How To Catch Australian Salmon

I've decided to put together a series of blog posts that will help teach you exactly how to catch many different kinds of fish, starting with a very popular catching and eating fish, the salmon.

About Australian Salmon

When you're lucky enough to see a sizeable salmon launching itself out of the ocean, arching its back in a body-shaking attempt to free your hook, it will pump the adrenalin of even the most hard-nosed angler.  Australian salmon are most frequent off the southern coasts of Australia, and also located in New Zealand waters.  Despite their name, these fish are not related to the salmon of the Northern Hemisphere.

When Is The Best Time To Catch The Fish?

The months of May through to Novemberis best off Victorian beaches, but may be caught all year longin bays, estuaries and from the piers.  In Western Australia, February to April are the greatest times, especially in southern parts.  The best stage of day to catch salmon is either around dawn or dusk, as this is what time the fish are most actively feeding.

Where Salmon Can Be Caught

Lorne and Frankston piers will usually produce good numbers after there's been strong onshore winds.  Albany in WA can also give really heavy specimens at times.  At the beach search for some good gutters with deep water and some wash/whitewater over it.  From the rocks search for areas with some wave action and whitewater coupled with deeper water.  Fishing from the rocks can be perilous, so always be cautious.

The Best Equipment To Use

Great salmon fishing rods are12' with a 600 or 650 alvey side reel, particularly for beach or rock fishing, with a 15lb main line and a 15kg lead will work well.  Fishing for salmon is similar to fishing for tailor, and you can even end up hooking a decent jewfish, gummy shark or even yellowtail kingfish while targeting salmon, so the extra weight on your rig will be worth it just in case.

Light tackle spin gear is also great for catching salmon.  You can use a 3kg outfit rigged with a small chrome slice, soft plastic or bibbed minnow lure.  Trolling with white or pink coloured skirted jigs at six to eight knots is trendy.  At the beach, make use of a fixed paternoster rig with a pyramid-style sinker at the bottom.  This will help to make longer casts, and will hold really well if there's a current.

You can use a berley trail with an unweighted bait if you're fishing off a pier or in a boat.  Depending on your location, you should ask your resident fishing tackle store about the number of wraps you ought to have.  A 6 or a 7 wrap is by and large very good, light enough to have a good feel, yet heavy enough to have a bit of grunt about it and get stuck into the fish with.  Not only do they make for good salmon fishing rods, it will also work well to catch tailor, trevally, bream and flathead.

The Best Bait For Salmon

Salmon's favoured bait is pilchard, whitebait and squid.  Live bait like Tommy Rough works really well, especially from the rocks and under a balloon on your line.  Salmon will go for most fishing lures, however I think that medium-sized raiders are best.  Depending on what they're chasing, you may want to stick to smaller saltwater fishing lures though, as larger ones can be disregarded if the salmon are going after smaller baitfish.

Fishing restrictions can apply, check the regulations in your area.  In Victoria it is - Size limit: Min 21cm.  Bag limit: 20

The Best Holiday Fishing Spots In Victoria

Saltwater Edition

I'm originally from Victoria, and I remember many mornings spent taken out very early to go fishing with my dad, and then later on some great days out with friends as well.

Here are some of the best fishing spots around Victoria in saltwater, and next time I'll add to it with a list of freshwater locations.

I've included some of the fish you might expect to catch, and what you might need to catch them.

Lonsdale Bight

Much of the bight is a marine park, but fishing is allowed from Point Lonsdale pier and the beach from Dog Rocks car park east to Queenscliff. You can expect to catch salmon on the beach. If you're fishing from the pier you can add whiting, squid and snapper. Best chances for catching snapper are at night, or on days when the water is soiled. Boat anglers will find above average King George whiting in sand holes, snapper over reefs and a few squid over the weed beds.

Corio Bay

This is very productive water best known for its snapper, but it also offers King George whiting in good numbers, gummy sharks, flathead, salmon and garfish. Boat ramps at Avalon, St Helens and Limeburners Bay. Shore-based anglers can fish from rock walls at St Helens and Limeburners Point, jetties at Rippleside and Cunningham Pier (it has restrictions).

Lorne

A very well known holiday destination, the most popular fishing spot is the pier. Strong southwest winds can churn the seas and salmon sometimes go ballistic. Other species caught include barracouta, silver trevally, whiting and squid. For rock fishing, Jump Rock as you enter Lorne is popular for salmon, pinkies and trevally. There are many rock ledges along the Great Ocean Road past Lorne including Artillery Rocks. The Cumberland River has a small self-sustaining population of brown trout and the Erskine River holds estuary perch downstream and a few trout in the upper reaches.

Lakes Entrance

This is one of my favourite childhood fishing memories, it has excellent facilities with boat ramps on both sides of the Highway Bridge and is an ideal family destination. The town jetties in the Cunninghame Arm produce luderick, trevally and bream. Expect to hook mainly salmon and tailor at the rock wall and jetty on Bullock Island. Beneath the main highway bridge spanning the North Arm is popular for silver trevally, bream and whiting. Other species include yelloweye mullet and garfish. The beach is excellent for salmon and mullet, with the occasional gummy shark caught at night.

Portland

Plenty to offer surf, rock or offshore anglers. Catches include snapper, salmon, King George whiting, yellowtail kingfish and even mulloway. Offshore shark fishing has makos, threshers and blues. The harbour has excellent boat launching and fish cleaning benches. Popular offshore areas include Lawrence Rocks, Black Nose Point and the North Shore. For land-based anglers, the Lee Breakwater on the eastern arm of the harbour has produced big snapper recently. Beach fishing is popular at Shelly and Bridgewater beaches.

