BLOG: Big city fishing

I was out fishing last weekend on an inclement day on Sydney Harbour. To escape the wind we headed deep into Middle Harbour, way past Roseville Bridge to hit some of the most interesting pieces of water I've seen in a while.

This was my first time in these upper reaches and the tide was perfect, the wind offering little distraction. With protection from the looming valley the water clarity looked about ideal - the only problem was the fish seemed to be absent.

I found it moderately surprising seeing it's the height of summer and I expect fish to be actively hunting the brackish margins, especially with little or no rain lately to wash them back down.

We tried plastics, blades and hard bodies for a few undersize bream and an undersized amberjack!

After a while, it seemed the wind had abated and conceding defeat the crew decided to head back down the waterway to fish the more expansive sections of the lower harbour. By the time we got there it was roughly midday and the sun poked its nose through the clouds. If you have ever fished the harbour with a moderate wind blowing you would know what that equates to; the bain of all fishermen - bloody sailing yachts…and thousands of them.

Not to be perturbed we settled on a little ledge another crafty Fisho contributor had tipped me off about and began our search and destroy mission. Instantly we had success! The only drama was it was smackbang in the middle of a major thoroughfare and my low profile bream boat was under serious attack. The moment a 90ft motor yacht roared past and left a wake 3ft higher than my gunwales I knew we were in trouble.

The dilemma was we were finally onto fish!

It seemed the big city fish are more accustomed to a bit of boat noise and commotion. Here we were plugging away for hours in a serene part of the system for zilch and the moment we have a go at flicking lures in the equivalent of Pitt St, we hit paydirt. Go figure!

So, do you think this was a coincidence or something that is par for the course in Australia’s major city waterways? Can fish become accustomed to a bit of hullabaloo?

My personal belief is they can. While angler comfort might be greater in pristine conditions, underwater who can tell? One thing is for sure, I’m ready to battle the Spanish armada again to get a few good fish! Please discuss..

• some great points there guys great read :) but id have to agree as well that the harbour does fish nicely when its busy, if ya in the hawkesbury or georges ya want that quietness for sure, listening to baitfish being smashed off the surface not to far away from ya.....but yeh i have fished the wedding cakes with mates, and all over the place when its chocker block full of watertraffic and it still fishes well, and then again iv been to the harbour on some weeknight fishes late when its dead quiet and ya cant buy a bite.
  IVZ350 on 10-Feb-10 03:56 PM

• I think that resident fish are residents as they are obivously happy living with their enviroment. I think any fish that has an environment change wether it be noise or boat turbulence will be effected in some way, wether it be their feeding is shut down or they may just move on to greener pastures. For me personally i would rather fish where the water is as natural as possible but that could also be because this fisho also gets lock jaw with to much noise and traffic.
  Darren on 05-Feb-10 12:13 PM

• Hey Old School... I'm not worrying about it as much as trying to figure out the variables to catching quality fish whenever i head out. I used to fish and just take things for granted. I never worried about the tides or conditions but aimlessly went about trying to catch fish. These days however I am far more systematical in my approach. I have limited time to go about my business so the time i get on the water needs to be quality. If i catch a fish instantly I'm looking for the common denominator so i can get the next. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't, but i really love trying to solve the puzzle. Thanks for your input though :-)
  Savvyfishing on 04-Feb-10 11:44 PM

• The fish live the harbour fulltime they would be used to the noise and disturbance for sure, they probably would not know any different. I am sure when they are hungry they eat regardless of the noise. I think to many fisho's worry to much about external factors instead of fishing. Kev if your worrying about these sort of things then your starting to sound like my ex who worried about everything else except the job at hand. Mate if the water looks good stop thinking and spend more time fishing!
  Old school on 04-Feb-10 04:41 PM

• Yeah Simmo, I know what you mean. I'm a broken down ex-footballer with both knees reconstructed. If it wasn't for my lean seat up front i wouldn't stand a chance. But it's funny, when i fish the pain mysteriously seems to vanish :-) Conn Mann - Yeah I've heard that story a few times over the years. I'm sure though it was from your mouth! Just means next time i go fishing i have to load the boat with bush rocks from the missus' garden.
  savvyfishing on 04-Feb-10 11:40 AM

• I think you are onto something there Kevo. I believe fish are curious creatures and are very adaptive to their environment. I was once up at Port Macquarie walking along the southern breakwall heading upriver, when I stopped to talk to a fisho. He was fishing for blackfish in the tradition way, (float and greenweed) but he was more interested in setting up his rod and making last minute adjustments. When I asked him why he was not fishing seriously, he responded,"it's not time yet". He said wait for about ten minutes and you will see. He was not the only fisho there. They were lined up shoulder to shoulder and even in boats in this little bay section of the breakwall. Eventually the fisho said to me, here we go. As if in unison, every fisho starting throwing rocks into the water in this tiny bay and then in every square inch of this bay there was a float. It started. Down after down, fish after fish. Everybody was catching blackfish. I questioned the fisho about this strategy and his response was simple. He said these fish were used to noise and commotion and coupled with curiosity these fish came to see what all these rocks were about. The rest is history. Had I not seen it I would have had a hard time believing it. Just to sum up Kevo, I believe that a bit of commotion can actually stir the fish up. If anyone else has witnessed anything like this, please let me know so I can at least think I'm still sane.
  Con Mann on 03-Feb-10 09:52 PM

• good point! dont think it matters that much.
  yibbida yibbida on 03-Feb-10 07:16 PM

• Never given the topic much thought but would have to agree. The only thing that makes me wonder if this is the case is that i m sure it would not be that busy all the time. My other thought is that sometimes when certain species are feeding it wouldn't matter what was going on. I have been in the middle of a feeding frenzy only to have a Manly ferry steam roll the school and then have them resurface only to continue feeding. Were you chasing bottom dwellers or pelagics and could it have been that you may have been in deeper water where these issues are less important? At my age if i am ever heading out in bumpy conditions i need the thermoskins just to brace the knees and thats with gunales to wedge against, think i will stick to the back waters myself for comfort!
  Simmo on 03-Feb-10 04:24 PM