Gunter

Yes I'm aware of that but last few times I looked it was a building site. Anyone know if they have finished? Anyone approached it from the academy side?

Just wondering if it's possible to park in the grounds of the Sports Academy and access the lake from there, just south of Middle Creek? I assume everything further south along the golf course is out of bounds anyway?

You're right, Ben. You could also have mentioned that the war against carp in Tasmania is not to protect native species but other "introduced pests", trout and salmon. It's a war for the tourist dollar...

Hi dabble, thanks for your comment. Believe me, if I could do anything about the introduction of carp (and redfin, and trout, and salmon...) into Australian waters I would. Killing anything I catch, though, won't make a difference. Carp are here to stay, and all scientific studies (by CSIRO and others, I give you sources and references if you like) confirm that the effect of carp on native species is much exaggerated. I mentioned "carp hating" because there's a tendency among Aussie fishos to blame carp for almost everything that's wrong with Australian fisheries: "kill, kill, kill" is just so much easier a response than understanding the real reasons for the decline of native species, bank erosion, water turbidity, etc....

Hi Parraman, since nobody's replied and you're going this weekend, here's my tiny effort to help ;-) I've only ever fished Manly Dam once, accompanied by my 4-year-old son and on a busy summer Sunday, and caught absolutely nothing. But I've been meaning to try again, especially as I spent many years of my life in Europe specialising in carp fishing. On this one visit, I decided that next time, I'll focus on the backwaters easily reached by that little road: park at the end and walk a little further to the reedy, weedy areas that look so fishy (in a carpy sort of way). I'm sure that given a full day of peace and quiet, I'd be able to haul out a few (and, being the carp lover I am, return them back to the water despite the howls of anguished Aussie carp-haters...). As to technique, what you describe will work but it's not as much fun as either floating a piece of bread crust on the surface (with plenty of burleying, but watch out for the ducks...) or float fishing (even when the bait's presented on the bottom, a lightly leaded float is better than a sinker). As to bait, corn is king for carp, bread's also good but attracts other species and more difficult to keep on the hook. Have fun!

It's only a couple of hundred metres, if that, and yes there's tracks. Haven't been recently because it's been a building site, looks like they're about to finish the new car park or whatever they're doing any day now.

Have been there a couple of times, beautiful spot. Haven't done any beach fishing there yet (but will next time) but some soft plastics flicking from the shore (both the sand flats and channels at the entrance and the main channel further into the lake). Very clean for an estuary and plenty of fish, though I've only had a few flatheads myself. Can't wait for my next trip, as soon as it gets a bit warmer...

Durras North. Nice and quiet, good estuary fishing in the lake, great beaches and rocks. Caravan and cottage accommodation a few steps from the water, local store/cafe sells bait and basic tackle.

It IS quiet unless you're fishing prawns and don't expect more than small bream, whiting, and toadfish. That said, there's always the odd flattie, tailor, blackfish etc - or so they say...

Bought the Shimano Catana (7ft, 2-4kg) with Shimano Sienna 2500 reel combo a couple of months ago from MOtackle by mail order, for around $90. Very happy with the combo.

Was that landbased? And (without divulging any secret hotspots) which part of the lake?

Haven't looked at the entrance but the lake's been open for some time. Maybe there's now a greater flow than before, I certainly noticed more of a current with the incoming tide than I remembered, and a lot of loose weed (was fishing weedless jigheads but the stuff kept wrapping itself around the line, gathering at the knot between the main line and leader).

How did you get on? Drew another blank myself...

Had a look on Google Earth, looks nice. Where do you fish from, the jetty alongside the bath area?

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like the jury is unanimous about the lake being pretty dead in winter. I'll give it another go this Friday though: it promises to be a nice sunny day and I don't really mind the odds, it's a challenge... Will try a variety of plastics, and move around to cover both sunny flats and deep spots. Will also try weedless rigs as there seems to be so much ribbon weed floating around the lake at the moment that last time I noticed that the hook got snagged almost immediately after a cast, thus limiting its effective fishing time.

