Fishing Sydney
with David Lockwood
A Bull Shark Story
T
here is nothing like a good shark story to get the media
snapping. But a tale with witnesses who saw a Great White
jumping in our favourite harbour, well, it fuelled a frenzy.
The shark seen jumping just off Athol Bay or Taronga Zoo
was labelled a great white, the most feared of all sharks, the
leading actor in Jaws, a shark known to eat people.
It had a dorsal fin and white underbelly just like a great white
shark, said one onlooker. Err, well, um, so too does a dolphin.
No matter, since the story hit the headlines, every shark expert
has had their 10 cents worth. Peter Doyle piped-up and penned
a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald, as he does so often on
fishy matters, saying it was probably a mako shark which are
known to jump. True, but ...
The mako is a blue-water shark that doesn’t frequent
estuaries or harbours. Neither does the white shark, which also
prefers the open ocean. Most savvy anglers put it down to
another whaler or bull shark.
Valerie Taylor, who urged Sydneysiders not to avoid
swimming just because a shark was sighted jumping in the
harbour, also backed the jumping shark as being a bull. Truth
is, there are a lot more whaler or bull sharks in Sydney Harbour
that one might care to consider. Only last month, during an
evening jewfish session, I caught a whaler shark off Dobroyd
Point.
The disturbing thing about whaler sharks is that they are
dead-set no-brainers. The abovementioned shark, for example,
was fought to the boat, pulled out of the water, and the
subsequent subject of a lengthy operation. Eventually, I gave up
on retrieving my hook, cut the line close to the eyelet, and
tossed the shark back in the drink. Wouldn’t ya know it, two
seconds later another rod went off. Yep, the same shark with my
hook in its mouth.
Whaler sharks, and there are a lot of species of them, attack
humans, dogs on leashes, and eat just about anything but the
home-cooking. They can jump, too. Since the apparent sighting
of a white in the harbour, a surfer and keen fisho reported being
chased by a small white pointer shark off Cronulla.
And what about that aerial shark footage from the Gold
Coast, eh? The pack of white-shoe sharks included whalers,
hammerheads and tigers. The sharks were so hot-to-trot that
the Australian Surf Lifesaving titles was at risk of being cancelled.
But Valerie Taylor was right. Don’t worry about white sharks
in the harbour. But whalers, like the one which knocked a bloke
of his kayak west of the Harbour Bridge a month or two back,
are a concern.
I would forget twilight swims and prevent Fido from fetching
that tennis ball you’ve tossed in the harbour. The water temps
in April are still hot enough to have that whalers jumping with
glee. Come May and the sharks will swim north.
Pro Dive, Anti-Angler
What they giveth with one hand they taketh away with the
other. A busy month in fishing politics has seen recreational
anglers gain some ground and loose a little dirt, too.
Despite commercial fishing group Profish launching a
challenge in the Land and Environment Court, Chief Justice
Pearlman has confirmed Botany Bay and Lake Macquarie — as
well as 27 other key locations from the Tweed River to the Bega
River — will be declared recreational
fishing havens.
At the same time, NSW Fisheries announced six new
aquatic reserves in the Sydney area alone. The newly protected
areas include rocky foreshores from Bronte to Coogee,
Barrenjoey, Narrabeen, Cape Banks, Boat Harbour and Cabbage
Tree Bay. Recreational line fishing is allowed within these
reserves except for Cabbage Tree Bay, which has been declared
a “no-take” zone. From March 31, you will not be permitted to
fish by any method, destroy marine life, or collect dead or alive
marine organisms, including empty shells.
The new no-fishing area includes the whole foreshore of the
bay from Manly Surf Life Saving Club to the northern end of
Fairy Bower headland car park. In Manly, there are already nofishing signs on the ferry wharf and the local council appears to
be anti-angler.
But the new reserve is likely to be a big hit with the great
many local dive firms, who are increasingly taking to the
practice of hand-feeding fish and winning the trust of critters like
Bluey, the big blue groper allegedly speared at Clovelly earlier
this year.
The Raw Prawn
If you have been unlucky enough to spend time at the
sorting table on an estuary prawn trawler, you will know just how
much by-catch hits the decks.
Over 80 species of fish have been recorded on trawlers, and
by-product species contribute around 14 per cent to their total
annual landings. Everything from baby jewfish to native bass,
little snapper and wee whiting hit the decks. They don’t fair too
well after being dragged along in a prawn net and, not surprisingly,
mortality rates are high.
