East Coast Salmon

[Bobby.V]

I've scoured the internet for definitive info but there's a lot of mixed info out there on Salmon fishing. Wondering if some experienced anglers can chime in as I'm new to salmon fishing and haven't managed to catch anything yet. I'm based on NSW Central Coast, 1hr north of Sydney.

 

Best time of year for salmon?

Best time of day to target?

Best lure/s and most effective time to use it vs bait?

Best bait/s for salmon?

Best conditions? ie. big surf swell vs calm waters

 

Thanks guys, all info appreciated and hopefully I can land one soon!

[rickmarlin62]

Entrance beach  birdie bch  moonee  catho  al have salmon now  early morn  late arvo best but if schools are in close during day  throw 65 gm raiders and hang on  pilchards or garfish as bait  and plenty of headlands to spin from   catho moonee wybung  norah  redhead  further nth well worth trying    they are comin into swansea channel on run in tide   lots around at moment  you cant miss the schools rippling the surfsce and covered in birds

[Volitan]

1 hour ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Entrance beach  birdie bch  moonee  catho  al have salmon now  early morn  late arvo best but if schools are in close during day  throw 65 gm raiders and hang on  pilchards or garfish as bait  and plenty of headlands to spin from   catho moonee wybung  norah  redhead  further nth well worth trying    they are comin into swansea channel on run in tide   lots around at moment  you cant miss the schools rippling the surfsce and covered in birds

Thanks for the info Rick

FWIW, I fish the beaches on the southern end of the Central Coast a couple of times a week and haven't caught a salmon, haven't seen one caught, and haven't even seen one in the water for a couple of months now.

I think  I'll be coming up to your end and giving them a shot tomorrow.

Would by the Magenta Resort be a good place to go ?

[Squ!rt]

9 minutes ago, Volitan said:

Thanks for the info Rick

FWIW, I fish the beaches on the southern end of the Central Coast a couple of times a week and haven't caught a salmon, haven't seen one caught, and haven't even seen one in the water for a couple of months now.

I think  I'll be coming up to your end and giving them a shot tomorrow.

Would by the Magenta Resort be a good place to go ?

I would be coming up a bit further my way, Catho and swansea, i have started to see a couple coming through swansea channel, in the next coming weeks it will be mayhem

[Bobby.V]

Thanks for the tips Rick, much appreciated.

Have you ever fished Umina Beach / Ettalong for salmon? Do you know if they're around that area at the moment?

I threw a few metal 30g "pilchard" lures in to the surf this morning at umina beach but the swell was huge and the rain picked up so gave up after 20mins, no interest in the lure 

[Volitan]

My take on your questions

 

Best time of year for salmon?

Winter. May - June on beaches. September - October in lower Hawkesbury.

Best time of day to target?

Definitely best in the early morning or late in the afternoon. Target the low light periods - when conditions favour the hunter over the hunted. Seldom at night.

My preference is to start fishing at 3pm in winter. Get settled in and maybe luck onto one or two in the next hour or two. Then most of the action happens from when the sun first dips to when its 80% dark ish. Knock off once its fully dark unless I want to catch a bunch of bottom feeding sharks.

I don't recall catching many between 10am and 3pm but if they've lucked onto a good school of baitfish they can be catchable at any time of the day though. 

Best lure/s and most effective time to use it vs bait?

Best bait/s for salmon? 

My preference off the beach is a half pilchard on single or double hook, with a surf popper above. The surf popper catches most of the fish - but doesn't seem to work without the pilchard. I tie the half pilchard on tight with bait elastic. 

They can take any bait though, and love beach worms.

Best conditions? ie. big surf swell vs calm waters

From calm water to 1.5 meter swell. Too much swell makes fishing difficult and unappealing - though maybe the salmon don't care. 

[Bobby.V]

12 minutes ago, Volitan said:

Thanks for the info Rick

FWIW, I fish the beaches on the southern end of the Central Coast a couple of times a week and haven't caught a salmon, haven't seen one caught, and haven't even seen one in the water for a couple of months now.

I think  I'll be coming up to your end and giving them a shot tomorrow.

Would by the Magenta Resort be a good place to go ?

Only just saw your reply to Rick after I posted mine.  When you say southern end of central coast do you mean umina/ettalong? That's where I've been having a go but no luck

[Volitan]

4 minutes ago, Squ!rt said:

I would be coming up a bit further my way, Catho and swansea, i have started to see a couple coming through swansea channel, in the next coming weeks it will be mayhem 

I never knew about that about the Channel !

thanks

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by Volitan

[Volitan]

1 minute ago, Bobby.V said:

Only just saw your reply to Rick after I posted mine.  When you say southern end of central coast do you mean umina/ettalong? That's where I've been having a go but no luck

In my case Killcare, Macmasters, Pearl Beach and Copa are where Ive been fishing.

