Welcome to the Fitzroy River Fishing Guide. The Fitzroy River stretches for 16 kilometers and is located near Tyrendarra upstream from the Surrey River. At the entrance, you can see great surf on one side and the entrance to the estuary on the other. The estuary is a narrow and shallow system that provides good fishing, particularly for bream. It’s a good option for land-based fishing, kayaks, and tinnies.
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Things to do at Fitzroy River
One of the lesser-known tourist spots which are mainly used for fishing, swimming, camping, and walking along the beach. There are limited onsite amenities so best to bring your own if you plan on camping. The entrance of Fitzroy river offers good camping and fishing grounds with its own jetty and ramp. Nearby there are walking tours and national parks. You may also want to look at things to do around the surrounding areas Portland, Port Fairy, and Moyne River.
Fishing Fitzroy River
At the Fitzroy river, you can catch
- Bream
- Estuary Perch
- Australian Salmon
- Mulloway
- Flounder
- Yellow eye Mullet
The Fitzroy River mouth is generally close. It’s a skinny waterway feeding off the bay near Portland. Access to the river is best near the camping ground which has a dedicated ramp. The river holds a good amount of black bream. The choice of bream lures is almost endless to make things easier we created a detailed video on the best bream lures and how to use them. We also recommend reading our guide on the best lures to catch bream.
A large portion of the river is shallow and weedy and for this reason surface lures, shallow diving hard body lures, shallow diving cranks and very lightly weighted soft plastics will work well. usually using a 1/16 jig head and higher. Bream will congregate within the weed, edges and drop-offs so these are good areas to specifically target. In extremely weedy areas surface lures worked slowly work a treat you will also catch tailor and estuary perch with this method. When flicking lures and plastics you will need an ultralight spinning outfit. This would start with a light rod around 7 feet in length either a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo class. There are so many great options to choose from in this range which can be quite confusing for beginners. When choosing a reel make sure you pick a 1000, 2040 or 2500 size that is best, spooled with a 4-6 pound braid and finished with a 2 or 4-pound leader. Again the range of reels on the market is amazing and the budgets vary greatly depending on your skill level and spending habits.
If you plan on fishing with baits then we would highly recommend using Sandworms, maggots, scrub worms, pilchards, mussels, yabbies, & chicken. For bait fishing again a light rod setup is best. A 2-4 kilo class rod with a 2500 size reel would be a great option spooled with a 6-pound line. Beginners can go a little heavier with a 3-5 kilo rod.
Recently a new floating pontoon jetty on the Fitzroy River, replaced the old wooden one at Tyrendarra. The new jetty had been funded by recreational fishing licence fees and should make fishing with family and friends even easier.
We would encourage you to watch our video below on how to catch bream with bait or read our detailed guide on Bait fishing for Bream.
Recommended baits Fitzroy River
- yabbies
- Scrub worms
- sandworms
- maggots
- mussels
- pilchards
- prawns
Recommended lures and soft plastics Fitzroy River
- Cranka crab
- Zman slim Swimz
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Damiki Monster Miki 2.5 sp
- Jackall Chubby
- Savage Gear Fathead Crank
- Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
- Gulp 3-inch minnow
- Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
- Zman grubZ
- Squidge wrigglers
- eco gear ZX40
- Daiwa Double Clutch
- EcoGear SX40
- Squidges biotough grub
- Nories laydown minnow
- StrikePro cyber vibe
- Pro lure live yabby
- OSP bent minnows
- Hurricane twitch 50 shallow
Targeting Bream at Fitzroy River
This is a great location to target bream with lures and soft plastics. The options available are almost endless so make sure you read our guide on the best lures to catch bream. Recommended options include crab imitation, shallow diving cranks, paddle tail soft plastics, curl tail soft plastics, minnow imitations, vibes, and blades. Also, try your luck with surface lures which is an exciting form of fishing with light gear. Bream is all about finesse fishing so you will need an ultralight spin outfit. We recommend a 7-foot rod in a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo class, paired with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 reel spooled with a 2-6-pound braid and equivalent leader. There are so many amazing bream outfits on the market and budgets vary greatly depending on your skill level and spending habits.
