Long Reef shore fishing: Fishermans Beach, the northern gutters and Butterbox
Long Reef rewards picking a particular piece of water. The sand-and-rock edge at Fishermans Beach is a bream proposition. The northern shelf has shallow feeding lanes for luderick and drummer. Around the point, a bait that fishes well in a hole can become an expensive way of testing the snags in the Front Gutter. Butterbox adds gutters at the base of the southern bay and sand patches towards Long Reef Beach.
Take the outfit for that job. A float rod, a close-range drummer outfit and a longer-casting pilchard rod solve different problems here. Carrying all three does little good if the bait cannot be presented over the particular bottom in front of you.
Choose the water for your session
| Area | Targets | Starting method and difference |
|---|---|---|
| Fishermans Beach, Brown Water | Bream | Small fish bait beside broken reef or the sand-and-rock edge; a modest cast. |
| Northern shelf, Luderick Gutter | Luderick, drummer and bream | Weed float through the moving gutter on the latter rising tide; stronger close bait beside drummer cover. |
| Point holes, Front Gutter | Bream, luderick, drummer and tailor | Choose a particular pocket; a bobby cork keeps fish bait above the Front Gutter snags. |
| Butterbox | Luderick and bream | Weed in the bay gutters on the rise; small fish bait on the sand patches towards Long Reef Beach. |
For a first bream session, use the public car park at Fishermans Beach and inspect the sand-and-rock edge near the boat-ramp district. Take small fish baits and light running lead. Keep the cast clear of the working ramp and on the reachable edge rather than aiming towards the point.
Put the outfit together
Pack for the water you intend to fish. For luderick, take a responsive float rod, a balanced stem float, small strong weed hooks, shot and spare leader, plus a net that reaches the water. The blackfish setup explains the rig. For drummer, prepare a separate stronger trace and rod capable of keeping a fish out of the close cover. For tailor, match the casting rod to the metal or cork-and-fish-bait rig you will actually use. A bottom sinker is the wrong answer when the Front Gutter keeps taking it.
Fishermans Beach: bream close to the sand
Brown Water and the northern broken reef
Fishermans Beach, often called Brown Water in fishing accounts, lies between Collaroy Point and the northern base of Long Reef. There is useful water close to shore. On the Collaroy side of the boat ramp, broken reef interrupts the sand. That is the place for a bream bait worked beside cover, rather than a heavy cast into open water.
The bay's brown colour can come from the underlying clay and shale. In that water, a compact fish bait makes sense: a pilchard piece, mullet strip or tuna bait carries scent while remaining small enough for a bream to take properly. Use only enough lead to settle the bait beside the reef. If it keeps lodging in the rock, shorten the cast or work the sand edge.
This side of the headland can receive less direct southerly swell than the open point, but waves wrap into the bay. Choose the session by what the beach is actually doing. The working ramp, boats and beach users need a clear lane.
The southern corner
At the southern end, the beach meets the beginning of the northern rock platform. The older bream accounts distinguish this corner from the broken reef north of the ramp. Fish the sand-and-rock junction with the same small fish bait, changing the casting angle to find bottom that lets the bait remain visible.
This is a useful place to keep the tackle light. A bream feeding close to the sand does not require the sinker and long cast used for snapper beyond the point. Keep the bait moving just enough to stay clear of weed and inspect it when the pickers stop tapping.
The northern shelf: gutters rather than distance
The Luderick Gutter
The Luderick Gutter is the old name for a cut roughly midway along the northern shelf between Fishermans Beach and the point. Its shape is easiest to understand with water off the platform. On the flood, water spreads over the adjoining flats and the gutter becomes part of a wider feeding area.
Luderick, drummer and bream are the main close-water targets. Fish a weed bait through the gutter's moving lane for luderick; a stronger, lightly weighted bread or lawful prawn bait suits drummer around its edges. The older accounts favour the latter half of the rising tide.
Keep the float working in the gutter rather than letting it drag the bait across the flat beside it. A shorter, repeatable drift through useful water is worth more than a long drift that spends most of its time snagged.
The higher neighbouring rocks and the backing hole
The next northern-shelf position in the old account has slightly higher rock but the same luderick, drummer and bream emphasis. It is a change of working position, not a change to deep-water tackle. Adjust the float's depth for the lane you can control from there.
Farther towards the eastern front, another ledge has a deeper pocket behind it. That pocket is a drummer job: a compact bait in close and enough abrasion resistance to stop a fish taking the first hole. Casting out from the front changes the target to bream and tailor on pilchard, with snapper a wider-bottom possibility. Decide which water you are fishing before choosing the rig.
The eastern front of the northern flats
The outer edge is a series of close holes and washes, with more open casting water beyond. Pilchard portions at first or last light feature in the bream, trevally and tailor accounts. Luderick use the wash lanes, while drummer require a bait kept near the rough cover.
There is also an important difference between a hole beside the ledge and a long fish bait cast beyond it for snapper. The latter needs retrievable bottom and a rod that can put the bait there. Adding sinker weight to a rig that is buried among the close snags does not turn it into snapper fishing.