I haven't been doing too bad off the beach for winter, but no salmon.

[Bobby.V]

38 minutes ago, Volitan said:

In my case Killcare, Macmasters, Pearl Beach and Copa are where Ive been fishing.

I haven't been doing too bad off the beach for winter, but no salmon.

Not too far from me. Guess I'll have to head up north a bit to get in to the salmon then!

Should they be arriving this area soon at this time of the year, or have they just departed? I'm not familiar with their seasonal movements.

What have you had luck with off the beach? I'm completely new to beach fishing. Been living in Africa for the last 4 years and doing all freshwater bass fishing so this is all very new to me! Just got back a month ago 

[Squ!rt]

1 hour ago, Volitan said:

I never knew about that about the Channel !

thanks

 

yeh man, in this warmer weather you will see them, normally a "winter fish" but i seem to always catch them when its a bit warmer.

You will start seeing a lot more of them in the next couple of weeks/months, it was around this time last year i started to see some in the channel, dont know if they were confused but i find you can catch them almost all year round. Best bet is obviously the surf, but i have caught them and seen them caught Swansea Breakwall/Reids reserve, or near blacksmiths point side, due to entry to the lake, along with under the bridge, check out my post about fishin lake mac landbased and the first place on the post will show you.

 

Regards, Squ!r+

Edited September 20, 2018 by Squ!rt

[PaddyT]

Hargraves Beach is a pretty consistant spot for them early morning, ive tended to only hit it in Autumn when I was fishing that way. Just a pillie on gangs and a bit of weight- that beach tends to have a fair bit of current, and its not your clasic beach with gutters etc- its just one big gutter that the schools tend to move up and down.

[rickmarlin62]

There were huge schools of caves beach an moon island last week...i could see them from highway near catho

[Bobby.V]

37 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said:

There were huge schools of caves beach an moon island last week...i could see them from highway near catho

Cheers Rick looks like I'll be planning a trip up your way!

Do you know if they'll start moving south to Umina/Ettalong in the coming weeks or have they already moved north from here?

[JTFISH]

I managed to get a couple off the rocks at Terrigal Haven last weekend, throwing 30-40g Halco Twisties (both gold and silver) into the wash. Also managed a decent sized Tailor. My suggestion would be to target the wash at low light periods, as mentioned above, and fish as light as possible. Early morning is the best period in my opinion.

If the metals aren't working, try throwing a Rapala X-Rap (SXR10 or SXR12) in the Glass Ghost colour. I was slow rolling them just outside of the wash. I hooked a decent sized sambo on an SXR10 on Sunday morning but it managed to shake the hooks right at my feet (drag too tight, rookie error).

There were huge schools of Salmon at the Skillion (around the corner from the Haven) last weekend so hopefully they have stuck around. If the swell is down, you could try your luck at the Skillion but be very wary. It is not the safest place to fish.

Good luck!

[scottyboy]

Hey mate box head and tallow beach if you like a bushwalk and no crowds. Rising tide always youse to work for me.

Cheers Scotty 

[Volitan]

8 hours ago, Bobby.V said:

Not too far from me. Guess I'll have to head up north a bit to get in to the salmon then!

Should they be arriving this area soon at this time of the year, or have they just departed? I'm not familiar with their seasonal movements.

What have you had luck with off the beach? I'm completely new to beach fishing. Been living in Africa for the last 4 years and doing all freshwater bass fishing so this is all very new to me! Just got back a month ago 

They are migratory but their migration is not so well defined that you could make a comment about where they might be and when.  

There are also resident(year round) fish.

 

Off the beach, it’s been just the usual species. Bream, tailor, trevally and flathead (blue spots).

 

I forgot to answer your part-question about lures:

my take on this is that if the fish are actively feeding then you want to throw them a lure that approximates what they are feeding on. So you need an educated guess about what they are chasing.

 

if it’s small, glassy ‘eyes’ fish (in our area that’s almost always Engraulis australis  - Aus anchovy) then you want a very small lure or better still a skinny white fly. This species is the ‘engine’ of our estuaries and the main food item for most of the pelagics like rat kings, bonito and frigates.

if it’s bigger fish then in our area it’s probably Ogilvys Hardheads or Sandy sprats - bigger, slab sided things that need a larger lure with a darting fluttering motion. Both these species spawn inshore in first half of winter and the salmon pursue this.

when the salmon are just cruising around ‘prospecting’ then I don’t know, it’s too much repetitive casting for me - I only use lures when I see fish feeding.

[JonD]

Down here on the south coast we catch them all year , no rocket science they eat just about anything from lures to baits.  We catch them anytime of the day as well as feed well into the night using bait.