Since I was a kid luderick have remained with me. I’ve held up my bat to acknowledge the half-century, and now in my 50s, the fish I catch (and now also release) more than any other is my purple-hued, stripey vegan buddy.
I say he’s vegan but that’s not entirely true. Every year in spring when the days here in Sydney start to reach the mid 20s again, I resume throwing lures around like an idiot, for more carnivorous targets. Yet still, as if he can’t get enough of me, my luderick pal appears and eats those, too.
That time of year also coincides with the emergence of young prawns, together with squirt worms who dance to the surface in the sandy shallows to propagate. The blackfish quickly fatten up on this high-protein diet, while also looking to propagate themselves.
Summer comes and the hungry, post-spawning luderick head up river to dine on blooming river algae in mangrove creeks and seagrass meadows. Autumn’s bigger swells see them play in wind-bashed headland washes, then in winter they are thankfully one of few species that stick around estuary mouths in the cold, clear water. They can be accessed at any time of year, one way or another.
Sydney sits right in the epicentre of their habitat span, though they do reach into southern Queensland and northern Victoria. In New Zealand they’re known as “parore” and are the same . Many kiwi locals refer to them
