Bayview Park (Canada bay)

[Mattymattmatt]

Anyone had any success in Bayview Park? I live 5mins away so I’ve been fishing there quite regularly. I’ve used a variety of methods like chicken, prawns, yakka, various lures, fishing in between tide changes day&night . However I’ve only landed very few smallies and none other. It seems like only baby fish are around the area or either I’m doing something wrong. What are your thoughts? 

[Little_Flatty]

Hi Matt,

The general area is quite a good spot for bream and flathead. I always fish about an hour either side of a high tide with 3 inch bass minnows, 2 inch grubs or similar, on a 1/16th jighead. Bait also works a treat there as well but you have found, you will encounter a lot of small stuff.

I would suggest starting at Bayview park and then moving along the shoreline towards the rowing wharf and then the canal, fanning casts along the way. You don't need to cast massively far; 10-15 metres will do it. If you cast too far, you will find copious amounts of weed.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[Mattymattmatt]

I’ve tried it but the damn pufferfish keep taking chunks out the plastic and the tail gets left motionless. I’d end up changing plastic every 3-5 casts which is a pain. Do you have any advice on how to catch the flatties and what sort of retrieve works best on high and low tide? 

[masterfisho7]

I have fished there and got bream and flathead with lures it fishers well 

[Little_Flatty]

 

19 hours ago, Mattymattmatt said:

I’ve tried it but the damn pufferfish keep taking chunks out the plastic and the tail gets left motionless. I’d end up changing plastic every 3-5 casts which is a pain. Do you have any advice on how to catch the flatties and what sort of retrieve works best on high and low tide? 

Hi Matt,

I don't bother fishing there at all on a low tide...not enough water.

The puffers are mostly only in the shallows at your feet. Losing plastics to them every 3-5 casts is pretty bad luck. How far are you casting out? Alternatively if the puffers are bugging you too much, try a small hardbody instead. I sometimes find them better for covering water.

Apart from that, what kind of gear are you using? I tend to use 4-6lb leader - keeping it pretty light.

As to the retrieves, I normally use a double hop (two little flicks) and then retrieve the slack. Nothing drastic, just a little flick of the wrist here and there.

Apart from fishing an hour either side of the high tide (and not bothering any other time), my biggest tip by far is to move around. If all you can find is puffers in a given spot, then move 20m along and give it another go. You will find that in 10-20m, the underwater environment varies quite a bit there; there's lots of alternating shallow and deeper spots.

Hope this helps. It is a good spot, you can have some faith in the location. If you keep persisting you will crack it.

Mike

[Mattymattmatt]

9 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

 

Hi Matt,

I don't bother fishing there at all on a low tide...not enough water.

The puffers are mostly only in the shallows at your feet. Losing plastics to them every 3-5 casts is pretty bad luck. How far are you casting out? Alternatively if the puffers are bugging you too much, try a small hardbody instead. I sometimes find them better for covering water.

Apart from that, what kind of gear are you using? I tend to use 4-6lb leader - keeping it pretty light.

As to the retrieves, I normally use a double hop (two little flicks) and then retrieve the slack. Nothing drastic, just a little flick of the wrist here and there.

Apart from fishing an hour either side of the high tide (and not bothering any other time), my biggest tip by far is to move around. If all you can find is puffers in a given spot, then move 20m along and give it another go. You will find that in 10-20m, the underwater environment varies quite a bit there; there's lots of alternating shallow and deeper spots.

Hope this helps. It is a good spot, you can have some faith in the location. If you keep persisting you will crack it.

Mike

Thanks for the info it really helps. Can you recommend me a few lures and hook/sinker size that you personally had success with in that location? I want to maximise my chances by imitating what you found success in.

[Little_Flatty]

My lure collection is probably pretty old fashioned these days (Last time I was in a tackle shop I was struggling to work out what a 'double clutch' was...) but for me, Berkley 3 inch bass minnows in watermelon and Berkley 3 inch gulp minnows in pumpkinseed work for me. A 1/16th nitro jighead will round off the collection.

As far as hardbodies go, I have a very old Ecogear SX40 which nailed this specimen all those years ago (think it was more than ten years ago) on the majors bay rd side of the bay:

 

Unbelievably, I've still got that exact lure (and it still works...probably need a hook change though). It is $$$$ though so there will be some tears if you lose one. There is an art to not losing hardbodies...it's all about feeling through the rod/line what is happening at the lure end and stopping when you sense trouble. 

I've also had success with Atomic paddle tails (I think they are called grass minnows). These fish were caught by these in this post:

There are far more skilful fisherpeople than me who fish the area. For instance, jdanger (it seems like he fished in the area a lot, now out of the country). Check out his posts:

 

There are a few others who I have met who fish the area as well. Just search for hen and chicken bay (Bayview can be confused with Pittwater) and see what you come up with.

When you are out there, observe others and get talking to them as well, especially if they are nailing fish.

My parting tip is that while it is nice to have a large lure collection, to start with, just focus on one or two of these lures (or anything else anyone mentions in your searches). Learn to use them (Youtube is useful for this) and use it there until you start finding fish. You have far more chance of catching fish casting and retrieving than spending half a session re-rigging.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Little_Flatty