Exploring Local Waters

[johnny doi]

hi raiders,

went to try crack my local waters yesterday wif good mate & all round top bloke,josh.as i live in fairfeild,we'v been hitting the little backwaters behind & around the local swimming pools.we know we'r not gona catch anything noteworthy,but hey,we'r keen & love our fishing.armed with plastics,hard bods & ever reliable back up bread,we set off from the pool carpark.

first spot we looked at was a tiny stream barely 2mtrs wide.we spotted some chunky carp & some nice sized mullet.berlied a bit of bread & we see bream! alot!only tidlers but was a suprise to see em this far up river.pulled the hooks twice on the bream & they spooked.carp stil there but we moved on.

next little possie was a bit bigger & wider.josh put on a little halco nano night walker surface lure in hope of a bass,as we'v heard thers some in this waters.josh was sure he saw some bass at that spot but no takers.what was funny though was the persistant water dragon continuosly trying to eat josh's nano.great sight.left him hunry.

next spot is a little foot bridge that years ago whilst playing footy for our local club,we'd jog over during training.always seen carp there but what got us really excited was bream & the amount & size of em. there were heaps of em holding in no more than 2ft of crystal clear water,most over the legal size.very flighty from our shadow on the bridge above.with the bream were big eels & a school of sizable mullet to 40cms.i tried lightly weighted plastic & josh used bread.i got none but josh managed 2 nice little bream that went hard on his 1lb silly string.obviously released as we'd never eat anything out of these waters.it was a real eye opener for me as i never thought bream would be up thiese far reaches & in such healyhy sizes & numbers.good to see as im a 10min walk frm there & can take my young bloke.

next we moved to a shallow spot that josh's pop told him about.first i spotted little bream then all of a sudden a big school of sizeable mullet showed up.berlied them up & they stayed around for a while.try as i did.i couldnt get any to stick to my hooks but josh on the other hand did pretty good.he landed 5 mullet to 40cms,smallest being in the early 30's.very fat healthy fish & very well fed.they went so hard in the shallow water on josh's 1-3kg rod & 1pound braid.i was calling them pelagic mullet they fought so hard.we kept them for future jew baits.

after that it was around 4pm & we made a move to fish the waters behind the carramar sizzler resturant.up that far upriver,the tide is a few hours behind.it was just starting to run out.first spot we tried near a little drain,there was mullet & herring feeding on the surface everywhere.loads of the things.i thought to myself theres gota be something feeding under them & wasnt wrong.using a squidgy bug rigged on a 1/16th finnesse head,i cast toward a drowned tree.3rd cast,i hook a feisty little flathead around 40cms & just as i lift him out,he falls off. :ranting2:he wasnt hooked,just holding onto the rubber. oh well,was gona release him anyway.next cast in the same vicinity,BANG!hook another suspected flatty but hooks pull.DOHHH!!!few lure changes & more casts with plastics resulted in no more action,just couple half hearted bumps.josh got a few poddies on bread.wish we had another rod to send them out live but we didnt so they lived to fight another day.

tide was getting pretty low now so a last move to fish under the bridge was the call.it was low enough we could get down on the slippery muddy rocks to cast our lures.we both chose to use hard bods,me a shallow diving mullet imatation,josh his nano.second cast for me,i hook a feisty little fish that i thought was a tiddler bream.get to the edge & its a little EP around 25cms.go to lift him out & he falls off.DOHHH!!!again!next cast,i loose my fav lure.line wrapped around rodtip. lucky it didnt break my tip off though so thats a positive.lol.couple lure changes & snagged plastics,i gave up & watched josh for the next 45mins or so.josh also hooked a EP on a hardbod but did the did the same thing as me,drop it in close.son was setting & shadows forming over the water so josh put on surface lures.we saw a few big boofs on the surface that we think were bream,EPs or bass.josh got plenty follows on his walk the dog lure but no takers.after a long cast paralell to the bank he hooks up on his walker.calls it for a little fish & it was.a 20cm odd chopper tailor.not the EP or bass we wanted,but still happy to get a fish off the surface.

no more fish after that,just a few half hearted follows.no trophy fish but was fun trying & being out there.left around 7pm.

we were gona give it another crack this arvo but josh had things to do.maybe the next few days if weathers ok.

its great to be able to catch fish so close to home in waters people would turn thieir noses at.to us,its close to home & we know theres some quality fish in there to be caught with our name on them.lol.at least a got some prime jew bait in the big mullet josh caught.

sorry for the long post guys,i was getting into it & wanted you guys to know all the info on our adventure in our local.thanks for reading.hope i didnt bore everyone too much.lol

cheers johnny.

[Goran]

Hey Jonny

Nice to see another fairfield local hitting the waterways, i've been itching to try, but no one has been game enough to come with me. I've seen plenty of big koi at the konemans bridge near the pools, and the bit of water upstream that winds around the park looks awefully bassy. Nice to hear you were getting onto em, the only thing i'm worried about when going in these areas is the amount of rubbish, broken glass and used needles

Hopefully we'll hear some more stuff from u.

Cheers mate

Goran

[Brooker435]

Fairfield!!!! Thats Unheard of but good knowledge anyway If I dont feel like going for a drive but a bit of fun anyway...

Regards,

Nathan

[marcel haber]

Great report mate and a very informative read

Twin 1

[tide'n'knots]

Its amazing where you get good fish sometimes - i was talking to someone today that told me his mate caught a 7.2kg jew at the gasworks bridge in parramatta last week!!!! top report mate!

pete.

[donjuarez]

That's awesome!!! well done on giving your local a bash and producing some results...

AJ

[slabslinger]

Nice report mate.

My little bloke turns 3 this next week.

