The Eels of Currarong

[wazatherfisherman]

 I had gone to Currarong one February with some mates and hired a cabin in the caravan park. Our trip was based on live-baiting for Kingfish and Tuna at either the popular "Mermaids Inlet" rock platform, or the famous "Tubes". Unfortunately the sea was pretty rough and the swell was on the increase. After walking the forty minutes on the track to Mermaids, we fished for about twenty minutes before a series of really big swells came over the platform, sending us running for the safety of a high ledge. Not really safe on the platform due to the increasing northerly swell, we had to change plans. The only safe places to fish on the entire Beecroft Peninsula were not accessible because the headland is used as a naval bombardment range and was in use.

Plan "B" was to fish Currarong Beach. The beach is reasonably protected from big swells, as a shallow reef runs parallel to the shore and the larger waves seem to break well out. We had a great afternoon on the beach, first catching a heap of Beach worms, then using them to catch Whiting, Dart, Bream, Mullet, Flathead and Salmon. A change of rig also got us a few Tailor just before sunset- one of the best 'mixed-bags' I've caught from a beach and in a calm, virtually wave free environment. We returned 'victorious' to the caravan park, where one of the guys, who worked in a large fish market back in Sydney, cleaned the catch.

The cabin didn't have any covered outdoor area, so we left all our fishing gear and rods outside the door. A knock on the door heralded the arrival of the park's security guard. He advised us not to leave any gear outside the cabin as the park had seen a spate of tackle thefts over the previous month, saying that even though the park was virtually empty, the thieves were still active. We thanked him and offered him a coffee, which he declined,  but then added that we should go and have a fish for mudcrabs in the parks lagoon before turning in for the night. "They've been catching them every night, just use a whole Pilchard or a bit of fish. Throw a couple of lines out and take your net- the best spot is on the old bridge over the lagoon". As we had no plans to get up early due to rockfishing cancelled by the big swell, we thought we should go and check the mudcrab situation out.

After dinner, we grabbed a spool of line each, a few hooks and sinkers and our net. A torch each and some pilchards for bait. It was only a five minute walk through the park to the lagoon and about another minute to the old bridge. The bridge was an old wooden-plank style structure that stretched about fifteen yards across a small creek which flowed into the lagoon and had been the only access across the creek, into the tiny hamlet of Currarong. A recently built bridge had replaced it, which was some twenty yards away with the old bridge road diverted to cross it instead.

The old bridge had been left as it was safe pedestrian access from the caravan park to the 'town' and was closed to vehicular traffic. There was a low safety railing on each side of the old bridge but no lighting; this didn't really matter, as the new bridge was so close, well lit and stood quite a few yards higher than the old, so you could see everything in it's direction.

Upon arriving at the bridge and checking out the narrow creek below, we were a little disappointed to say the least. The water was less than three feet deep, very clear and seemingly barren of any marine life. However, we were there, so we baited up a handline each and threw our pilchards into the wider side of the creek,towards the new bridge. We could easily see our baits sitting on the bottom in the crystal clear water, so we decided to leave the lines in and have a quick look on the other side of the bridge. No activity on that side either, maybe the security guard was having us on? Oh well, it was something to do and better than simply sitting back at the cabin. Then, looking back towards the baits on the bottom, movement in the water caught the eye. Out from under the bridge came a large black eel. It was well over four feet long and about as thick as a large grapefruit. It must have picked up the scent of the pilchards because it was purposely heading towards where they lay still on the bottom where we had thrown them.

As the eel neared the first pilchard, instead of swimming down and feeding, it swam in a circular motion around it, then 'propped' and looked back towards where we stood watching from the bridge. Out from underneath us swam an even larger eel, at least five feet in length and as round as a saucer. It raced straight at the first eel and attacked! The ensuing fight lasted at least a minute and saw both eels intertwined in a tangled ball, biting each other repeatedly and shaking their heads madly once attached to their opponent.!

WOW! What a thing to watch. The fight went on until the smaller of the combatants managed to wrestle free and fled towards the new bridge with the second eel following. After chasing the smaller eel completely away, eel number two came back towards the hard won pilchards. Then, in an almost repeat performance, the second eel circled the bait and then it too 'propped' and looked back towards us on the old bridge. Sure enough, another eel was coming out from underneath and heading straight towards eel two. This eel was massive, at least six feet long, as thick as a football and like the other two, jet black.

Same scenario as before, eel three raced straight at eel two and an awesome fight took place. Watching from our vantage point about six feet above, we were stunned at the ferocity of the fight, with the two fighters tangled together biting and shaking their heads so violently, trying, it seemed, to literally tear each other apart. This battle was longer than the first, but just like fight number one, the bigger eel chased the smaller well away before returning to the pilchards. When this eel did the circle-prop routine we all looked at each other and said "bloody hell! What's coming out next?-Surely not a bigger one than that!"- This time nothing was forthcoming from the old bridge, so eel three swam down and devoured the first pilchard, virtually inhaling it in one gulp of it's huge black head. A set of ganged hooks that were concealed in the pilchard struck home and we had the eel hooked! The 'fight' lasted less than ten seconds as the fifty pound mono was bitten through by the eel, who took off in the direction of the new bridge as soon as he felt the sting of the hook.

