Woronora River - Fresh Water Access?

[abitfishy]

With the colder weather slowly disappearing, I'm thinking in the future of going for my first bass fishing attempt and have a few questions.

1. Are they very active during the day (more so than saltwater fish in the rivers).

2. Does anyone know of any decent access to the freshwater section of Woronora river - it seems that past the old weir down the back of engadine, access is pretty limited??

I will have to go on a bit of an expedition, but hoping some locals might be able to point me in the right direction. You can PM if you don't want to give too much info away publically.

Many thanks

abitfishy

[the_lure]

With the colder weather slowly disappearing, I'm thinking in the future of going for my first bass fishing attempt and have a few questions.

1. Are they very active during the day (more so than saltwater fish in the rivers).

2. Does anyone know of any decent access to the freshwater section of Woronora river - it seems that past the old weir down the back of engadine, access is pretty limited??

I will have to go on a bit of an expedition, but hoping some locals might be able to point me in the right direction. You can PM if you don't want to give too much info away publically.

Many thanks

abitfishy

Bass are more active during dusk and dawn, but you will still get them during the day, the fish that i have caught up there are not big though.

It is all pretty difficult and requires a fair bit of walking and bush bashing up from the needles (the engadine floodway) the alternatives are longer walks through the NP off heathcote Road or Woronora Dam Road.

Get out and explore, its great country!

Chris

[abitfishy]

It is all pretty difficult and requires a fair bit of walking and bush bashing up from the needles (the engadine floodway) the alternatives are longer walks through the NP off heathcote Road or Woronora Dam Road.

Get out and explore, its great country!

Chris

Thanks for that info mate. I was afraid you would say that though. I'm so unfit the walk back up the hill from the needles to Engadine nearly kills me.

I'd like to at some stage to kayak the fresh water too, but sounds like that might be a no go! It sure explains why it is such a beautiful river down there, its so unspoilt - have you seen the view from up at the Barden Ridge track? (the track from the other side that heads down to the needles), its beautiful.

Might check it out from the dam road, possibly from there.

As for not very big fish, mate, in a superb spot like that part of the river, who really cares what, if any, are caught.

Ta

Martin

[the_lure]

Thanks for that info mate. I was afraid you would say that though. I'm so unfit the walk back up the hill from the needles to Engadine nearly kills me.

I'd like to at some stage to kayak the fresh water too, but sounds like that might be a no go! It sure explains why it is such a beautiful river down there, its so unspoilt - have you seen the view from up at the Barden Ridge track? (the track from the other side that heads down to the needles), its beautiful.

Might check it out from the dam road, possibly from there.

As for not very big fish, mate, in a superb spot like that part of the river, who really cares what, if any, are caught.

Ta

Martin

yeah I know the feeling Martin, that walk out is a killer for me to ,too fat and I was a smoker so that didn't help.

seen the view and yes it is spectacular, the easiest way might be to take an inflatable craft in to the needles and paddle up river or up the dam road do a day trip (or maybe 2??) down to Engadine, just need someone to collect you at the end, Or get dropped off at heathcote rd and climb down. whatever way i reckon you will need very light kayak or inflatable + gear, as there seems to be a lot of long sections without much water (from Google Earth)

Chris

[abitfishy]

yeah I know the feeling Martin, that walk out is a killer for me to ,too fat and I was a smoker so that didn't help.

Ha Ha. Funny you should say that, I'm about 25 kg too heavy and until 2 weeks ago was a smoker (on patches at the moment, so a bit stressed). I'm wondering what the walk will be like in a few months when I've quit for good (I hope) and maybe lost some of the kilos. To get off the subject for a sec, the misses and I went down to Fitzroy falls (I think it was), a damn hard walk up to the top, we were both ready to pass out when we got there (and nearly gave up and went back earlier), and at the top, low and behold, a couple in their 70's. We were stunned when they said they live locally and do it once a week.

seen the view and yes it is spectacular, the easiest way might be to take an inflatable craft in to the needles and paddle up river or up the dam road do a day trip (or maybe 2??) down to Engadine, just need someone to collect you at the end, Or get dropped off at heathcote rd and climb down. whatever way i reckon you will need very light kayak or inflatable + gear, as there seems to be a lot of long sections without much water (from Google Earth)

Chris

Yep, checked google earth and agree, not a great deal of water in parts. Unfortunately there is a section just before the weir thats overgrown and no water from the looks, otherwise it would be perfect to kayak down from prince edward park and just carry it over the weir. I might check with the hire place at prince edward park and see how close exactly to the weir one can get up the river and whether there is access to take the kayak ashore and walk a little way to the weir.

From what I can tell, the pictures are as old as when the bangor bypass was being built (check the area, you can see the construction phase), which means its since the drought - I've been told that due to this they are not releasing any water from the dam whereas they used to regularly, hence the lack of water down that part of the river.

I think due to the lack of water theres no use kayaking it truthfully, and it makes you wonder seeing the lack of water splits it into sections, I wonder if the bass are even in most of the sections?

Thanks again.

[zook2001]

Havn't honestly been down there for a while so I can't say how much water is being released but I wouldn't necessarily write it off because where the river narrow there can still be some decent water there where as immediately upstream of HeathcoteRd is wide but tends to be shallow. Word has it the weir near the needles is due to be demolished don’t know how it will affect the fishing or access but it’s no substitute for some decent environmental flow from the dam.

Regards Charlie

[Lasty]

I'm in the RFS and we go down to the needles and that stretch of the Woronora River quite a lot and I have never seen or heard of any fish being there. Nevertherless it is a beautiful part of the world, so close to the city.

Edited September 2, 2006 by Lasty

[the_lure]

I'm in the RFS and we go down to the needles and that stretch of the Woronora River quite a lot and I have never seen or heard of any fish being there. Nevertherless it is a beautiful part of the world, so close to the city.

can we have your keys

[zook2001]

When I was younger you didn’t need key but you wouldn’t expect you car to all there if you left it alone for long so I’ve never really fished much that far down but you definitely get bass up as far as Heathocte Rd.

Regards Charlie

[casper]

It was some time ago - early to mid 90's but as teenagers we used to walk up stream from the weir to a large section of the river where there was a large rock face that we used to jump off. A mate of mine used to walk up there and was successful on the bass - I managed to see a photo of one that he caught on a small hard body lure, it was about the size of his hand if not a little bit bigger.

So they are/were there - I haven't been past the weir in ages, but as this section of the river was quite deep there should still be enough water up there for fish.

Good Luck

Luke

[fishingwithfrighty]

Anyone local and still fish this area. I’m staying in the area this weekend and keen to hit some creeks for bass if anyone will let me in on a good place to start?

[Berleyguts]

30 minutes ago, fishingwithfrighty said:

Anyone local and still fish this area. I’m staying in the area this weekend and keen to hit some creeks for bass if anyone will let me in on a good place to start?

I’m not local anymore... it’s been several years since I’ve been down that way but if the weir is still there at Deadman’s Creek, that is a good place to start. I used to get a few bass there back in the day.