Fishing with David LockwoodDavid Lockwood

Less is more at Sydney Boat Show

One of life’s truisms is that adventure isn’t always commensurate with the size of your boat. Misadventure, yes. And all too often by foolhardy anglers in tubs tackling towering seas without life jackets. But with a few dollars and some common sense just about anyone can find action in suburbia.
Take a kayak, tinnie, or trailerboat and strike out on the clandestine creeks, launch an early assault on the less-travelled harbour, tour the wide bays, and ride the big rivers in search of fish.
So it was for us during a recent spate of blustery weather unfit for voyaging offshore. Instead, we donned the outdoor wear, slapped on some sunscreen, pulled on a hat and some polarised sunnies and, yes, tugged on our inflatable yokes. Over several wintry weekends, we paddled in our kayaks, launched the indestructible tinnie, and wet fishing lines as we went. Thanks to the stealth of paddle power, we landed plenty of fish, too. But the change of pace and in-your-face scenery are just as motivating when you gad about by small boat.
While catching fish is the reason behind this page, small-boat fishing is as much about communing with nature as hooking up. You are down at water level, copping the drips from the paddle, peering into the water and spotting fish before they see you. You can take it as fast or as slow as you like, mooch about the rocky shores or drift over the sandbanks, and right now with the amazingly clear winter water you can see for ever.
It goes without saying that the other big hook about small boat fishing is the minimal cost involved. Naturally, with all those dealers and boat sales folk under the one roof, this month’s Sydney International Boat Show at Darling Harbour, opening July 29, is a happy hunting ground for backwater fishing boats.
Take a tip and go cashed up. In this market, cash counts for everything. Drive a bargain and you might also score a boatload of accessories or at least the safety gear for nix. You will find rich pickings in the sub-$1,000 watercraft market … and oodles of options above that to $5,000 at the Sydney boat show. What’s more, most of the offerings fit in the boot of your car, on roof racks, or upon a simple single-axle trailer that you can manhandle up the driveway.

Kayaks

Let’s start with paddle power. After all, kayaks and ’yak fishing is all the rage in Sydney these days. A big reason for that is the advent of the affordable rotomoulded polyethylene kayak. Strong, lightweight, low-fuss and easily repaired, sit-on and sit-in designs have starting prices from as little as $300 for kids’ models to about $800 for a better paddling and fishing platform. Narrower designs with a moulded keel perform better than fatter flat-bottom types which have greater stability.
But if fishing is your motive, then look at those wider and more stable types. And if you have a few thousand to spend, you can buy some mighty impressive purpose-built fishing kayaks these days. They typically come with built-in rod holders, live wells, bait and tackle and dry storage.
Spend a bit more for a sea-kayak with swooping bow and you can traverse Sydney Harbour, the Hawkesbury and Broken Bay on a good day. The better models include a rudder for improved steerage. But many kayak buyers in today’s tight market end up doing the accessorising themselves. Use a small cooler for carrying lunch and/or bait, a dry-pouch for your personals, camera and mobile phone, and add a rod holder or two to the deck using a hole saw, self-tappers and Sikaflex.
If storage is an issue try the Bic Yakka 120 folding kayak for about $1,000 with inflatable sponsons. If you want to ogle fish life, there are also numerous kayaks with viewing windows and even all-clear hulls. At the end of the day, a quick rinse with the hose and you’re done. If you suffer lower back pain from extended paddling, practice Pilates to improve your core strength. Get fit as you fish.

Tinnies

But of all the portable boats about today, the iconic tinnie has the most utility. A basic 3.1-metre hull only will cost about $1,500 sans oars, anchor and rope, lifejackets and bailer. You’ll pay up to $2,500 for 4.1 metre hull only and around $6,000 for a drive-away outboard powered trailerboat rig. But the investment will give your several decades of backwater enjoyment. And you can customise your boat when finances and the motivation allow.
Think back to basics for big fishing adventures: small, portable, and easily propelled craft. Make a day of it in the protected backwaters when it’s blowing or head out at dawn for the best action. Not only will you escape the madding crowds, but you will catch plenty of fish for the frying and sport and be back home by midday. Less is more, and more and more big-boat fishos are coming back down to water level.

