But after 55 years of watching his fishing fortunes ebb and flow, Newbery says he's never seen it so good. The water is clearer and cleaner and, without commercial fishing, the fish are back and snapping in our beloved harbour. "Sydney Harbour is the best estuary for fishing on the NSW coast and it's more productive now than it's been in the past 55 years," he says. "I've got longitudinal studies to prove it, catch diaries going back to the '60s, but they're not peer-reviewed," he quips. Troll the fishing forums and talk to the fishing guides and you get a similar upbeat picture. Sydney has become an angler's El Dorado after the deep-water ocean outfalls went online in 1990-91 and the water quality improved overnight. The eradication of floating kingfish traps in 1996 and the cessation of commercial fishing a decade later have done wonders for this quasi recreational-only fishing haven. And anglers aren't afraid to spend up big to wet a line. The Recreational Fishing Expenditure Survey 2012 by the University of Wollongong found each Sydney angler spends an average $250.07 per trip on everything from travel to tackle. Sydney anglers account for almost a third of the $3.42 billion recreational fishing dollars generated in NSW each year.

Newbery's cutting-edge, carbon-fibre fishing rod, machined centrepin reel, and special floating line - a top-shelf combination for catching his favourite luderick or blackfish - cost $750. "You can catch the same fish on a $150 rig," Newbery says. "Fishing tackle is cheaper than it's ever been. But there are less land-based anglers today, because greater affluence has seen people shift to boat fishing instead." The boat brigade score big with kingfish to 15 kilograms, jewfish or mulloway to 20 kilograms, amberjack, samson fish, snapper, flathead, endless Australian salmon, bonito and tailor, john dory and hairtail, if not those ubiquitous luderick that Newbery so adores. When the East Australian Current sweeps through The Heads in summer almost anything is possible. Subtropical spotted mackerel appear sporadically and sightings of marlin aren't rare. The angler-funded artificial reef off South Head is a hot spot. Then come the sharks ripping into schools of baitfish off popular harbour beaches. Ironically, a bigger concern for our well-being is how much and of what fish species we are consuming from Sydney Harbour. Years of industrial pollution, accumulated dioxins and heavy metals have deemed the fish in the upper reaches and Parramatta River unsafe to eat.

There is strict dietary advice. You should consume no more than 150 grams of bream or tailor per month, even when caught east of the Harbour Bridge. Authorities fear the advice is falling on deaf ears, especially those of anglers from non-English speaking backgrounds who fish west of the Harbour Bridge. Recent studies also reveal unacceptably high levels of microplastics in the sediment at places like Sugarloaf Bay in Middle Harbour. Then come the inherent dangers of rock fishing. But this is another reason why Sydney Harbour is such an important recreational haven. It's generally a safe place to wet a line with your kids. On a sunny Sunday, throngs of anglers fighting for pole position on the wharves and launching ramps. Local angling groups are now campaigning to officially declare Sydney Harbour a Recreational Fishing Haven, while environmentalists are lobbying for a Marine Park instead. But for Newbery waiting for a bite, politics is the furthest thing from his mind. Fishing is a foil to fast-paced city living and offers the bonus of a tasty meal. His father fished the same stamping grounds until age 85. Only a non-fisher would deny a man such simple pleasures. Given the improvements to the catch rates, and science-based management tools such as bag and size limits, the future is looking fishy for Sydney's army of anglers.

Meantime, Newbery loses his whopper and the line parts with a crack. But that's why they call it fishing and not catching.