Fishing for Australian Salmon.

I have spent many hours on the ocean beaches in South Australia trying to catch Australian Salmon. It is a great way to spend time, not only for the fishing, but also the atmosphere of the beaches at dawn and dusk is unbeatable.

I won't mention any spots by name, but if any of you are familiar with the State, then you will probably guess the locations.

Australian Salmon can also be caught in Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and, to a lesser extent, New South Wales. They are a popular fish due to their speed and stamina. I also think the environment in which they are caught adds to the appeal. They are not actually Salmon at all, but were named because of their resemblance to the true Salmon. There are apparently from the Perch family.

South Australia is blessed with a large coastline, a lot of it still fairly remote, especially on the far west coast. Exposed surf beaches offer deep inshore gutters and channels and the fish, generally on high tides, enter these to feed. Rocky headlands and offshore reefs also produce Salmon, but are less inaccessible, so I'll stick to the beaches.

The west coast, Yorke Peninsula and some beaches south of Adelaide have the essential requirements. Your chances will increase if you fish at dawn or dusk, although this is not as important on the more remote beaches.

A well known beach on Yorke Peninsula is nearly always fished by anglers late afternoon into the evening, on a rising tide. It is popular with bait fisherman and lure fisherman alike. If using lures, a productive strategy can be to fish the afternoon incoming tide. Schools of Salmon can often be seen and it is possible to cast the lure in front of the school, resulting in a hook up every time. Good fun.

The most popular method is still to use bait. Pilchards are used almost exclusively. A sinker at the bottom and either ganged hooks or snelled hooks above and a whole pilchard for bait. There is no doubt this works, but it can be more economical to use two single hooks above the sinker and bait each with half a pilchard. I have found that this works just as well and, for me anyway, is a lot easier that gang hooking a whole pilchard.

A standard beach road and reel combination will generally suffice. Use line of about 12 pound breaking strain with a trace of about 20 pound. Your surf rod will need to be around 10 to 12 feet long. Spinning reels are probably the easiest to use. I have seen the old sidecast reels in action and they can really get the bait out a long way, but it takes a bit of practice to get the hang of it. Overhead reels are popular too, more so with the lure fishing enthusiasts. Using custom built rods and their modified overheads, these anglers can cast a long way; perfect if the fish are sitting 100 metres or so offshore.

Hook sizes are normally around 4/0. Salmon have big mouths for their size, so you could get away with anything up to a 6/0.

When choosing a spot, look at low tide if you can. If a gutter or channel is holding fairly deep water at low tide, then when high tide comes around, the chances of fish swimming into and feeding in that channel are increased.

If you are bait fishing, it's just a matter of casting into the gutter or channel and waiting for the Salmon to find the bait. They are always on the move, so if a few are caught and then it all goes quiet, you can be assured (usually) that they will return.
It is possible to cover more ground when lure fishing. Have a few casts in each gutter and if nothing happens you can move onto the next one. You can cover heaps of water like this and it is not uncommon to walk miles from your original position.

If you are going to keep Salmon for the table, then I would recommend eating it the same day. Once frozen or kept on ice for even a day or two, the flesh becomes strong tasting. When cooked fresh, however, they are very nice, producing thick white fillets. Remember to bleed the fish when it is first caught though.

Please throw back undersize fish or those you are not going to eat. I usually keep only one, releasing the others.

Salmon will test your strength and endurance, especially the big ones. They run hard and fast and use the surf to their advantage. Almost half the fish hooked will be lost due to their leaping and head shaking, which quite often throws the hooks, particularly when using lures.

Apart from the fishing itself, it is not uncommon to have the entire beach to yourself. Even if no fish are caught, the surf beaches are magnificent places to be, especially at dawn and dusk.

I think we owe it to ourselves (and our children if you've got them) to get out there and enjoy it whilst it lasts.