 14:06

I lived in Australind during high school not too many years ago and still regularly visit my parents down there.

As for info on the Preston I can't really help either. Having lived down there nobody ever seemed/seems to mention it. I fished it once but no sign of fish. Maybe try the various fishing shops around town see if anyone has info.

In the Fishing Guide to WA book it says 'NO FISH' further up where it turns into the Fergusson river so I guess no freshwater fish in that for whatever reason. Wellington and Harvey aren't far anyway.

As for the Collie its great for crabs but I have never caught f$$# all from it so you are already doing better than me! Meant to be black bream everywhere in it but I can't find them. Also there's a decent sand bank at the mouth on the Eaton side (boating channel) that is heavily fished lately. Tried to fish it over Christmas but too many people. Apparently everything and anything is being caught there lately, tailor, mulloway and even small sharks.

Went down to Forest Beach with family the other day. Great spot, beach is like a road and apparently great fishing, though blowing a gale the day we were there. Lots of people also.

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Date Joined: 06/01/09

 preston is pretty much just

Sun, 2015-01-04 18:52

 preston is pretty much just whiting.... redfin you will need to head to donnybrook... apparently some good ones been caught down there but im not sure exactly where.... collie has been producing some good bream and soapies with the odd bigger mully around the 600-700.... has been a few bull sharks caught in the last 6 months also. Down around the elbow seems to be best option or down the junction. Redfin have been caught in collie river In and around collie. Have seen pics of some around 400 and more.... capel river for redfin and bream. Beaches are starting to produce good numbers of tailor up 450-500. Been some good crab numbers also.

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Date Joined: 03/12/13

I saw a guy in Donnybrook who

Sun, 2015-01-04 20:35

I saw a guy in Donnybrook who had several nice sized Refin which he caught just upstream from town. Cant see why they wouldnt have moved downstream further to Boyanup area at least, I know there are carp in the river around Boyanup.

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 I have caught some black

Tue, 2015-01-06 20:43

 I have caught some black bream in the river on the binningup River but very very quiet so don't really recommend it

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turtl3tim's picture

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Date Joined: 01/01/15

well, given that im a proud

Thu, 2015-01-08 18:05

well, given that im a proud local of bunno now, i guess i might just have to get out there and try out the spots for myself. thanks for all the feedback guys. keep it coming aswel. ill post back with ground breaking news if there is any

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 Good things come to those who bait.