Local Lud

[Little_Flatty]

Lately I've been fixated on getting a luderick at Meadowbank, and it's been tough going. It doesn't seem that many people have fished for them that far up, and for good reason; Luderick are fantastic as a table fish, and well before the DPI recommendations, people would steer clear of eating fish from the upper Parra. In the early 90s I still remember talking to old fishos who said they wouldn't eat fish upstream of Gladesville.

I had a couple of reasons for targeting luds up this far. The first was that luderick fishing was literally making me fat; I don't walk as much as when lure fishing and I drive to my spots instead of walking or riding my bike. If I could walk to my fishing spot, at least I'll get some exercise. Secondly, I'm early in my luderick journey and am still honing my craft; if I had a local population of fish I could practice almost daily. Finally, I could experiment with various methods without wasting petrol/tolls.

So it was decided that this would be my goal. A while ago I'd spoken to @wazatherfisherman asking him how far up you'd find luderick in the Parra. 'All the way up to the Parra weir' was the answer, and I had no reason to doubt him. Yet, my few half-hearted attempts to get one drew complete blanks. That said, I was at the time relatively inexperienced with luderick, with my all time catch figures totaling less than ten. I've now racked up many more fish and many more hours of float watching.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try this again. A sneaky lunch break session found me on the water. Berley in and then I plumbed the depth to set the float. The water was surprisingly shallow and I could only set the float at about 80cm or thereabouts.

It didn't take long to get my first down, which I missed. On the second down, I hooked something sizeable, but it only stayed on for a few seconds. Looking good. Then the next down, I caught a little bream:

I got another down and a hookup, but again, the fish bounced off.

And so it would go, two weeks of sessions like this. The takes were extremely finnicky and 19 times out of 20 I'd strike on a down and come up with nothing. On the other one time out of 20, I would hook something only to have it bounce off the hook after a few seconds. Some of the fish felt big. I tried waiting anything from striking straight away to waiting a minute after a down (it did stay down that long), I tried smaller hooks, bigger hooks, smaller baits, bigger baits, all to no avail. I'd sometimes get baits nibbled to shreds without the float doing anything at all!

Consulting @wazatherfisherman and @Ryder who both have extensive experience fishing the Parra, we postulated any number of species (rabbitfish, surgeons, small luderick) but we had our doubts about the possibility of most options brainstormed, given it was that far up the river. A chat with the staff at one of my local tackle shops noted that with one of the upper Parra fish kills last year, a large number of luderick were found, so it was highly likely it were luderick that were taking my bait.

More sessions were had, with downs but still donuts. One frustrating session had me hook a fish and being so shallow, it broke the surface but because of the splashes I didn't get a visual. A visual would've been enough; if I'd seen that it was a luderick that had taken my bait, I'd have been happy.

Yesterday I popped down again for a quick session. I needed to be in the office for work so this would be a fast session. Grabbed my rod and some bait and started fishing. Down straight away, then after a moment, something pulled all the slack out of my line and connected, then popped off. Hook was gone, and I'd left my terminals at home so that was session over. Dang.

This morning I went down again. I'd wanted to experiment holding a little bit of berley in a second bait bucket and I'm glad to say it worked a treat. Good for half an hour of fishing or so. Any longer and I'd need a bigger bucket.

Anyhow, berley deployed, I fished for about twenty mins for no action. Then the downs started. The first took me by surprise and I missed it, the float went down for a few seconds then it bobbed back up. Then the second down happened. I counted to three and struck. The rod bent and this felt like a good fish. I was terrified of losing it like the others, but it stayed on for 30 seconds, so likely it was well hooked. This was only my second fish on the centrepin, and slowly I'm starting to 'get it'.

Soon I got a visual. It was a good luderick! Goal achieved! But of course, I needed to land it for a victory photo. I have this terrible habit of pulling the net out before a fish is ready and I did this again. Thankfully the fish stayed pinned and I got it into the net.

My first Meadowbank lud:

Released it after taking this photo. I fished a couple more drifts for a fleeting down and then it was time to go home.

The one thing I tried this time that was different was that I was using a pattern of hook that was kirbed rather than in-line, like the Gamakatsu Panfish hooks I'd been using. Not sure if it made a difference, as I still missed downs. Most likely it was just dumb luck.

It will be an interesting pursuit to target them in the area with any degree of consistency. Challenge accepted!

[lhan]

That's a good fish and your efforts pay off Mike! I've been hitting the refresh button hard after saw your message this morning waiting for this report.

With the topwater and luderick challenge ticked off, is it the time for a Meadowbank kingie next?

[Green Hornet]

Persistence pays off Mike and a nice reward at that.   
I find playing a decent size fish on a centrepin as good as it gets and a whole lot of fun, having to manually apply the drag.
 

[Little_Flatty]

2 hours ago, lhan said:

That's a good fish and your efforts pay off Mike! I've been hitting the refresh button hard after saw your message this morning waiting for this report.

With the topwater and luderick challenge ticked off, is it the time for a Meadowbank kingie next?

Hahaa nah…more Meadowbank luds first! I don’t have this fully wired yet! Then when I work that out, Meadowbank lud on fly, then Meadowbank Lud on Tenkara.

I know someone who got a kingie at Meadowbank last year. I saw the photos he showed me and his level of fishing prowess leads me to believe him.

Meadowbank Mulloway on lures is a goal one day, but my donut tolerance is not that good yet. I know they’re around and have a good idea of what they’re eating.

1 hour ago, Green Hornet said:

Persistence pays off Mike and a nice reward at that.   
I find playing a decent size fish on a centrepin as good as it gets and a whole lot of fun, having to manually apply the drag.
 

