Narrabeen Lagoon Doughnut

On Easter Monday I loaded the yak onto the ute (is there a more Australian sentence?) and headed for Narrabeen Lagoon. I’d read mixed reviews on the venue, but wanted to check it out for myself, and form my own opinion. At the very least I believed it held a healthy population of bream and flathead, which alone was worth a visit.

After a brief 20 minute drive I arrived at the water and was instantly impressed with it’s beauty. The wind was yet to pick up, and the lagoon was still devoid of the crowds I expected would arrive shortly, leaving the surface of the water perfectly flat, reflecting the abundance of greenery lining the lagoon’s shore.

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After kitting up a few rods I paddled out onto the water, making the decision to head inland towards some of the inlets, rather than towards the entrance. While on the move I trolled a Gotcha behind me and got a few bumps while crossing over the flats and weed beds. Sadly none of them hooked up, and so I stopped and drifted over the flats, flicking a fly at any structure on the bottom, hoping to hook into a fish. Sadly I didn’t.

I was truely amazed as to just how shallow a large percentage of the lagoon was. While moving around I was often forced to feather my peddle kayak over the shallows, in less than 2 feet of water, once again validating my choice of the Hobie over a prop based kayak.

From the flats I headed for Deep Creek, where I fished some more flats, before making my way up the creek fishing the structure for bream or EPs. Sadly I didn’t make it too far up the creek before I came across people and dogs swimming, and so I decided to turn around and head back into the lagoon.

Back on the main body of water, I fished the drop offs around Deep Creek’s entrance into the lagoon, but couldn’t dredge any fish off the bottom. It was however great to see a father and son wade out into the lagoon to fly fish the area.

This was the first trip where I did the majority of my fishing standing up in the Hobie Outback, and it performed amazingly. I had no issues with stability, and never came close to falling out. The only minor frustration I experienced was having the line tangle around the peddles, although I somewhat negated this by stripping the line behind me into the seat. That said, I may well take a stripping basket out with me on future trips.

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From Deep Creek I headed south to South Creek, more to explore the area than because I felt it would fish any better than Middle Creek. Again I was amazed by just how much of the lagoon was shallow while traversing between the creeks.

From South Creek I opted for a change in tactics and headed for the entrance, where the water was a lot cleaner. I fished predominantly around the Sanctuary Island area, and got a few good bumps, but sadly didn’t manage to hook into any fish.

With lunch time looming, and the wind picking up, I called it a day and headed back to the car. I was really impressed with the water, and was left wondering just how busy it would be once the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. That said, it was incredibly busy even during the lockdown, with a large number of people kayak and paddle boarding on the lagoon, and even more running and riding around it on the well maintained track. It’s a great venue. Next time I’ll definitely bring the family.