Australia's Top Fishing Websites & YouTube Channels That Can Improve Your Fishing
TL;DR
- Getfished helps you check fishing times and recent catches when planning a trip, without promising a “best” time to fish.
- Robbie Fishing shares practical freshwater fishing experience, especially for Murray cod, redfin and trout.
- How To Fish teaches straightforward methods for beginners, including using berley, smaller hooks and lighter line.
- Starlo Gets Reel covers bait and lure techniques across freshwater, estuaries, surf and saltwater.
- Roger Osborne Fishing explains effective surf and estuary rigs, bait and methods as he fishes.
As you might expect, I spend a lot of time on various websites and YouTube channels focused on Australian fishing - admittedly on many overseas resources too, especially the USA, UK, Canada, Italy and South Africa. Many of these resources have added a lot of great information that I have applied to my own fishing to improve it. Often in subtle but important ways.
I’ve made this list in the order I spend most of my time. This order will be different for most people. Obviously I spend more time on my own website (this one) because I’m actively building and testing it in real world fishing trips. So for you the list might be a little different, and that’s a good thing!
1. Getfished
I lovingly wrote every line of code in the application and website, which some of our users have described to me as: “Getfished is the premier fishing forecast website for Australian Anglers”. I appreciate the compliment, but there are many other great fishing websites I read and YouTube channels I watch that you might find valuable too. I do use Getfished to fish as well; in software circles, that’s called “eating your own dog food”.
Truthfully, I spend more time on my own website than anywhere else because I actively build it, and it’s a full-time job. I built it for a reason, though. To solve a problem, to scratch my own itch and that of people who have said: “I wish there was a website that told me where fish have been caught so I can check before going and make my own mind up.” The other goal was to allow data and science to triumph over marketing promises and untested claims. To avoid saying “best time to fish” because there is no such time. Getfished solves the problems I faced with fishing times showing on websites with inaccurate times, while stripping away the hyperbole about being “the best” this or that. I wanted the persona to get out of the way and get down to the information I needed. So I use Getfished to find fishing times that suit me and are more likely to produce results, without a guarantee or false hope. Getfished Fishing Times
But while data is great, you can’t beat pure on-the-water experience and local Aussie characters. Here are the other sites and YouTube channels I make time to follow. Their original content and humour never fails to shines through.
2. Robbie Fishing
“The king of bush fishing”. Robbie Fishing is a big channel, and Robbie has an even bigger personality. Robbie is fun to watch, and his Murray cod fishing is legendary. You can learn a lot from him even if you never target freshwater Australian fish species. He’s been fishing for decades, and it shows in the experience and skill he brings to every video. He’s easily my favourite YouTube channel.
He uses a variety of tackle, from bait to lures for Murray Cod, Redfin, Trout, Yellowbelly and doesn’t mind pulling some carp out of the water.
Even some fly fishing videos!
He’ll take you to a variety of locations and habitats. By foot, kayak and sometimes boat.
He fishes with a variety of rigs and bait. But his skill with a Murray Cod lure has to be seen to be appreciated. His famous “Got him!” punctuates his on-location fishing trips more often than not.
For the kids, Robbie’s carp and redfin videos are awesome and a great intro to get them out and have a crack too. His mail time features new lures and letters from around Australia. You can tell Robbie gets a real buzz out of this, and some of the letters from kids really motivate him.
He looks like a bikie, but has the heart of Santa Claus!
Check him out here: RobbieFishing
3. How To Fish
Wayne O’Keefe’s How To Fish channel is the YouTube channel I recommend absolute beginners subscribe to. Wayne focuses on catching fish, not technical gizmos. Methods that work, like berley, berley cages, smaller hook sizes and lighter lines. While the channel is especially useful for beginners, experienced anglers can still pick up new ideas or refresh the basics from Wayne’s simple approach.
Wayne can show you a lot about changing down in hook size for when it’s tough to land a fish. His mullet and garfish videos are great for this, along with his use of berley cages. This can’t be overemphasised. The amount of people I see with a 4/0 or 6/0 hook on the Maribyrnong or Yarra River wondering why they’re not catching anything is surprising. Change down, lighten up. Experiment and catch fish. That’s the message Wayne demonstrates time and time again.
4. Starlo Gets Reel
Steve Starling (“Starlo”) has been in the fishing media since the 1980’s. A talented fisho whose friendly demeanour makes his videos fun and valuable sources of information.
Starlo fishes in several environments, particularly around NSW. From freshwater lakes and rivers to estuaries and surf beaches.
He’s probably forgotten more fishing tips than you and I will ever know. His bream fishing is expecially good and you’ll also see him sometimes appearing on other YouTube channels like Roger’s Fishing (see #5 below.)
Explore his channel for older videos too for great tackle, soft plastic, and species-specific advice.
From bait fishing through to soft plastic lures—saltwater to Freshwater Starlo Gets Reel.
5. Roger’s Fishing
An incredible NSW-based fisho. He runs a great channel with many saltwater fishing tips, often right off the beach. He has a legendary catch rate, and you can learn a lot from him, too. Roger Osbourne Fishing
Roger fishes the surf and estuaries for the most part, with occasional forays inland to freshwater. He has an easygoing manner and describes what he’s doing and why in a way that’s simple to understand. You could do far worse than adopting some of Rogers’ methods. He experiments, but his staple rigs and bait deliver the results most of us would love to achieve.
Finally
There’s a lot of other websites and video channels I watch. Many of them are great, I might add some more in the future. But these are my main staples. Send a message using our Contact Form of your favorites and I’ll watch and consider them for this list.
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Written by
Scott Kane
Founder, Getfished
Scott's a software developer and the founder of Getfished. He's a long-time recreational angler focused on practical fishing forecasts, fishing report data, and decision-support tools for Victorian anglers.
He has a background in complex software systems and data analysis. Scott has a penchant for building software using low level tools, developing products like Getfished in C, Pascal, SQLITE and Hugo.