Bream reside within structure such as jetty pylons and stumps. Enticing them away from the structure onto your lure will take some time to master. Remember to work your lures and plastics slowly and mix up the retrieval techniques. If you are targeting bream with bait then we would highly recommend sandworms, maggots, scrub worms, mussels, yabbies, & chicken. A 2-4 kilo class rod paired with a 2500 size reel would be a great option spooled with a 6-pound line. We would encourage you to read our detailed guide on Bait fishing for Bream.
Targeting Estuary Perch at Fitzroy River
Another highlight of fishing in this area is targeting Estuary perch with surface and shallow diving lures. The action can be frantic on warm balmy evenings with low wind. listen for the sound of breaking water which indicates EPs are feeding. The excitement an angler gets from an EP smashing a surface lure on light gear is something that truly needs to be experienced. It almost catches you by surprise when that aggressive strike comes. Small surface poppers, cicadas, blades, surface minnows and pencil lures work well here. So do shallow diving hardbody lures. Noteworthy options include bent minnows, Rapala countdown series, nories laydown minnows and shallow diving cranks. Basically, anything that doesn’t dive too deep and makes a good vibrating action will work well. You can use any colour choice we often start with silvers that mimic small baitfish or mullet.
EPs also respond incredibly well to a whole range of soft plastics lightly weighted. Including curl tails, paddle tails and minnow imitations. The trusty 2.5-inch grubs and minnows are an excellent choice. These imitate small baitfish that the EPs are actively feeding on. We would recommend mixing up the retrieval speeds and pauses and playing around with different colours. Where possible fish along with the structure and stay alert for signs such as breaking water. Fishing for Estuary Perch requires finesse. We recommend an ultralight fishing combo consisting of a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo spin rod around 7 feet in length. Coupled with a 1000 or 2000 size reel spooled with 2-8 pound line and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. When bait fishing uses a 2-4 kilo rod around 7 feet in length. Coupled with a 2500 size reel either a float or small running sinker to a swivel and very fine leader.
Targeting Mulloway at Fitzroy River
Mulloway AKA Jewfish are a prized catch that sits on the top of many Victorian anglers’ bucket lists. A stunning fish with a large mouth and distinctive silver or bronze colour. Patience and dedication are required to catch the elusive Mulloway which can reach up to 1.8 meters and 60 kilos. The minimum legal size is 60cm with a daily bag limit of 5 over the legal size. Live baits are a top choice when targeting mulloways such as mullet, salmon, and whiting. Pinning them behind the neck to allow the bait to swim freely. Other staple dead baits can include pilchard, trevally, garfish, prawns, chicken & squid. A running sinker rig to a single 5/0 – 8/0 hook or a double snelled hook to present the bait nicely. Soft plastics between 80mm and 100mm are also a great option. Good options include flick baits, shads, paddle tails and grubz. You can also purchase pre-made rigs and swimbaits which are designed to imitate a fish in its surroundings such as a mullet.
Choosing a Mulloway outfit Recommended gear to target Mulloway 6-10, 10-15 or 12-24 kilo rod paired with a 4000-8000 spin reel spooled with 20-50 pound line and equivalent leader. Mulloway resides near river mouth entrances. They are often caught near structures such as bridges and pylons. Try to present your baits and lures as natural as possible or use live baits. Mulloway can be caught at any time of the day, but are most active at the night, during peak tides and moon phases. We have found that lures are quite productive during the day and bait more productive at night.
We recommend watching our guide on great lures to catch bream.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Fitzroy River Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals.
Thank you for visiting the Fitzroy River Fishing Guide. If you feel this location guide is missing any key information or needs any corrections made, then please let us know by emailing our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details in the email. Thank you