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No, I’m not talking about Fred’s Formula One Flake Food for your favourite finny friend in his goldfish bowl. The real fish in our estuaries can be fussy too.

Words by Gil Schott

For those RV-cruising the east coast there are simply loads of estuaries – big and small – and the estuary you’ll pass tomorrow may well be chockers with fish. You get the urge for a fish dinner and pull over for a days fishing. You need some bait, so you head for the local tackle or bait shop and load up, but are those fussy fish going to eat what you throw at them?

Well, maybe. There are always a few fish that are suicidal, but they are few in number and usually juveniles – natural selection ensures their numbers stay low. Most of the fish in that lovely estuary you’re perched beside are more than a bit fussy about what they eat. True, you can buy some good frozen baits at the shop, but the best stuff is right there in the estuary at your feet.

The Top Five
There are perhaps five top baits in the east coast estuary systems that will give you the best chance at a fish dinner. They are (in no particular order); nippers, prawns, worms, crabs and small fish. They each demand a bit of effort to obtain, but it’s good fun catching ‘em and it’s definitely worth it.

Nippers
Also known as bass yabbies, yabbies or pink nippers, these little crustaceans live on the intertidal estuary sandflats in sometimes quite large colonies. Their burrows are up to around 7mm in diameter and are clustered together. You can pump them out using a nipper pump (what else?) and you can buy these at most tackle shops. They are a great investment and take up little room in your caravan boot.

Nippers are probably the prime estuary bait. Everything in the estuary eats them – whiting, bream, flathead, school jew, even blackfish when they abandon their vegetarian habit. You can also use them effectively off breakwalls, off the rocks and on the beach.

The male nipper has one mega claw that can nip you if you’re not careful, while the female has much smaller claws. Females often have a heap of eggs under their bellies. While there are no rules on keeping these, it doesn’t hurt to pop them back into their burrows unharmed. There is no shortage of nippers, and there won’t be in future if you let the egg carriers go.

Prawns
Ahh, the good old prawn. Frozen prawns work okay, but fresh caught prawns really work well. Catching prawns is largely a night exercise, using a lantern and scoop net or drag net and wading around the estuary shallows. Queenslanders can use cast nets in daylight. Check your local state rules.

The only trouble with using prawns (and they too will catch just about anything that swims) is that they are also great people food. If you get a couple of kilos it’s terribly tempting to cook ‘em up and eat ‘em yourself!

Worms
There are a couple of species you can catch in the estuaries. Squirt worms are a delicate little reddish kind that lives in a U-shaped burrow on the sandflats. They can be pumped using a nipper pump, but another less effective method is to use an upturned tin can. Place the open end of the can over one end of the U-shaped burrow and stomp on it. The worm will squirt out the other end of the burrow. Where it will land is debatable though (down your neck, in your hair…).

Squirties are great baits, particularly for whiting, but they are very soft and little tiddlers will pick them off easily.

The other main estuary worm is the bloodworm. They live in the mud and require a bit of digging with a fork to get them out. There are lots of restrictions in place on digging for these worms, so check your local regs. As with squirtworms, these are very effective baits.

Crabs
Ahh, if in doubt, try crab! Two common types are the soldier crab and the small black crab.

Black crabs are highly effective on bream and usually attract better quality fish. You’ll find them around rocky foreshores – turn over a rock and chances are there’ll be a little black crab under it. They are governed by bag limits in some states, so check your guides.

Soldier crabs are usually everywhere on the sandflats. You’ll see them marching around in regiments at low tide and gathering them is a breeze. You can often also pump them out by accident as you pump nippers. Soldier crabs are supposed to be good for bream and whiting, but I’ve never had much luck with them.

Small fish
Big fish eat little fish – it’s a fact of life. The most popular little baitfish in the estuary is the poddy mullet. Poddies are easily caught using bait traps that you can buy at tackle shops, but you can make your own using a two-litre juice bottle laid flat. Cut a hole in the top, stuff in a couple of slices of bread, and some big sinkers to hold it down. Set it in the water and check regularly. Again, there are regulations on the type of traps used and the number of these little fish you can keep.

Mullet are great baits for flathead and school jew (and even big jew), but big bream will also eat them.

These five ‘local’ baits involve a bit of effort to gather, but it’s not all that hard work, and the results will be worth it. I can pretty much guarantee that these natural baits will outfish frozen baits every time and the result will be a better fish dinner for you.

The Bait Pump
The bait pump (or nipper pump) is usually made from stainless steel and is a great investment. With a regular wash-out after use they’ll last almost a lifetime (my Alvey pump is at least 35 years old and still sucking nippers out of their burrows). They are easy to use on both nippers and squirt worms and will ensure you’ll have a ready bait supply wherever you go on the east coast.

Enough is enough
When you get onto a good patch of bait the temptation is to gather up a heap of it. You really only need to gather enough for a days fishing though. If you do decide to hang around in one spot for a few days, remember that you can always gather some more when you need them.

Always check your state’s regulations on keeping these bait species. For example there are limits on the number of black crabs, prawns and small mullet you can keep in NSW, as well as on the means of gathering them.