The shades of winter grey and cold short days are now well and truly upon us, the last couple of weeks have seen record low temperatures throughout New South Wales, some of the coldest in 60 years.
One great bonus for anglers during the great cold snap of 2010 has been a fantastic run of luderick right along the NSW coastline.
Luderick are omnivorous, meaning they will eat worms, yabbies and prawns as well as green weed and cabbage. Headlands, breakwalls and rocky foreshores are perfect spots to wet a line for these very underrated table fish. All you need is a long whippy rod around the 10 to 11ft mark, a reel spooled up with 4kg mainline, a couple of floats, some split shot and a packet of size 8 hooks and you’re in business.
It helps to sit back and watch the local luderick guns for a while before rigging your gear. Take note of their rigs and float depth as well as the size and volume of the floats they are using. Ask plenty of questions, their knowledge will rapidly increase your success rate, while some remain secretive and coy, others will gladly help you out.
Many luderick anglers keep the location of their weed source top secret, so it may take a bit of ground work to find some good weed to begin with. You will find green weed growing in brackish drains, dams and lagoons along the coast, alternatively you can purchase it from many NSW tackle stores during winter when it’s in high demand.
I haven’t fished for luderick for years, but the last couple of weeks I’ve had nothing else on my mind. There’s an art to it, which I’m a long way from mastering, but I’m having a hoot going cross-eyed watching my float!
Luderick are not too bad on the tooth either, filleted and skinned with a light covering of bread crumbs they are pretty good tucker.
So if you’re sick of sitting on the lounge waiting for next summer’s mackerel run do yourself a favour and get down to your local breakwall and shiver with me.
