Cowan Creek

By Craig McGill

0f course these things are only a matter of opinion, but I think Sydney has by far the most spectacular waterways of any of Australia's capital cities right on her doorstep. I am told that Sydney harbour is one of the most spec­tacular populated harbours in the world, but for my taste the near pristine environment of the Cowan system takes the cake.

Cowan is a major tributary of the Hawkesbury, branching in at the mouth where the mighty river meets the sea at Broken Bay. In itself Cowan is a huge system with its own major tributaries of Coal and Candle, and Smiths creeks adding up to approximately twenty-two kilometres of navigable waters. The system cuts its way through the Ku­ring-gai Chase National Park so the major part of the catchment is in its virginal state, leaving it rel­atively pollution free. The only human encroach­ment upon its shoreline is at the tiny settlements of Cottage Point and Akuna Bay; so for the most part of the system you get that feeling of being 'almost anywhere'.

Unlike the Hawkesbury, Cowan is a flooded valley which means that until sea levels rose 10,000 years ago the system was a mere trickle, in stark contrast to today where water depths in places reach one hundred feet. As a result the freshwater catchment is relatively tiny, leading to near oceanic saline levels and some surprisingly diverse marine life.

I've seen dolphins in amongst the mangroves, big blue groper, frigate mackerel, giant sea turtles, sea snakes, Australian salmon, kingies and even mack tuna within the system, all 15km from the sea. It is quite a unique experience, to say the least, to be fishing on the flats for bream while frigates chase baitfish amongst the mangrove roots.

Of course all your usual estuary species are in residence, including crustaceans like prawns and both blue swimmer and mud crabs. The deep, dark, still waters also make Cowan a haven for squid, favourite food of everything but especially jewfish.

Then there's the hairtail, for which Cowan is nationally famous. Indeed, for many years it was thought to be their sole habitat. They are eel-like in appearance, don't fight too well and are nothing to write home about on the plate, but it seems every­one has a fascination with them even if they don’t have access to them. When Gary Brown, a fishing teacher from TAFE, was asked to lecture a Victorian TAFE fishing class he asked if they had any preference on subjects. The reply was unani­mously hairtail.

The Windybank family of Windybanks Bait fame were one of the early pioneers of the Cowan system. They established the first ever boat shed and fished the waters professionally as far back as 1886. They lived and ran the boatshed on Waratah Bay and can remember the first time the hairtait ever ventured into the system.

“Up until about 1944 hairtail were only ever caught at Shark Rock near the mouth," Grandma Windybank tells me. "Then one day the water in Waratah Bay just came alive with them. It was during the day and the surface bubbled with the far as the eye could see. They were packed in so tightly that many died as they tangled in the r and up against the rocks. After that we caught t everywhere, right throughout the system and up until the present day."

Waratah Bay is still the most consistent location to take hairies, but today they are unreliable and can turn up anywhere throughout the system at any time. Their peak is during the cooler months.

Live bait was traditionally the way to go, but the last few years many anglers have been turning to dead pillies with greater success. Pillies ganged hooks or even more popular these days half pillie on a single hook seems to be the way to go. A berley trail of cut pillies is a good start-I suppose you'd call it cubing. Whatever method choose, just make sure the hooks are razor sharp.

Cowan is not an easy system to fish. All shoreline looks the same and the water is consistently deep. The tide goes up and down of course, but never really gets up much of a flow so not a lot in the way of eddies or run-offs like in the main river.

The shores are all deep and encrusted. To an experienced bream fisho fishing the system for the first time the whole system looks exceptional, but of course we all know that fish aren't everywhere. However the general rules of river reading do apply. It's just that the signs are not obvious.

The secret to success on Cowan bream, if you intend to fish the deep shores, is berley. Some of the best deepwater spots have been marked for you by the MSB in the form of port and starboard navigation markers. The points that pro­trude the farthest offer the greatest refuge from the current, no matter how minimal it might be, and the fish take advantage of this. Also the break in flow causes a scouring effect digging holes in the bed, which are another drawcard. The most pro­truding points are also the ones you are most like­ly to run into at night, hence the marker beacons.

The deepwater locations fire after heavy rain when there's a bit of colour in the water. Under these conditions cut baits like skirt steak and pilchard fil­lets generally outfish live yabbies, prawns or worms which are other­wise the way to go when the water is clear.

