wazatherfisherman

If you need any more info don't hesitate to ask!

99% of ocean Luderick spots have bait on site or very close by

Hi James if you decide to go to the Gutters from the Bower St route, best advice is to stay towards the cliff rather than lower towards the ocean, because it's less 'boulder-hopping' the higher you go. The first spot you come to is a long, deep, north facing ledge- occasionally there is a commercial lobster pot close in, but doesn't spoil the drift. This spot has the sea coming from your right hand side and has other species available as well as Luderick. The second spot has 2 areas to try, either over the visble edge eastwards or in the actual 'square' gutter itself. The square gutter needs a far more bouyant float that can get your bait down quickly, as the right-to-left drift is rather short. We had some sensational fishing in that 'unlikely' looking gutter towards high tide. The third spot is right up in the corner, almost as far as you can go and is usually last choice of the spots. It isn't a gutter, but nevertheless still fishes well at times. Good 'streamers' are usually found on the southern side of the second spot, just be mindful of the sea. First time we fished there the Luderick were actually floating up onto the ledge and tearing streamers off, before 'floating' back over the edge on a 1.9m tide.There were also some big black Drummer doing the same. Don't know if you can still go in via the treatment works side- it was far quicker albeit a very steep walk straight down in the very corner and muddy clay if it had been raining, but 10 mins from the treatment works carpark verses about 30-35 from Bower St

Good catch James! If you're feeling energetic, there are a couple of even better spots via the same access. Continue on south as far as you can go and you will be at 'The Gutters'- 3 spots about 150m apart. We used to access via treatment works carpark, then through works and straight down a steep track- only 10 mins down. It's about 20-25 min from Bower St end,but great Luderick area

Very easy access via Bower St carpark, down the ravine at the southern end

Agree with Green Hornet re the amount of freshwater this season. Another thing to consider is- at times of minimal growth/available food, the fish themselves might be eating the new growth, either at higher tides or low light/dark periods. Whenever a good patch of weed grows in lower Sydney Harbour, there are normally fish in very close proximity to it and it 'disappears' quite quickly

Good on you James, that sort of kindness goes a long way. I hope you both get plenty of fish

Green nippers live under rocks and underneath ribbon weed beds usually. When I was a kid we used to get plenty by turning over rocks that were roughly the size of a brick and larger, on or adjacent sand/mud flats. The nippers live in the 'muddy' water below. It's no longer allowed to either turn all the rocks over (defacing the foreshore laws) or take invertebrates from Sydey Harbour, also no raking of any sea grass areas, so the ony legal way that I'm aware of is to tread up and down adjacent to weed banks- which creates a 'cloud' of muddy water. Any nippers present will surface and reveal themselves as 'movement' in the cloud, then picked up by hand. Don't know any other method of gathering them and it used to take an hour or so to get about a dozen, but worth the effort because all the estuary species love them- including Luderick, Bream, Whiting, Flathead etc. They are hardier than prawns andmuch tougher than pink nippers.

Green nipper, sometimes called 'pistol prawn' by the look of it

Hi Zoran great video!

Great story and pictures, sounds like you enjoyed the charter

If they get any bigger than that you're going to need a gaff!

Good fish Mike, worthy of sacrificing the net! The big ones always look angry!

Never mind about the float, you guys had a good day and a few fish to take home. Try fishing your leader line about 1kg less than your main, if you get snagged you'll only lose your hook- not your float. Nice fat fish too!

Great gesture James, I hope you both catch plenty of fish