Mixed bag in Rushcutters Bay

[lhan]

The past Sunday morning I need to do a drop-off at Darling harbour which naturally gives a good reason to fish in the lower harbour area. With my newly acquired Veritas Tournament Travel, I decided this would be a pure lure fishing session without bait backup.

Arrived there around 8am and started casting out, the tide is high while most of my fishing time it's during the slack tide window. Tried the small area beside the private jetty first, 30mins in I scored a small legal flathead at ~38cm on Gulp crabby breen. Since I wasn't prepared for a feed so I just let it go to grow another 30cm for the next time.

With a few more casts resulting nothing, I walked along the stone wall and tested some other lures - swim slimz, no luck; grubz, no luck. But it seems the bay is pretty much all sandy bottom with minimum snags, I tied on an expensive jackall chubby deep and gave it a go. With slow rolling and some speed change (not pausing since I sighted some whitings), I felt something heavy hooked up which I suspect it's either a flathead or some kelp. And to my surprise it's a HUGE puffer fish. This thing doesn't fight at all but felt deadly heavy on light gear. I grabbed the line and quickly lift it to the bank, with some extra carefulness it safely went back to the drink to hassle another fisherman in another day.

The next 1 hour is rather quiet as I tried to sight fish some at least 40cm bream but with no luck on all my tackles (even with splash prawn and bent minnow, I must disappoint Derek lol). Interestingly I scored a nice tailor when I was searching bottom using SP, which put up some really good fight. This is my first legal tailor so I didn't really expect they can be this fun to battle with. When I tried to unhook it, I saw sth in his mouth - first thought is a ecogear bream prawn as it's white and fat but later I realised it's a tongue bug... This bay is just full of surprise isn't it... (I don't want to disgust myself so I just throw it back without taking photos)

As the sun is rising I decided to walk to the end of the park and cast a few before calling it a day. I had a good feeling about the jackall chubby so decided to use it again - it cranks so well with the minimum efforts. And bang, a little better flathead hooked within only a couple of tries.

This one looks nice and healthy (and no visible parasites at least), so unlucky for him I think I could be quick enough to drive home for a nice feed. And it is, with the magic of ginger and shallots braised with some soy sauce and oyster sauce, I can get why fishos would always keep some flatties!

It's a really nice session and the bay seems very productive, I'll definitely visit again!

Tight lines,

Henry

Edited February 26 by lhan

[Little_Flatty]

Nice one @lhan, I really like fishing Rushcutters as well. I was actually there on Saturday afternoon but it was very, very tough fishing, with only one measly chopper tailor for a whole afternoon.

[lhan]

35 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

Nice one @lhan, I really like fishing Rushcutters as well. I was actually there on Saturday afternoon but it was very, very tough fishing, with only one measly chopper tailor for a whole afternoon.

Thanks @Little_Flatty! It's actually by far the best land based lure fishing place I've been. A lot of structures with plenty of sandy bottom so nearly none snags. And I promise the big breams are the biggest I ever seen alive! They're smart enough to ignore my lures so good for them.

I reckon I just had the morning bonus in terms of productivity (not really the morning you fish but it's morning enough for me 😂)

The great jackall chubby got snagged on some oyster rock at Drummoyne btw 😭

Edited February 26 by lhan

[linewetter]

Very nice fish you caught!  Rushcutters Bay is on my list of areas I want to try fishing, I just have not made the time to get out there, so good to see there are some good fish out there...even the toadie 😝  

[Bluebenbomb]

Good job on the sesh @lhan - nice pair of flatties. I frequent Rushcutter's (5 mins away or so) and it's pretty fruitful, especially at night 1-2 hours before and 1 hours after the high tide. The sand flats on the the left hand side of the creek produce nice whiting, bream and flathead. The pontoon holds yakkas (burley up), with bream at times as well. The stretch of path on the left hand side of the marina holds many bream and flatties as well. I have also found that if you see the bream (or mullet or whiting), they won't bite. They only bite if you cast out with lures or bait.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you want any extra info.

[Aussie_fisher]

Rushcutters looks like a promising spot it’s on my list to fish next time I go towards the city. Is this one of the spots where time of day or turn of tide matters more do you reckon? Great report and nice catches the flattie must’ve been delicious I’m sure. 