Up the back of nearly all the bays in Cowan are sand flats. Some are short at only a few hundred metres while some run for a kilometre or more. They all have a feeder creek of varying size. Some of these creeks are mere trickles entering the system via a waterfall and are more fresh. Others are more substantial, even to the degree of offering some classic mangrove lined estuarine environ­ment and the sort of fishing that goes with it.

These flats offer some excellent bream fishing at high tide. Anchoring forward and aft within casting distance of the shore and fishing most of your lines towards the shore, but not neglecting the open side, produces some surpris­ingly big bream for such a shallow water. These flats also produce the occasional blackfish, whiting and flathead on bream baits. More than the occasional blackfish and whiting, can be had by targeting them more specifically. Despite the suitability of the area, flathead always seem to be only an occasional capture over these flats, even if targeted specifi­cally. Nearly all the flats produce yabbies.

The drop-offs on these flats are usually dramatic, falling from four to twenty feet over a very short dis­tance, and are easy to read. There are good healthy patches of ribbon weed around the drop-offs which harbour squid, prawns and all manner critters. The sand flats drain dry in most cases forcing everything off at low tide. Naturally this is the spot for flathead and it also ties in well with a bream session. This is how it works

You go up over the flats at high tide and fish bream as described before. While you are up there you set a mullet trap or catch mullet or hardyheads on a small hook. When you've got just enough water left to get out, head for the drop-off an anchor up in one of the corners where the sand meets the rocky shore. Spread three or four livies out for flatties and cast a couple of bream Iines right back up into the shallows. There's a good chance you will pick up a couple more bream as they make their final move off the flats into deep.

Other good spots to try for flatties are around the spots mentioned earlier and there's a good drift running from America Bay over to Eleanor Bay and from Cowan Point to Yeomans Bay.

Jewie king Eddie Huttary nom­inates Cowan as his favourite spot. Cowan has three major drawcards over the Hawkesbury; lots of caves, very deep water and huge amounts of squid. Locating the squid is as important as anything else. Arrow squid are more common in this system than Calamari squid and they congregate in big schools. They move around a lot because the tailor gives them a hard time, but the sand drop-offs, the points and under the lights are the spots to look.

The points, the holes and where cliff face is a line that drops vertically into deep water are the best spots to try for jewies. Jerusalem Bay has all these features and a good reputation as a jewie spot.

Around the new moon fish the morning tides, and the evening tides around the full. Nine a.m. appears regularly alongside jewfish in my diary.

Jewies seem to be a fair option on lures in Cowan. Between my mate Jobbie and myself we've only had two sessions trolling for jew but the results have been encouraging. I got one at about six pounds on my first troll and Jobbie, four weeks later, got two on his first troll - a fifteen and a fifty seven pounder - the bastard.

The deep rocky shoreline of Cowan is ideal for leather jackets and they were once so abundant throughout the system that they were pursued professionally. They were trapped in huge num­bers and although they are in nowhere near the plague propor­tions that they once were they are still quite abundant. They prefer the cliff face areas and I find anchoring right up on the shore and fishing straight up and down with a paternoster rig the most productive. Peeled prawns are the way to go, but most times the cockneys will drive you nuts at which time leaving the shells on will help a bit. The six spined jackets are the most common, with the odd fantail thrown in. Jackets are a good stand-by if things are quiet or through the middle of the day.

As I said earlier, many varieties of pelagic fish venture into the Cowan system, but by far the most common is the tailor. It is not uncommon to see large schools of tailor working baitfish on the surface, along with accompanying screeching seag­ulls, all ten kilometres from the sea. They are not small fish either. One kilo specimens are quite common. They are encountered right throughout the system, just depending on where the baitfish or the squid are, and can be taken a number of different ways. Trolling one deep and one shallow diver out each side and one chrome metal slug down the centre will soon sort them out if you can't visually locate them on the surface. Casting to the working fish on the surface with chromies is the most successful method. Live bait­ing with poddies or yakkas also works well, as you will discover as soon as you feed one out aimed at flatties or jewies. Once again those rocky points are generally the most productive spot.

Cowan really does have a lot going for it. The fishing is good, the scenery is spectacular and water pristine. The few ramps and services in area (Apple Tree and Akuna Bay, and Co Point) are first class but unobtrusive enough to retain the remote atmosphere. The steep terrian makes it an all weather option while the lack of residential development makes it a genuine getaway for Sydneysiders.

Fishabout Tours Contact: Craig McGill 9975187 or Mobile 0412918127