Gunter

I'm using an inflatable dinghy with an electric trolling motor on Narrabeen lake. Cheap, quiet, versatile.

One top tip to start with: it's saltwater there ;-)

Try Manly Dam. Plenty of redfin there.

Extreme methods? I didn't do anything, just quoted from a website. But what about you? Have you tried eating carp? Or your undies? Why do you prefer one over the other?

That's interesting. Any recipes you'd like to share?

Well, speak for yourself by all means but that was not the question. Nobody here wonders about your undies, do you have any experience of eating carp? Maybe you have and just prefer your sweaty undies, in which case who am I to argue?

You could try Manly Dam, for redfin/perch and the occasional bass. Mostly on the small side though. Easily accessed, with plenty of parking.

From http://flickandflyjournal.com/2011/06/24/what-are-the-most-sustainable-fish-to-eat/: Yep, you heard it. Carp. Despised by millions of Aussies, the stigma and hatred surrounding carp is often deep seated and strongly ingrained. They are one of Australia’s worst pests, providing competition for our freshwater native species and contributing to reduced water quality in many areas. However, while it’s obvious the carp are doing some damage, they have often been used as a scapegoat (scapefish) to explain decades of poor catchment management and degrading farming practices. There are a lot of popular misconceptions about carp. One of these is that they can’t be eaten. In fact, carp are one of the most widely consumed fish in the world in terms of volume and distribution. They grow quickly, are resilient, and prepared and cooked correctly, can be pretty decent to eat. The trick to carp is to catch them in cooler, faster flowing water, where there is less turbidity and better water quality. They need to be deep skinned, which involves taking off the layer of fattier flesh between the main fillet and the skin. Carp have some fine bones, but these are easily removed. Deep fried with a strong Asian-style sauce (try soy sauce, chili, garlic and honey), you may be pleasantly surprised. Another Asian delicacy is deep-fried carp swim bladders. I tried these once when I was a kid and they were delicious. Not sure of the recipe, couldn’t find it easily. It was a Singaporean woman who cooked it, so this might provide a lead. Many people will think this is crazy, disgusting, cook it with a brick and then eat the brick, etcetera, etcetera, hardy ha ha, but if you’re interested in sustainability and can approach your procurement of protein objectively and scientifically, you might be onto a winner. Most people’s experience of carp is trying it cooked whole, guts, scales and all on a dirty bbq at the age of 13…no wonder it tasted like shit.

There is an extensive and authoritative scientific report here: http://www.feral.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Impacts_of_Carpv1.pdf It undermines and contradicts many of the widespread notions about carp. The decline of native fish was caused by humans and preceded the spread of carp who took advantage of what happened before. Carp fry are now an important food source for Murray Cod. They do not erode river banks, and there is no evidence that they compete with native fish for food. They silt they tend to stir up at the bottom is a result of human mismanagement. ETC etc. Now before I'm misunderstood, I'd also rather they hadn't been introduced in the first place. But they're here to stay, and helping native fish recover is much better done by improving the rivers than by wasting efforts on carp.

Thanks for all the responses! I've never meant to imply that, in more capable hands than mine, Gulps won't catch fish. They probably do although my own balance sheet is greatly in favour of the non-stinkers like Atomics and Squidgies. The problem with Gulps, in my view, is that the material used, whatever it actually is (it's certainly not plastic in the conventional sense of the word), looks and feels "dead" in terms of lure action. The only way it can compensate for that is by its smell (attracting pickers) and by incorporating long thin tentacles that waft about in the water (the Crazylegs are a good example) but which (for landbased use anyway) get bitten off by the pickers in no time at all. Gulps are a bit like servo prawns: convenient, a good bet to attract a bite, but most of the time just yielding five-inch breams and toadies. I'm undecided about the s-factor issue: my experience is that it will bring back the pickers but at least you have the choice *not* to use it with Squidgies, Atomics, Z-mans, Powerbaits etc. And you get a properly swimming lure rather than a spinning protein corpse...

