Pittwater Blackfish

[drc2076]

A mate and I scored a decent bag of luderick out of Pittwater this morning. Collected the weed from the ocean rocks and finally got started around 7am. The wind made it tough going and took quite a while for the fish to find the bait but once they did it was great fun. Had to move around a bit to find them. First location gave me a down first cast and hooked on to a nice fish. Had him at the surface ready for the net and then he spat the hook. At that stage I thought it was going to be a good day and an early finish but didn't get another down in the 90 minutes that followed at that spot. Packed up the gear and moved around the bay and finally got amongst them. No whoppers but all at or about the low 30cm mark.

 

Heaps of small baitfish around and a number of bust ups on the surface. Couldn't tell if kingfish or salmon but quite a bit of action. In the quiet moments tried jigging for a few squid (in the hopes of lobbing one back for a passing kingy) but no dice.

 

Still, can't complain. Dinner tonight is sorted.

[Burger]

Nice work drc! Some tubby blackies there.

[Oldfella]

Hi Guys;

You do not need weed to catch them.

When you are spinning on the flats you will pick up too many blackfish to call them by catch.

Try Careel Bay , round Rowland reserve in front of BYRA places like that Use a small Crawdad or similar the colour of a yabbie or a soft plastic in a bloodworm colour or try one in a translucent green,

Around the weed beds is the shot.

You will still get them over clean sand though.

It is surprising how many of them feed in the shallows.

The water may be getting a bit cold to fish this way but in the summer it is productive.

When the weather warms up to try something different I would try a small popper over the weed beds.

Could be interesting.

Cheers.

Roger.

[big Neil]

Some very healthy looking specimens there drc. Should be a nice feed. BN

[Wellzy94]

19 minutes ago, Oldfella said:

Hi Guys;

You do not need weed to catch them.

When you are spinning on the flats you will pick up too many blackfish to call them by catch.

Try Careel Bay , round Rowland reserve in front of BYRA places like that Use a small Crawdad or similar the colour of a yabbie or a soft plastic in a bloodworm colour or try one in a translucent green,

Around the weed beds is the shot.

You will still get them over clean sand though.

It is surprising how many of them feed in the shallows.

The water may be getting a bit cold to fish this way but in the summer it is productive.

When the weather warms up to try something different I would try a small popper over the weed beds.

Could be interesting.

Cheers.

Roger.

Oldfella,

For the most part, they only eat weed. However during the warmer months their diet does extend to some meats, I've caught a few on live nippers and peeled prawns.

[mrsswordfisherman]

http://www.fishraider.com.au/article/blackfish-basics/

Here are a few of our threads and articles here on fishraider.

By the way lovely catch there @drc2076 

[drc2076]

4 hours ago, Oldfella said:

Hi Guys;

You do not need weed to catch them.

When you are spinning on the flats you will pick up too many blackfish to call them by catch.

Try Careel Bay , round Rowland reserve in front of BYRA places like that Use a small Crawdad or similar the colour of a yabbie or a soft plastic in a bloodworm colour or try one in a translucent green,

Around the weed beds is the shot.

You will still get them over clean sand though.

It is surprising how many of them feed in the shallows.

The water may be getting a bit cold to fish this way but in the summer it is productive.

When the weather warms up to try something different I would try a small popper over the weed beds.

Could be interesting.

Cheers.

Roger.

Interesting. I've heard of them taking nippers but have never tried it. I've also seen them taken on beach worms in the Moruya river down south. I've never had much success on the flats around Bayview and Careel. A few undersized whiting has been about it for me. I need to try Careel again, looks promising for bream around the mangroves but I've shelved Bayview. That dog park is just too busy and I can't imagine all that splashing is doing much to encourage the fish to bite.

Edited May 28, 2017 by drc2076

[jdanger]

Never managed one on a lure personally but I've seen plenty of pics. Was very surprised to hear a mate catch one on a surface walker at narrabeen in march during a hot bream & whiting session though.

