Deep Water Bend??

[Pete_NewFarm]

Hi all

Planned a trip to Shorncliffe Pier on the high tide last night. Very disappointing results, but on the way I popped in at Deep Water Bend to check it out for future reference. It's a really nice spot and obviously easy to fish. So nice that my wife might even like to come along, walk the wildlife areas, have a picnic and read a book while I'm trying to get off the doughnut. Trouble is, I came home and did some research, and I could hardly find any fishing reports on it later than about 2013, and the ones I did find were not optimistic. Some went as far as to say that there are no fish there, others said you might get some flathead and maybe bream if you fish close in to the rocks, but any sort of positive report was hard to find. It gave the distinct impression that most serious fishermen/women had given up on it in the last 10 years or thereabouts. Others said that the fishing had gone off since they refurbished the area, which makes it more frustrating to be only finding old reports that predate the refurbishment. Does anyone here fish Deep Water Bend with any regularity and actually catch fish?

[ellicat]

@Jono4500 fishes there occasionally, I think. Hopefully he sees this now I've tagged him.

[Jono4500]

Hi Pete 

 Yeah mate I feed the fish there with my kids roughly every fortnight mainly because it's close to home, they can sit there all day chasing kangaroos, crabs and undersized bream.  Unfortunately deep water bend is a victim of its location. It gets a lot of pressure and gets very busy. We occasionally catch fish eating size, maybe 1  out of 4 trips being generous. BUT I've caught legal flathead, trevally, prawns, javelin, bream and flounder. I've seen sea turtles and a species of small sea horse/dragon I've never seen anywhere else. I've never had a favourite tide but find sunrise gets the fish biting. I've wasted hours fishing pre dawn for not a bite. Fresh bait works best, I castnet prawns, mullet and herring. So Its not my 1st choice spot if I'm looking for a feed, but you never never know unless you have a go! 

Good luck and post some pics if you get anything decent.

[mangajack]

Deepwater Bend can fish decently almost all year round IF you fish it effectively.

Put a berley mix bomb in the water about 4 metres up current from you and out about 1m from the edge.

About 20 minutes later start fishing up current from you about 1 to 1.5m from the bank with unweighted flesh baits about the size of a 10c coin, removing the slack line as the current brings your bait towards you. The moment the current starts pulling on your line you will need to recast....the fish will not smack a cube that is not drifting normally...the pickers start then.

Bream will be ranging from small to quite big, well over the kilo mark. I have caught a few large jacks there over the years fishing this way as well...

September if I fish there i will swap out cubes for whole whitebait that have just finished the run in the river.

Casts more than 3m from the bank will leave you frustrated with untouched bait or stingrays.

It fishes fairly well for luderick along the bank there too....you do need to berley them to concentrate them though.

Shorncliffe pier fishes quite well for whiting on the flats before the house in the middle, otherwise completely unweighted baits dropped beside the pilons is the go.

 

[Pete_NewFarm]

Thanks guys.

I've taken on board what you've said and I'll give it a go over a few sessions and see how I go.

[Pete_NewFarm]

Since I started this, thought I should follow up.

I had a sudden inspiration to go fishing on Monday, 17/4/23, and decided to give Deep Water Bend a go. Had in mind to try out a number of spots there but ended up starting on one of the fishing platforms and stayed there. HT was due at 7.54pm, but couldn’t resist going out about 3.30pm (nothing else to do). I didn’t have any burley on hand but I did want to try out mangajack's idea of fishing very close in to the rocks using no weight. It was a difficult because the tide was running and when I cast up-current the bait would just shoot past me before it even went to the bottom. I did try putting on a little weight (up to a no.1 ball sinker) but it was still running past me, so I went back to no weight.
The good news is that I was getting bites from the get-go, even when the line had tensed up. They were clearly bream because I managed to hook 6 of them, but 5 were undersized (maybe one of those just on 25cm), which is what Jono suggested. I did take home a 28cm one for tomorrow’s dinner. Missed a fair few as well, and I think some of those were a decent size. The bites slowed down as the tide eased off (just when it became a lot easier to drift the bait), but as the breeze settled down and the water was still, it was a beautiful night at a beautiful spot. Left about 7.30pm – still a few nibbles then. Didn't catch a 'decent' fish, but I thought the photo would be more meaningful. Biggest lesson: Take Mortein.
Tried again about 10 days later. By chance, around the same tide time and I arrived at 4.30pm. Again, the bait was drifting past quickly but even on a tense line I was getting bites from the get-go, but only landed three and they were all small. 2 undersized bream and – shock! - a baby dart about 5-6 inches long. I thought you only get those in the surf, but the book tells me they are found in estuaries as well.
Postscript: On the first trip I put the Mortein on late and over the next few days I suffered a bad allergic reaction to insect bites on my legs – lasted for a week. Second time around I was bathed in Mortein from the start but the bugs still found a few spots to bite (eg behind the ear, under the shirt at the front – not tucked in). It was less widespread but still had a bad reaction. I will give it another try but next time not at sunset.

[Angry51]

Yeah, I can suffer mozzies but not sandflies/midges.

Well you proved a theory right and got a feed, just apply it at

the right place/time and you'll be sweet.

Good report, thanks, and that plate looks good too.

[Bob9863]

Most spots the difference between taking home a bag and coming up empty is working out the runs and the method that works in that particular spot. 

There doesn't seem to be a one size fits all approach to fishing. 

A bit more time and playing with techniques and it might fish alright for you. 

Maybe even drifting soft plastics might be worth a go. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Good work mate, glad you got onto a few.

[Bretto77]

Thanks for updating Interesting brag mat. I have never fished there. Any spot takes some working out just like @Bob9863 said