One of the guys quickly headed back to the cabin for heavier line and to look for some wire trace to prevent bite-offs from any more eels that might turn up. He was back in a few minutes with some one hundred and two hundred pound mono that we use for trace and some hundred pound wire. We re-rigged this time with the heavy line and  were eagerly searching for another eel to try for.

It didn't take long, as eel number three was swimming back towards us and in the direction of the pilchards. We quickly removed the two baits without the heavy set up leaving only the new rig for the eel to find. Same as earlier, eel three swam around the bait, and propped, looking back towards and under our bridge. We were already wondering if more or larger eels had lairs under the bridge, but no more appeared, at least not this night. Eel three then gulped down the bait and was on! This time the fight lasted about two minutes, with the giant eel pulling like mad, before balling-up and managing to bite the line off again  Eel two us nil. Then all of a sudden, a big mudcrab was coming towards us and the eels were forgotten as we scrambled to get a couple of baits in its path. This proved to be a much easier exercise and the crab went straight to the bait, picked it up and we quickly hauled him in and scooped him up with the net.

Beauty, a big mudcrab with huge claws! We decided to take the crab back to the cabin and cook him up. That was the end of our eel/crab hunting for the night.

As we'd already booked and paid for 5 days- we had one of those mobile home thingy's that replaced caravans- and we wen't able to get back on the rocks until the last day, a couple of hours of eel/crab fishing was on the cards each night.

For anyone who hasn't seen an eel fight an eel, well it's one of the most aggressive and full-on battles you'd ever see, they absolutely maul each other.

Over the next couple of days, we hooked quite a few more of them, but they were too cunning to go for the line with the wire trace and even bit through 200 lb Jinkai trace, so we never actually landed one.

During daylight hours, the lagoon had parents and young kids splashing around, but apparently no eels until dark, so no missing fingers or toes that we heard of.

Have seen the same giant black eels around Sydney's lakes and lagoons, including some monster ones, far bigger than those ones at Currarong and knowing how savage they are to each other, always give them a wide berth.

[Green Hornet]

Another great eel story Waza.

I never knew eels were so vicious. There's some absolute huge specimens in Coonamia Creek at the back of Lake Wollumboola. You see them draped over snags just under the surface, sunning themselves. Just looking at them gives me the creeps.

I used to swim in that Currarong Creek as a kid. It was always fun to jump in at the entrance with goggles and snorkel and let the tide take you up to the bridge. Always saw some largish flathead along the edges.

 

 

[scottyboy]

Wow Wazza when is the book coming out. Keep the stories coming mate. I don't know about other fishraiders but stuff like this is keeping me going in these crapy times. Really appreciate the time you take to let us know about all your adventures and all the information you have posted over the years. Thanks again Wazza. 👍🍻

Cheers Scotty 

[wazatherfisherman]

5 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

Another great eel story Waza.

I never knew eels were so vicious. There's some absolute huge specimens in Coonamia Creek at the back of Lake Wollumboola. You see them draped over snags just under the surface, sunning themselves. Just looking at them gives me the creeps.

I used to swim in that Currarong Creek as a kid. It was always fun to jump in at the entrance with goggles and snorkel and let the tide take you up to the bridge. Always saw some largish flathead along the edges.

 

 

Hi Pete I wouldn't be game to say how big I've seen that exact species of eel, as I doubt anyone would believe it, lets just say they grow a lot bigger than anyone has stated in size statistics.

I wondered if there were fish in that creek, didn't see any signs of life other than the eels and crabs.

[wazatherfisherman]

2 hours ago, scottyboy said:

Wow Wazza when is the book coming out. Keep the stories coming mate. I don't know about other fishraiders but stuff like this is keeping me going in these crapy times. Really appreciate the time you take to let us know about all your adventures and all the information you have posted over the years. Thanks again Wazza. 👍🍻

Cheers Scotty 

Thanks Scotty! I've always been a "sponge" for all information fishy and I'm just trying to put some things on for some "escapism" from the scary reality we are all going through. 

Really glad you're enjoying them and thanks for the great feedback!

[Green Hornet]

1 hour ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi Pete I wouldn't be game to say how big I've seen that exact species of eel, as I doubt anyone would believe it, lets just say they grow a lot bigger than anyone has stated in size statistics.

I wondered if there were fish in that creek, didn't see any signs of life other than the eels and crabs.

I knew a young guy from Currarong who used to fish a few holes upstream of the bridges and catch a few impressive sized bream. His dad was a pro yellowfin rod and reeler.

If I wanted to chase estuary fish in that area, I used to fish Caramar Inlet, on the road to Currarong, just before you got into town. Nice bream, flatties and muddies in there. Its a sanctuary zone these days.