[Oldfella]

Hi Jd;

Not surprised at all anybody catching a luderick in Narrabeen on a surface lure.

Would have been over the weed beds or close to them I would bet.

During the warm weather the Lakes are full of shrimps etc.

Bream , whiting and luderick amongst other things love shrimps..

There used to be a few old blokes  a few years ago used to fish with the lightest of lines,,no sinker and a number 12 hook baited with a single shrimp.

They caught heaps of fish on that rig.

It was finesse fishing long before the term was used.

No expensive gear either.

Usually a very light rod or the real old timers a handline.

They were brilliant at it.

Cheers.

Roger.

 

[ARC H]

1 hour ago, Oldfella said:

Hi Jd;

Not surprised at all anybody catching a luderick in Narrabeen on a surface lure.

Would have been over the weed beds or close to them I would bet.

During the warm weather the Lakes are full of shrimps etc.

Bream , whiting and luderick amongst other things love shrimps..

There used to be a few old blokes  a few years ago used to fish with the lightest of lines,,no sinker and a number 12 hook baited with a single shrimp.

They caught heaps of fish on that rig.

It was finesse fishing long before the term was used.

No expensive gear either.

Usually a very light rod or the real old timers a handline.

They were brilliant at it.

Cheers.

Roger.

 

interesting.

[ARC H]

I have heard it takes a lot of finesse to catch them on lure

[Walker568]

I have a mate that pulled a massive hooked a massive one bordering over 40 cm. He hooked it on nippers but his drag wasn't high enough so the little buggar spat it out. I was there to witness it.

[drc2076]

I've seen them caught (on video) by anglers using fly fishing gear with weed flies in estuaries. Pretty impressive skills!

[jdanger]

16 hours ago, Oldfella said:

Hi Jd;

Not surprised at all anybody catching a luderick in Narrabeen on a surface lure.

Would have been over the weed beds or close to them I would bet.

 

You're 100% right, Roger. Just on the edge of the weedbeds from memory.

[Mike89]

They do go pretty hard! I would love to try to catch one on plastics or other baits.

Watched a mate catch a couple on prawn once.

Nice catch, good few blackies there and goes to show that persistence pays off.

[Billmack]

Wonboyn lake, 2015, two rods one w weed one w a nipper, same spot double hook up. 

[drc2076]

While we are on the subject thought I'd post this. For land based fishos this is also a great YouTube channel with some valuable insights and many practical and applicable suggestions for targeting fish in shallow sand flat environments. Well worth your time.

[luderick -angler]

Actually spawn season for blackfish is early spring to early summer! They winter in the estuaries then run out to the headlands and bays to recproduce late August September. I have caught them full of roe right up until February! On the subject of fly if they are tuned in on artificial then that's what I now prefer much more of a challenge. 

Edited June 1, 2017 by luderick -angler

[drc2076]

On 02/06/2017 at 7:14 AM, luderick -angler said:

Actually spawn season for blackfish is early spring to early summer! They winter in the estuaries then run out to the headlands and bays to recproduce late August September. I have caught them full of roe right up until February! On the subject of fly if they are tuned in on artificial then that's what I now prefer much more of a challenge. 

On the subject of alternatives to weed, went back to fish last weekend's location again this morning. Turned out to be a fairly slow morning for luderick. Beautiful conditions but clear water, a run out tide and boat traffic didn't help. Tried a couple of locations and ended up switching between weed, cabbage, bread and weed flies to get a result. My weed supply was limited and the cabbage was especially soft and I struggled to keep it on the hook. It was this frustration led me to try using weed flies. It paid off for me though and caught my first ever luderick on a weed fly. In the end the tally was three landed for two keepers (33cm and 34cm). Not an epic day, but not a failure either.

[drc2076]

On the subject of catching luderick on fly, I came across this article from a while ago. Well worth a read. I really need to learn fly casting technique in order to give this a try. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

https://lureandfly.com/2014/08/14/blackfish-on-fly-the-how-to-guide-so-far/