1st Salmon

[Langa]

Hi all, was chucking a few plastics around on Fri night at Bobbin Head after flatties and bream with only a few enquiries. There was plenty of surface action, the slap of Mullet re-entering the water after launching themselves aloft, the gentle slurp of bream sucking insects off the surface and occasionaly a patch of water would erupt as hundreds of bait fish desperately tried to escape hungry predators below. I threw plastics into the boil with no success, so I grabbed my 5' creek rod with 4lb braid and a popper tied on and proceeded to work it accross the surface. I kept this up for a while without any luck untill with the popper in calm water and stationary it got smashed from below, it was such an explosive hit I got such a shock I nearly fell in! I thought I hadn't hooked up because there was no further action but when I started to retrieve there was resistance and some fight which ended in a 40cm Salmon, my first. The surprising thing was after the initial hit the ensuing fight on the light gear was more like a bait caught lizard than the powerhouse Salmon I have heard about, he was cleanly hooked but maybe he was tired from chasing all that bait. Anyway the adrenalin buzz from the first strike in the moonlight had my legs shaking for a while and made the evening.

Cheers, Langa