Manly (New to the Area)

[George Johns]

Hi there

Ive just moved to Manly from the UK and would like to buy fishing gear next week and get started.

Can anyone who's familiar with the Manly area (Manly Dam and Little Manly Point) give me some guidance in where I should try fishing and what techniques/set ups work best. Im looking to fish locally to the Manly area

Also which species are relatively easy to go for when starting out here.

Im fairly familiar with lure/spinning type fishing :) 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

George

[Rebel]

Hi and welcome.

Fishing gear can be bought from one of our spoonsers, Dinga Fishing. He has a web site and delivers for free.

As far as fishing in the area there are plenty of guys on this forum who will help you out.

Cheers.

[James Clain]

Leatherjacket fishing is Great. I target them at the spit bridge on the north side where there is a small (Kinda sketchy turnoff) Carpark. Just head up to the left of the carpark facing the water to where the small path stops (left of the bridge). I use a light spinning setup with monofilament line around 10 pound test. 

I use a small sinker behind a small swivel then about 20cm of 8lb Fluorocarbon connected to a small gauge Long shank hook. Leatherjacket are very good eating once the skin is peeled off and can be quite fun if you hook a big one. (be careful of the big spike)

Just cast out towards the middle and let it drop and as soon and you feel a tiny minute tap immediately start reeling in at a slow medium pace and lift your rod very slowly (Do not strike leatherjacket you will just rip the hook and loose the bait out of their beak mouth) Due to the area around the spit being a very deep and steep spot when reeling in a fish or just reeling n a hook if you loose your bait keep your rod tip as high out and up as possible to get your sinker and hook away from the ledge. 

I also think using fresh prawns or bits of squid. is the best bait. A also recommend tying uni knot on everything accept the hook (use a fisher-mans knot) so that if you do unfortunately hook up on the bottom you can pull hard on your line and get everything back and waste less sinkers and swivels. using this technique I have also caught small snapper, bream, flathead and tailor so your chance of getting some other species is high. 

The spit bridge is located near Mosman and Clontarf and is a very short drive spot from manly that is also a great place to get other ore prised species like Kings and Jews.

[wazatherfisherman]

Hi George and welcome. Manly dam has Carp and Redfin that you would be familiar with, as well as Australian Bass.

Where the dam eventually flows to the sea is through Queenscliff Lagoon, which drains through a man made viaduct at the extreme northern end of Manly Beach (known as Queenscliff Beach)

The lagoon suffers greatly at times from pollution (commonly from super phosphates and similar which probably leech into the water from the surrounding golf course) however, there are plenty of different fish species in the lagoon, particularly during summer. There are also prawns, which are easily scooped with a prawn net on the small sandy area about 150 mtr's  in from the ocean bridge end- prawn season starts around the dark of the moon in late October. These prawns are the best bait for just about all the species in the lagoon, but are obviously not available at the moment.

Lure spinning with light tackle and small shallow diving lures will account for some of the common (to Sydney) species such as Bream, Flathead, Tailor and Trevally, but there are other 'northern species' that turn up every summer that are geographically 'miles from home'.

The lagoon fishes best on the larger incoming tides, marked above 1.6 mtr's in the tide charts, with the best fishing on the biggest tides around 2 mtr's which occur during both the full moon and new moon periods. Large 'king tides' around Christmas/New Year always fish well- although that is obviously also a few months away yet. The influx of clean water that pushes in through the viaduct seems to trigger fish activity.

The simple rig for bait fishing the lagoon, is to use no larger than a pea sized ball sinker running freely down to a size 1 or 2 baitholder style hook (such as a Mustad 92247 or 92647) and whole green prawn bait, threaded on from tail to head (don't take the head off unless you are peeling the prawn). If you are using live prawns substitute the pea size sinker for 1 or 2 small pieces of split-shot lead so the prawn can move around reasonably freely.

A good place to start fishing there is the Hinkler Park end, either from the park on the right hand side as you look towards the coast, even up in the blocked off section or the canal side that goes under the Pittwater Rd bridge. You can almost fish out of your car from the small car park adjacent to the canal entry into the lagoon, Bream Whiting and Flathead are the common species here.

Anyway, there is a little information to get you fishing locally, albeit not the best time of year for lagoon fishing (or prawning) but a sneaky spot that can produce some surprising catches- just fish it as a catch and release area, due to pollution levels which are at times quite high- though you often wouldn't know.

Any other questions feel free to ask 

Regards Waza

[rickmarlin62]

Great reply waza

[nutsaboutfishing]

10 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi George and welcome. Manly dam has Carp and Redfin that you would be familiar with, as well as Australian Bass.

Where the dam eventually flows to the sea is through Queenscliff Lagoon, which drains through a man made viaduct at the extreme northern end of Manly Beach (known as Queenscliff Beach)

The lagoon suffers greatly at times from pollution (commonly from super phosphates and similar which probably leech into the water from the surrounding golf course) however, there are plenty of different fish species in the lagoon, particularly during summer. There are also prawns, which are easily scooped with a prawn net on the small sandy area about 150 mtr's  in from the ocean bridge end- prawn season starts around the dark of the moon in late October. These prawns are the best bait for just about all the species in the lagoon, but are obviously not available at the moment.

Lure spinning with light tackle and small shallow diving lures will account for some of the common (to Sydney) species such as Bream, Flathead, Tailor and Trevally, but there are other 'northern species' that turn up every summer that are geographically 'miles from home'.

