For the love of luderick by Phil James

Luderick are found in a wide range of environments including rocky headlands, estuary and river training walls and breakwaters, jetties and wharves, and along the deep snaggy banks of lower estuaries. In the larger rivers of NSW, luderick travel upstream where they are often taken in good numbers. Commercial fishing records indicate that large catches come from shallow seagrass flats, areas that are seldom fished.

The late Jack Alvey once told me how he had watched anglers on the Californian coast using floats baited with green peas catching fish that looked like luderick. These fish were opaleye, and Californian anglers chase them around ocean headlands and kelp beds. They use bobber rigs similar to those used by headland anglers here. Opaleye anglers usually collect green weed on the way to their favourite spots, and often take along a packet of frozen peas as alternative bait.

So on my next trip to Short Island at Jumpinpin, I was armed with some pristine Redcliffe weed and a couple of pods of homegrown peas...