Fishing For Australian Salmon
- Jake Villani
- Dec 6, 2016
- 6 min read
Its a type of fishing i'm very fond of and i guess thats due to the significance it had on me when i was a young boy. My dad would take us fishing every holiday season on some of the remote beaches along the New South Wales Sapphire Coastline and i have memories that have stuck with me of the times when schools of Australian Salmon would make an appearance on the beach's we were fishing and the chaotic moments that followed accompanied by the epic fights that i experienced when my 12 foot rod would buckle to the pulling power of 7lb Salmon as they screamed through the surf. it was quite exciting as a young boy and the thought of it still excites me now.
We had been driving for 6 hours and all i could think about the time i used to spend fishing on the beach with my dad and I thought to my self it was about time i assembled surf rod, pulled a few metal lures out of the tackle box and went searching for some of those beach cruising Australian Salmon.
We had just arrived in Mallacoota, which is situated in far East Gippsland on the eastern border of Victoria, and we wasted no time in searching the area, looking for a place to camp. We drove down many tracks and found plenty of good camp spots but unfortunately, and as many would expect these days, they all had 'No Camping' signs erected at the entrances. But we didn't let that deter us, so we continued to look around until we came across a tight and narrow track that led us to a beautiful piece of secluded bush that lay by a river. So, that was where we pitched our Shanty Town (camp).
Once camp was set up i jumped in the car and made off down the track, back to the main road and started to search for some good fishable water. After a half an hour of driving down tracks to check out water, I decided there was only one stretch of beach that was really worth fishing given the conditions, and that was Davis Beach, so I parked the car, set up my surf rod and walked down to the beach lookout where i scanned the water for signs of gutters and holes, which can be found by the reading the surf. A typical trademark is the obvious darker water but in some cases dark water can be hard to define so another way is to observe how the waves behave. Naturally the waves will break in the shallow water but when they roll over a hole or gutter the wave will sink and reform and break again after it passes the deep water, as you can see in the picture below.
Holes and gutters are a great place for predatory fish to sit in ambush but it doesn't mean they'll always be there so its a good idea to fish all the water on the beach especially the shallow water leading up to the deeper water, so thats exactly what i done.
There were very few holes along this particular beach however i did make out a few small gutters down the eastern side of the beach so i left the look out, walked down the stairs and started fishing my way toward the deeper water. After walking and casting for 600 meters i was starting to near the first little gutter.
I launched the metal lure far out into the surf and started cranking it back to me. Just as my lure was speeding past the edge of the gutter i got a hit, and another one. I slowed the retrieve down but the salmon didn't come back for thirds so i cast the lure out again and started cranking it back but this time using a slower retrieval speed. And, just as the lure was passing the edge of the gutter, i got a bump that managed to keep a bend in my rod. I must say the fish wasn't putting up much of a fight, and i basically landed it with out my drag releasing a single bit of line. I de-hooked the fish, released it back to the water and continued casting. Only a few casts later i felt another hit. This time i sped up the retrieval speed and as soon as i did he came back for another hit and whacked the lure, and quite hard, but in the end came in just as easy as the last fish.
I continued to fish up the beach for another hour or so, covering every bit of beach leading up to the river mouth and by the time i got to the river i was quite happy to head back to the car and give the fishing a rest for the time being. As i got back to the stairs that lead back to the car i looked to the western side of the beach and uttered to myself, 'thats where we'll fish next'.
After spending some time at camp, eating lunch and playing with Enki, the urge to fish had come back and this time there was the idea to keep a fish for dinner too. So i grabbed my knife, packed it in my bag, got in the car and made my way down the road toward Davis beach.
Where we were camped was shrouded with trees so i guess i just couldnt see what was in the sky and coming in our direction. I don't know, if i had of seen it before i left, if it would of stopped me from fishing but that didn't matter now because i was face to face with an oncoming storm and it wasn't stopping me!
I started walking down the western side of the beach, casting lures as i went, with one eye watching the storm draw nearer with great speed. Within a space of ten minutes the rain had begun and without subtle transition. one minute it was all but dry and the next it was torrential rain. And it was fat rain, that drenched the land and myself almost instantly. I figured i was already soaked so i may as well keep walking down the beach and continue the search for Australian Salmon. After another 100 casts, and the relentless rain continuing to fall from the heavens, i made the decision to call it quits for the day and make my way back to camp, where i would go on to make a fire and dry my clothes ready for another fish the next morning.
I awoke the next day to find the rain had stopped, my clothes had dried and my motivation restored so i had a quick bite to eat and went back to the beach and started launching lures into the surf once again. I was picking up a lot of weed this time as the storm had blown plenty of it in with its strong winds.
I persisted in fishing even though i was removing weed off my lure every time i brought it to shore. I eventually made it to a small rocky out crop which is generally a good place to find Salmon. I cast my lure amongst the rocks numerous times to no avail. I was at the end of my wits and the only thing i could think of was to slow my retrieve to get the lure to trace deeper in the water and closer to the submerged structure, thinking that maybe the fish were sitting a little deeper. So i cast the lure past the rocks and began a super slow retrieve. the lure was passing over the rocks when i slowed the retrieve even more, and just as it had passed the rocks my lure got absolutely smashed! My fifteen foot surf rod had the bend in it i was looking for and my drag started to sing as my line was cutting through the water in the direction of the rocks. I increased the force on the fish, steering it away from the structure and out to safe ground where i eased the pressure off the fish and gently brought him ashore. I had finally caught what i set out to catch, a quality sized Australian Salmon from the beach.
After a quick photo, i released the Salmon back to the water and cast back over the same line of rocks to see if there was more about, and there was! The next fish didn't put up much of a fight, but that didn't phase me! After landing the second fish i thought that after 3 days of fishing for them i deserved to take one back for a feed so i bled the fish and started making my way back to the car with a big smile on my face :)
FEATURED FISHING LURE
The lure i was using to catch these Australian samlon from the beach was a metal slug. We do have metal lures available so i have put up some that are similar to the one i was using.
The Teibo Jigs come in 3 different sizes, 15g, 20g and 30g. Click here to head to the Ecogear page where you can find all three models available for sale.
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