Fishing Sydney During COVID Lockdown Winter 2021

Today was the first day of the latest COVID lockdown of winter 2021 in the Greater Sydney area. We are supposed to stay in our LGA (Local Government Area) and I must say that I am glad that I live in the Northern Beaches Council during this COVID lockdown.

Today we set off on foot on the Spit to Manly trail to get out the house since the weather has been a bit wet and dreary. School is out for break and the kids were aching to take a walk and get a fishing session in. We were running low on yakkas so we took some small rods with floats and a ziploc bag of bait and berley.

We left from the North Harbour area and headed to The Spit since we figured there were less people. There were quite a bit of people out and about since it was 18 degrees, surprisingly.

Most of the rocky shoreline around the area is fairly shallow that is easily accessible. We had used a lot of our yakkas and garfish we caught for bait so we decided to grab a handful while we were out. Some berley and a couple size 12 hooks make for some fun for the kids.

Fishing for yakkas, also called scad or yellowtails, was pretty fun for the little ones. It didn't take but a few minutes after the berley was thrown out for them to show up and start poking around. I cut the top out of an empty milk jug and put it in my backpack with some ice. When we caught the yakkas we put them in the ice slurry to keep them cold. We often fish from the rocks or surf for (salmon and) kingfish.

I must admit that I haven't eaten yakkas yet but I've seen them at the seafood market. I have eaten fried whitebait, or silversides, and they make great bait too. One of the largest flatheads I've caught was on a float drifting a large silverside in the current. Didn't expect that but I'll take it.

I was in Italy a few times and had 'fried fish' and it came to the table as whole fried fish the size of yakkas. They were put in a cup with a napkin sticking tails up like some fancy chips. It was actually very good and maybe Ill get around to frying some whole fish sooner or later at home.

We spent about 3 hours hiking some of the trails between North Harbour and halfway to the Spit. We didn't catch anything of notable interest but it was a lot of fun. Seeing the harbour and getting fresh air is always welcome. Getting some fishing in is always a bonus too. We try to whenever we can.