Narrabeen lagoon luderick

[XD351]

G’day Raiders,

Not a full blown fishing report but I went down to palm beach for a look and worked my way down to Narrabeen , I spotted a few guys fishing for luderick in a hole just off the little carpark on the waters edge next to the caravan park . I probably spent 15 min watching these guys pulling fish after fish in - not big luderick but keeper size - in the time I was there they must have landed 8 or more keepers and threw back as many undersized fish . Just thought I would mention it in case anyone is looking at getting a few . I couldn’t see if they were using weed or cabbage as I wasn’t too keen on wading out in the rain!

Must be getting soft in my old age 🤣🤣🤣

[AlbertW]

Theres always a couple of old timers there fishing for luderick haha, popular bait is cabbage or string weed but flies work well too.

[XD351]

I haven’t fished there for years - back when the hole ran almost all the way up to the bridge ! 

[wazatherfisherman]

39 minutes ago, XD351 said:

I haven’t fished there for years - back when the hole ran almost all the way up to the bridge ! 

Same Ian, too cold standing in the water there now! Big run-in tides and the drop-off from the sandbank used to get crowded. Caught a lot there using shrimps under the float instead of green bait also.

[XD351]

7 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Same Ian, too cold standing in the water there now! Big run-in tides and the drop-off from the sandbank used to get crowded. Caught a lot there using shrimps under the float instead of green bait also.

I would have to wear waders now !

I used to catch busses and trains from Eastwood to Narrabeen to stand waist deep in freezing water when I was a kid - I dunno if I was just keen or crazy 🤣🤣

I don’t know what it is about Narrabeen but it always felt like a second home to me ! Maybe it was all the great fishing trips I had there or something. 

[XD351]

8 hours ago, AlbertW said:

Theres always a couple of old timers there fishing for luderick haha, popular bait is cabbage or string weed but flies work well too.

When I was a kid and the luderick were on you were lucky to find a spot on the sandbar to fish ! Tried to find an image I seen years ago showing the anglers lined up on the sandbar but google doesn’t want to find it .

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, XD351 said:

When I was a kid and the luderick were on you were lucky to find a spot on the sandbar to fish ! Tried to find an image I seen years ago showing the anglers lined up on the sandbar but google doesn’t want to find it .

Those luderick anglers are so secretive they had the photos deleted from the internet! 🤣

I was supposed to get out on the lake this weekend, but alas family obligations has scuppered my plans. Yes, I would've been wearing waders.

[XD351]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Those luderick anglers are so secretive they had the photos deleted from the internet! 🤣

I was supposed to get out on the lake this weekend, but alas family obligations has scuppered my plans. Yes, I would've been wearing waders.

Not the greatest weather anyway so nothing lost ! Just the thought of that cold water makes me want a cup of hot soup 🤣🤣🤣

[sashkello]

When I read posts like these I'm always in two minds: "There must be LOTS of fish there!" and "There must be not much left now!"

[james Cutler]

@XD351 Thanks for the info. I will have a look when the rain stops.  4 to 6 Metre swells at the moment, no rock fishing.

[XD351]

2 hours ago, james Cutler said:

@XD351 Thanks for the info. I will have a look when the rain stops.  4 to 6 Metre swells at the moment, no rock fishing.

I was down there hoping for a quick flick off palmie but it began raining just as I arrived . You might be able to tuck into south palm off the baths in this swell . 

[PaddyT]

can remember fishing there as a teenager in nothing but footy shorts and a tshirt-didnt care that i turned blue. Good to see it still fires, as a youngster used to pee some of the old timers off by berleying really heavily with cabbage and getting the fish to switch , blackfish are a lot of fun.

[wazatherfisherman]

If you watch Ron Calcutt's 'Rock Hoppers' part 2 at about 4.55 into the movie it shows a heap of fisher's fishing for Luderick at the drop-off at Narrabeen. Old footage of the lake

[XD351]

1 hour ago, wazatherfisherman said:

If you watch Ron Calcutt's 'Rock Hoppers' part 2 at about 4.55 into the movie it shows a heap of fisher's fishing for Luderick at the drop-off at Narrabeen. Old footage of the lake

Thats where i seen it ! Thanks waza

[XD351]

Just for reference to show how big the hole was . 

