Port Hacking

[Yowie]

I headed out early this morning up from Lilli Pilli. Plenty of sticks bumping the boat in the darkness. Water very murky, put out some burley and the reddies turned up. Of the dozens I pulled up, only one legal. Some as small as 10cm just hammering all baits of pillies, squid, salted fish strips. The only other fish was a tailor, mid 40's, that chewed off the hook beside the boat. Light rain during this time.

I decided to head home, and as I was passing the mouth of Burraneer Bay, I saw some terns flying about and looking into the water as they appeared to be following fish, so I stopped and threw out a metal lure. First retrieve and it was salmon following up. A few more casts and it was a hookup. I pulled out 4 around the 45 to 50cm mark, all very fat, dropped 2 beside the boat and a few others dropped off after a short time.

Shallow water but the salmon turned it on, hard fighting all the way to the boat. Some retrieves there was no hookup, as the salmon were head butting each other out of the way to try to grab the lure, and a few leapt out of the water trying to grab the lure from underneath. A bit of aerial performing by the salmon, until the rod tip broke off  , so it was game over, and the rain was torrential at times anyway.

No photos today, but the salmon made for some entertainment.

[Restyle]

Surprised to see some Pelagics in the river despite the huge amounts of rain. River will be dead for pelagics for awhile.

I’ve gone a few times during the week to stock up on squid, 3-4 around in an hour

[Fab1]

Leave my 10cm reddies alone.

You guys are keener than me getting out in this rubbish.The amount of crap floating around the waterways is a recipe for disaster.

  Good effort as always mate.

[Rebel]

Great story.

Well done.

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, Restyle said:

Surprised to see some Pelagics in the river despite the huge amounts of rain. River will be dead for pelagics for awhile.

I’ve gone a few times during the week to stock up on squid, 3-4 around in an hour

It was the run out tide when I found the salmon, current moving very fast with the rainwater runoff, and the fish were speeding about with the occasional splash, so must have been some baitfish about. Some days the salmon ignore a lure, today they were swimming about like cruise missiles.

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, Fab1 said:

Leave my 10cm reddies alone.

You guys are keener than me getting out in this rubbish.The amount of crap floating around the waterways is a recipe for disaster.

  Good effort as always mate.

I had to give it a go, or else sit at home with the missus. 

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

Great story.

Well done.

Thank you, the salmon made up for an otherwise quiet day.

[Fab1]

1 minute ago, Yowie said:

I had to give it a go, or else sit at home with the missus. 

I don't blame you mate.I'm bored out of my brain indoors.Mate and I were going to go shore fishing at Windang today just to get out the house but decided against it as it's so darn wet and miserable.My boat is ready to be hitched up and start getting out there again now things have settled down with family.

  Haven't been out since Covid mate.

I use to get out weekly or at least fortnightly.

[jenno64]

Good on you Yowie, from my window it looks like a latte out there!

At least you were entertained:)

[Yowie]

54 minutes ago, jenno64 said:

Good on you Yowie, from my window it looks like a latte out there!

At least you were entertained:)

Sometimes the tailor turn up in the murky water, but only 1 bite, and that was a bite off.

The salmon were fun. Probably put too much stress on the old spinning rod that caused the tip runner to break off. 🤣

[Pickles]

Bummer about the rod Dave, but at least it was on a fish. My best Kingie rod is a Daiwa TD black 7’2” that had the top 4” snapped off. If not too much missing, it might still be useable. Salmon are great fun and a 50cm is a good fish with lots of go.

[Yowie]

Bob, that rod has seen a lot of fish hanging off the end. I think a new tip should be good for a few more years of life.

5 or 6 salmon at a time, head butting each other to get to the lure, and then none actually taking it. These fish were like missiles through the water, and the same when hooked up. They seemed to have extra energy compared to other days, and a few leapt some distance out of the water when hooked.

All salmon released to annoy someone else.  😂 They are great sport on light gear.

You pulled out a few nice jewies from the Hawkesbury.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Yowie

[Isaac Ct]

Better than nothing and some sport with same salmon, well done Yowie.

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Better than nothing and some sport with same salmon, well done Yowie.

Thank you.

[Larkin]

Good on you for getting out there!
Great fun catching salmon when they fight like that. 

Shame about the rod tip - did it to one of my rods a few weeks back while tightening a FG knot. Had a bit of stick left, so bought a replacement tip.

 

[Yowie]

11 hours ago, Larkin said:

Good on you for getting out there!
Great fun catching salmon when they fight like that. 

Shame about the rod tip - did it to one of my rods a few weeks back while tightening a FG knot. Had a bit of stick left, so bought a replacement tip.

 

Had to get out, even though I thought it could be a bit murky in the water. The salmon made up for lack of table fish - I have eaten salmon many times but prefer them smaller than what I caught.

A new tip and it should be right to go again.