Beach Fishing - Australian Salmon

Jacob Villani
Jul 28, 2017
5 min read

FISHING FOR AUSTRALIAN SALMON FROM THE BEACH

Its been so long since we've seen a school of Australian Salmon busting out of the water in Eden. Twofold bay gets absolutely slammed by the commercial fishing nets and if it continues, i fear that this town built on fishing and wood chips will continue its steady decline into a bay starved of fish. On the upside, i've heard whispers of the Eden locals making a stand against the commercial fishing in the bay, so hopefully, with their help, it will eventuate to a day where nets will drag no longer, and Twofold bay can begin its rejuvenation process that it so desperately needs.

Anyway, after Chris and i finished the conversation regarding commercial fishing and Twofold Bay, we decided we would try our luck spinning lures from the beach to see if we could catch a few Australian Salmon. The beach was approximately a 30 minute walk from our camp so we gathered our rods and a tackle box of lures and started making our way down the track.

Walking to fishing for Australian Salmon

After a brisk walk we arrived at the beginning of the beach. The wind was nil and the sea carried a light swell with the tide nearing its peak. Chris and i sat down and opened the tackle box, selected a lure each, both being DUO Press Bait 85's fantastic lures and the perfect weight and size to cast with medium light tackle. Then we formed a single file and began slowly creeping up the beach, step by step, casting as walked. After a handful of casts i noticed a little swirl on the surface of the water. i hastily cranked my lure in and launched a cast in the direction of the water disturbance and within seconds of my Press Bait hitting the water it got whacked and i was locked and loaded! "YEAH!", i yelled "Im on Chris ! cast over here" i panted, as i pointed in the direction where i hooked the fish. As i began to focus on fighting the fish Chris had reeled his lure in and put a cast in the direction i pointed out. moments later i heard the excited voice of someone that had just hooked up to a fish. "Double hook up!" Chris yelled, as we both looked over to one another, both with bent rods and big smiles on our faces. Then i watched Chris's face suddenly change as his line went slack. "Fuck!" he said looking disappointed, "I lost him, and the lure too". He wound in his slack line and then grabbed his braid, noticing it had snapped mid line.

By this time i had a Australian Salmon on the shores of the beach, so i had Chris quickly take a photo of the fish and then i let him begin tying his new leader line, which was by using an FG knot so he was going to be out of action for at least 5 minutes.

I released the Salmon and got my lure back in the water. The first cast produced no fish but once again i saw water movement to my right and this time it was a little more than a swirl. This time it was a small school of Australian Salmon hitting bait on the surface. I shouted to Chris, "theres a school of Salmon busting up", as i cast my lure right into the pack. I didn't even get a turn of the handle and i had a Salmon connected to my Press Bait. The fight of this fish wasn't long as it was only approximately a 2 pound fish. After releasing it back into the water i looked up and had the school of Salmon right in front of me. This time i kept my rod tip high and cranked as quick as i could so my Duo Press Bait was skipping along the surface of the water. Splash! Splash! Splash! Mayhem began between as few Salmon began competing for my offering. Splash! Splash! Whack! A Big Australian Salmon had launched out of the water with my lure in its mouth. "They are smashing the lure on the topwater!", i yelled to Chris.To which I heard him faintly reply, "Then i'm tying on a popper". Once i landed the fish i took a quick photo and let Chris finish rigging up.

Chris had finally joined me. He walked beside me and dangled his lure just in front of me with a cheeky grin on his face, as if to say 'look what i've got on'. I looked at the lure, then looked back at Chris and said, "Oh! Thats the new Duo Pencil Popper Martin gave me. Don't loose it! Its my only one." And with that we both cast out, toward the school of salmon. I watched Chris crank the Pencil Popper along the surface, wildly displacing water as it skipped along the surface. Then the Salmon started going nuts again, swiping at the lure from every angle, and it didn't take long before a fish got a good hold of the lure and buckled Chris's rod. And just as he hooked up i also hooked up and once again we were both like kids at a candy store, until i heard that disappointed voice come from Chris's mouth, again. "Nooo! He busted me.... I lost the Pencil Popper." I looked at him, said nothing and went back to fighting the fish i had connected to my line, thinking in my head, "That asshole lost my only Pencil Popper!"

Once again, i landed another Australian Salmon and got Chris to take a quick photo before he went back to tying another leader line.

While Chris was was busy with knots i was busy fishing these salmon with another two landed before he had finally joined me again, this time with a Ecogear Teibo Jig tied to the end of his line which was a lure we had plenty of. But, by this time, the school was nowhere to be seen and Chris, unsatisfied with his efforts, persisted and continued casting in every direction desperately searching for the school but after 10 minutes without a hit so we knew that they had moved on so we formed a single file again and began making our way up the beach.

An hour or so had pasted and we had made it to the end of the beach, so we turned around and started making our way back, walking a little quicker this time. Approximately half way down the beach we found a little bit of action but it wasn't the Australian Salmon we were fishing for, but a few Tailor was better than nothing.

After having some fun on the Tailor we continued making our way down the beach half heartedly casting our lures here and there. I was just about to point out to Chris that we were approaching the area we caught the Australian Salmon earlier, when i heard him yell out, "I'm on!". To which i laughed and replied, "Don't loose it this time, Chrisco". Just by watching the fight i could tell that this was a bigger fish. It was taking Chris up and down the beach and holding deep in the gutters. After a few minutes he managed to bring the salmon to shore and did so with a big smile on his face.

Once we finished taking photos we continued making our way down the beach but before we knew it we were back where we started which meant it was time to walk the track back to the car. We were very happy fisherman, only hours ago we talked of our yearning for fishing schools of Australian Salmon and now we yearned no longer!

Thanks for reading.

Jake Villani

We Flick Fishing

Below are the lures we used to fish for Australian Salmon

All lures are available on the online tackle shop. If interested simply click the name or the image for more info.

1) Duo Press Bait 85