Narrabeen Lakes

[MrChipsnSalad]

I went down to the lake at about 7.30pm and my wife, sister-in-law and myself and tossed plastics around for about 1 and a half hours. We tried Powerbait, Gulp and Squidgies, but there were no takers. We tried the area around the end of the street by Bunnings. It turned out to be a sensational evening nevertheless. The lake is open to the ocean at the moment, so it is quite low. I did see plenty of fish jumping, but I guess they were Mullet and possibly some small tailor.

There was an official from Warringah Council who wondered over and warned me about a 5' Bronze Whaler that has been spotted in the lake over the last few days. I was wading around at the time, so I guess he felt like he should warn me. Needless to say I retreated to knee deep water for the rest of the evening.

Apart from that the evening was uneventful, and we went home empty handed although we did have a pleasant end to the day.

[kabz]

BRONZE WHALERS in narrabeen lake thats last time i put my legs in there was there!!.

this morning went to the lake and went around waist hight in the water and fished next to the park stayed from 6am til 11am for not even a nibble lookes like the lake is slowing down from al lthis cold weather

Edited January 16, 2007 by kabz

[kbark]

I've also found my usual spots pretty slow in the past 2 weeks. Last night no one caught anything in the hour before dark. Very unusual. There have been some decent Jewfish caught recently though.

[Narra Rooster]

There is a story on page 3 of todays Manly Daily about this as well.

Considering the entrance is extremely shallow it is amazing how the shark swam in!

[MrChipsnSalad]

There is a story on page 3 of todays Manly Daily about this as well.

Considering the entrance is extremely shallow it is amazing how the shark swam in!

My thoughts exactly.

[Penguin]

There is a story on page 3 of todays Manly Daily about this as well.

Considering the entrance is extremely shallow it is amazing how the shark swam in!

When there is a feed to be had,theres a way.

[Guest DV8]

Would have come in on the last big tide. They tend to do that around Christmas. think the last big tide was around 2.1 m.

Careful to al you lake hogs.

Davo

[stylo]

There is fish in there .. but on and off

Caught a fairly good sized whiting there a few nights ago, and a guy next to us had about 10 ... he was kind enough to donate a few legals to us ..

My cousin and I are going to search for this bronze whaler ...

[Guest Aussie007]

there were sightings yesterday in that area 1.5m shark in some lagoon

[MrChipsnSalad]

There is fish in there .. but on and off

Caught a fairly good sized whiting there a few nights ago, and a guy next to us had about 10 ... he was kind enough to donate a few legals to us ..

My cousin and I are going to search for this bronze whaler ...

Where about do you fish? I have never really worked the place out. It all seems so shallow. I've often tried the channel on the northern sea side of the bridge on Pittwater Rd, as it looks like some good water, but nothing is ever there.

The only place that seems to work for me is down the road from Bunnings and also the Southern end by the park and boat ramps. But I have never caught anything note worthy. I do often see little mullet there, which look good for bait, but never bothered to catch any.

[neilm]

Where about do you fish? I have never really worked the place out. It all seems so shallow. I've often tried the channel on the northern sea side of the bridge on Pittwater Rd, as it looks like some good water, but nothing is ever there.

The only place that seems to work for me is down the road from Bunnings and also the Southern end by the park and boat ramps. But I have never caught anything note worthy. I do often see little mullet there, which look good for bait, but never bothered to catch any.

I have two or three favourite spots, depending on wind , levels etc.

On the south side just to the non-ocean side of the bridge there's a nice hole where the whiting (& occasionally blackfish) queue up on a rising tide, especially at dusk. At this time of year with kids jumping off the bridge though....I'd wait until after school holidays.

At the end of Winbledon Ave, there's a channel between the island and the mainland, this can be productive for bream and the odd flattie.

The flats near the entrance of deep creek near the sports academy for flatties.

The last two are not influenced by the tidal flow.

Let us know how you go.

Cheers,

Neil

[MrChipsnSalad]

BRONZE WHALERS in narrabeen lake thats last time i put my legs in there was there!!.

this morning went to the lake and went around waist hight in the water and fished next to the park stayed from 6am til 11am for not even a nibble lookes like the lake is slowing down from al lthis cold weather

Hi Kabz,

I have answered your personal message, and thought it may be useful to someone if I posted my reply here. Coming from someone who calls themselves MrChipsnSalad (a reflection of the need for plenty of the latter for a good fish dinner at my place), I'm not sure how useful it is, but anyway if it is all wrong someone may point it out and give me some better advice too.

I was using Squidgies, which I mostly use, although Gulp and Powerbait seem to work just as well. The colors I was using were the black combinations, with the shad tails. But I have also had a lot of luck on the larger green ones and the blue ones. Flathead don't seem to care to much, and I have caught them on all sorts of colors. I often think it is almost a territorial response, and that they attack because it is in their patch, and not always because they are hungry.I don't think that they glow in the dark.

