Fishing in Australia

Australian Salmon are very strong fighters which put up a good deal of acrobatics when hooked.

I went to Melbourne and experienced some wonderful surf fishing where Salmon averaging 2 kg rushed to get your bait the moment you cast it out. The Tailor, King George Whiting, and Pinkie Snapper were also in a cooperative mood.

 There was even a day when the fish were so thick that I finished a whole 5 kg block of Pilchards in a short catch and release session. Incidentally, that was at a place called Eden... definitely an angler's paradise.

From left to right: Pink Snapper from Shark Bay. Atlantic Salmon and Rainbow Trout. Releasing a Seagull that accidentally went for my bait. Fighting a strong Salmon from the surf. Random pics of Tailor and Salmon.

Surf Fishing for Australian Salmon was an Experience of a Lifetime!

When I first reached the beach at Eden I thought the prospects of catching anything at all were very slim-- I thought - the waves were too big and the wind was too strong. Anyway, some Aussie fishos were there before me and their heavy surf gear looked really cumbersome. They were using Pippies (the Singapore equivalent of La La) and I, on the other hand, was using large Pilchards about 15 - 20 cm each. The Aussies seemed to know what they were doing, and, as though to prove me right, one of them soon had a fully bent rod which resulted in a nice big Tailor.

 
Drooling, I quickly set up my gear - a 14 ft telescopic Shimano Surf Spin combined with a small Daiwa Twistbuster reel, and rigged up a whole Pilchard. No sooner had my bait hit the water just beyond the breakers when my line went taut and the Shimano was bent into a U-shape. The drag was zipping off and as I tried to see where my line went, I saw a fish jumping clear of the water in the distance... SALMON!!!
After a brief but violent struggle, with me running up and down the beach in order to pump the fish in, the Salmon lay glistening on the soft white sand. What a beauty!! It looked at least 2 kg.

This went on continuously for the next 2 hours till I ran out of bait. In the end, I only kept 6 fish and released the rest. By the way, the Aussie fishos were relegated to spectator status as they just could not cast to where the Salmon were with their cumbersome gear while my Shimano outfit gave me the distance I needed. I've got to give full credit to the rod.

The next day, armed with a 5 kg block of Pilchards and my trusty Shimano, I headed for the same beach and the action was even better than the day before. HOT! HOT! HOT! The memory of that second day will forever be etched in my mind. Words cannot express the thrilling experience I had as I caught and released many many big Salmon and some Tailor. Nowadays, I still dream of going back to Eden.