Luderick near Circular Quay

[44jeff]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on fishraider. 

After reading some of the posts on this site, I decided to target luderick today and turned my light spin rod into a setup using some of the tips provided here.

Arrived at the spot at around 9, gathered some weed and threw in some burley. Managed to hook 4 fish but lost them while pulling them up. I've decided to make a net but does anyone have any other tips to land them?

Thanks everyone 

[Little_Flatty]

 @44jeff!

When were you losing the fish? At your feet or during the fight?

[44jeff]

Hi, I was losing them right at my feet when pulling them up from the water. I think it's because i wasn't using a net.

[noelm]

Need a net for Blackfish, small hooks and soft mouth makes it easy to pull the hook lifting them.

[slothparade]

Yeah net is the way to go. Anytime using light leader, net is the only way to go. On 8lbs targeting big bream, was lucky to land 1/4 without the net 

[Rebel]

Welcome aboard.

Noelm is on the money.

Get a net. Be patient.

Cheers.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Rebel

[XD351]

Years ago I had a long extension net iirc it was over 12ft long when fully extended and was great for fishing off wharves . The only problem was when collapsed it was around 8ft long and didn’t fit in my car - ok for the back of a  Ute or wagon but not a sedan or crew Cab ute . I don’t  think you can buy them that big anymore and I remember it was expensive at the time .

You could use something like this to cobble together a long net but cutting the end off a cheap net and fixing it to the end of the pole .

[AlbertW]

what lb leader are you using? I did a bit of ludding yesterday as well but I managed to easily lift 3 35ishcm  sized luderick up 3 metres on 4lb mainline and 10lb fluro.

[44jeff]

Thanks everyone. Sorry for the late reply. I'm using 5lb leader. I've decided to make a net out of some old netting, an old tennis racquet and a mop handle. Will take it out on Sunday for some luderick. Hopefully I'll be able to land them all. Will post an update.

Photo:

Edited June 1, 2023 by 44jeff
Forgot something

[noelm]

That will do the job, as long as the handle is long enough so you can "dip" the net in the water.

[XD351]

Top job mate ! Who would have thunk a tennis racquet could be used to make fishing gear ! 

[big Neil]

Firstly, welcome to the forum 44jeff. I like your creative solution for creating a net to land the Blackfish. It should be fine provided you can reach the water from your lofty position.

If you find yourself struggling or losing fish, try this. Get a collapsible freshwater yabby pot and extend the length of the rope on it. You can lower this to the water beneath your feet and guide the fish into it. I have seen them used successfully for squid on very high jetties.

Look forward to reading your posts about successful Luderick adventures.

Cheers, bn

[44jeff]

Thanks. I'll try your method too as some of the spots I fish off are very high up off the water (The net should be fine though as I'm fishing off a wharf).

[44jeff]

Hi all. The net worked well. My brother and I fished the runout with weed gathered yesterday. Managed 6 fish from 29-37cm but pulled the hooks on about 5 and missed even more downs. Still a great day and took a couple home for a feed. Thanks everyone for the help.

[big Neil]

7 minutes ago, 44jeff said:

Hi all. The net worked well. My brother and I fished the runout with weed gathered yesterday. Managed 6 fish from 29-37cm but pulled the hooks on about 5 and missed even more downs. Still a great day and took a couple home for a feed. Thanks everyone for the help.

Well done on getting some Blackfish, great result. bn

[XD351]

Great work mate ! You used some initiative to solve the net problem and it payed off 👍👍👍

Did you get your weed off the rocks or in the estuary? ( Don’t give away the exact location or you will have every man and his dog down there tomorrow ) if you got it of the rocks I won’t bother looking in the estuary but if you did get it in the estuary I will have a look around for my own supply.

Edited June 4, 2023 by XD351

[44jeff]

Thanks. This week I got the weed off the rocks but last week I got it from a spot close to circular quay. There wasn't much left in the estuary location and I just got enough for one session. At times a lot of green weed grows there (it grows in rock pools at the spot), however it's mainly hit or miss.

Edited June 4, 2023 by 44jeff

[XD351]

Thanks mate , saves me a lot of time searching for something that isn’t there ! After all the floods and the like over the last few years I haven’t seen any real weed growth anywhere in the harbour or parra river . 

[big Neil]

On 6/4/2023 at 5:19 PM, XD351 said:

Great work mate ! You used some initiative to solve the net problem and it payed off 👍👍👍

Did you get your weed off the rocks or in the estuary? ( Don’t give away the exact location or you will have every man and his dog down there tomorrow ) if you got it of the rocks I won’t bother looking in the estuary but if you did get it in the estuary I will have a look around for my own supply.

If you have real difficulty finding enough weed you can always use a weed fly in place of the natural weed and hook. Works fine.

bn

[Subtropic]

Hi Jeff, sorry for the late reply.

Is the spin rod graphite with a fast action? If so consider using a slow action or medium action fibre glass rod. I use a fibreglass rod for Luderick as they have soft mouths.

Regards

Sub

[44jeff]

I didn't think of that - I was using a fast action rod so that's probably why I pulled quite a few hooks recently and dropped some fish. I'll use a softer rod next time 

Thanks