From May 2002, Botany Bay will be protected from
commercial prawn trawling. But NSW Fisheries wants input
from anglers concerning prawn trawling in the Clarence, Hunter
and Hawkesbury rivers and Port Jackson.
NSW Fisheries has prepared an Environmental Impact
Statement (copies at <www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au>) and suggests
prohibiting trawling over all seagrass areas and introducing
limits on the landings of by-product species. Written submissions
by April 15, 2002.
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Take monthly with water April 2002 39
David Lockwood’s Guide
to Fishing – April
I
f you asked a died-in-the-wool angler his dying wish, most
would be happy going-out with a giant jewfish. The jewfish
is the trophy of the estuaries, a stealthy feeder that takes
some outsmarting, with a growth potential of 60kg.
This brings me to Glen Jones from Seven Hills who, while
far from hanging up his rods, landed a jewfish of a lifetime at
9.30am in the lower Hawkesbury River last month.
Fishing with Greg Joyes, who runs Calmwater Fishing
Charters at Gosford, Jones subdued a 32kg jewfish after a 15
minute fight on 24kg tackle. What’s more, this was his first big
jewfish.
The giant fish took a whole tuna bait that was butterflied
and presented at the top of the tide. Jones was last seen
parading his fish around the suburbs and making his angling
mates green with envy.
Some nice jewfish have also come from the Northern
Beaches and a gutter on Wanda Beach. Sweet-eating whiting
are being fished out of the gutters at Narrabeen.
Mark Turnen from Narrabeen Bait scored a 20kg jewfish
from Newport after a 20 minute fight last month. Fish above
10kg came from Dee Why, Mona Vale, Palm. Cronulla and
Narrabeen beaches.
In the estuaries, young gun Joshua Boc has been taking
solid trevally, kingfish and a terrific 4.5kg jewfish taken from
around Dolls Point. In Narrabeen Lake, flathead to 2kg and big
bream have been landed on lures.
Schools of small tuna and rat kingfish are working around
Lion and Scotland islands, across the Heads and well up into
the harbour, and around Kurnell. Frigate mackerel, the
consummate bream and big jewfish bait, are schooling as far
west as the Harbour Bridge.
Sydney Harbour has been firing. My brother and I scored
two nice kingfish, a solid Samson fish, tailor, salmon, trevally
and a trio of big bream on tuna and squid baits in a session in
North Harbour.
Craig McGill form Fishabout Tour has landed plenty of
tailor and bonito around Grotto Point, amberjack and kingfish
around the buoys, and flathead from the sandy drop-offs
fronting the harbour beaches.
McGill and Alex Bellisimo took kingfish to 10kg and Mick
Collins landed 30 kingfish from spots on either side of The
Heads. McGill also bagged three jewfish to 7kg and some nice
bream off Dobroyd.
Michael Stow and mate landed 16 whiting, a big bream and
two jewfish to 6kg from the Balls Head region, where little tailor
are schooling.
By chance, I happened across some professional beach
haulers sorting their catch on Brighton Beach last month.
They had several boxes of big whiting, some flathead, flounder,
and let the undersized bream swim, err, into the local pelican’s
maws.
Offshore, there are striped tuna and dolphin fish. While fish
numbers were down at last month’s Port Stephens Interclub
Game Fishing Tournament, quality made up for the quantity.
The heaviest marlin weighed is a pending Australian Record
blue of 342kg.
Off Sydney, trailerboaters are taking small dolphinfish
from the fish traps and wave-measuring devices. Bottom
fishers have been taking a few flathead on the drift. But it’s my
bet the offshore scene will improve this month.
April is a gun time for big blue marlin on the Shelf, 20
nautical mills off Sydney, bigger than average dolphin fish and
perhaps even a sprinkling of yellowfin tuna. There have also
been reports of kingfish at The Peak and 12-Mile Reef.
Fishing the deep reefs off Sydney, those in 40-60 fathoms,
is usually made easy in April because the ocean current slows
and the weather is kind. Jigging or bombing live baits or fresh
squid can see some thumper kings hit the decks. Closer in, the
snapper will be biting again.
April fishing in the estuaries brings kingfish, a few more big
jewfish, lots of surface fish such as small tuna and tailor, but
above all it brings bream.
