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[Yon]

My regular fishing partner is recovering from surgery, so I was planning on a quiet week.

But... my wife mentioned that she wanted fish for dinner and was contemplating <GASP> buying some because I haven’t been catching any! 

I mean, say what you want about my looks, my intelligence or whatever, but after my last attempt at catching dinner turned into an absolute disaster, this was an absolute strike below the belt! A mans name cannot be muddied in this manner!
 

So, duly emasculated, I decided to check out the rocks near my house on my early morning walk today. 
About 20m off the rock I like to cast from I see what appeared to me to be about 1,000 salmon. They’re jumping out of the water and generally terrorising any bait fish that are stupid enough to get close. 
 

The tide was coming in and some solid waves were running, so I checked the swell period, watched the spot for about 15 minutes and decided it was safe. 
 
Cleats and life jacket on, handful of Kmart $2 metals that I hadn’t even bothered to take the trebles off and I’m into them. 

First cast nets me a solid hookup! it’s running, using the waves to its advantage, but I’m using the drag to tire it out. No rush, I’ve got an hour before I need to get moving to work. I get it to the edge of the reef in front of me, a wave is coming to wash it in and... the treble snags. But wait! The fish is still there! It’s thrashing, the hook is set very well, then another wave comes in and my braid tears. I see the fish swimming off.
No worries though, because I can tie an fg in about 20 seconds. New leader, new rig and I’m casting again. Immediate hookup, but it jumps and throws the hook! 
Keep reeling as I watch a massive bow wave come up behind my lure. SPLASH! He’s taken it and he’s running. Oh shit - he’s really running! Tighten the drag and it’s still running! Head shakes, gain a few meters of line and then the reel goes nuts. One long run, pay out about 100m of line and I’m wondering what the hell I’ve hooked up! Finally he tires and I start gaining on him. It’s a kingfish, I’m sure of it! Slowly slowly I bring him in, fighting the waves that are trying to cheat me of my hard earned prize. Must be a king! 
Finally he’s at the reef edge, I don’t see the fish but I see my line. Keep the tension On so he doesn’t throw the hook! A wave washes Him up and I use the opportunity to pull him over the reef. He’s now in about 10cm of water and thrashing, I’m already sending invites to the family for a kingfish sashimi dinner when I finally see him and I’m damned if it’s not the biggest salmon I’ve ever seen. Easily 6kg. I didn’t know they get that big! I relax the rod to grab the leader, he throws the lure, it hits me in the sunglasses (thank god I was wearing Polycarbonate glasses) and he swims out as a wave washes in. 
What a fight - I know my arms are still there but I just can’t feel them. 
 

It’s still on though - there are fish everywhere. I cast again, hook up again and snag again. Lose the lure, re tie my rig with my last metal on a single this time and proceed to reel in 4 smashing Salmon. 

People are cheering me from the cliff as my alarm sounds. It’s time to go to work. 
 

I’m so focussed on the waves that I don’t notice where my lure is. As if in a heavenly sign that it’s time to go, I snag and lose the lure. 
Time to go...

The fishing gods were kind to me today, maybe to make up for how poorly I faired last time. 
In total I hooked up about 20 times, landed 4 big fish and redeemed my manliness in my wife’s eyes. We ate well tonight and I’ve got enough fish for a couple more feeds. 

Life’s good. I think I needed that reminder with everything going on in the world. 
 

Life is good...
 

[wazatherfisherman]

Love it! Great story again Yon

[leonardgid]

Noice , what sort of rod were you using ? it looks quite impressive .

 

[masterfisho7]

Nice report some top eating fish well done Yon 

[big Neil]

What a well written and fantastic story Yon. Well deserved reward for your persistence too. Keep it up. bn

[Yon]

6 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Love it! Great story again Yon

Thanks! Creative writing classes in primary came in handy at last! 

4 hours ago, leonardgid said:

Noice , what sort of rod were you using ? it looks quite impressive .

 

It’s a Penn Prevail II 10’6 with a spinfisher ss vi 4500. It’s a great outfit. Strong and we’ll balanced. 

27 minutes ago, masterfisho7 said:

Nice report some top eating fish well done Yon 

Thanks mate! Such a great and versatile fish. 

[Yowie]

Good work, salmon are a great sporting fish that go hard on any gear.

[GordoRetired]

Interested to know how you prepare and cook the Salmon. I have been told they are not good to eat so always throw them back.

[Mr Squidy]

Great report Yon, one of the most exciting types of fishing you can get casting at big schools of Sambo's, such a great sports fish. We are certainly lucky in this city to have this on our doorstep and to still be able to enjoy these sorts of things while the world is going crazy,

Cheers,

Rich

[OttoVu]

Cracking read !!

