Manly Lagoon

[hansboynton]

Anyone in Sydney fished Manly Lagoon or Narrabeen Lakes so far this year?

[Little_Flatty]

 @hansboynton!

I lost a fairly decent flatty by the feel of things in Narrabeen and also caught and released a smallish (but legal) flatty from Manly Lagoon this autumn. 

Not sure how water temps, colder weather and rain have affected conditions now. Slow down your presentations if lure fishing and put in the time, then you might be in with a better chance. Put up a report after you have had a go, it’s helpful for the community and also can provide you with the opportunity to get further feedback on what else you might be able to do.

[wazatherfisherman]

3 hours ago, hansboynton said:

Anyone in Sydney fished Manly Lagoon or Narrabeen Lakes so far this year?

Won't be much good with all the rain forecast as the lagoon receives the run-off from Manly dam.  Fishes best on large run-in tides over 1.5m. Plenty of different species on offer during the warmer months and particularly well around Christmas when the lagoon prawns are most active

[hansboynton]

Thanks Waza, I grew up right next to the lagoon and as a kid fished it almost everyday back in the late seventies...incredible the size and species that we pulled out of that place including giant herring, pearl perch, estuary perch, bass, mangrove jacks, GTs, big eye jacks. We literally fished every inch of that lagoon from the ocean entrance to the feeder creek and everything in between. Huge muddies and giant freshwater eels were an extra bonus.

[hansboynton]

Thanks for the feedback Little_Flatty. Good to know there are some flatties still around in both those places. I lived right next to Manly Lagoon as a kid (late 70s early 80s) and fished there often...Narrabeen Lakes was always my second go-to place when fishing those kind of environments. Back then we mostly caught the flatheads on live mullet...in Manly Lagoon (we called it Queenscliff Lagoon back then) they used to average 2-3 lbs while we pulled much bigger ones out of Narrabeen (oftentimes well beyond 5 lbs)...and yes, we used pounds and inches back then🙈. I have been living in the states for several years now but plan to make a run down under before the end of the year. During my last trip three years ago I was surprised to see that the lagoon was much cleaner than what I remembered...I caught plenty of bream and whiting...and although I was only able to get a few hours of fishing in I saw enough schools of mullet getting hit to make me think that perhaps some of those giant herrings, GTs and big eye trevallies of yesteryear might still be lurking somewhere in there. This year I hope to rent a place near the lagoon and fish every morning and evening for at least a week. Cheers!

Edited July 2, 2022 by hansboynton
spelling

[wazatherfisherman]

1 hour ago, hansboynton said:

Thanks Waza, I grew up right next to the lagoon and as a kid fished it almost everyday back in the late seventies...incredible the size and species that we pulled out of that place including giant herring, pearl perch, estuary perch, bass, mangrove jacks, GTs, big eye jacks. We literally fished every inch of that lagoon from the ocean entrance to the feeder creek and everything in between. Huge muddies and giant freshwater eels were an extra bonus.

Hi hansboynton although I didn't get there last Christmas we've fished the 'goon' for a few days around that time each year, we normally look for the biggest run-in tides (1.6+m) late in the night and prawn the last of the run-out down near the entrance, using the prawns live, back up further towards Pittwater Rd.

As you say, there are heaps of different fish in there and many of them are really good size. Bust-ups that you'd normally attribute to Tailor (when fishing around Sydney)- are usually Big Eye or even GT's and there's a small population of Mangrove Jacks that get into the action at times. We've seen the big schools of large Mullet get attacked plenty of times and they have to be big fish to take Mullet that size.

Some of the eels are absolutely huge and there are some giant Long Toms cruising also. Sadly, the pollution levels are really high and it isn't safe to wade around without waders now, but the fish population still seems pretty healthy. Well worth a fish

[Little_Flatty]

8 hours ago, hansboynton said:

Thanks for the feedback Little_Flatty. Good to know there are some flatties still around in both those places. I lived right next to Manly Lagoon as a kid (late 70s early 80s) and fished there often...Narrabeen Lakes was always my second go-to place when fishing those kind of environments. Back then we mostly caught the flatheads on live mullet...in Manly Lagoon (we called it Queenscliff Lagoon back then) they used to average 2-3 lbs while we pulled much bigger ones out of Narrabeen (oftentimes well beyond 5 lbs)...and yes, we used pounds and inches back then🙈. I have been living in the states for several years now but plan to make a run down under before the end of the year. During my last trip three years ago I was surprised to see that the lagoon was much cleaner than what I remembered...I caught plenty of bream and whiting...and although I was only able to get a few hours of fishing in I saw enough schools of mullet getting hit to make me think that perhaps some of those giant herrings, GTs and big eye trevallies of yesteryear might still be lurking somewhere in there. This year I hope to rent a place near the lagoon and fish every morning and evening for at least a week. Cheers!

I'm sure it'll be great to be back. The fish are still there, but I'm yet to pull out a bigeye, GT or a jack out of the lagoon. Any one of those would certainly make my day (or year or lifetime). I might give it a few good goes come summer.

[wazatherfisherman]

11 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

I'm sure it'll be great to be back. The fish are still there, but I'm yet to pull out a bigeye, GT or a jack out of the lagoon. Any one of those would certainly make my day (or year or lifetime). I might give it a few good goes come summer.

Hi Mike they are all in there- wouldn't surprise me one bit what species is next to surface there. They get more Big Eye up the back near the 'Dog Hole' on live bait and there are a few Jacks lurking around near the skateboard park- that's where the fly guys target them. We've caught the biggest variety of species from the right hand side of Hinkler Park as you look east, all on live prawns. 

Such a shame the pollution is so bad, mostly from super phosphates- I was told by a mate who lives at Harbord and fishes the goon in a tiny boat (about 6ft long) that the sediment would need to be dug up and it'll never happen. The size of the Whiting we were getting (on live prawns) rivalled Whiting anywhere, but you wouldn't risk eating one

[nal]

On 7/2/2022 at 8:57 PM, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi Mike they are all in there- wouldn't surprise me one bit what species is next to surface there. They get more Big Eye up the back near the 'Dog Hole' on live bait and there are a few Jacks lurking around near the skateboard park- that's where the fly guys target them. We've caught the biggest variety of species from the right hand side of Hinkler Park as you look east, all on live prawns. 

Such a shame the pollution is so bad, mostly from super phosphates- I was told by a mate who lives at Harbord and fishes the goon in a tiny boat (about 6ft long) that the sediment would need to be dug up and it'll never happen. The size of the Whiting we were getting (on live prawns) rivalled Whiting anywhere, but you wouldn't risk eating one

Yknow it’s not the worst thing that the lagoon is polluted, for the most part yes it is bad, but due to the fact you can’t eat fish from there it is primarily a catch and release fishery, making it sustainable and effective, allowing for the exotic species to be more prevalent as they are protected from fishermen just looking for a feed.