Already, there are big autumn bream being bagged in the
Hawkesbury, the Harbour and Botany Bay. My best, a fish of
a kilo, was taken at 9.00pm at The Spit on a cube of cheese.
But much bigger bream are on the cards this month.
Contact this column at [email protected]
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Doors open 7.45 pm for Meeting at 8.00 pm.
The meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month at Roselea
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Bingo Night – Fun for all the family
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Cooking Night – Free taste testing
40 AFLOAT.com.au
April 2002
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Fishing Key —
Crabs
F
Flathead
Not the prettiest fish in the world, but the good ol’
Aussie flathead produces the perfect fish and
chips. Boaties should drift over sand and gravel
shoals with whitebait or whole, small pilchards set
on the bottom. Shore-based anglers should cast
cut baits or lures along the edge of sandy drop-offs
on the falling tide. Hook size: 3/0.
J
Jewfish
Named after a bone resembling Jesus on the cross
found in this fish’s skull, the jewfish requires more
than just prayer to catch. Use large yellowtail or
slimy mackerel fillets, live baits of pike, tailor or,
better still, live squid for bait. Fish the deeper holes
in the harbour or other estuaries when the tide
peaks at dusk, especially around the full or no
moon periods. Tackle: 15kg line, handline or
stout rod, large bean sinker and 24kg trace with 6/
0 hook, patience.
K
Kingfish
The kingfish are back in an imposing way. Best
bet: whole live squid, squid heads or squid strips
suspended two-thirds of the way to the bottom
beside the Wedding Cakes or channel markers or
along deep-water foreshores such as inner North
Head.
Crabs
tthh rr
orr uu
Norrbboo
N
a
HHa
BON
Bonito
A white-meat tuna, the bonito jumps onto trolled
diving minnow lures. Try a Rapala CD7 or Bo-Bo
in pilchard colour, pulled at 4-6 knots, about 60100-metres off North and South heads and along
other deep-water headlands at dawn. A snappy
way to secure a feed.
B
Bream
Berleying with chopped pilchard and floating lightly
weighted pilchard fillets back into the berley using
light tackle and fine line. Suitable method from
both boat and shore. Hook size No 1 to 2/0.
CrabsB, T
J
Middle
Middle
Harbour
K Harbour
J
B, T
La
ne
Co
ve
Riv
er
B, T
B, T
Crabs
B, T
FW
B
Pa
B
rra
B
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ma
Pa B
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tta Ri ama
Riv ver tta
er
B
J
B, T
B, T
e
dlel
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idd dd
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M
HH
BON
Pigs
B, T
B, T
J B, T
B, T
B, T
K
B, T
Fort
Denison
S
M
K
Sow &
&
B, T Sow
Pigs
B, T
S
W
J B, T
F
North
North
K
Head
Head
B, T
K
K
BON
B, T
B
S
Crabs
W
F
K
S
South
South
Head
Head
B, T
J
K
Balmain
Balmain
S
B, T
Sydney
Sydney
City
City
B, T
Crabs
WPrawns
F
S
Rose Bay
Bay
Rose
S
Snapper
The prize of offshore angling, snapper prefer the
change of seasons. Autumn is a good time to
catch snapper off Sydney using cut pilchard, tuna
or squid baits with just enough lead to drift them
through a berley slick and onto the seabed. In
deeper water, drift fishing with large sinkers will
work. Try the 60 fathom reefs when the current
eases in April and May.
T
Tailor
An aggressive schooling fish named for its ability
to slash whatever poor fish crosses its path to
ribbons, the tailor is an easy fish to catch. Troll or
toss a silvery lure around the schools of fish seen
jumping in the harbour in winter, cast a pilchard
bait from the shores, or soak whole pilchards
under the full moon and during the flood tide at
Sow and Pigs or below The Spit bridge.
W
Whiting
Live worms are the ticket. Invest in about $10 or
bloodworms or beachworms. Use 3-4kg line and
a 20 gram sinker running to a swivel from which
40cm of line is tied to a No. 6 long shank hook.
Cast baits in the gutters off beaches and drift or
cast baits around the clean, quiet sandflats in the
harbour.
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wines from the Phillip’s Foote cellar. The selection of Barossa
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Beer drinkers will delight in the range of local and imported brews
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Take monthly with water April 2002 41