The 1980’s - Early Childhood Fishing Memories

In this blog post, I am reminiscing about my early fishing marks when I lived in Melbourne. I don't have any photos this far back, but will try to find photos of the species I talk about.

Tambo River at Swan Reach

My earliest memories of fishing were from several trips to the Tambo River at Swan Reach to catch Southern Black Bream. We used bloodworms (a type of polychete worm) easily bought at any petrol station nearby.


Southern Black Bream - Acanthopagrus butcheri #1


The Yarra River at Fisherman’s Bend

This was another location that I have fond memories of during my childhood years. It’s now all built over with marinas and wharves, but there used to be several kilometres of beach here. Bait was easily collected onsite using a bait pump for bloodworms.

The main target here was the Southern Black Bream. We used a running ledger with a 50cm leader and bloodworms on a 6-4 sized hook. Occasionally we would get some Snapper but unfortunately also sometimes plagued with Bridled Goby, Smooth Toadfish and Juvenile Flathead. The always heard of reports of Mulloway caught from this area, but I have never seen one caught.


Snapper - Pagrus auratus #2


Bridled Goby - Arenigobius bifrenatus #3


Smooth toadfish - Tetractenos glaber #4


The bait collecting also brought in large shoals of Yellow-eyed Mullet and Bay Trout (juvenile Australian Salmon). These were caught on the float a few metres out. I also once had a juvenile Greenback Founder caught using the bait pump.


Western Australian salmon - Arripis truttacea #5


Yellow-eye Mullet - Aldrichetta forsteri #6


Yarra River at Newport

On the opposite bank from Fishermans Bend is the Newport Power Station. Back in the 80's I never fished the mark known as the 'Warmies' [I only discover this a decade later], which is the outlet of the power station. I fished the intake a little further upstream. From here I caught most of the species listed above, but also often had Zebrafish as well.


Zebra Fish - Girella zebra #7


Maribyrnong River at Footscray

Slightly upstream of Fisherman’s Bend, the river splits into two, forming the Yarra River which flows through Melbourne and its largest tributary, the Maribyrnong which flows through the Western Suburbs. Yarra and Maribyrnong roughly translate to Freshwater and Saltwater in the local Wurundjeri language. Here I caught Southern Black Bream, Yellow-eyed Mullet, and the unwanted Bridled Goby. On only one occasion, I caught I juvenile Estuary Perch of about 6”.


Estuary perch - Macquaria colonorum #8

School Camps

I caught two species of fish at school camps in primary school. Redfin (European Perch) from the Rubicon River and Silver Trevally from the Anglesea river.


European Perch - Perca fluviatilis #9


Silver Trevally - Pseudocaranx georgianus #10

These were my first 10 species