I realise that Narrabeen lake has a reputation for being "dead" during the colder months. But I like the place, and have been trying everything I could think of in recent weeks to catch a winter flathead or two on SP: I've been drawing nothing but blanks. Is it really a hopeless ambition, should I give up and wait till September/October? Here's what I tried so far. I'm landbased, so reckoning that the shallowest water is the most hopeless in winter, I've focused on known deep spots within casting range: Lakeside Park (between Mullet Creek and the Caravan site), Wimbledon Avenue, Robertson Road. Maybe I'm getting that wrong and I should move to the western part of the lake even though it's shallow? I've used small SPs, 2-3 inch, and slowed down the action to small hops along the bottom and lengthy pauses. One of the problems I've encountered, especially last week, was weed so I might try weedless rigging. But maybe it's worth trying super-large SPs (4-5 inches), with 1/4 oz jigheads, to be able to cast further, make a greater splash, and wake up the hibernating flatties??? Any hints (including "pack it in until September") much appreciated. Most other anglers I see around appear to be content to chuck in small prawns to catch nothing but juvenile bream and toads. I do that too when I take the kids to give them a sense of success, but when I go on my own I'm after something more substantial. Tackle used: Shimano Catana rod and Shimano Sienna reel, 9lb Fireline with 8lb fluoro leader, usually 1/8oz jighead, all manner of SPs, Gulps and others.

Thanks for all the advice, will simply try both and see how I go... Have a week in Durras North coming up where there are plenty of flatties to get chewing on my leaders.

Beautiful fish, and good sports. Don't know whether you released them, but the "kill, kill, kill" rednecks will no doubt tell you that your old cars and shopping trollie infested waterhole would be magically repopulated with Murray cod and Yellowbelly once the resident carp are exterminated... If there's any larger specimens, I'd go for heavier gear than 4lb b/s. Carp are hard-fighting sports fish and serious carp anglers hoping to catch anything in double figures will use 10lb line minimum. Especially with snags in the water, and old cars and shopping trollies count...

A bit late but still appreciated - might well at some point by a longer light rod just for the fun of it (and for carp fishing). Is fluoro really that much better at handling flatties' teeth than mono? I thought the trick was to keep their heads under water to stop the violent head shakes: just swim them into the landing net. All theory of course, as I've yet to land a flattie ;-)

Rather misleading scaremongering. Fact is that 98% of them are going to be dead within months, in part because small carp have become the staple food of native predators in the Murray Darling Basin.

Thanks all for your advice, I've gone ahead and bought the Catana/Sienna combo for $99 which seemed a good deal. For the main line, I've gone for 8lb Fireline Exceed (the bright orange one, very thin) which might be a little on the heavy side by some standards but we'll see how it goes (I'm mainly interested in flatties). Will be backed up with same b/s mono, with the rest of the spool serving as leader material (unless someone can convince me of the advantage of fluoro which seems a little stiff to me and I heard doesn't make good knots). Given the colour of the line, I'll probably use a good rod's length of leader to avoid spooking the fish. Looking forward to trying it out in earnest when I get the time, Narrabeen lagoon being my first target.

Thanks, that makes sense to me and something I hadn't thought of. It is called "angling" for a reason, after all!

I'm not really worried about accuracy though as in my experience that comes with getting used to the rod. More concerned with distance, action, wrist strain...

After some online research, I' ve now targetted the Shimano Catana 702/Sierra 2500 combo as an apparently good compromise between price and performance. My only remaining doubt really concerns the length of the rod. Having been raised on surfcasting and European carp fishing, in both of which 13-14ft rods are the norm, a 7ft one still looks to me like an overgrown toothpick. I'm therefore ogling the Catana 802 bream rod, which has the same 2-4kg line rating. I will be land-based entirely (no boat, no mates), fishing rivers and estuaries, with flathead being the main target. The extra foot length seems to me valuable for extra casting range with light lures/plastics, but I can also see that most people are content with 6ft6 or 7ft so maybe there's a good reason for not going longer. Is it that most of you fish from boats? Or is it that an 8ft rod gets too tiring for the wrists? Or is the action so different that I'll have greater trouble winching flatties off the bottom? Any advice much appreciated before I make a beginner's error...