As for the spot, we were at the park on the Southern side were there are a few boat ramps. I am not exactly sure if there is a playground there, because I never took notice. I suspect there will be because there is a park there. There is a long sand bar that juts out into the lake on the western side of that area, near a small creek that runs into the lake. We were fishing at the end of that sand bar, into the channel. All fish were actually caught quite close to the edge, within 10m of our feet.

We tend to use a very slow retrieve and drag the plastic along the bottom, with lots of stops and starts. I also find that the best results come from using as light a jighead as possible. Don't get sucked into buying the more expensive jig heads that have fish head shapes moulded and painted. I have caught more fish on the simple round lead ball type jigheads, than I have ever caught on the moulded and painted you beaut jigheads. I also don't have much use for the jigheads with the moulded barb in the lead, as they tend to wreck a perfectly good plastic, if you try to remove them to change to another color. I go for jigheads that have a nice sharp and thin hook, with out barbs to hold the plastic. If they are put on properly, the curve of the hook will keep them in place. Just make sure that the when the hook comes out of the plastic, the "mouth" of the plastic is touching the lead ball. That way everything should stay in place. I also strongly recommend that you don't buy the jigheads that have been painted orange and white, as this paint seems to melt off them and block the eye's of the hook and make a mess in the tackle box. Plain lead balls and a nice sharp hook, are all you need.

I also use a short leader connected to the main line by a small swivel. That is just a personal preference, and may or may not be useful. I fish 6lb line, with an 8lb leader. Depending on which rod and reel combo I use, I may have braid on or I may have Fireline on. I find braid to be very good for feeling the little bumps and knocks, and it is really good for striking as it has very little stretch. I use 7" and 8" 2-4kg graphite rods, that are very stiff, with 4000 size Stradic and Sahara reels, which seem to be quite balanced.

I hope that this helps in some way. Good Luck.

[stylo]

Where about do you fish? I have never really worked the place out. It all seems so shallow. I've often tried the channel on the northern sea side of the bridge on Pittwater Rd, as it looks like some good water, but nothing is ever there.

The only place that seems to work for me is down the road from Bunnings and also the Southern end by the park and boat ramps. But I have never caught anything note worthy. I do often see little mullet there, which look good for bait, but never bothered to catch any.

@ the lagoon itself, but it is unpredictable ...

[Mondo Rock]

We tend to use a very slow retrieve and drag the plastic along the bottom, with lots of stops and starts.

Mr Chips - just as a suggestion, next time try a couple of retrieves where you jerk the shad off the bottom and then give it a twitch mid-water before letting it sink back to the bottom. That is, two quick and sharp lifts of the rod-tip followed by a long pause.

If the slow drag is working for you then by all means keep it going, but most fish (especially flathead) will be extra interested in a lure that is kicking up sand, leaping off the bottom and acting like a wounded fish.

When the action is quiet for you this technique might be worth a shot.

Also - if you learn some of the 'mono to braid' knots that are around (like the albright or double uni) then you can tie your mono leader directly to your braid (without the need for a swivel) which will allow you to use a much longer leader - one that you can actually wind through the guides on your rod.

Just some suggestions - hope you don't mind!!

[MrChipsnSalad]

Mr Chips - just as a suggestion, next time try a couple of retrieves where you jerk the shad off the bottom and then give it a twitch mid-water before letting it sink back to the bottom. That is, two quick and sharp lifts of the rod-tip followed by a long pause.

If the slow drag is working for you then by all means keep it going, but most fish (especially flathead) will be extra interested in a lure that is kicking up sand, leaping off the bottom and acting like a wounded fish.

When the action is quiet for you this technique might be worth a shot.

Also - if you learn some of the 'mono to braid' knots that are around (like the albright or double uni) then you can tie your mono leader directly to your braid (without the need for a swivel) which will allow you to use a much longer leader - one that you can actually wind through the guides on your rod.

Just some suggestions - hope you don't mind!!

Am always happy for suggestions mate. That's what it's about. I'll give it a go. I tend to use a jerk and wait retrieve on the boat, which works well in deeper water, but I have not used it much in shallows. I don't really know why I change my method when i'm not on the boat????

Regarding the swivel, you think it is better not to have it. I might give that a go. I recently had to replace my end eye that got blown out when I casted without noticing the swivel was through the guide. I always had this idea that you need a swivel just to avoid line twist, although plastics seem to travel without twisting, unless you have them on the hook wrong.

[Mondo Rock]

Actually Mr Chips you make a pretty good point about the 'line twist' issue that perhaps other Raiders could answer.

As I understand it most experienced fishermen flicking softies will tie their leader on using one of the abovementioned knots, and not a swivel. However the use of a threadline reel is supposed to produce line twist that could cause problems as Mr Chips noted

My guess is that this problem is overcome as follows:

* good quality threadline reels these days have anti-twist systems built in to eliminate line twist,

* where the line twist cannot be eliminated by the reel a snap swivel is used to attach the lure to the line

But I must admit that I'm just guessing. I can certainly confirm that I don't use a swivel and have never had a problem with line twist, but I don't really know why.