[faker]

1 hour ago, wazatherfisherman said:

If you watch Ron Calcutt's 'Rock Hoppers' part 2 at about 4.55 into the movie it shows a heap of fisher's fishing for Luderick at the drop-off at Narrabeen. Old footage of the lake

Where about is drop off at Lake?

[XD351]

It used to be near the ocean st bridge in front of the caravan park but this filled in and they recently dredged a small hole approximately where the arrow is pointing in the photo above - this is where the little carpark is at the beginning of the caravan park section .

the red circle is the current size - the blue line outlines the shape of the old sandbar , blue crosses are where it was deep and green crosses where we used to stand to fish on the run in tide .

 

Edited June 15 by XD351

[Ganguddy Goodoo]

My first time fishing was under that bridge as a 7 year old. Some neighbours took me one night and I got a small bream. About 5 years later I went fishing for the 2nd time when visiting some relo's who were staying at the caravan park. Must have been a school holiday period as there were about 20 people with lines out in the middle of the day. Some bloke with a snorkel swam past and told everyone there was nothing down there which thinned out the crowd a bit. About 5 minutes later i cast a prawn out to the only bit of weed in sight and got a flattie. I didn't know what to do with it so put it back. Didn't go fishing again for over 30 years. I'm not sure why but fishing/surfing etc didn't seem like an option for a young bloke growing up in western Sydney. I think it is great that such an urbanised area can still holds a reasonable amount of fish.

[sashkello]

Good reference map! I see some old timers in waders standing at the edge in the bottom-left corner almost every time I'm there. Saw them landing good sized fish a couple of times, but too far to see what it was, as I'm usually on the other side fishing off the wall with my kid or pumping for yabbies on the flats. But those guys seem to be regulars and must know what they are doing, so I reckon trying that area is worth a shot as well...

[TheFishyFisherman]

My first luderick was at dee why beach. Never caught any big ones at the lake. Gonna try again soon this week

[wazatherfisherman]

4 hours ago, TheFishyFisherman said:

My first luderick was at dee why beach. Never caught any big ones at the lake. Gonna try again soon this week

Take a prawn net and push it through the brown weed, then quickly tip the contents on the shore- weed and all. There'll be some tiny shrimps that look like 'mini-prawns', collect a few dozen of them and try putting 1 or 2 on your Luderick hook under your float, they often work way better than weed at Narrabeen and are pretty easy to collect. Only downside is all the other lake fish eat them also, but on days when green bait isn't getting any results, most of the time the shrimps will.

[Pickles]

Thanks for sharing Ian. I learned the “dark art” fishing the sandbank off the caravan park at Narrabeen with the “old blokes”, (which I guess I now am also).

I have many memories of bag limit catches in the 70’s and 80’s in Narrabeen and when the swell allowed, off the back of the baths in the swell where the bigger Lus were.

[mrsswordfisherman]

We just spent a few weeks up the coast in our van. We visited Port Stephens and The Entrance. 
Weather at Port Stephens was very poor and rainy except for 2 days. 

The Entrance was pretty good. @swordfisherman decided to try for some luderick. He got the intel from locals and found the “secret” weed source! 

He got up early to get a spot at the place that was, of course, secret. He caught several and gave them to the other blokes. 

Pic fishing entrance beach, swordie with weed and dressed to go luderick fishing in heavy rain and 5 degrees

[TheFishyFisherman]

Apparently the entrance is a good spot although I’ve only fished the beach and near the bridge there once (somehow didn’t catch anything 😢)

[TheFishyFisherman]

17 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Take a prawn net and push it through the brown weed, then quickly tip the contents on the shore- weed and all. There'll be some tiny shrimps that look like 'mini-prawns', collect a few dozen of them and try putting 1 or 2 on your Luderick hook under your float, they often work way better than weed at Narrabeen and are pretty easy to collect. Only downside is all the other lake fish eat them also, but on days when green bait isn't getting any results, most of the time the shrimps will.

Thanks! Will try this when I get the chance.