huffing and puffing ...

[HenryR]

I yakked out to North Head on Friday just gone

Since I first heard about them last year, I've really wanted to see the salmon schools in action out there and, better still, to  find out how practical it is to chase them from a kayak. It's a big stretch of water for a fat little fishing kayak and I know from stalking salmon schools in much more tranquil and confined places that, when they really want to move, there is no way I can keep up with them.

Happily, I'm here to report it worked well enough.

For the first forty minutes or so - I was there pre-dawn, ready to pounce - I did some excessive huffing and puffing, arms aching as I tried to sprint across hundreds of metres of empty water to gulls and froth. Too many times, I'd arrive at the edge of school, if I even got that close, and while I pulled my rod from the holder the fish would disappear or move off in another direction.

I was in fact in the act of re-designating the day's target species - snipping off a lure and tying on a hook and sinker - when the salmon came to me. First cast for the day actually in to the heart of school resulted in an instant hook up. Nice.

The schools got bigger and seemed to hang at the surface longer as the sky lightened. For a little while, I was able to hang in pretty much the same place and throw casts when the fish came near.

I managed two fish in about an hour and a half, which is not many from thousands but, there were some long quiet spells and punting around in a kayak consumes a surprising amount of time.

I picked up a few trevally in between the salmon. They took sps cast out and not retrieved - just drifted down.

By 7:am the quiet spells became too long and I nicked of to try other things.

Good fun for a few hours and it's an excellent change to be surrounded by way, way too many fish!

 

Yay for weekdays off!!! 6:30am .. the rest of Sydney in the background, getting ready for work

 

Possibly the 2 fish should have been three but, having raced from Old Mans Hat to here (the drop off where everyone camps out waiting for kings) I was so puffed (and perhaps overexcited?) that I managed to wrap the braid around a guide and snapped it first cast. I retied a leader in time and about three casts and no fish later did the same thing .. oh well, I would never have stopped to take the photo otherwise.

one for dinner

 

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by HenryR