By Craig McGill

This little gem of an estuary is a short hop from that Sydney smog, grime, traffic and crowds.

If you spend a few hours around sunrise anchored up on Berowra Creek you'll soon realise that 'the grass is greener' philosophy is rife on the Hawkesbury system. Ninety five percent of the boats putting in at the Berowra ramp do the bolt straight for the main river. Furthermore, of all the major waterways in Sydney, Berowra Creek is the one about which I get the most consistent nega­tive feedback from anglers who have been unable to crack the system.

None of this is any reflection of the true productivity of the area. Berowra Creek is a major tributary of the Hawkesbury, entering the main river at Bar Island. The headwaters (in the Hornsby district) are miniscule compared to that of the Hawkesbury, but do hold enough permanent fresh to support a small population of bass. The main body of water then winds its way through bushland, national park and nature reserve, so except for some patchy residen­tial shoreline development much of the system remains in its natural state.

Berowra, like the main river, is pretty heavily commercially fished. There's plenty of evidence of gill netting and not so obvious is the proliferation of fish and crab traps. I’m not sure of the legal require­ments for pro traps but it appears that the system of marking traps, so heavily enforced upon amateurs, does not apply to the commercial sector. Instead their position is carefully noted and the trap is then tended to via a grappling hook on a length of rope. This leads to the question of how fisheries inspec­tors could possibly keep track on the number and legal specifications of traps in service. Fortunately Berowra seems free from the scourge of the prawn trawlers, which is probably its saving grace.

Berowra is every bit as productive as the main river for pretty much the same range of species, but with one major factor that makes it just a touch more user friendly than the Hawkesbury. Being a much smaller system Berowra's tidal movement is tranquil in comparison with the torrent that makes many of the Hawkesbury top spots a turn of the tide option only.

Due to this lesser tidal movement the upper reaches of Berowra are much clearer, but neverthe­less tannin stained. There is a definite colour change that occurs round about Calabash Bay, marking the upper limits to which the sediment rich Hawkesbury waters intrude. It's from this mark and downstream that the best fishing occurs.

Upstream does hold reasonable fishing, especial­ly for those seeking luderick or looking to chase flathead on lures. Britannia Rock, upstream from the ferry crossing, is the best known of the black­fish posies, but the steep rock face at the mouth of the Calabash, the rock wall on the Galston side of the ferry crossing and the huge boulder on the point to the left as you come out of the boat ramp are all top spots. River weed is available in the canal run­ning alongside the boat ramp car park in winter, or at Windybanks bait supplies at Mt Colah on the way to Berowra.

The luderick are typical river fish, running at around half to one pound, and do require a bit of berley to get them stirred up. I find that fishing no more than four kilo line and the lightest of terminal rigs, incorporating a quill float rather than the tradi­tional weighted float, to be the most successful. I've had some sensational results lately using 15 pound breaking strain Platypus Super Braid as a main line. It floats all the way to the quill float and offers virtually no resistance when it comes time to set the hook. Finish off with a length of Platypus Platinum three kilo and a No. 10 Mustad Sneck and you've got a system that will bring the wariest of blackfish unstuck.

The upper reaches are a myriad of sand bank drop-offs, deep holes and weed banks. It's ideal flathead country especially if you intend to chase them on lures. The rapidly varying depth and abun­dance of obstructions means that this area is far more suited to casting than trolling. I'd suggest working Mr Twisters around the holes and drop-offs and stickbaits like Slugo or Shadow around the weed, snags and shallows.

Down below Calabash. or the dirty water mark, the options revolve around the three icons of the estuary; bream, flathead and the mighty jewfish. There's plenty, of spots where you can target all three together, namely the deep holes, or they can be targeted more successfully by, fishing specifically.

Big fish are caught consistently but particularly towards winter, when numbers drop, trophy speci­mens of at least one of the species are a feature of nearly every trip. Berowra is consistent enough on big fish I can safely say that the biggest flathead, bream and jewie that I've had anything to do with has come from this system within the last two seasons.

Bream are by far the most commonly encountered species although at times they are out numbered con­siderably by phenomenal runs of flatties. Unfortunately these runs never last for much longer than a couple of weeks, whereas the bream are fairly consistent from about late October through to June.

Bream first start to come on the bite around the end of October. Their numbers peak through the summer months and start to drop off around May although at this time the average size goes through the roof.

The main features where the bream will be encountered are the mangrove lined mud flats and the rocky shores near a deep hole on a high tide. They will be encountered at times in the deep holes at low tide but this generally does not coincide with their peak feeding period. A good depth sounder is an asset in these heavily discoloured waters.

Best baits as always are the fresh baits, but not necessarily live baits, and on Berowra skirt steak produces the most consistently (much to the dismay of some of my more enthusiastic charter clients who turn up with live prawns or worms).

The rig is fairly standard, being a No.4 Mustad Bait Holder on a 50cm length of clear trace below a swivel on the main line of Platypus Pre-test fluro. The only variable is the sinker weight, which changes according to the current.

As already mentioned, flathead are a fair target on lures above the crossing, but if you're after quality rather than quantity then the lower reaches are the go.

