Anyone even going to bother this weekend?

[Little_Flatty]

Assuming many of us are Sydney/NSW based, is anyone going to bother heading out for a fish this weekend, with all the rain that we have had (and are still to have)?

I can imagine the rivers might be quite dangerous for boating with all the floating rubbish in the water and even if it was safe, we'd be fishing in chocolate soup, which is often not conducive to good catches.

I'm guessing river and lagoon mouths might be the go if they can be fished safely? Where else to go if there has been a lot of rain?

Uni is back in session now, so most of my usual fishing time has been taken up by study. All the same, might try to get out once over the weekend.

[Mike Sydney]

I was out last night in Balmain and the water was very dirty and brown, lots of debris as expected.

There were half a dozen of us at the ferry wharf and only one guy caught anything - a small bream on his 2lb Ajing outfit which was very impressive to watch. I had squid attack my plastic but of course switching to a squid jig saw them disappear. This was the first time fishing there without chopper tailor hanging around.
The night before I had good success on the dead low tide at blackwattle with a couple of bream in very shallow water despite the additional fresh in the system from the rains. 

So yes, get out and fish! I’d imagine upriver on the high tides should be pumping as well as the canals and areas with storm drains flowing in.

[Mike Sydney]

To expand on that last point, the rains bring new opportunities into play - flooded mangroves, storm canals, upper reaches of rivers which fish can access with the increased water volumes. 
If you think about bream they’ve got a high freshwater tolerance with @motiondave catching them above the weir in Parramatta so while the salinity may be down with the heavy rains the fish also have access to feeding areas they can’t often get to. 
 

In terms of dealing with the chocolate soup, I imagine paddle tails or other strong vibrating lures can make a difference as well as dark colours to produce more of a silhouette. 
 

Just a theory but the murky water gives the fish cover so it might be possible to fish more aggressively than usual. Faster retrieves, more frequent hops, shorter pauses etc. 

[Little_Flatty]

Thanks @Mike Sydney. I'd agree on bream not being particularly bothered in certain spots.

The upriver thing hasn't been my experience. After a week of rain like this, my local spots on the upper Parra tend to shut down completely, and whole sessions go without a single hit. It's probably been worse still since the fish kill. I have fished local about once or twice a week since the fish kill, for nothing but chopper tailor.

Given the time, I still get out if I can; there are always exceptions to your experiences and I have been working hard to eliminate bias in my chosen fishing times (other than those naturally imposed by other obligations). I haven't tried any canal fishing after rain like this. I might give it a shot if I get out.

@maccapacca the rain in the days prior can affect fish behaviour and feeding patterns. Not always for the worse, as Mike has pointed out. For instance, you read about keen Mulloway anglers waiting with baited breath on breakwalls at river entrances, when faced with a week of rain like this. For me, my experience is that I need to fish differently and in different locations (mostly lower in the harbour) to get onto fish.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Little_Flatty

[Isaac Ct]

I am definitely going to hit my local jetty, it has a drain and I hope the bream are stacked up on it.

[slothparade]

Would love to get out, the river mouths will be full with sharks and the crabs out and about. 

And because of the rain most people probably won't be out and about so the water should be relatively free. 

Unfortunately I dislocated my shoulder again so no fishing for me for a while, yay 😭

 

[Little_Flatty]

7 minutes ago, slothparade said:

Would love to get out, the river mouths will be full with sharks and the crabs out and about. 

And because of the rain most people probably won't be out and about so the water should be relatively free. 

Unfortunately I dislocated my shoulder again so no fishing for me for a while, yay 😭

 

What is it with you young folk and injuring yourselves constantly?  @slothparade @maccapacca?

Most of us are a lot older than you are and arguably more brittle, but (touch wood) manage to stay in one piece during our day to day lives!

@slothparade maybe it's time to fish with a 1kg outfit for bream as rehab...if you get a good one, it's probably a decent scaled-down simulation of hooking a shark 🤣

[Blackfish]

Good mate of mine was having his lunch break down at Abbotsford ( always has a rod in the van) He said he got 6 flathead, I’m assuming not to big, but in a short period of time. So there’s a few fish still up the river.

[Bennyg78]

I’ll be hitting it Saturday and Sunday morning early.