Long Reef Point: give each hole a job
The sandy corner and First Hole
The small sandy corner on the northern approach puts bream water beside the shallow point platform. Fish the boundary where sand meets broken rock. Mullet strip or a pilchard piece is more manageable here than a large bait spread over several hooks. The older account associates the corner with water covering the flats near the top of the tide.
First Hole is farther along that approach. Its particular attraction is fish moving onto the flats around a tide change, with bream and drummer featuring in the afternoon and after-dark accounts. Present the bait at the edge of the feeding water instead of assuming the deepest-looking patch is the only one worth fishing.
Second Hole
Second Hole adds luderick to the bream-and-drummer mix. It has a stronger bait-fishing history than the name alone suggests: the old night accounts used small animal baits as well as the weed presentations most anglers associate with luderick.
Match the bait to the target. A weed float gives control over luderick depth; a stronger trace and small bread or bait-prawn offering is a separate drummer presentation. The useful distinction from First Hole is the extra luderick option and the ability to work the bait above the rough bottom, rather than repeatedly fishing the same bottom rig in both holes.
Half-Tide Hole
Half-Tide Hole is described on the northern side of the higher rocks at the point. Despite its name, the historical fishing advice favours high water for bream, luderick and drummer. Water over the shallow reef lets fish reach cover that was previously exposed.
Keep the presentation close and controlled. A weed bait should travel above the snaggy floor; a drummer bait needs to remain within the feeding pocket without being dragged under the rocks.
Front Gutter
The Front Gutter follows the front of the point and is particularly hard on terminal tackle. It is a place to keep a bait above the worst bottom rather than repeatedly anchoring it in the cracks.
A bobby cork carrying a manageable garfish or pilchard bait suits the tailor and bream work described here. Keep the bait clear of the floor and retrieve it before the float pulls it into the ledge. A moving metal is another tailor option where it can be brought back cleanly. For luderick, change to weed and a balanced float; do not expect the heavier fish-bait rig to provide the same drift.
The hole behind the point rocks
The account distinguishes a sheltered pocket behind the encrusted point rocks from the Front Gutter outside them. Bream, drummer and luderick are the targets, with early morning and late afternoon featuring in its history.
That backing position calls for a small bait fished close to the cover. The Front Gutter's moving fish bait and a wide snapper cast are different jobs. Give this pocket a controlled presentation before throwing beyond the water you came to fish.
The Boulders
The Boulders is the name used for another broken-rock section at the point. Its historical emphasis is bream and luderick at lower water, with enough wash to move food through the rocks. That differs from the high-water holes and should influence the trip you choose.
Work the lanes between the rock rather than dropping a sinker into the deepest crack. A float can hold weed above the snags, while a small bait kept beside a clean edge gives bream an option.
High Tide Rock
The old High Tide Rock accounts describe raised rocks within the broad low platform, with bream, drummer and luderick feeding when water covers the surrounding flats. A long cast beyond the shallow country was a separate snapper proposition.
The useful fishing detail is the change in water coverage and casting range.
Butterbox: gutters first, sand second
Butterbox lies on the southern side of Long Reef Point. The fishing account separates the gutters at the base of that bay from the sand patches farther towards Long Reef Beach. Those are two useful presentations within a short stretch.
For luderick, concentrate on a gutter with a workable rising-tide drift. The older accounts favour about half-tide rising and the wash left by a southerly. Use those observations to look for feeding water, then set the float so the weed follows that lane.
For bream, change to the sand-and-rock patches towards the beach and let a small fish bait settle clear of the thick reef. That is a better reason to move than simply increasing the float depth in the luderick gutter. Keep well clear of surfers using the reef break.
A local report worth learning from
A reader's report of a shore session on 23 April 2014 described whiting taking beachworms in the sand corners, then bream taking half a whitebait under a cork in the rock channels. Luderick and drummer were visible feeding in very shallow water as the tide rose. The lesson is specific to this sort of platform: change the bait and presentation as you move from sand to rock channels, and look close before casting past the fish.
My own advice to a reader in 2018 was to carry a separate blackfish outfit alongside the stronger rock rod, and to change target or technique after an unproductive 90 minutes. Long Reef gives that idea a practical use. The bream water at Fishermans, northern weed drifts and a moving fish bait at the point need different presentations, even when they are all within the same morning's plan.
Bait, parking and the rock-fishing note
Long Reef Aquatic Reserve extends from Collaroy rock baths to Long Reef Surf Life Saving Club and 100 metres offshore. Finfish may be taken by permitted line or spear methods, subject to the other NSW rules. Bring every bait, including weed. Do not collect or harm the reserve's other marine plants or animals, including squid, crabs, cunjevoi and shellfish, or break them up for burley. Do not target eastern blue groper, including the red and brown stages.
Use the public car parks at Fishermans Beach and Long Reef Beach and the formed headland approaches. The beach and golf-course precincts have signed parking controls. For the rocks, wear the required lifejacket, use suitable footwear, fish with someone and watch the full wave cycle. Leave before tide or swell removes the dry working area. A famous hole and a high rock do not cancel that decision.
The blackfish guide covers the float rig in detail. For beach gutters north and south of this headland, use Narrabeen, Collaroy and Dee Why. The Long Reef boat guide covers the offshore grounds separately.