[61 crusher]

Wow no wonder that creek was void of any fish, those muddies would’ve been the only thing that could hold there own against those vicious brawlers

Ive never seen those eels fight but one time I was cleaning some squid on a flat rock adjacent to a rock pool with about 150mm of water in it & slowly being filled by the incoming tide, I was throwing the scraps into the pool & one of those green moray eels that you mentioned in your last story pocked its head out & started grabbing the scraps, I kept cleaning away & slowly but surely another eel showed itself & before long there was five of these little green eels poking there heads out from various crevices   so I threw a fair bit of the scraps into the middle of the pool & as they got gamer they would start attacking one another & at one stage the water was boiling, while watching this & still holding onto an almost cleaned hood my fingers which were on the dry rock above the mayhem going on in the pool were grabbed by two occy tentacles, well I nearly sha#!!t my self. With all those eels I was amazed that the small octopus was so brazen 

1 hour ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi Pete I wouldn't be game to say how big I've seen that exact species of eel, as I doubt anyone would believe it, lets just say they grow a lot bigger than anyone has stated in size statistics.

I believe you Waza because once as a 12 year old fishing with a mate one night off ferry st wharf (parramatta river) on a big tide sitting on the wharf with our toes just touching the water & our legs were casting a shadow across the water we noticed one of the shadows off my mates legs was longer & slightly darker so he starts splashing the water with his toes & just then my mum pulls up & the car lights shone onto the water this eel was at least 8 to 10 ft long & mere inches from his toes & looked liked one of those conger eels & black as. I used to rib him about his smelly feet but never thought they could be useful to attract fish 😲

[wazatherfisherman]

19 minutes ago, Green Hornet said:

I knew a young guy from Currarong who used to fish a few holes upstream of the bridges and catch a few impressive sized bream. His dad was a pro yellowfin rod and reeler.

If I wanted to chase estuary fish in that area, I used to fish Caramar Inlet, on the road to Currarong, just before you got into town. Nice bream, flatties and muddies in there. Its a sanctuary zone these days.

Hi Pete I reckon there must be heaps of muddies in the top end of that creek, but that's where those "Tiger Mozzies" are as well- most agro mozzie's I've ever seen and they just loved me!

[Green Hornet]

12 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Hi Pete I reckon there must be heaps of muddies in the top end of that creek, but that's where those "Tiger Mozzies" are as well- most agro mozzie's I've ever seen and they just loved me!

Waza, we used to access that creek on dirt bikes and in summer we quite often found muddies out roaming.  I can assure you, riding home with 3 live crabs in a backpack with a broken zipper was an unnerving experience.

The "tiger mozzies" were a breed of their own and Aerogard was like tomato sauce to them. Long sleeves and pants, plus plenty of Rid was the only thing I knew to keep them at bay. They didn't discriminate, they ate everybody!

[wazatherfisherman]

8 minutes ago, 61 crusher said:

Wow no wonder that creek was void of any fish, those muddies would’ve been the only thing that could hold there own against those vicious brawlers

Ive never seen those eels fight but one time I was cleaning some squid on a flat rock adjacent to a rock pool with about 150mm of water in it & slowly being filled by the incoming tide, I was throwing the scraps into the pool & one of those green moray eels that you mentioned in your last story pocked its head out & started grabbing the scraps, I kept cleaning away & slowly but surely another eel showed itself & before long there was five of these little green eels poking there heads out from various crevices   so I threw a fair bit of the scraps into the middle of the pool & as they got gamer they would start attacking one another & at one stage the water was boiling, while watching this & still holding onto an almost cleaned hood my fingers which were on the dry rock above the mayhem going on in the pool were grabbed by two occy tentacles, well I nearly sha#!!t my self. With all those eels I was amazed that the small octopus was so brazen 

I believe you Waza because once as a 12 year old fishing with a mate one night off ferry st wharf (parramatta river) on a big tide sitting on the wharf with our toes just touching the water & our legs were casting a shadow across the water we noticed one of the shadows off my mates legs was longer & slightly darker so he starts splashing the water with his toes & just then my mum pulls up & the car lights shone onto the water this eel was at least 8 to 10 ft long & mere inches from his toes & looked liked one of those conger eels & black as. I used to rib him about his smelly feet but never thought they could be useful to attract fish 😲

Hi Dieter as a kid I was playing in the water on the rocks at Shellharbour with the family, who were eating oysters and fish and chips and we started feeding what we thought was a fish hiding in a crevice, At first it didn't come out enough to see any more than it's snout and would only take food dropped close to it's nose. I even touched it a couple of times.

Should have seen how horrified my Mum was when it finally came about halfway out, revealing it's true identity of a green eel. Guess it could have bitten me, but was only really interested in the bits of battered fish

Clad to hear you seen big eels too! They've followed me- too closely- when I used to prawn down the Parramatta River

[wazatherfisherman]

10 minutes ago, Green Hornet said:

Waza, we used to access that creek on dirt bikes and in summer we quite often found muddies out roaming.  I can assure you, riding home with 3 live crabs in a backpack with a broken zipper was an unnerving experience.

The "tiger mozzies" were a breed of their own and Aerogard was like tomato sauce to them. Long sleeves and pants, plus plenty of Rid was the only thing I knew to keep them at bay. They didn't discriminate, they ate everybody!

We had to put the Rid on before even getting out of the car at Hammerhead car park or they'd be all over you instantly.

Like I said ,I hate 'em and they love me