[TunaSickle]

Nah too dangerous with junk in the water and I never catch much after heavy rains like this anyway! 

[Fab1]

 

I'm out there now.😂🤣

[Mike Sydney]

34 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

 

 

I'm out there now.😂🤣

Reckon you might do a bit better once the tide pushes up….

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, Fab1 said:

 

 

I'm out there now.😂🤣

You forgot to make the screaming drag sounds!

[Fab1]

Just now, Little_Flatty said:

You forgot to make the screaming drag sounds!

I've never heard them before. I never catch fish and wanted to keep it real.

[Little_Flatty]

6 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

I've never heard them before. I never catch fish and wanted to keep it real.

I'm starting to think all your whining is a beat-up, Fab. I reckon you got the coordinates to @Yowie's Costi's reef and are braining the fish in the Hacking. All your whining is just to cover up that you have his secrets. You're just lying low 🤣

To add to the conspiracy theory, maybe @Yowie is even in on the joke himself. Maybe it's your boat that he's on in the mornings! You're just quietly fattening yourselves up on fish  

[Little_Flatty]

1 minute ago, maccapacca said:

Went  more than a decade and a half without a break, but I did it pretty well so that makes up for the long time 😂

Am able to walk just rain is pouring down everywhere

I would have said just get out there anyway, but with your luck of late I'd probably advise you to stay home 🤣

Look after yourself! All these injuries catch up with you as you get older!

[Little_Flatty]

3 hours ago, Blackfish said:

Good mate of mine was having his lunch break down at Abbotsford ( always has a rod in the van) He said he got 6 flathead, I’m assuming not to big, but in a short period of time. So there’s a few fish still up the river.

I'd believe it. The couple of fish I caught this week was down Hunters Hill way, not that much further down. I'm mostly much further up fishing the Ryde area.

[Mike Sydney]

I took my own advice and got out there tonight, headed to cup and saucer creek where it spills into the Cooks at Earlwood.

Minor bushwhack to get to the mouth proper but was greeted with the tastiest eddy I’ve seen, a large slow swirling whirlpool surrounded by fast current. 
Had to fish over a chest-high fence and then another couple of meters flax bush to the water. Chucked on a weedless, wiped the rain out of my eyes and cast. Couldn’t see where my lure landed but within a second I’m snarled up in the bushes badly and down a lure. Packed a sad and went home.

 

[Little_Flatty]

12 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

headed to cup (of concrete) and saucer creek

Had to edit your word choice. 'nuff said!

Shame you didn't get yourself a fish.

[dirvin21]

I'm heading west chasing cod, the rivers are looking pretty good out there

[Smobaby]

Fishing the Nepean chocolate brown and flowing, the fishrest is on so will be battling the weather and water conditions, will still be a good time to be had. After 1000 casts Friday evening one 23 cm bass.

[slothparade]

16 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

What is it with you young folk and injuring yourselves constantly?  @slothparade @maccapacca?

Most of us are a lot older than you are and arguably more brittle, but (touch wood) manage to stay in one piece during our day to day lives!

@slothparade maybe it's time to fish with a 1kg outfit for bream as rehab...if you get a good one, it's probably a decent scaled-down simulation of hooking a shark 🤣

Lmao true. You only live once may as well make the most of it lol. 

I've some how never broken a bone but almost every year I end up in the patching up room in the doctors lol. 

Yeah probably true, except I can't really love my shoulder lol. 

[Bryant fish]

He'll I've broken left leg twice  right leg once split the bones in 3 fingers lengthwise in a crushing incident at work and the bloody boat trailer fell onto my foot only a broken toe but resulted in surgery and a three night stay in hospital..I can't remember the amount of stitches I've had but bloody construction is taxing on the body

[Fab1]

15 minutes ago, motiondave said:

Weather actually held out today, but lawns needed mowing, cleaning up around house, putting drainage in. So a productive day at home instead. 

Did your mower sink to China?

[Little_Flatty]

41 minutes ago, motiondave said:

Weather actually held out today, but lawns needed mowing, cleaning up around house, putting drainage in. So a productive day at home instead. 

That's how you get unfettered leave passes for a fish...through good behaviour!

23 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

Did your mower sink to China?

That's how you get unfettered leave passes for a fish...if you have nefarious motives 🤣