Bemm River

Primarily an East Gippsland bream fishery, but you will also catch estuary perch, luderick, dusky flathead, silver trevally, salmon and tailor. Most anglers fish the lake area in boats. The lake is shallow, with an average depth of 2m. Bream and estuary perch can be found mooching among the snags. With the deepest water in the system, it is the place to go for tailor, salmon and trevally. The beaches can fish well for salmon, tailor and gummy shark.

Werribee

Go offshore for whiting, flathead and snapper over the many reefs. Bream fishermen love the Werribee River. Stay in the marked channel and don’t try to head for deeper water until you have passed the large pile mark.

Newport

A new ramp at the end of North Rd launches into the “Warmies”, the hot water outlet channel for the power station. This area is productive for mullet, bream, silver trevally, pinkies, salmon and tailor. The outlet mouth and Yarra River junction produce pinkies, salmon, tailor, bream, flathead and sometimes mulloway.

Carrum

Boat launching facilities in Patterson River are the best in the bay. Inshore grounds will produce whiting, pinkies, squid, flathead and salmon. Many anglers head out to deeper water, 16-20m, for big snapper and gummy shark. Patterson River is well known for its bream, mullet and salmon. Mulloway is sometimes caught here from late January onwards.

Sorrento

Offshore waters offer diverse fishing options. The pier can produce garfish, whiting and squid. Boat anglers work the deeper water for snapper but the best whiting fishing is generally within 1km of shore. You can also expect to catch salmon, garfish, flathead, squid. A dual boat ramp is situated to the west of the pier.

St Leonards

The pier and rock wall are popular and produce good snapper. Boating anglers do best fishing from close to shore out to the edge of Coles Channel for King George whiting and calamari squid. In January, most snapper and gummy shark are caught offshore in 16-20m of water.

Hastings

Having lived in Hastings for several years, I managed to get in quite a bit of fishing here. It's a popular launching point for anglers wanting to work the Middle Spit, and the shallow banks and deeper channels of the western arm of the bay. The Middle Spit is a whiting hot spot, but from Hastings you can also fish the channel edges for big gummy sharks or chase snapper in the deeper water.

Bass Strait

Has a multitude of species. Expect to catch tiger and sand flathead over the sand areas in water from 15-40m. The inshore reefs hold snapper, yellowtail kingfish and King George whiting with the odd big gummy or thresher shark. Australian salmon will be found close to shore while good schools of pick handle barracouta can be found in the strait. Arrow squid start their annual migration through this water in January and for those who crave more excitement you can always fish for bronze whaler, mako and blue sharks.

Barwon River Estuary

Usually experiences a good run of school mulloway in January. The river also fishes well for silver trevally, Australian salmon, bream and even luderick. Worth a go, particularly upstream of the Sheepwash.

Mallacoota Inlet

One of Victoria’s largest estuaries. Anglers can catch black and yellowfin bream, dusky flathead, luderick, mullet, trevally, sand whiting, estuary perch, garfish, Australian salmon, tailor and mulloway. Prawning is also popular.

So grab your fishing rod, tackle, a couple of your favourite fishing lures, some bait, maybe a comfortable chair, and head on out this weekend to see what you can catch!

A Brief History Of Fishing

Fishing is a very ancient art of hunting, going all the way back in time to the earliest humans in many cultures (the earliest known evidence dates back over 40,000 years!). For thousands of years, people living near the waterways have used this resource to feed themselves, their families, and their villages.

The earliest forms of fishing usually would involve spears and a great deal of patience, or sometimes crude nets would be weaved to make the job of catching fish for dinner much easier.

The earliest known records of humans using fishing rods, lines and hooks dates back to 2,000 BC, with the Chinese and Egyptians being amongst the first people to experiment with different hunting weapons.

Early Fishing Equipment

Most of the early fisherman just used handlines, with hooks made out of bronze which was strong, but still very thin and less visible to fish. The Chinese were the first people to use fishing lines, which were spun from fine silk.

In the early 1900’s fishing lures were first created commercially in the United States, but before this time they were all made individually by craftsmen. Modern lures that were made commercially were based on the ideas of the individual craftsmen, just made in much larger quantities.

Why Go Fishing?

There are many reasons why people fish, and in the early days it was largely a necessity, as a way gather food for yourself and your community. These days many people fish for recreational purposes, and there is even evidence that this practice goes all the way back to the Egyptians doing it as a recreational past-time in the River Nile.

Fishing for food has become a large commercial business all over the world, and it is estimated that fisheries and aquaculture directly and indirectly employ over 500 million people worldwide.

On top of commercial and recreational purposes, fishing as a sport has taken off in a big way in recent times, with many people competing with one another to catch the biggest fish.

Fishing equipment has come a very long way since the early days, and whether you’re a professional fisherman looking to hone and perfect your craft, or just a ‘weekend warrior’ out for a bit of fun, there is a great deal of choice and range available to you in order to have the greatest chance of success.

So next time you’re out on the water or looking for that perfect fishing spot, just think about how much easier you have it these days than your ancestors had it in days long gone… and remember that it should be all about fun and relaxation!

Introduction To Fishing Lures Info

Hi, my name is Mick Reade, and welcome to my Fishing Blog!

I love to go fishing in my spare time, it's a great past-time and is a very relaxing way to get away from the fast-paced world we are often involved in.

I will be using this blog to share some general fishing tips and information, stories on my own and possibly other people's fishing adventures, and also get into the nitty gritty of sharing tips on fishing equipment, such as fishing lures, rods, tackle, bait, boats, and anything else I come up with along the way!

Fishing lures can be a metaphor for many things in life, and if you get that right then the rest can be easy. That's why I feel it's important to share some information with you on the best types of lures out there, how to use them, when to use them, and which fishing lures are likely to be most successful for particular fish you're trying to catch.

I hope you enjoy my fishing adventures and tips coming up in the future!

Rock on!!