Sure is Pete!

I’m also starting to understand how the Wallis cast (and centrepin casting in general) is supposed to work. I’m finding it works best with at least a rod length 9ft of line out. It’s strangely fun learning how to cast all over again.

[bessell1955]

You were well rewarded for all of your efforts.

[faker]

10 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Lately I've been fixated on getting a luderick at Meadowbank, and it's been tough going. It doesn't seem that many people have fished for them that far up, and for good reason; Luderick are fantastic as a table fish, and well before the DPI recommendations, people would steer clear of eating fish from the upper Parra. In the early 90s I still remember talking to old fishos who said they wouldn't eat fish upstream of Gladesville.

I had a couple of reasons for targeting luds up this far. The first was that luderick fishing was literally making me fat; I don't walk as much as when lure fishing and I drive to my spots instead of walking or riding my bike. If I could walk to my fishing spot, at least I'll get some exercise. Secondly, I'm early in my luderick journey and am still honing my craft; if I had a local population of fish I could practice almost daily. Finally, I could experiment with various methods without wasting petrol/tolls.

So it was decided that this would be my goal. A while ago I'd spoken to @wazatherfisherman asking him how far up you'd find luderick in the Parra. 'All the way up to the Parra weir' was the answer, and I had no reason to doubt him. Yet, my few half-hearted attempts to get one drew complete blanks. That said, I was at the time relatively inexperienced with luderick, with my all time catch figures totaling less than ten. I've now racked up many more fish and many more hours of float watching.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try this again. A sneaky lunch break session found me on the water. Berley in and then I plumbed the depth to set the float. The water was surprisingly shallow and I could only set the float at about 80cm or thereabouts.

It didn't take long to get my first down, which I missed. On the second down, I hooked something sizeable, but it only stayed on for a few seconds. Looking good. Then the next down, I caught a little bream:

I got another down and a hookup, but again, the fish bounced off.

And so it would go, two weeks of sessions like this. The takes were extremely finnicky and 19 times out of 20 I'd strike on a down and come up with nothing. On the other one time out of 20, I would hook something only to have it bounce off the hook after a few seconds. Some of the fish felt big. I tried waiting anything from striking straight away to waiting a minute after a down (it did stay down that long), I tried smaller hooks, bigger hooks, smaller baits, bigger baits, all to no avail. I'd sometimes get baits nibbled to shreds without the float doing anything at all!

Consulting @wazatherfisherman and @Ryder who both have extensive experience fishing the Parra, we postulated any number of species (rabbitfish, surgeons, small luderick) but we had our doubts about the possibility of most options brainstormed, given it was that far up the river. A chat with the staff at one of my local tackle shops noted that with one of the upper Parra fish kills last year, a large number of luderick were found, so it was highly likely it were luderick that were taking my bait.

More sessions were had, with downs but still donuts. One frustrating session had me hook a fish and being so shallow, it broke the surface but because of the splashes I didn't get a visual. A visual would've been enough; if I'd seen that it was a luderick that had taken my bait, I'd have been happy.

Yesterday I popped down again for a quick session. I needed to be in the office for work so this would be a fast session. Grabbed my rod and some bait and started fishing. Down straight away, then after a moment, something pulled all the slack out of my line and connected, then popped off. Hook was gone, and I'd left my terminals at home so that was session over. Dang.

This morning I went down again. I'd wanted to experiment holding a little bit of berley in a second bait bucket and I'm glad to say it worked a treat. Good for half an hour of fishing or so. Any longer and I'd need a bigger bucket.

Anyhow, berley deployed, I fished for about twenty mins for no action. Then the downs started. The first took me by surprise and I missed it, the float went down for a few seconds then it bobbed back up. Then the second down happened. I counted to three and struck. The rod bent and this felt like a good fish. I was terrified of losing it like the others, but it stayed on for 30 seconds, so likely it was well hooked. This was only my second fish on the centrepin, and slowly I'm starting to 'get it'.

Soon I got a visual. It was a good luderick! Goal achieved! But of course, I needed to land it for a victory photo. I have this terrible habit of pulling the net out before a fish is ready and I did this again. Thankfully the fish stayed pinned and I got it into the net.

My first Meadowbank lud:

Released it after taking this photo. I fished a couple more drifts for a fleeting down and then it was time to go home.

The one thing I tried this time that was different was that I was using a pattern of hook that was kirbed rather than in-line, like the Gamakatsu Panfish hooks I'd been using. Not sure if it made a difference, as I still missed downs. Most likely it was just dumb luck.

It will be an interesting pursuit to target them in the area with any degree of consistency. Challenge accepted!

Try shore jigging casting metals for 3hours is exhausting on 11ft rod even if you drive

[Little_Flatty]

24 minutes ago, faker said:

Try shore jigging casting metals for 3hours is exhausting on 11ft rod even if you drive

Shore jigging is a young person’s game…how many crusty old salts do you see out shore jigging?🙃

Now that I’m neither young nor old, I’m honing my fishing skills for my future self🤣

[Little_Flatty]

5 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

You were well rewarded for all of your efforts.

Thanks Bessell, I certainly was! I’m always intrigued when I find fish where I never thought they would be.

[faker]

40 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

Shore jigging is a young person’s game…how many crusty old salts do you see out shore jigging?🙃

Now that I’m neither young nor old, I’m honing my fishing skills for my future self🤣

Oh come on nabu and several older folks who is 60 year old + guy can handle it. Yea they use slow jigs alot. Off the top of my head i can think 3 guys.

 

Edited November 8 by faker