Salmon Boss

[joking fish]

I decided to go it alone on Friday the 18th as my brothers and mates were busy. It was an absolute stinker and it would have been foolish to fish during the heat of the day. I stocked up on Pilchards, hooks and sinkers from the local tackle shop and arrived at Queen Street Newport and 5pm. I was greeted by local hooligans who brought with them a home made skate board ramp to the jetty. They were taking turns driving their bmx bike off the ramp into the water. Very annoying for me. They had as much right to be there as I did so I packed up and drove 10 mins down the road to Palm Beach. The scene was a lot more tranquil at Palm Beach, but the thunder clouds were looming and looking ominous. I had two rods one medium and one light. The heavier rod was there to stop an elusive King Fish. I heard there are a few in Pittwater at the moment but as a land based angler like me I havn't seen or hooked a King Fish, yet alone caught one (from land). They are my Unicorn Fish, something that is rare and hard to capture. A local told me he had only heard of one legal King Fish caught off the Queen Street wharf.

As the storm clouds rolled in at Palm Beach the action was minimal. I saw a huge splash at the bottom of the jetty. I decided to cast in that direction. My light rod equiped with pilchards, a running sinker and gang hooks got ravaged by something big. I had the drag set tight and the fish was taking line. It broke the surface and thats when I knew it was an Aussie Salmon. The line crossed around the other side of the pylon and on light line I feared the line would fray and snap. I tried to pull the fish back towards the open side of the pylon but the fish was stuborn. I managed to gently and slowly bring the fish towards the Ferry boarding side of the jetty where a local was happy enough to net the fish for me. success! Fish netted. I was perplexed because there was a huge chunk of tail taken of the back of the Salmon. Something had a chew on him in the 5-10 mins it took for me to land it. Possibly a shark? How big I will never know. My PB Salmon before this was 58cm. This one was hard to measure because the tail was mangled. This one was somewhere between 57-60cm. Although, this specimen was extremely fat and if it is not a PB in length it would certainly be a PB in weight. It seems that everyone has King FIsh fever at the moment and while this is not a King Fish I am more than happy to catch an Australian Salmon and if the mythical King Fish should ever come along this Summer, I will also become infected with King Fish fever.

Edited January 19, 2013 by barcod86

[bede]

nice catch mate.

I got my first salman a couple of weeks ago in botany bay and arent they fun?

One of em did 10 or so leaps, it was going nuts.

[joking fish]

nice catch mate.

I got my first salman a couple of weeks ago in botany bay and arent they fun?

One of em did 10 or so leaps, it was going nuts.

Yeah they go hard, they're not the smartest or cunning fish but they make up for it with strength and power.