Hawkesbury & Pittwater

[harold]

As a guy who has a boat down at Akuna Bay, i am forced to fish out of the general Pittwater area. It is fair to say that every time i go out i see many boats fishing and when you chat to the guys back at the marina, it tends to be the same sorry tale of woe. Now i have followed all the advice in the articles section of the site but catching takers is sometimes quite difficult. I pose a question to you all, is the Pittwater area just fished out? When you look at the reports from the Harbour or Botany Bay, there are lots of substantial fish taken.

What do you think?

[Ken A]

I am not really in a position to comment on how the fishing has been lately but I found when I was fishing there it was handy to know a few techniques so if one species was quiet you could go for something else.

The whole Hawkesbury system is suffering from lack of flooding. I'm not talking a bit of muddy water either I mean dam spill gates open & the river in full flood.

When the river flooded regularly all the systems fished much better.

[Grantm]

Im DEFINATELY no expert in this area but Kens advice about changing tactics has worked for me there quite well. When my usual tactics are failing, i always revert back to fishing in close to the beachy areas on the drift flicking lures foe flathead. If the tide is dropping i never miss. ( sorry hardly ever )

Not everyones cup of tea but an esky with a few flatties is better than nothing. Seems to be quite reliable in tough times.

[Idol threats]

I fish the river every couple of weeks and always come home with a feed , only last weekend I ventured out and came home with a couple of flathead , blue swimmer crab and 4kg Jew.

As Ken said it pays to know some tricks but if we give all the secrets away I wouldnt bring home fish for dinner and then the would be mad and I would have to go to the pub and drown my sorrows , Hang on that wouldnt be to bad

[pirate pete]

I fished there 2 weeks ago and got a nice feed off Patonga just at the entrance to the creek

remember of the shallow water!! then ended up on the Flathead grounds outside and bagged out most went about 45cm. just love those battered flattie filets

Pete

[Guest johblow]

Thats a really interesting point you make Ken. Back before the dam was built, imagine the size of the hawkesubry catchment!!! HUGE!!!! It would have been flushed constantly...

[Ken A]

Up until about 1992 the river used to flood very regularly & the spill gates on the dam were opened & the system used to get a good flush out.

The Bay area was chocka with big Jews & guys used to spin them off the rocks at Kilcare & Barrenjoey on feathers or live bait them. It just did the river a whole lot of good but now with weather patterns changing & increased water usage I can't see it getting flushed out too often.

[Rick T]

I have only been fishing pittwater for a few years now and although I can usually get a feed it seems to be harder and harder each year. harbour and botany seem to be getting better. I have had a few fishless trips this year in pittwater and am yet to have a fishless trip in the harbour. Even though it can be difficult at times I still prefer fishing there as the boat traffic is much smaller.