monch Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 (edited) Location: Gymea Bay baths Time: 6am - 10am Tide: High at around 8:30am Water Clarity: Relatively clear, about 2-3m of visibility Wind: Pretty much non-existent Barometer: Generally steady at around 1013-1015 I had been itching for a fish all week since the BB social but could not spare the time due to uni work etc. I had resisted the urge to go on Friday when the barometer was higher but gave in and decided to go out this morning. Headed to my local haunt and arrived just before 6am. I was cursing my lateness because the sun had already risen and i wanted to start whilst it was still dark. The plan was to set some baits for the barely legal snapper/trevally in the area, and hopefully get some live yakkas to throw out on the larger setup for some jewies or kingies. I was continuously re-baiting pillies for the trevally and yakkas that i had burleyed up with bread. There were a few 30-35cm trevally and monster yakkas about 3m away from the wharf but were too shy to swallow my baits, would only mouth them momentarily before spitting it out. Took a while to get 2, 20cm yakkas which i thought were too big to use so i kept them in my bucket for a while. At 8:30am some1 calls out that they have seen a school of 6+ large fish patrolling the area, maybe kings. The yakkas and trevally were becoming increasingly shy with the sun rising so i took my bets with the large livies and lobbed one out about 30m on twin 4/0's and a float. At about 9am i got a run on my baitrunner and immediately grabbed the rod, i gave the fish about 2-3 extra seconds to swallow the bait then i struck. Felt some decent weight and this thing immediately swung around to the left and slightly towards me. In 2 seconds it had swum 30m or so... Holy... this thing was fast. After that i felt a heavy weight and slow tail kicks but it didn't take any drag. I was confused about wat fish this was and kept pumping and winding. Winched him in quite easily on my 6-10kg rod and 20lb braid on a 4500 Baitrunner. A few fellow fisherman happily netted it for me. A 65cm (approx) Aussie Salmon, Yehhaaaa. First fish on my new outfit, first salmon and a decent size too, PB's all round The fish was tailwrapped and came in backwards. I think it somehow got wrapped up after the initial run towards me since it was just a heavy weight with some kicks afterwards and i was able to slowly wind it in. There is a fairly fresh wound on its tail wrist which had started to heal it was also missing the top half of its tail, and getting the line caught around its tail might have opened up the wounds abit. Success! (wrong species, didn't put up as much of a fight as i expected but overall, good enough ) Estimate of 65cm. The rig, 20lb braid > 2m of 30lb mono leader joined by slim beauty > float > swivel > 50cm of 30lb mono trace to two 4/0's on fixed snells. Edited September 21, 2009 by monch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray R Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 G'day, Monch, mate that was a great read, very enjoyable and full of info. Congrats on your big salmon , they put up a mighty fight, they rate right up there with the other beasties .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 congratulations on your PB and a great fish, Monch Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tan the fisherman Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Hey Monach - Well done mate - a good catch and a good read - hope to read more! Tan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mako1 Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Great report Monch. Congrats on the new PB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prawn* Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 well done nice catch excellent info supply'd by the look of the back ground being a local im saying u were at gymea baths haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercer007 Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Hi Monch, Nice fish mate. Glad too see your getting into them. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tumra Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Great fish there monch... i have been catching a few salmon in the hacking over the last month or so also and i hae noticed that every one that i have caught (5 in total) has had some sort of flesh wound too, similar to ones in the second photo... Any ideas on where the wounds are coming from? I thought it might be from predatory fish, though i have seen similar wounds on a bream i caught in the hacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rednet Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 very nice read, good on you for providing details. ANd congrats on the nice fish caught Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harold Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 (edited) Great fish there monch... i have been catching a few salmon in the hacking over the last month or so also and i hae noticed that every one that i have caught (5 in total) has had some sort of flesh wound too, similar to ones in the second photo... Any ideas on where the wounds are coming from? I thought it might be from predatory fish, though i have seen similar wounds on a bream i caught in the hacking. Probably getting eaten by the Leatherjackets Edited September 23, 2009 by harold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmon_Hunter Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Congratulations on the catch. Salmon are always great fun and dirty fighters. Just a tip for the next Salmon you catch is to bleed them right away. This makes them acceptable on the table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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