I've only fished SPs for just under a year. Started off well with a few flatties, caught with Atomic Plazos that came as a free sample with a fishing mag. Then distaster struck: I started buying Gulps, collecting all sorts of patterns and keeping them all in a nice jar with the Gulp Alive juice. As the weeks and months (admittedly mostly winter) passed by without catching anything worthwhile, I blamed myself, the season, etc for the lack of success not the Gulps - after all, most SP fishos swear by them don't they? Then all the nuisances began to pile up: leaking juice stinking out my car and my tackle bag, grubs and minnows that don't swim properly however carefully you thread them onto the jighead, poor action even when they don't rotate around their own axis, and to cap it all, most of them returning after five minutes with their tails savaged by the toadies (I'm landbased). The final straw was this week when I had my long-anticipated fishing break at beautiful Lake Durras. After successive donuts from Sunday to Thursday (other than the odd toad), more Gulp juice leakages, and non-performing pseudo-plastics, I decided last night that I was going to leave the Gulps alone today and instead take only the long-ignored odd bags of Squidgies sitting unused in my tackle box. Just putting them on the jighead was a pleasure. Quick test swim: beautiful action (they were Evil Minnow wrigglers). Twenty minutes later, two legal flatties. No pickers (except when I tried pasting some of the S-factor on later). I rest my case, no more Gulps for me: I've just chucked all the remaining ones in the bin!

Can confirm the mullet fun. That's what I've gone for on my last two trips to Narrabeen, landbased. About half a dozen legal sized ones every trip, though they all went back. Tried both Middle Creek and Deep Creek and found the bigger fish in Middle Creek, although Deep Creek was on a very windy day which made things more difficult float fishing!

Yes, we were all over them at the time, and four points up. Have just returned from the ANZ, still gutted. I suppose I prefer a game to be decided by a torn hammy to one decided by video refs, although at least two Canterbury tries were dodgy. But once Reyno was gone, so were the Bunnies.

Quite. And the Chihuahuas only won after Reynolds was crocked. Bunnies were in control at the time.

It will be a mismatch: the Mighty South Sydney Rabbitohs against the Canterbury Chihuahuas...

The Bunnies will take care of them next week, after spanking the Canterbury Chihuahuas this week

I've been through WW dozens of times, never seen any water there. Except for the artificial lake just outside town, on the Lake Cargelligo/Condobolin road, think it's called Centenary Lake or something like that. Holds plenty of large carp, perhaps other species, popular with windsurfers and families, but looks worth a try. EDIT: Come to think of it, I think Lake Centenary is just outside Temora, down the road from Wyalong...

Spent all day there today, loverly sunny day but a resounding doughnut. Fished SPs at various spots, opposite caravan park, Lakeside Park sports fields, Middle Creek. No bites whatsover. Watched a few other anglers in between, only thing I saw caught was a bream barely larger than the prawn it was caught on... Probably still too early, although as others have said, you might just be lucky! Anyway, that's what I always tell myself when I go.

I'm going to find out (at Narra) next Wednesday. Forecast of 26C which might warm up the shallows enough to make the flatties feel hungry...

You lucky bastard...

For my Nanofil to Fluoro connection, I now use loop-to-loop like they do in fly and some freshwater fishing. Easier to tie on the job (especially with ultrathin Nanofil), does not slip, and casts well through the rod guides. Best of all, much easier to replace leader when required.

I'm in my early sixties and need to wear spectacles all the time. No problem with braid as such, indeed I find the pliability and softness easier than the springiness of mono or fluoro, but I have recently started to fish with Nanofil which even at 6lbs is awfully thin. Tying it to the fluoro leader at the water is very tricky, and the knot needs to be perfect for Nanofil not to slip it. So for the last few weeks, I've taken to loop-to-loop connections to the leader, which are much easier and so far have held extremely well. Glides quite nicely through the rod guides too although I often only use a leader of a meter or so. Must say I'm very happy with the Nanofil, casts small SPs very well and is much smoother than Fireline.

I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas

Great, many thanks for your advice, much appreciated! I keep plugging away at Narrabeen Lake without much success but appreciate it's winter and the place is not exactly firing. Can't wait for summer, but in the meantime I'll try to focus a bit more on the Western side: a few good sunny days might warm up the shallows a little bit... (then again, the creek waters must be a bit colder!).

On reading this first I thought you'd confused the two creeks ;-) But looking at Google Earth, I can see the inland turnoff from Wakehurst Parkway and the car park a couple of hundred meters or so down the track. Must confess that I was thinking of fishing the mouths of the creeks rather than so far in. But it looks a nice spot (from outer space at least...) and I might give it a go. Soft plastics territory I suppose? Also, the water there can't have much salinity at all. Surprised to hear of flatties and bream there.