fishDavid Lockwood’s Guide to Fishing – August

By sea or stream no fish is sought, sweeter than blackfish freshly caught! I’m guilty of having quoted this line from local laureate CJ Dennis before. But now, more than ever, blackfish are on the menu in Sydney.
Better known as luderick – or the old handle such as darkie or nigger that’s considered unfitting today – here’s a species in profound supply. The reason for the seemingly bottomless stocks is surely the fish’s preferred habitat: wave-washed reefs, rocky margins, kelp beds, wharves and pylons.
A herbivorous fish that grazes on moss and algae, the preferred fodder of the luderick is the long gossamer-like greed weed and the leafy cabbage type that attach to structures in the intertidal zone. So first find your weed before setting about catching a bag of luderick.
You will need to suspend your weed bait off the seabed, beneath a carefully weighted float, to avoid snagging up on the aforesaid reefy or weedy seabed. Work on depths of 2.5-3 metres. Cast the rig on a similar length rod, using a reel loaded with 3kg line. And berley with chopped weed and sand to get the fish feeding.
Although something of a lost art, devotees of luderick fishing have been duly rewarded these past weeks. In fact, the fish that formed the basis of many Depression-era meals is making a comeback in the current tough times.
Bled, filleted, skinned, and with the black stomach lining removed, fresh luderick fillets are delicious crumbed and cooked like schnitzel. They are a fisherman’s fish, good for you ticker, and mainstay in oft-windy August.
Elsewhere, Central Coast skipper Scott Thorrington has been battling sharks and leatherjackets while jigging the reefs for kingfish. After a three-day raid to one set of reefs he lost 65 jigs, each costing about $20. But the kingfish are there and in the last few days the line-snipping leatherjackets have thinned out.
If not the reefs off Terrigal and Broken Bay then try the 12 Mile behind The Peak for kingfish. It’s been a pretty good season thus far on that trusted reef system. Use your sounder and, when you get a show of fish holding off the bottom, head elsewhere – chances are they are leatherjackets waiting to snip your lines – with the edge of the reef being best.
Because the yellowfin tuna and albacore have been noticeable by their absence, with the best catches down south at Bermagui and further for Southern bluefin tuna this past month, offshore anglers have been targeting bottom fish on the deep reefs. Gemfish, blue eye and hapuku have been hitting the deck in good numbers, providing a regular supply of fish for the table. But as August is the windy month, most offshore fishing will be back inshore.
Fortunately, there are plenty of fish for the frying on the 40 metre reefs just offshore. Mixed bags of snapper, morwong, Samson fish, flathead, nannygai, and even pearl perch are being taken off the Central Coat, with the Sydney gravel grounds yielding nice bags as well. Drifting is the best way to avoid the aforesaid pesky leatherjackets.
Aussie salmon are increasingly schooling around Broken Bay, Sydney Heads and most other estuary mouths along the NSW coast. And while they’ve been hard to tempt, August often sees the fish drop their guard. Big yellowtail and tailor are mixed in with the salmon schools and, who knows, you might even find mackerel tuna later this month. Or so it used to be.
Interestingly, the kingfish have refused to fly the roost or, rather, estuaries. Mid-week guides soaking fresh squid aits have enjoyed some stellar fishing in Pittwater and Port Jackson. And some of the fish are real cruisers. Bream and trevally are also getting in on the act, with the latter in big numbers now.
Yellowfin leatherjackets are throughout the estuaries and easy pickings for those soaking peeled prawn baits around the structures. But the news that got me jumping was that of jumbo whiting over 40cm being taken from Brisbane Water on live squirt or bloodworms. Try the harbour beaches, Botany and Port Hacking for big winter whiting as well.
John dory are a chance in the deep holes and we also hear of a few hairtail in Cowan Creek. Both these fish are prized but low return species for your effort. As pointed out above, you can’t go past the luderick in August. That’s the neverfail tip this month.
At the time of writing, the finishing touches were being applied to the revamped and renovated Clifton Gardens wharf. Anglers in boats will be able to dock onto the structure to check their catches at the measurement station and dispose of their waste.
Of all the places to take a kid fishing in Sydney, Clifton Gardens Wharf takes top billing. Parents can buy breakfast and a hot coffee at the local café, or stage a picnic in the sun, while the small fry target the local leatherjackets, luderick, bream, trevally, yellowtail, tailor, kingfish and squid. A great day out even in August. Tight lines and play it safe.

Contact this column at david.lockwood@bigpond.com

fishing keyFishing Key —

AS   Australian Salmon
Schooling fish that enjoys the cool winter waters. Troll minnow lures, cast small metal lures or saltwater flies, try soft-plastic lures and pitch live baits to the fish. Enjoy the sport of catching and Aussie salmon and keep one or two fish for a robust fish meal or the hot smoker. The fish doesn’t keep or freeze at all well.
B   Bream
Berleying with chopped pilchard and floating lightly weighted pilchard fillets back into the berley using light tackle and fine line. Suitable method from both boat and shore. Hook size No 1 to 2/0. Or try using the latest soft-plastic lures jigged around the harbour wharves, jetties and rock walls on ultra-light flick sticks and 4kg braided line with a 4kg monofilament trace.
JD   John Dory
A stealthy predator usually caught in ones and twos from the harbour’s deep holes and wharves where schools of yellowtail gather. Use a live bait suspended in mid-water under a bobby cork. Fights like a wet sock but taste incredibly good, though you get a small return in fillets. A real winter treat.
LU   Luderick
Herbivorous, with a taste for green weed, luderick are one of the most common fish in temperate estuaries. They inhabit deep rocky shores, sidle-up to pylons and piers and school over seagrass beds. Suspend some green weed bait (collected from the rocks or around ocean pools) about three metres below a perfectly weighted float. Berley with chopped weed and sand. First hour of the run-out tide is best. Bleed the fish, fillet and skin them, and cook and serve as you do veal schnitzel.
S   Snapper
Fish the inshore reefs in 30-50 metres of water with 6kg-10kg tackle. Anchor up and berley with chopped pilchards and chicken pellets. Drift a half pilchard bait on a 4/0 chemically-sharpened hook back down the berley, with a pea-sized running sinker or just enough lead for the bait to waft down to the bottom. Dawn and dusk is best.  
T   Tailor
An aggressive schooling fish, named for its ability to slash baitfish to ribbons, the tailor is a snap to catch. Troll or cast and retrieve lures around the schools of fish hunting around headlands and estuaries in winter. Or cast a pilchard from the shore or boat during the flood tide and at night around Sow and Pigs or The Spit.
TR   Trevally
A soft-mouthed schooling fish that generally lays low in the water column. Use plenty of berley, light line and soft baits such as peeled prawn, tuna cubes or pilchard fillets. Drift the bait to the bottom on a 1/0 light-gauge hook. Go slow when fighting the fish or you will tear the hook from its mouth. Bleed and eat fresh.