OneLastCast Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Hi Raiders, Belated report from last Sat 26 Aug. Started early with a friend and son #1. Plan was to get livies then go for salmon and kings at north head. Tried a few spots for livies for nothing. While trying for them noticed feet getting wet - forgot to hook up live bait tank hose! Bailed out about 100L of water on the way to north head. Big swells rolling in as forecast but not too windy yet. Good thing we took kwells... Spot the birds working just inside north head. My friend manages to tangle up a seagull on his first cast - much to the amusement of my boy. Released without incident - not sure of the bag or size limit Soon after got our first fish - in the next 3 fun filled hours managed to land 5 and bust off on that many again. A few times there was the amazing site of a few hundred square metres salmon school busting up on the surface with hundreds of seagulls whirling overhead. Due to the unfavourable conditions we had the school to ourselves most of the time. They would not touch metals - we got them all on plastics of many types, from little 2 inch grubs to 4 inch shads. Could have caught more if conditions were better - was hard as the wind and chop came up to stay in contact with the fast moving schools. Using light line it was taking a while to land the hard fighting fish and any little mistake (ie line tangled around rod tip, line touching side of the boat under tension) would see them win their freedom. Gee they go hard on 6lb mono Best fish went 58 cm. Also got another bird in the boat - a cute litte brown bird. As we were chasing a school we must have startled it and it flew into my friends back and into the boat. Very cute and not aggressive at all. My son held it, patted it then let it go. The action stopped when a pod of dolphins moved in at around 10 - we waited to see the carnage but they all dissapeared. A few hours bait soaking for half a dozen undersized snapper and a lone slimy fished off the morning. Apologies for wordy report... Cheers, OLC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kantong Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 good stuff! I have yet to see a school like that go past in a boat. but then again, i dont go out in a boat that often hehehe. Salmon on plastics would have been fun. congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AO7474 Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Well done OLC! Great to see the little ones get out and have a fish. I can't wait for my boys to be old enough to take out fishing. Then again cant wait for them to turn 18 too so I can enjoy a cple of with them One other question I must ask though, how did the Salmon taste?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 you can take me anytime anthony and ill bring some if you want. well done mate on the Salmon top fighting fish on light gear must have had some fun there all on your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TunOFun Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Another great morning on the water, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneLastCast Posted August 28, 2006 Author Share Posted August 28, 2006 Thanks for the replies. It was a fun day out. AO7474 - the salmon taste good (I won't say great) if you bleed them on capture and put them on ice soon after (I put them in an esky with drink bottles filled with ice). Then I fillet them and skin the fillets. They need to be eaten fresh (never frozen - I think most pelagic species are good eaten fresh but turn to mush when frozen) There was a lot there - my friend took some, I gave some to my parents and the in-laws too. I cut mine into smaller pieces then dusted in cornflour, dip in beaten egg and coat with seasoned breadcrumbs. Shallow fry for a few minutes then serve - with mayonnaise for mrs and kids, bit of vinegar for me. I have also on another occasion coated them in turmeric and salt as saqa suggested. Tasty. I will post pics later if I remember. Cheers, OLC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flattieman Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 (edited) Great session there on the old, faithful sambos. As you said, they sure are great fighters - especially on light gear. Some nice fish, there and it's great to see some smiling faces! Flattieman. Edited August 29, 2006 by Flattieman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abiasin Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 sweet catches there guys, im with kantong i havent been lucky enough to see any schools erupt as yet again reat catch and not too bad to eat the old sambo i reckon. cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keenist Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 We were out on the weekend and got stuck into the schools - good fun on bream gear. Some interesting lessons were learnt, so I thought I'd share them with you. We noticed that we kept catching fish on plastics well after they began to get finicky, as we started to notice that all the other boats around us stopped catching them. But after a while, they became super selective and we started to lose them as well. All the while the fish kept power feeding up on top. We once believed that the best method to pick them up is to position the boat in front of the leading edge of the school, and retrieve lures in a direct line away from where they are feeding. That tactic would work, although it would take alot of driving around the school to the front, and commonly sent the school down with the noise of the boat. Those days we fished metals almost exclusively. They other day my mate fished metals and I fished plastics. I outfished him maybe 10 to 1. Until he decided to change! I began with a 2g 1/0 head on a 4" Blue bass minnow - and picked up fish. Once the Salmon started to get choosy, we began to try different things. We found the most successful option was a plastic fished on a resin head, size chosen to "match the hatch" so to speak. Fishing like this, with unweighted lures, allowed us to successfully fish the school at all angles, and at all edges of the school. The lure is cast in and flicked and paused - not dissimilar to spinning for bream. The placcy sits there on the surface struggling like a stunned or injured baitfish and gets walloped almost immediately each time. Some of the takes I swear were within milliseconds of the lure hitting the water!! We ended up with probably 40 or more fish in 2-3 hrs, while all the other boats maybe caught half that between them... We couldn't how successful this tactic was. Beefing up the trace from 6lb to 12lb and pushing hard on the drag shortened fight times and would probably increase survival rates.. Food for thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flattieman Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Thanks for passing that on, keenist. Sounds like getting out there in a boat and casting at the schools is much more effective than beach fishing (who would've guessed! ) Maybe I should get out there. Flattieman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1975 Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Another great morning on the water, well done Nice catch my dad usually smokes his salmon and it tastes very good. not sure how he does it but i think its in one of those small weber bbqs 1975 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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