Flatties have roughly the same season as bream and like bream the average size increases towards the end of the season. They are not consistent like bream and tend to come through in unpredictable runs. Once they settle in bag limits can be achieved per session, although I don’t per­sonally condone doing so. The runs can last for up to two weeks. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are easy to catch as they are concentrated and can take some time to locate. I don't think that flat­head school as such, but for whatever reason one is attracted to an area it is good enough reason to attract many others, hence the concentrations. Good places to start looking are the drop-offs, be they into holes or off the edge of the mud flats on a falling tide. Once again the sounder is a great asset.

Live baits invariably attract the biggest fish but you, d be surprised at the quality fish you'll pick up on your skirt steak bream baits. Packet Hawkesbury River prawns are a consistent taker of average fish. For live bait I use a 6/0 Mustad Big Red and for prawns either a 4/0 or a 2/0 baitholder depending on the size of the prawn.

I rarely get bitten off using 10 kg trace, but find most fish are lost at the landing net stage. Once a big flathead nears the surface back off on the drag, as their lightning fast lunges regularly break lines off on even the smoothest, most precisely set drags.

School jewies up to about two kilos are more abundant here than anywhere else I've fished. The large Windybanks Hawkesbury prawn is way in front for fish this size; despite offerings of fresh tai­lor slabs and live baits. There's no difference between my flathead rig and my jewie rig when using prawns. In fact this standard rig is put out aimed at both and occasionally it even picks up large bream.

If you examine a prawn you will notice that it can't be swallowed either head or tail first because there's a bloody big spike either end. If you fold a prawn so that the head and tail point the same way then both the spikes point in the same direction. I believe that this is how a fish must swallow a prawn, both spikes pointing away from the throat. The addition of a hook, especially a long shank hook, makes the prawn hard to fold, therefore hard to swallow. A lot of gun flathead fishos swear by removing the head of the prawn to let the smell out. Releasing the smell is one big advantage but I think the fact that the spike also goes when the head comes off is the real advantage.

For bigger jewies (two kg plus) live baits like tai­lor and yellowtail do the most damage. Big fresh fil­lets are good but Berowra's abundance of rays and pike eels mean they are out of the question for night sessions. Our biggest jewie to date fell for a tiny piece of skirt steak aimed at bream. I'm convinced that, like bream, jewies are an opportunist feeder; every bit as much a scavenger as a predator.

Jewies are encountered in the holes and in the channels between the holes. They really come on the chew on the last half hour before the high and the two hours after. There’s no question that most of the day time (morning high) Jewies are taken around the new moon and with the evening highs producing around the full. Live baits on the full and stinky baits on the new.

There's plenty of natural bait in Berowra. Yellowtail can be caught above the dirty watermark while tailor are caught throughout the system. Surprisingly those herring commonly found throughout the tropics turn up often enough not to be a fluke. Big mullet pack in tightly in season and you can usually pick up a couple by spinning though the middle of the school with a sliced metal lure, very very fast. As mentioned earlier blackfish weed comes from the feeders during winter. The mud/sand flats pump well for squirt worms and estuary pippies but yabbies are scarce enough to be a poor proposition.

Blue swimmer crabs are taken in witches’ hats in abundance from about December to May. Muddies are common enough to be worth targeting with pots through the same period and become particular­ly active in the lower reaches after a good fresh.

Facilities on Berowra are limited to one three-lane boat ramp com­plete with cleaning tables and plenty of parking. There's also a marina with boat hire, fuel, ice, bait, etc. but once you leave that area you are on your own.

As I said at the beginning of this article, Berowra is a popular launching spot for anglers with the Hawkesbury in their sights. The final decision on whether you stay in Berowra or head for 'greener pastures' is up to you, but I can assure you that the extra fuel and time, in comparison, is rarely justified through better catches.

Spinning flathead

Flathead spend most of their lives buried up to their eyes in sand or mud. To their prey they are virtual­ly undetectable and when you combine this with a cavernous, needle-lined mouth and lightning fast reflexes you come up with what could possibly be the ultimate piscatorial predator. This makes them very susceptible to lure fishing.

Most lure fishing for flatties is done in three to 15 feet of water. Trolling is an option but the most fun is to be had by casting around the shallow sand banks and weed beds. A lot of this is visual fishing and in shallow water, on lures, the flatties reputa­tion as a poor fighting fish goes out the window.

There are three main types of lure that I carry when chasing flatties; stick baits, soft plastic/jig head combinations and diving minnows.

To work the weed beds there is no better lure than the soft plastic stick bait. With the hook point lying flush with the lure they are virtually weed proof and can be very effectively worked over, around and even through the weed. The Riverside 'Top Gun' is an ideal choice for this purpose.

To fish the drop off’s and deeper channels soft plastic/jig head combinations are my first choice. The old twin tail Skirt Mister Twister in orange or pink is legendary. The main advantage of this type of lure is its ability to be bounced along the bottom regardless of water depth. This means it can be bounced down a drop off or along a channel bed, spending longer in the flatties strike zone.

Finally, for trolling you will need to carry lures that can be relied on to maintain a specific depth. Trolling is used to prospect the more featureless areas like over the tops of sand or mud banks at high tide and along the channels at low. These areas are usually a fairly constant depth and can be cov­ered more extensively by trolling a lure a foot or two above the bottom.

The Rebel Crawdad is ideal for this purpose and has the added advantage of being an exceptional bream lure. I find bream become a regular by-catch of flathead fishing while using the Crawdad in its smaller sizes.