[lhan]

2 hours ago, Bluebenbomb said:

Good job on the sesh @lhan - nice pair of flatties. I frequent Rushcutter's (5 mins away or so) and it's pretty fruitful, especially at night 1-2 hours before and 1 hours after the high tide. The sand flats on the the left hand side of the creek produce nice whiting, bream and flathead. The pontoon holds yakkas (burley up), with bream at times as well. The stretch of path on the left hand side of the marina holds many bream and flatties as well. I have also found that if you see the bream (or mullet or whiting), they won't bite. They only bite if you cast out with lures or bait.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you want any extra info.

thanks @Bluebenbomb! Great insights and I'm so jealous that you can frequent such a great place!

1 hour ago, Aussie_fisher said:

Rushcutters looks like a promising spot it’s on my list to fish next time I go towards the city. Is this one of the spots where time of day or turn of tide matters more do you reckon? Great report and nice catches the flattie must’ve been delicious I’m sure. 

@Aussie_fisher thanks mate. Yes it's a great place and very lure friendly if you like to try different things like me. This is my first time fishing here so I can't comment on best fishing time. @Bluebenbomb gave some really good advice above you could refer! Personally for my fishing this time it's good enough to combine high tide and not so early morning.

[Aussie_fisher]

Ye generally most spots fire up if u can get a good change of tide around morning or evening id say. Might pm you @Bluebenbomb for some info if I decide to go out towards that area if that’s okay 

[Aussie_fisher]

Also how deep is rushcutters bay? What weight jighead were you using?

[Little_Flatty]

6 hours ago, Aussie_fisher said:

Also how deep is rushcutters bay? What weight jighead were you using?

It varies a bit. The flats on the western side are fairly shallow and are typical flats fishing. When you move further around past the canal, it starts to get deeper, maybe five metres or so. Most fish however will hit quite close in.

I use a 1/8 to 1/4 oz jighead there, depending on conditions.

@lhan I just thought of one thing. I did pick up one of those bream in the shallows on a cranka crab once, but casting parallel to the shore, far enough that the bream couldn't see me and I couldn't see it.

[lhan]

10 hours ago, Aussie_fisher said:

Also how deep is rushcutters bay? What weight jighead were you using?

@Aussie_fisher I was using 1/8 and 1/6 that day and only used jighead east side of the creek. The tailor and my first flathead were all on 1/8 #2 with gulp crabby with no luck on 1/6. The water is really clear if it's not overcast so you could get a good sight of it to decide which one you wanna use.

@Little_Flatty I was waiting for a deal/fb cheapy to get myself some cranka crabs, they seem interesting

[kantong]

nice one mate, good looking fish you caught there. 

[FisheeHunter]

How can you tell when a fish has a parasite and is safe?

[big Neil]

A good post you put up Henry and in true Raider fashion others have joined the thread with very helpful tips on location, time, and tackle suggestions. That's what it's all about...sharing information and experiences.

I would be interested in seeing the response to the question about the "tongue parasite" if there's anybody able to fill in the dots for me.

The larger sized Jackall Chubby is a great lure for Murray Cod and Yellowbelly, and has a great swimming action.

Cheers, bn

[lhan]

On 2/27/2024 at 9:27 AM, kantong said:

nice one mate, good looking fish you caught there. 

I'd say the toadie is cute maybe.... just maybe...

On 2/27/2024 at 10:00 PM, FisheeHunter said:

How can you tell when a fish has a parasite and is safe?

@FisheeHunterTongue bug is actually not harmful to human especially when cooked. And generally speaking parasites die when the its living body died. Still it's down to personal choice to eat the fish or not. Personally I wouldn't touch it if I see it 🙃. But on the other hand, those invisible parasites are far more dangerous than these visible big ones.

 

On 2/28/2024 at 6:05 AM, big Neil said:

A good post you put up Henry and in true Raider fashion others have joined the thread with very helpful tips on location, time, and tackle suggestions. That's what it's all about...sharing information and experiences.

I would be interested in seeing the response to the question about the "tongue parasite" if there's anybody able to fill in the dots for me.

The larger sized Jackall Chubby is a great lure for Murray Cod and Yellowbelly, and has a great swimming action.

Cheers, bn

Thanks @big Neil and great to know I'm on the right path of true fish raiders 🫡.

This is a good intro article by Australian museum on the tongue bug https://australian.museum/blog-archive/science/ouch/. There're also some interesting research on it but it's definitely not "bon appetit". But quote from the linked article `And while a parasitised fish mouth may not look very appetising, the fish is safe to eat. Just remove the parasite before cooking and try not to think about it.`. Hopefully this helps!

[big Neil]

Many thanks Henry for the enlightening article re the tongue parasite. Good to know that their host is still edible once the parasite is removed. In the wonderful world of animal life you have to wonder why some creatures exist...I guess we mere humans will never know.

bn