To start his day off I plan to take him to a little local creek that I wouldn't eat anything from as it runs down from a bit of an industrial area, but I've seen it loaded with BIG bream and mullet. It would amaze some people what is just on their doorstep.

Hopefully will be a day to remember for him.

He gets so excited when I tell him I'm going for a fish, god only knows how he'll react when I tell him he's coming with me.

Slabslinger

[stricko4]

Great report. I grew up in that area & my Dad would take my bro & me to the creek at Carramar rail brigge 45 years ago. Believe it or not the water is much cleaner now that it ever was back then. We used to catch plenty of mullet on bread & an occassional eel on old hand lines but that was it. Fantastic to see that it's cleaned up weel enough to have good schools of bream & even better to see the EP's & bass around. I might have to go for a flick & see if I can do as well as you blokes did.

Paul

Edited November 19, 2009 by kingys what kingys?

[duck168]

Great report. I live in the area and have never thought the area is so full of life. Hope your mullets turn into lots of jew or whatever big fish.

[mrelxr6]

top report.you guys should try the goerges river next.fresh water part after liverpool weir.some monster bass are to be had and are great fun.i could also recomend behind the casula powerhouse near casula station and the old golf course.some huge bass and monster eels.

once again thumbs up on a top report

[funnierthanu]

Well done on the best read i have had on this site , good to see you guys have a go in these small water holes.

[johnny doi]

thanks for the replies guys.much appreciated.iv thought of tryn livo weir area as iv also heard of some nice bass to be had.we r really keen on gettn some bass on surface of a night.josh has a 2 man canoe so we'l hopefully be exploring more soon.

today fished the hacking.besides the tiddler snapper,i did get a good tussle on a sea turtle on my heavier outfit spooled with 14lb braid.poor thing took a whole yakka slab meant for something esle big,not a turtle.LOL.called it for a ray at first until i saw it.really feel sorry for the poor thing as it was hooked deep & now has a gamakatsu 4/0 in his gob.we didnt lift it out,just cut the line close as possible & he swam away strongly.SORRY BUDDY.at least he gave me a good fight.hope i never hook one ever again!

its funny how we travel an hr to fish different spots,but get more fish 5mins from home.LOL.

CHEERS JOHNNY.

[capo dei capi]

mate if i knew this when i went to school i would have taken my rods with me, i went to fairfield pats it backs right on to that little footbridge

[pmak]

I've only just stumbled on this report. Great report - nothing beats exploring places people overlook and be rewarded with some fish!

I live in the area and have made half-hearted attempts at fishing the little creeks. My two kids honed their fishing skills at Chipping Norton lakes which is not too far off.

Your report has inspired me to consider checking out the local waterways again one day ...

[snag]

Being a local and also working in fairfield myself and a few of the guys have also done waterways around the area and have got good bream .bass, lizards and to my knowledge im the only one who's got a Silver perch outa the area.

We have even seen a Cod in chippo lake and a red eared turtle, foxes and even seen a small rat taked by a bass one night up liverpool weir.

So there are good fish to be had if you find the right area's....good luck with the fishin.

thanks for the replies guys.much appreciated.iv thought of tryn livo weir area as iv also heard of some nice bass to be had.we r really keen on gettn some bass on surface of a night.josh has a 2 man canoe so we'l hopefully be exploring more soon.

You can park you car and walk down the weir with you canoe, they just finished work on the weir which lets you put in with ease now.

[hot_rolls]

Being a local and also working in fairfield myself and a few of the guys have also done waterways around the area and have got good bream .bass, lizards and to my knowledge im the only one who's got a Silver perch outa the area.

We have even seen a Cod in chippo lake and a red eared turtle, foxes and even seen a small rat taked by a bass one night up liverpool weir.

So there are good fish to be had if you find the right area's....good luck with the fishin.

You can park you car and walk down the weir with you canoe, they just finished work on the weir which lets you put in with ease now.

used to live in the area too.

this report reminds me back 80-90's. i used to go fishing after school in Orphan school creek from Avoca rd, Fairfield west to Railway Pde, Canley vale. used to catch carps, guppy, eels and some turtles.

link to fish found in the creek in 2002

http://www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/upload...h_Creek_doc.pdf

[johnny doi]

hi guys,just got back not too long ago for a quik 2hr sesh with josh.water was a tad dicoloured but we saw a big school of sizeable carp holding up not far from where we got the mullet last time.there were all different colour ones & some were koi,bright orange.little bread berley & couple casts with bread,i hook onto a BIG black coloured carp.saw it mouth my bait & struck.ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...he runs to the left & i could follow him cos we were in thick shrub.difficult fight cos there was a big tree that i couldnt get around for a better fighting position.passed rod around tree to josh & i got the rod back to put hthe finishing touches on this fat big carpy.it was a steep bushy bank which made it hard to get out of the water.josh tried his best but while i was holding the beaten fish,hooked pulled.so i did land it but didnt take it out of the water,released without having to bring out of the drink.was pretty big,i estimate to be close to 20pounds or 9kgs.long,broad,big head & fat gut.

other than that we threw poppers to see if we could entice a bass or 5.not to be.i did loose my favourite strike pro clear popper to a branch on the other bank.on way home,tried to go retrieve it but it was dark.no torch,i ended up in the drink & scratches all over both forearms from hugging the tree tryn to hang on.did get my popper back,couldnt see it but il go walk down tomorrow to hopefully get it back.i just hope it didnt fall in the drink when i busted the line off.HOPE ITS STILL THERE!!!!its my fav popper.most probly have to get a new one.maybe some bushys poppers?only thing is im tight on cash ATM cos i still havnt found a job & fishing tackle is last on the priorities list according to the missus.can any one help me in that department.LOL. :074:i need all the help i can get atm.hehehe lol.

cheers johnny