[Rebel]

Great report. Well done.

[Yon]

Thanks for all the positive comments and encouragement folks! Makes me want to write more reports! 
 

@GordoRetired they are a sustainable, healthy and fantastic eating fish. Several ways to prepare and cook them. Couple of ways I do them;

Note - the second they come out of the water, I brain spike them, then put the knife through the fleshy part behind the gills and *gently* put them into a rock pool to bleed out. Don’t throw them around as they can bruise. Cut around the top of the head and around the pectoral fins. Head comes off and guts pull out. The collars are very easy to cut off this way. 

1) Collars go on the BBQ with some olive oil. Dash of salt and lemon and we pick the meat off

2) Knock the fillets off and cut out the red meat. The loins make incredible sashimi. Leave some red meat on for more flavour. 
 

3) Hot smoke the fish whole - amaaazing

4) Bake the fillets with any sauce you’d do an Atlantic salmon or monkfish in. Holds the flavour very well
 

5) Poach with skin on and when cooked, peel the skin off. This is a more fishy tasting fish though. The poaching water will become a bit gelatinous after doing a few filets and tastes great as soup

PM me for lots of other ideas. Mostly my kids eat it raw before I have a chance to cook it. 

[GordoRetired]

OK, sounds good. I have a smoker so will give that a go next time I get some. Thanks 🙂

[Mullatt]

As @Yon said Salmon are very edible either smoked or eaten fresh after thoroughly bleeding and cutting out the red blood meat. They  go great on the barbie, and are also nice in curries and fish cakes. 

They do not however freeze well, so need to be consumed fresh. I have been smoking my fresh salmon (ha ha that probably sounds funny) for over 40 years and can testify they come up a treat.

[Yon]

2 hours ago, Mullatt said:

As @Yon said Salmon are very edible either smoked or eaten fresh after thoroughly bleeding and cutting out the red blood meat. They  go great on the barbie, and are also nice in curries and fish cakes. 

They do not however freeze well, so need to be consumed fresh. I have been smoking my fresh salmon (ha ha that probably sounds funny) for over 40 years and can testify they come up a treat.

@Mullatt how do you prepare and smoke yours? I’ve been hot smoking as the cold smoker dries them a bit, but would love to hear what you do, to see if I can improve mine!

[LuckyFil]

On 8/13/2020 at 7:28 AM, Yon said:

It's a Penn Prevail II 10’6 with a spinfisher ss vi 4500. It’s a great outfit. Strong and we’ll balanced. 

 

Yeah I've got the 9' Penn Prevail and I love it - you can cast a 40-60gm lure all day with minimal effort, it casts a mile and when you hook a fish it's got plenty of grunt in the lower half - perfect with 8-10kg line for tailor, salmon and bonito and even small kings

Fil

[Yon]

18 minutes ago, LuckyFil said:

 

Yeah I've got the 9' Penn Prevail and I love it - you can cast a 40-60gm lure all day with minimal effort, it casts a mile and when you hook a fish it's got plenty of grunt in the lower half - perfect with 8-10kg line for tailor, salmon and bonito and even small kings

Fil

I’m dying to hook a king with it - not sure my 20lb braid and 30lb leader would stand up to it, but I’m up for the challenge! 

[61 crusher]

Great read & feed 👍 hopefully they hang around a bit longer,

those big ones sure do go hard

[Mullatt]

21 hours ago, Yon said:

@Mullatt how do you prepare and smoke yours? I’ve been hot smoking as the cold smoker dries them a bit, but would love to hear what you do, to see if I can improve mine!

There's nothing special in the way I prepare and smoke my fish @Yon. I'm certainly no expert, but just have developed a basic way to do it over the years that suits me and is simple.

I just have a portable smoke box that uses metho to burn the chips. I tend to prefer to use fillets as opposed to whole fish as I find they cook more evenly. Make up a brine of equal parts of salt and brown sugar, then leave them in it for for an hour or so, then dry them as much as possible. Place them in the smoker skin side down and off you go. depending on the size of the fillets, takes anywhere from 15 to 30 mins. I use generally hickory chips, but sometimes apple wood or spotted gum. There are lots of choices though. I also like to rub a little oil on the smoke tray before placing the fish on it to stop it sticking too badly.

As I said, no big deal & simple

[Yon]

Thanks mate, that’s fantastic. Simple is usually the best in my opinion. 

[Rummers]

Mate that was a great read. Felt like I was there 😂😂