Below the site of Bromfield Street Weir the Merri stops being a trout river and becomes
Warrnambool's estuary. It is a second trip in the same town, and on a summer evening when the
upper river is too warm to fish honestly, it is the better one.
The weir near Wollaston Bridge came out in 2024, but Victoria still draws its line there. This
stretch is the last nine kilometres of the river below that site, through the town and Dennington
to Lake Pertobe and the sea: tidal, brackish, walked by dog owners and joggers, and carrying a
different set of rules from the freshwater river above.
The fish change with the salt. Estuary perch are the fish of this water, and the 2020s are the
strongest decade for them in the survey record, with congolli, eels, smelt and bream and the
fish of the coast as the water turns salt toward the mouth. Trout are the river above, not this
one.
It is a six-weight-and-a-streamer proposition. Fish the warm months, November to April, in the
last hour of light, working a small dark streamer slowly along the snags and the rock walls with
long pauses, and let the tide tell you where the fish are holding. The banks are town reserve
and walking tracks shared with everyone else in Warrnambool, and the hazards are an estuary's:
soft mud, a tide that turns, and rock walls that are slick at night.
There is no gauge down here. The Woodford station on the freshwater river above tells you what is
coming after rain, and a coloured, fresh-pushed estuary is a slow one. The rest you read standing
on the bank.
Water and habitat
Nine kilometres from the old weir site at Wollaston down through Warrnambool and Dennington to Lake
Pertobe and the sea. Estuary country starts here: tidal water, rock walls and snags along the town
reaches, reed beds and sand toward the mouth. It does not fish like the freshwater river above the
weir, and it does not carry the same fish or the same rules.
Fish and forage
Estuary perch are the fish of this stretch, strong in the 2020s survey record, with congolli in
numbers, eels, smelt and gudgeon around them, and bream and the fish of the coast as the water turns
salt toward the mouth. The Victorian Fisheries Authority's guide notes estuary perch stocked into the
water below the weir in some years; the survey record says they are there now. Trout are the river
above, not this one.
The perch and bream eat the smelt and the small fish of the estuary, moving with the tide along the
edges and holding against the snags and walls.
When to fish it
The warm months, November to April, and the last hour of light. Estuary perch come to the edges and
the structure at dusk and after dark, and the tide decides where they hold. There is no gauge bound
to this stretch; the Woodford gauge above tells you what the river is sending down after rain, and
a coloured, fresh-pushed estuary is a slow one. Read the water when you get there and do not borrow
the freshwater gauge as if it described this water.
How to fish it
Fish it as an estuary 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 perch
away from a snag with. A small dark Woolly Bugger or a baitfish streamer
worked slowly along the rock walls and the snags at dusk, with long pauses; the take comes on the
drop as often as on the strip. Keep the first cast honest. This water sees more people than the
river above, and the fish know it.
Access and safety
Town and estuary banks: walking tracks, road bridges and reserve through Warrnambool and Dennington,
with the estuary edge toward Lake Pertobe. A name on a map is not a right of entry, and a track along
the bank is shared with everyone else in town. Lake Pertobe is the end of this stretch, not more of
it.
The hazards are an estuary's: soft mud, a tide that turns, and rock walls that are slick at night.
Fish the town reaches with a light and a plan.
Regulations
Victorian rules apply. Victoria classifies the Merri differently above and below Bromfield Street
Weir, and this is the water below that named site, so the estuary rules govern it rather than the
freshwater trout rules. Take the size and bag limits for estuary perch, bream and the rest from the
current
Victorian recreational fishing guide.
The numbers move. Do not take them from this page.