I am just back from a week of rock and beach fishing at Woody Head,
in the Bundjalong National Park, just north of the town of Iluka, in Northern
New South Wales. As is often the case here, the weather made the fishing pretty
tough. Heavy rain freshened the mighty Clarence River and big seas, wind and
swells conspired to limit access to the best fishing platforms.
But there were some good sessions and some good fish. To the north
west of the Woody Head rock platform there is a sheltered bay that remains calm
in all but the biggest gales. On the afternoon of our second day, there was a
light northerly breeze blowing and the tide was running in. It had been raining
on and off, all day and the water was murky and the sky, overcast. The birds
were working furiously, diving into bait schools close to the shore. Just on
dusk, I walked down to the beach with my heavy outfit – Daiwa 9’6’ Demon Blood
rod, Shimano Stradic 6000 spinning reel loaded with 30lb braid and 30lb
fluorocarbon leader. I tied on a 45g silver HALCO Twisty slug and cast it about
25 metres, towards the diving birds. After a couple of casts – bang - and line starts peeling. It was a solid fish
and then it leapt clear of the water – an Australian Salmon. It did a couple of
tail walks and even with the heavy rod, it was hard to subdue. I eventually got
it to the beach and it immediately started spitting out mouthfuls small
whitebait/anchovies (not actually sure which). This was clearly what had
attracted the birds.
It was now dark and raining so, after a few pictures, I released the
fish and went to dry off. I have never been able to make these fish taste good,
so I have given up keeping them for the table. It may not have been dinner but
it was a great fish to open the account.
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