Below Bromfield Street Weir

Nine kilometres from the weir site near Wollaston Road down to the sea. It is the lowest part of the river, and in our reading it does not fish like the water above the weir site.

The stretch’s own survey record holds brown trout, last recorded in 1989. Rainbow trout may reach it, though nothing local stands behind that. The record being silent is not the same as the fish being gone.

The wider Merri survey list includes estuary perch, black bream, congolli, shortfin eels, smelt and gudgeon. Those records are for the river as a whole, not placed on this stretch. Where smelt and other small fish move with the tide, the predators tend to follow along the edges and hold against the snags.

In our experience the warm months, November to April, and the last hour of light are the best bet. Predators come to the edges and the structure at dusk, and the tide decides where they hold. There is no gauge on this stretch, and a coloured, fresh-pushed river after rain tends to fish slowly. Read the water when you get there.

Fish it as a lower-river edge, not as the inland stream. A six weight, a floating line for the shallow edges and an intermediate as the water deepens toward the mouth, and a leader you can pull a fish away from a snag with. A small dark Woolly Bugger or a baitfish streamer worked slowly along the snags at dusk, with long pauses; the take comes on the drop as often as on the strip. Keep the first cast honest.

The map shows the ways in. A name on a map is not a right of entry, and a track along the bank is shared with everyone else who uses it.

As on any tidal water, watch for soft mud and the turn of the tide, and carry a light if you stay past dark.

Victorian rules apply. No rule written for this stretch alone turned up, so do not assume the rules of the river above carry down here. Take the size and bag limits for whatever you target from the current Victorian recreational fishing guide before you fish. The numbers move.