The lagoon fishes best on the larger incoming tides, marked above 1.6 mtr's in the tide charts, with the best fishing on the biggest tides around 2 mtr's which occur during both the full moon and new moon periods. Large 'king tides' around Christmas/New Year always fish well- although that is obviously also a few months away yet. The influx of clean water that pushes in through the viaduct seems to trigger fish activity.

The simple rig for bait fishing the lagoon, is to use no larger than a pea sized ball sinker running freely down to a size 1 or 2 baitholder style hook (such as a Mustad 92247 or 92647) and whole green prawn bait, threaded on from tail to head (don't take the head off unless you are peeling the prawn). If you are using live prawns substitute the pea size sinker for 1 or 2 small pieces of split-shot lead so the prawn can move around reasonably freely.

A good place to start fishing there is the Hinkler Park end, either from the park on the right hand side as you look towards the coast, even up in the blocked off section or the canal side that goes under the Pittwater Rd bridge. You can almost fish out of your car from the small car park adjacent to the canal entry into the lagoon, Bream Whiting and Flathead are the common species here.

Anyway, there is a little information to get you fishing locally, albeit not the best time of year for lagoon fishing (or prawning) but a sneaky spot that can produce some surprising catches- just fish it as a catch and release area, due to pollution levels which are at times quite high- though you often wouldn't know.

Any other questions feel free to ask 

Regards Waza

This is what I love about this forum. The willingness of the members to share.

Really well done Waza

[Ryder]

Manly beach is a top spot for beach worming.. They are a great bait, challenging, but fun to catch,  

 

[GoingFishing]

15 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi George and welcome. Manly dam has Carp and Redfin that you would be familiar with, as well as Australian Bass.

Where the dam eventually flows to the sea is through Queenscliff Lagoon, which drains through a man made viaduct at the extreme northern end of Manly Beach (known as Queenscliff Beach)

The lagoon suffers greatly at times from pollution (commonly from super phosphates and similar which probably leech into the water from the surrounding golf course) however, there are plenty of different fish species in the lagoon, particularly during summer. There are also prawns, which are easily scooped with a prawn net on the small sandy area about 150 mtr's  in from the ocean bridge end- prawn season starts around the dark of the moon in late October. These prawns are the best bait for just about all the species in the lagoon, but are obviously not available at the moment.

Lure spinning with light tackle and small shallow diving lures will account for some of the common (to Sydney) species such as Bream, Flathead, Tailor and Trevally, but there are other 'northern species' that turn up every summer that are geographically 'miles from home'.

The lagoon fishes best on the larger incoming tides, marked above 1.6 mtr's in the tide charts, with the best fishing on the biggest tides around 2 mtr's which occur during both the full moon and new moon periods. Large 'king tides' around Christmas/New Year always fish well- although that is obviously also a few months away yet. The influx of clean water that pushes in through the viaduct seems to trigger fish activity.

The simple rig for bait fishing the lagoon, is to use no larger than a pea sized ball sinker running freely down to a size 1 or 2 baitholder style hook (such as a Mustad 92247 or 92647) and whole green prawn bait, threaded on from tail to head (don't take the head off unless you are peeling the prawn). If you are using live prawns substitute the pea size sinker for 1 or 2 small pieces of split-shot lead so the prawn can move around reasonably freely.

A good place to start fishing there is the Hinkler Park end, either from the park on the right hand side as you look towards the coast, even up in the blocked off section or the canal side that goes under the Pittwater Rd bridge. You can almost fish out of your car from the small car park adjacent to the canal entry into the lagoon, Bream Whiting and Flathead are the common species here.

Anyway, there is a little information to get you fishing locally, albeit not the best time of year for lagoon fishing (or prawning) but a sneaky spot that can produce some surprising catches- just fish it as a catch and release area, due to pollution levels which are at times quite high- though you often wouldn't know.

Any other questions feel free to ask 

Regards Waza

This is a 10/10 response......awesome effort

[wazatherfisherman]

9 hours ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Great reply waza

Thanks Rick! Congrats on those choice Reds too!

[wazatherfisherman]

1 hour ago, GoingFishing said:

This is a 10/10 response......awesome effort

Thanks GF - I know it's polluted but there's plenty of fishing action in there

[wazatherfisherman]

6 hours ago, nutsaboutfishing said:

This is what I love about this forum. The willingness of the members to share.

Really well done Waza

Thanks mate- a very under-utilized spot in Sydney and I used to eat the Whiting but no other fish!

[George Johns]

Thank you so much to everyone who responded, has given me a great overview on fishing in the area. Can't wait to get out and start next week. 

Really appreciate it!

[James Clain]

1 minute ago, George Johns said:

Thank you so much to everyone who responded, has given me a great overview on fishing in the area. Can't wait to get out and start next week. 

Really appreciate it!

Good luck!

[kingie chaser]

Hi George, some outstanding info provided here but also FFR there is a wealth of knowledge in the pages which can be accessed by just doing a forum search.

This is what I got from just typing Manly into the search bar-

 

Good luck.

 

 

[nutsaboutfishing]

20 hours ago, George Johns said:

Thank you so much to everyone who responded, has given me a great overview on fishing in the area. Can't wait to get out and start next week. 

Really appreciate it!

Don't forget to post a report!!

[mrsswordfisherman]

Excellent work raiders!!!

This is raider spirit at its finest. I will be making you guys Moderators soon if you keep this up

Welcome to the forum by the way @George Johns and to Australia. Post a bit about yourself in thread below and use the Search engine to look for info to research. Looking forward to your fishing reports.

 

mrsswordie (Community Manager)