Surf Salmon

By Cameron Cronin

With the icy winds of winter starting to make their presence felt across the southern half of Australia, there is hardly a species more synonymous with these conditions than the humble Australian salmon. Immensely popular as always, Australian salmon begin to push their way further northward as the waters cool, providing excellent sportfishing for those prepared to brave the chilly conditions.

The best thing of all is that being a coastal species, there is little to no need to own a boat, with landbased anglers often at an advantage as vast schools of migrating fish press against the beaches and rocks, well within casting distance. Living near the coast, I have always had this species within arm's reach of me, and as a result, I have been able to experience plenty of conditions and work out what is best for salmon spinning.

In this article I hope to share a few tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years to maximise your catch rate, while also helping those who are new to the species to put their first few fish on the bank.

The first step to tracking down salmon is making sure that they are around first. As you make your way further up the east coast, towards northern NSW where the salmon’s range ends, you will notice the season will get progressively later in the year. As I pen this article, in late May, vast schools of salmon can usually be seen pushing northward in the regions south of Sydney, however you may have to wait a little longer if you live further up north.

As a general rule, I have found June to be a good time to start spinning around Sydney, whilst they will usually start to show up in numbers from July to August on the central coast and further up the mid north coast. Salmon can be found all year round, however during September numbers are usually at their highest on the east coast. The bulk of fish will gradually begin to migrate south again as we move into Summer.

With all this in mind, we are certainly coming into a hot time to catch a few salmon, which begs the question, where should we be fishing? Luckily, salmon are often plentiful, so you usually won’t have to go far to locate a few on any stretch of coastline. When it comes to rock fishing, break walls and headlands at the mouths of estuaries are top fish producers, as well as any prominent headland at the end of a beach.

When it comes to beaches, I like to look for long, high energy surf beaches with prominent gutters, that will give the salmon avenues to push in closer to the shore and feed within cast distance. This does not mean that smaller beaches are not productive, however I have found larger beaches to hold bigger schools of fish with greater consistency.

When deciding what conditions to fish in, as a general rule I will gravitate toward lower tides on the rocks and higher tides on the beach. The logic behind this is that rocks usually provide easy access to deeper water, whereas beach gutters can become shallow and provide less opportunities for salmon to feed when compared to the higher stages of the tide.

When setting out to fish a location, wherever possible I will go straight to the nearest lookout or higher ground, located near the stretch of coast I plan to fish. With a good pair of sunglasses and a keen eye, you can often pick out large schools of salmon moving along the coast, which stand out well against a sandy bottom as a large, dark mass from distance.

I will then watch the school to see which direction it is travelling in, then drive to an access point where I can intercept their movement. Whist you won’t always see fish and can certainly pull up to a rock ledge or deep gutter and catch plenty of fish blind casting, I have had all my best sessions, with cricket score catches, by using this more active method of fishing.

Leading on from this point, I have had far more success fishing for landbased salmon when a westerly wind is blowing, flattening off the swell close to shore and providing clear water and small seas. Not only are schools easier to spot. They are also more likely to come closer to the coast without large waves churning up the shallow water near the shore. This also encourages larger predators like dolphins and sharks to feed on the salmon schools, which pushes the fish in closer to the coast and can result in some very hot fishing.

It is worth noting that often you will see a salmon school moving along the coast just out of casting range. In this case, I’ll often follow the school, if it isn’t moving too quickly. It often won’t be long before these larger predators key in on the school and start to push it closer to the shore, within cast range.

With location out of the way, all we need to do now is gear up. My preferred outfit of choice consists of a 10’, 5-10kg spinning rod, with a 4000 size spinning reel and 20lb braid. I like to use Platypus Bionic Braid, which is thin enough to offer plenty of cast distance, while offering plenty of pulling power to pole a big salmon up a rock ledge when required. I usually use Platypus Hard Armour Leader in the 30lb or 40lb Tough breaking strains, which is slight overkill, however it provides good resistance against tailor bite offs, which are the main bycatch, as well as abrasion resistance when fishing around the rocks.

Lure wise, I like to pack light and only take enough to fit in a small tackle tray. Although salmon can sometimes take any lure, you will usually be best off with a smaller presentation. As a result, lead slugs are a very practical option, as they cast like a bullet and pack a heap of weight into a small profile. By far my standout slug in recent years has been the TT Hard Core slug, which I carry in a range of sizes from 20g up to 40g to match the bait and cast distance required. These lures are cheap, come in some great colours and absolutely smash the salmon, making them a must for anyone looking to get started on this species.

My next go-to lure and one that has become my equal favourite presentation is a small stickbait from the brand Fish Inc., called the Winglet 87mm Zinc Stickbait. Weighing in at a hefty 42g, despite being only 87mm long, this innovative stickbait is made from solid zinc for durability and it casts like an absolute bullet. Whilst I prefer winding slugs in at a fast pace, the little Fish Inc. can often produce a bite when the fish are shutdown, by slowly twitching the lure though the school. You can leave the stock trebles on for maximum hook up rate, or if you prefer a faster retrieve, take the belly treble off and enjoy some explosive surface takes on this cool little lure.

There you have it, a crash course on targeting Australian salmon. I hope this article has you keen to get out there and test out your drag on this great sportfish over the coming months, if you aren’t already planning to do so. With a bit of persistence and a few extra layers, it's amazing how much fun this humble and often overlooked species can provide!

Cheers, Cam